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Jakarta Post

Transportation apps raise privacy concern

The ease of use and affordability of online motorcycle taxi (ojek) application booking services has turned into a nightmare for Alia (not her real name) after a Go-Jek driver started calling, texting and showing up at her house unannounced

Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, September 26, 2015

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Transportation apps raise privacy concern

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he ease of use and affordability of online motorcycle taxi (ojek) application booking services has turned into a nightmare for Alia (not her real name) after a Go-Jek driver started calling, texting and showing up at her house unannounced.

'€œHe called me in the middle of the night twice last week. At first I ignored it, but then I answered thinking that something important happened,'€ she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Alia said that the caller asked her where she was. '€œI tried to find out his intention of calling me but he just spoke gibberish,'€ she said, adding that she eventually hung up.

Alia said the driver then texted her, saying that he had dropped her off in Ampera, South Jakarta, and that he called because he was bored and did not have anything to do that night.

The 26-year-old said she then posted the screen capture of the text on Facebook and submitted a complaint to Go-jek management through its Twitter account.

'€œI got a call from the call center and they told me that the company would follow up on the report,'€ she said, adding that the company would also develop a feature to hide customers'€™ numbers.

However, after uninstalling the app, the situation worsened when she saw the same guy who dropped her off wearing his Go-Jek jacket near her house.

When reached, Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim only asked for the name and number of the driver and promised that the company would immediately followed up on the case. '€œWe will immediately fire him,'€ he said. He did not give further comment.

The growing number of online transportation hailing app companies such as Go-Jek, GrabTaxi and newly established Blue-Jek as well as Uber has helped many Jakartans avoid the traffic madness amid the absence of proper public transportation. However, some users have faced harassment from drivers as they can access their data easily.

Lala (not her real name), 24, said that she stopped using GrabBike, owned by GrabTaxi, as her driver sexually harassed her during a journey from her office in Tebet to Cilandak, both in South Jakarta, a month ago.

'€œHe kept saying inappropriate things, like how my body was his type. He wanted to be my boyfriend and told me that he wanted to call me and visit my house,'€ she told the Post.

She said that upon reaching the front of her housing complex, she decided to get off the bike, telling the driver that motorbikes were not allowed to pass the street. '€œI did not walk straight home but stopped at the security post and he did not leave the location until 10 minutes later,'€ she said.

Lala said the incident traumatized her and that she had since stopped using GrabBike. She, however, decided against reporting the incident to GrabBike management. '€œIf he calls me and disturbs me, then I will call,'€ she said, adding that she had only received a few random texts.

Responding to the incident, GrabTaxi country marketing head Kiki Rizki said that she needed proof to proceed further. '€œWe need proof as there are people out there trying to make us look bad,'€ she said.

Kiki said that her company tried its best to protect customer privacy. '€œAll customer data is erased once they have arrived at their destination,'€ she said.

She added that a customer'€™s number only showed up when a driver pressed the text or phone option on their app. Drivers could also not access the identity of customers who rated them.

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