The city of Chicago has apparently filed a legal case against Uber, claiming that the car-sharing firm has infringed the laws of the city by not revealing details about the 2016 data breach to its drivers and customers. The undisclosed information included hacking the personal data of the company’s 57 million drivers and consumers that resulted in the firm paying the hackers an amount of USD 1,00,000 for the data recovery. According to the lawsuit filed by Chicago, Uber is liable to pay USD 10,000 for each resident in the form of damages caused due to data breach. The city also claims USD 50,000 from Uber for violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Additionally, cite sources, Uber would need to pay USD 10,000 for every resident over 65 years of age affected due to the breach.
According to reliable reports, this is the second legal case filed against Uber over the data violation issue, as a class action litigation was filed against the firm in a Los Angeles court merely some time post Uber announced the data breach. As per the mayor of Chicago City, the non-disclosure of the data breach information to the public was an act of grave negligence on Uber’s part, on the grounds of which the city of Chicago was forced to take the legal action against the firm.
How many inhabitants of Chicago were affected due to the data violation is still unknown, though sources claim that the firm had concealed the information for over a year. Though Uber was quick to apologize and promise reforms, it is more likely that the company would have to pay millions to Chicago if it loses the appeal for data breach. How Uber would handle this ongoing crisis is something that still remains to be seen.