San Francisco filed a lawsuit on its very own city-grown company Uber on Thursday to force the company to release the information of its drivers.
In a statement City Attorney Dennis Herrera said: “San Franciscans have a right to know who is behind the wheel when they are being driven somewhere.
“Not surprisingly, Uber is thumbing its nose at the law. It’s time for that to stop,” she added.
The lawsuit that has been filed seeks the names and addresses of Uber drivers who work in San Francisco wore than 7 days a year, so that the city can make sure that they comply with a law that will require all independent contractors to register and pay $91 yearly.
“The law requires any business in San Francisco to register with the Treasurer and Tax Collector’s Office, whether they’re PG&E or a hairdresser. Uber and its drivers are no different,” Herrera said.
Uber stated that the order violates the privacy rights of its drivers. Wayne Ting, who is the general manager of Uber San Francisco, said in a statement that the company does not dispute that its drivers should register. “But the Tax Collector’s Office is asking us to give them personal information about drivers — including their home address — without their consent and will put that information on a public website.”
Uber and its competitor Lyft Inc. had been disclosing the information of their drivers in recent years, but Uber stopped disclosing in December last year.
Both the companies provided names of about 57,000 drivers, but only 21,000 had paid their fee $91, said San Francisco’s city treasurer.
In a statement Treasurer Jose Cisneros said that once again Uber believes they are above the law.
“130,000 businesses play by our Business Registration rules — including thousands of contractors, caterers and other businesses who cross city lines each day,” he added.
The company has several clashes with local and state regulators, including the recent legal battle to obtain a permit to its automated driving vehicles.
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