杂志汇中国与非洲

ISTOCKDidi, China’s largest Uber-like ride-hailing service provider, received a wave of negative publicity recently after a flight attendant taking a ride was murdered by the driver on May 5. The driver was later found having committed suicide. This incident has triggered far-reaching debate on the safety of mobile car-hailing and ride-sharing services and what can be done to ensure passenger safety.

Though Didi immediately installed a series of measures, such as compulsory facial recognition for drivers for each pickup and suspending rides between 22:00 and 6:00, it still has challenges in managing the platform. Facing complaints from both passengers and drivers, Didi has struggled to divide responsibilities as neither side could provide concrete evidence when complaints are made. As most of the complaints, such as sexual harassment and arguments between passengers and drivers, could not be monitored, Didi is now soliciting advice from society on whether it can record audio and video information inside the cars as the evidence of possible disputes, with the approval of passengers.

The audios and videos will be directly uploaded to the platform’s servers after being encrypted, and deleted automatically after 72 hours.

Supporters believe that although collecting videos and audios inside the cars may infringe on passengers’ privacy, it is still necessary for their personal safety. In addition, recordings can act as a deterrent to crime.

However, those opposing the proposal say recordings won’t effectively prevent crimes, and that there is possible risk in personal information being leaked.

PROS

HE YONG Legal Daily

This is definitely a positive approach that can help ensure passengers’ personal safety. The space inside the cars is actually public, not private. But many passengers and drivers assume these cars are private space because they are privately owned, unlike regular taxis. This misconception may compromise the de facto relations between drivers and passengers as the service providers and service consumers. With the idea of “private space” in their minds, passengers may not be alert, and drivers may also not restrain their speech and behavior, leading to disputes or possible criminal offenses.

In fact, when a passenger hires a private car through a ride-hailing app, the vehicle actually operates as a taxi, or a public transportation tool. Thus, it is legal to record and collect audio or video footage in a public space.

ZHU WEIAssociate Professor with China University of Political Science and Law

Recording audio and video in ride-sharing cars can benefit all related parties. Compared with privacy, personal safety is definitely more important. Without personal safety, there is no privacy, especially in special circumstances such as a young woman hiring a car at midnight. To ensure safety, everything that happens in the car should be recorded. Of course, this should be agreed by both drivers and passengers. This will not infringe on a passengers’ privacy. If passengers want to make a telephone call on a private issue, they can ask the driver to stop recording. In order to maintain personal safety, it is worthwhile to concede privacy to some extent. More importantly, recordings can protect the legal rights and interests of both passengers and drivers. With a camera above their heads, both of them do not dare to take rash and unconsidered actions. More importantly, these recordings can be used to settle disputes.

ZHENG JIANTAO A public relations officer of Didi

For me, recording what happens in a ride-sharing vehicle is very important. In my daily work, I deal with a lot of complaints. During the process, I need evidence to do my job fairly, as drivers and passengers give me different reasons in the case of a complaint. Without concrete evidence, complainants will be unsatisfied with any decision reached if it goes against them. Thus, I need to know what really happened inside the car before I can make the correct decisions. In cases such as sexual harassment or other criminal cases, audios and videos can help me and the police make the right decisions.

Recordings can protect the legal rights and interests of both passengers and drivers.

CONS

　　HUANG XIAOLIANG Professor with Beijing Normal University

I do not think recording is a good idea as it can lead to information being leaked, which has serious consequences. For passengers, when they pay to hire a car and sit in the car, the space they are in is private, and I don’t think they want their conversations to be heard by other people. Actually, Didi can collect other information such as the start and end time of the trip. In some special cases, the interaction between passengers and drivers can be recorded, but not the exchanges among passengers.

Didi indicates that it will clearly inform passengers and obtain their approval before recording. But in reality, the devices used for recordings are drivers’ cellphones, and the materials will be uploaded to Didi’s server.

According to China’s Criminal Law, whoever unlawfully uses any special equipment or devices for eavesdropping or secret photography will be punished.

DENG XUEPING Deputy Director of Shanghai Office of Capital

Equity Legal Group Collecting recordings can threaten related parties from taking extreme actions, but it will also bring new problems, such as how to deal with these materials, and how Didi can prevent information from leaking. When all this personal information is stored in Didi’s servers, what will happen if these servers are hacked? As long as we cannot ensure the 100-percent safety of passengers’ personal information, then we shouldn’t collect it. In general, we cannot just solve one problem by causing another problem. Actually, there are many measures Didi can take to ensure passengers’ personal safety, such as strengthening management of the op-eration platform, and strictly checking the caliber of drivers, instead of expanding surveillance of passengers.

SUN MING A bank clerk in Beijing

I think personal privacy is very important, and we cannot expose everything to the public simply because we hire a car. To ensure passengers’ safety, Didi can develop a credibility rating system for all drivers.

Also, I just doubt whether recording passengers’ information inside a car can ensure their personal safety. If a driver wants to commit crimes, he can easily turn off the camera and cut the power before acting, or delete the recordings after that. In this sense, these devices are useless. Recordings can only be used as post-event evidence and cannot prevent disputes or crimes from happening.

Collecting recordings can bring new problems, such as how to deal with these materials, and how Didi can prevent information from leaking out.