Wheely, a “high-end” transportation provider that sells discretion as part of their pitch to celebrity and business clients, carts their passengers around in unmarked luxury vehicles and makes its drivers sign nondisclosure agreements. Since coming to New York City in March, the company’s founder and Chief Executive, Anton Chirkunov, has balked at the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) rule requiring all for-hire vehicle (FHV) companies to submit monthly records of every trip, as well as the driver identification and vehicle license number. The Swiss-Russian businessman calls it “a widespread system of state surveillance.”
Wheely sued the city earlier this year, arguing that some of the data made public in anonymized form can be combined with other sources and used to identify individuals, including where they live, work or worship. The TLC says the rule is meant to ensure drivers aren’t working excessively long hours, which can lead to fatigue and accidents. The company is appealing the case after Judge Colleen McMahon ruled the city’s legitimate safety concerns outweigh the relatively modest privacy intrusion, adding that the company “was well aware of the reporting requirements when it decided to enter the city’s highly regulated taxi industry.”
Source: MSN
