Man sues Uber for revealing affair to his wife

PARIS: Ride-hailing service Uber has been in the news of late – and not for good reasons all the time. In a latest controversy, a French businessman is suing the company after the app revealed his extra-marital affair to his wife.

A French businessman is suing the company for €45m (£38.3m) after a bug in its app allegedly allowed the man’s wife to track his extramarital affair.

According to French newspaper Le Figaro, the man claims the app sent notifications detailing his pick up points, destinations and times to his wife’s phone. The man claims he had logged into his Uber account on his wife’s device once but had subsequently logged out so the notifications should have stopped.

The information made his wife suspect he was having an affair and ultimately led to the breakup of their marriage, the man claims.

It is unclear what caused the malfunction but Le Figaro suggests it is an issue with iPhones running iOS versions older than December 2015. Philanderous Android users, or iPhone users running up-to-date software appear to be safe from detection using this method. It is unclear how many Uber’s 40 million monthly active customers might be affected.

A spokesperson for Uber has declined to comment on the issue, telling Le Figaro that, “Uber doesn’t publicly comment on individual cases, and especially those which concern things such as a divorce procedure.”

In December 2016, the company’s former forensic investigator said Uber employees used the so-called “God view”, which allows tracking of any Uber user, to spy on high-profile politicians, celebrities and ex-lovers .