Warning: A company wants to track your face inside your next Uber or Lyft in Houston

A company by the name of ALFI is going to start to put tablets in Uber and Lyft vehicles starting next week in Houston.

To the naked eye, this appears to be a tablet similar to the Play Octopus tablet that you may have already encountered. The main difference? This tablet tracks your face (yes, the riders face) in order to provide you with personal advertisements.

Drivers – Keep in mind, once you get this installed you can not remove it without terminating your contract in person with ALFI. The icing on the cake is, they are in our city for a limited time only.

What happens when they leave? How would you take it off?

If you are like most drivers, you likely have your family, your children in the same vehicle. This tablet will track your families faces, conversations, etc as well if you forget to turn it off. In return, “you can earn up to $350 a month”. (Of course, this is likely only if you are driving 80+ hours a week, but we will give them the benefit of the doubt)

Typically I will e-mail these companies and ask for more info, try and get an affiliate link but here is a good article about ALFI. This is definitely a huge invasion of privacy not just for riders, but drivers alike. I for one hate that kind of invasion of privacy.

For riders, remember you can cite to Uber you did not feel safe because of this tablet if you encounter it and have your cancel fee refunded. If you are out with fellow coworkers, or clients, please be careful what you say in front of this thing.

Pro Tip: Lyft Lux drivers get paid pretty fairly and do not have to worry about supplemental income from 3rd parties.

If you are a driver and want some supplemental income, I highly recommend the Play Octopus tablet mentioned above. Not only is it a basic tablet that doesn’t record your riders, you can also remove it as you see fit. If you live in Houston, you are likely to know someone if not yourself who has had their windows broken by thieves. ALFI does not let you remove it without coming back to visit them.

Tell us in the comments below what you think of this. Would you still get into to that Uber/Lyft knowing you are being recorded?