NYC’s ‘Peculiar’ New Delivery App Law Raises Data Breach Fears

New York City’s novel mandate that apps like DoorDash share customer information with restaurants that cook the meals they deliver could help eateries devastated by Covid-19, but has set off alarm bells with privacy advocates.

Data-sharing runs counter to delivery apps’ efforts to protect privacy by limiting how much personal information is provided for fulfilling food orders, like revealing to restaurants only a customer’s first name, last initial, and what they bought.

“If apps shared user data on their own in other cities,” they would be sued for violating their own privacy policies, said Daniel Castro, vice president at the ...