Uber defends sexual assault victims’ privacy, gets fined $59 million

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The California Public Utility Commission has slapped Uber with a $59 million fine for refusing to hand over detailed records about more than 1,200 alleged sexual assaults involving Uber drivers in California between 2017 and 2019.

"The CPUC has been insistent in its demands that we release the full names and contact information of sexual assault survivors without their consent," Uber said in a Monday statement. "We opposed this shocking violation of privacy, alongside many victims' rights advocates."

Uber disclosed the existence of thousands of sexual assaults nationwide in its 2019 safety report. Afterward, the CPUC demanded detailed information about cases that occurred in California-including the time and place where assaults happened and names and contact information of witnesses. The CPUC order doesn't specifically ask for the names of victims. However, in many cases the victim would be the only witness, so CPUC was essentially seeking to unmask hundreds of sexual assault victims.

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