The latest in a long line of blunders... not entirely surprised.

George Orwell only got the year wrong.

"a company whose core business model is, frankly, illegal in most of its markets as well." Not Biased at all then... Maybe it is an issue Android needs to address, by approving clean apps only, like Apple does.

Loz the blogs analysis might be inaccurate. Check this article http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/11/27/ubers-app-malware-despite-may-read/

"Not Biased at all then..."
Does "biased" mean something different where you're from, Cédric?
Stating a simple fact DOES NOT indicate bias.

That explains why Google invested so much

@ James Smith I'm sorry, but I don't buy a number of the excuses in the article you quoted, especially #2 and #8. And for many of the others Uber should explicitly ask the user for the information, not leech it secretly from your phone.
Much of the data types stated above seem surplus to actual needs to operate the service.

The allegation borders on the criminal that Uber is "Malware" the permissions are fairly typical in line with a Smartphone Ridesharing app and are relevant to it's operations, hardly "Malware" Many other apps have similar permissions and are not at any point considered "malware". It is reasonable to assume that the data collected is used maturely and not for nefarious purposes. Hardly malware!
The legality of Ridesharing organisations vary from nation to nation state to state based on antiquated laws relating to Ridesharing or "Carpooling" before the time of smartphones and tablets.
Why take an app like this and assassinate it so thoroughly? As if anything done by Uber is Malware or Illegal in all honesty - Ridesharing apps as Illegal Malware? That's just weird reporting for Gizmag.

Logically, disrupting the taxi industry is LONG OVERDUE. A recent survey of 16 economists (reported by The Guardian) showed 100% agreed that Uber should not be shut down (ie it is beneficial).
But ALL these companies need to clean-up their acts, and comply with EU standards (ie highest) for user privacy.
As to Orwell being correct, except as to the year... George wrote '1984' in 1948 and was only confident in where society was heading (he was so prescient), but he was unsure of the timeframe for the erosion of personal rights, so he just 'reversed' the current year's last two digits (48 to 84) to get a title for the book. He'd be unsurprised that it took longer, but feel self-congratulation as to his 'picking' of the trend towards misuse of state apparatus against the citizenry. Of course Orwell thought the oppression would be done with analogue technology (your TV watching you) and it was digital technology which really enabled it (logging the bytes sent and received by you)... But if you forgive the fact that in the 1940s he was not aware of the transistor, his predictions were still very insightful.

Absolutely, Graeme, The Taxi industry needs a kick up the backside, it doesn't take much skill to drive people around, "quite frankly" (this denotes my opinion, not a fact) the knowledge is obsolete, and I have received a much better service from Uber than black cabs. Can a black cab charge my phone? Can a black cab carry me across London for less than £7, can a black cab let me pay with my phone when I don't have cash, can a black cab let me split my bill with my friends? As a user, that's what I expect, the technology is available, let's use it to provide a better service. Now, I do care about privacy, if it's going to be misused, that's disappointing me no ends. So clean up your act, and be honest Uber!