Uber used secret tool, extraordinary measures to sidestep government officials

[bananas]

Source: Washington Post

Uber, the ride-hailing service that has become one of the tech industry’s most emulated companies, has smashed into a painful wall of reality in recent weeks, capped by a report Friday that the company has taken extraordinary measures to evade government officials in places where the service was restricted or banned.

<snip>

Friday’s twist came from a story in the New York Times about how Uber worked to identify and defeat government officials in a years-long game of cat and mouse that spanned several nations. Uber mined customer geolocation data, credit-card information, app-usage habits and even social-media profiles to identify those working for city governments or driving for rival ride-hailing services.

<snip>

Uber used a tool, code-named Greyball, in 2014 to identify Portland, Ore., officials who posed as regular customers to request rides in order to gather evidence that the company was operating illegally in the city, according to the Times report. But rather than procuring a driver for the “customer,” the service showed officials fake versions of the Uber app, complete with fake drivers. Any real ones who did respond to the requests for rides would quickly cancel, sometimes after direct intervention from Uber officials to drivers, allowing the service to avoid detection in a city where it was banned.

“This program denies ride requests to fraudulent users who are violating our terms of service, whether that’s people aiming to physically harm drivers, competitors looking to disrupt our operations, or opponents who collude with officials on secret ‘stings’ meant to entrap drivers,” Uber said Friday in a statement.

<snip>

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/03/03/the-latest-bad-news-for-uber-shows-just-how-far-its-willing-to-go-to-get-its-way/?utm_term=.963c61a72010

[bananas]

1. still in use

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/uber-uses-secret-program-greyball-to-hide-from-regulators-law-enforcement-boston-new-york-harassment-a7610851.html

<snip>

A spokeswoman for Uber confirmed that Greyball was still in use, though on a much smaller scale than it once was.

<snip>

The program began under a different name in 2014, and is still being used when drivers are under threat of arrest or other legal punishment in some cities within 15 U.S. states without clear ride-sharing laws, she said, adding that she did not know in which other countries the system is being used.

The New York Times reported that Uber had used the tool to evade authorities in Boston, Paris and Las Vegas, and countries includes Australia, China, Italy and South Korea.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. So fucking brazen.

This country is infected with a culture of cheating.

We have a major political party whose very model is based on lies, suppression, outright cheating and colluding with foreign intelligence agencies to win.

We have a banking/financial industry that cheats everyone from little old ladies by opening bogus accounts all the way up to hedge-funds bald-faced defrauding of large institutional investors.

Nobody goes to jail and nobody faces anything more than the potential of having to give back a FRACTION of what they stole.

[christx30]

5. I've always supported Uber

because local cab companies are usually horrible. The cabs are dirty. They'll make you wait 1 or 2 hours before they show up (if they show up). I've been stranded, waiting in freezing weather for a cab that never showed up. I ended up walking home 9 miles in rainy 32 degree weather. If I had the option of Uber that night, I wouldn't have cared about sidestepping or cheating the government officials. I just wanted to go home.
Uber is filling a need that the local government and taxi companies aren't. I say more power to them. This is more about the ego of local officials than it is about protecting the citizens.
Screw them.

[FrodosNewPet]

7. Uber is commiting suicide in order to kill taxis and public transportation

When you spend $1.40 to get $1.00, you will eventually run out of other people's money.

[Merlot]

8. Why not use a different ridesharing app?

uber isn't the only one out there.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Radar detectors

Business will do what it believes it needs to do to avoid legal consequences

[heaven05]

4. too big to fail

Uber execs know, so they do any thing they please....they are all billionaire plutocrats now, they will sidestep any type of court action....too.

[Blue Idaho]

6. Not even self driving cars are going to save Uber

They've had their 15 minutes of fame.