Uber used technology, including fake apps with "ghost cars" to operate in localities where it was prohibited (1 Viewer)

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SAN FRANCISCO — Uber has for years engaged in a worldwide program to deceive authorities in markets where its low-cost ride-hailing service was being resisted by law enforcement, or in some instances, had been outright banned.

The program, which involves a tool called Greyball, uses data collected from Uber’s app and other techniques to identify and circumvent officials. Uber used these to evade authorities in cities such as Paris, Boston and Las Vegas, and in countries including Australia, China, South Korea and Italy.
. . .
Greyball and the broader VTOS program were described to The New York Times by four current and former Uber employees, who also provided documents. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the tools and their use are confidential and because of fear of retaliation from the company.

Uber’s use of Greyball was recorded on video in late 2014, when Erich England, a code enforcement inspector for Portland, Ore., tried to catch an Uber car downtown as part of a sting operation against the company.

At the time, Uber had just started its ride-hailing service in Portland without seeking permission from the city, which later declared the service illegal. To build a case against the company, officers like Mr. England posed as riders, opening the Uber app to hail a car and watching as the miniature vehicles on the screen wound their way toward him.

But unknown to Mr. England and other authorities, some of the digital cars they saw in their Uber apps were never there at all. The Uber drivers they were able to hail also quickly canceled. That was because Uber had tagged Mr. England and his colleagues — essentially Greyballing them as city officials — based on data collected from its app and through other techniques. Uber then served up a fake version of its app that was populated with ghost cars, to evade capture.

At a time when Uber is already under scrutiny for its boundary-pushing workplace culture, the Greyball tool underscores the lengths to which the company will go to win in its business.

How Uber Used Secret Greyball Tool to Deceive Authorities Worldwide
 
Uber has been Trumping HARD these last few weeks - it seems they can't turn around without falling into a scandal

however, they're still at 80% marketshare, so:idunno:
 
I haven't followed the story closely, but why is Uber being banned from the cities listed? Taxi lobby? How can they be legally banned from doing business?
 
I haven't followed the story closely, but why is Uber being banned from the cities listed? Taxi lobby? How can they be legally banned from doing business?

Local governments refer to safety concerns of getting in a car with a stranger. Think of the children.
 
I haven't followed the story closely, but why is Uber being banned from the cities listed? Taxi lobby? How can they be legally banned from doing business?

Not necessarily the taxi lobby - but the general local regulatory landscape for the commercial offering of vehicle rides. It has long been a regulated industry.

But yes, often the taxi lobby fought to bring Uber within that regulatory environment rather than letting it operate outside of it.
 
Honestly I'm outraged.

It's absolutely pitiful that people will frown upon Uber for doing this but turn the blind eye at the taxi and transportation lobbying dollars that are being spent to inact laws to prevent Uber from doing business.

Sorry taxi services. Someone did it better and cheaper than you and you're being phased out. Evolve or ****.



So, let me get this straight. Taxi companies give money to local, regional and national politicians to create laws to hurt their competition. Then some city governments spent large amount of tax dollars to set up undercover sting operations to try and bust a company that was being blackballed by that local government after accepting lobbying dollars from it's competition? On top of it all, they got schooled.

This article just tells me we need new politicians and more lobbying restrictions/laws.
 
I haven't followed the story closely, but why is Uber being banned from the cities listed? Taxi lobby? How can they be legally banned from doing business?
How can they legally do business in the first place? Just declaring they aren't a taxi service is like a doctor just opting out of regulation by claiming he's part of the sharing economy delivering peer to peer medicine. I don't need a degree or medical license because I'm not a doctor. The surgery I do is unregulated because I'm sharing with others in my own operating room.

I've never understood why local governments just sit by and let companies decide they just are outside of existing laws that regulate their business.
 
So, let me get this straight. Taxi companies give money to local, regional and national politicians to create laws to hurt their competition. Then some city governments spent large amount of tax dollars to set up undercover sting operations to try and bust a company that was being blackballed by that local government after accepting lobbying dollars from it's competition? On top of it all, they got schooled.
No, the companies fought those laws and regulations but submitted to them because they were enacted by communities that didn't appreciate rapes, murders and robberies occurring when no one needed a hack license and no one tracked cabs. The companies didn't want any of it, the public did.
 
They banned individuals from operating outside the regulations, sure, that's been true for 50 years. Stopping a business from unilaterally saying they aren't in a business category just to sidestep regulation isn't what you think it is. Builders can't just say they aren't traditional construction firms so their buildings don't have to follow local codes. If a company was trying to do that I'd expect them to be banned everywhere.

How anyone can think you can make a case that Uber or Lyft don't have to comply with every regulation that applies to taxis is the real miracle. I have no problem with them being in any city, as long as they obey the laws. It's the idea that you can just decide to be above the law that's ridiculous.

No one believes "we're just sharing a car, not taking money for transit like a taxi."
 

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