Arcade City? Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!
I have been in constant communication with LTFRB officials the whole weekend (just when my body was telling me to lie down because of the flu) because of two news from supposedly new Transport Network Companies (TNC’s) starting operations today.
The first was U-HOP who unabashedly announced that “due to insistent public demand” they are resuming their operations at 6:00am today, April 16, 2018, as a TNC to service the vacuum left by Uber.
U-HOP even send us a photo of a supposedly LTFRB Accreditation allowing them to operate. The problem with that it was issued last March 11, 2016 and had an expiration date of two-years after issuance. That was last month.
LTFRB Board Member Atty. Aileen Lizada clarified that the application of U-HOP is still at the hearing stage and they have not renewed the franchise.
The worst news about transport, however, is the one by Arcade City.
The company posted on social media and their company blog that they have developed an application similar to those of Uber and Grab and will service the needs of commuters beginning today also. The thing is, Arcade City does not have any local franchise and does not even have an office in the country.
After the Facebook debacle on personal data and the Uber issue before that, can you imagine what can happen to our data if Arcade City got a hold of it in their servers?
The thing about Arcade City that sounds insidious is that they have been claiming that they are not a TNC but only an application that would-be-TNC’s can use but do not have the capital to develop their own application.
They also claim that their application allows drivers and commuters to dictate their prices without the burdensome involvement of an organization that sets prices for services rendered. Arcade City claims they are not making money out of their enterprise which is quite impossible for a business enterprise.
Christopher David Pille has been involved and excluded in some political and liberal movements in the US due to some questionable activities. (photo courtesy of Ivan Chen-O’Niel)
The CEO of Arcade City is a certain Christopher David or Christopher David Pille. He has a number of scam charges and conviction and police reports against him and he has earlier allegedly stepped down as CEO of Arcade City until now when the need for a substitute for Uber became evident in the Philippines.
Now, where am I going with this?
LTFRB Board Member Atty. Aileen Lizada has warned drivers that their vehicles will be impounded if and when they are found to be operating under Arcade City.
LTFRB has continuously requested Arcade City to show themselves and file the proper papers so they can be accredited and allowed to operate. Arcade City continuously refused and even posted mocking comments on the demands of LTFRB which essentially said they can do whatever they want because they are not covered by our laws.
If Arcade City is allowed to operate without the necessary government permits and without a local office, imagine what would happen to all the data they could collect from both drivers and commuters once they sign up?
This app will ask you to sign up and then get your details like name, address and even credit card information. Are you sure this is safe when they do not even have an office here?
Remember that incident with Uber where data was hacked and retrieved from their servers? Because Uber is a duly registered company, the US government was able to detect this intrusion into their costumers data and took Uber to task for it.
Now, how would the LTFRB do this to Arcade City, with a CEO that has dubious business and political record in the United States? After the Facebook debacle on personal data and the Uber issue before that, can you imagine what can happen to our data if Arcade City got a hold of it in their servers?
(image courtesy of Steemit)
