It isn't about being clever. It is about protecting myself from malicious people while trying to avoid being rude as much as possible. No one wants a camera shoved in their face saying, "I think you might be a thief/scammer and I am doing this to protect myself in case you might be." No one wants to be the guy doing it either. Unfortunately, Uber hasn't done anything to mitigate the scams so we're stuck with a highly imperfect solution.

If the driver is cagey and says something like, "oh don't worry if you forgot something the back seat cam will see it" that just forces me to be rude. I asked if there was a problem with the car. It is very easy and very quick to look, confirm, and leave. Without that, I have to turn on the light on my phone, take full video of the car, and potentially get us both a one star rating in the process. Does that benefit anybody? Not in the least.

If we can both pretend that I am looking for my keys for 10 seconds, we can both leave happy. I'm not trying to do anything nefarious. Neither are you. Why make it harder than it has to be?