Uber links to sensitive ride data now expire after 48 hours

The feature lets Uber customers share their ETA, via SMS, with friends and family during a ride. The text that's sent includes a link to a live map that shows where the rider is during the course of the ride, just like the map shown on the rider's own smartphone.

On Thursday, links to dozens of the maps could be found on search engines like Google, by performing a site search of trip.uber.com. In addition to the route, the maps show the first names of the rider and driver, and the car and license plate of the driver. On these sites, the source code also includes the exact addresses of the pick-up and destination, and the exact date and time of the ride.

The links were publicly accessible through Google because they had been shared online on social media sites by the people who had received them, Uber said.

Now, riders can continue to share links to the maps, but the links will expire after 48 hours. Uber chief security officer Joe Sullivan announced the change in a tweet on Friday.

The change's effect can already be seen online. Links that on Thursday had displayed maps now only bring up a web site reading, "Page not found."

Uber has been subjected to criticisms and questions over privacy and its user data policies. In this instance, the company acted swiftly to mitigate concerns tied to an important data issue.