back to article Hacks, bribes and bugs: Uber accused of illegal snooping on rivals

Uber has been accused of illegal intelligence gathering, using non-attributable hardware and software, impersonating drivers and bugging private events, in an explosive set of allegations from a former staffer. The revelations came in a document released as part of competitor Waymo's case against Uber, in which the Alphabet- …

  1. Mark 85

    Wow!!! I guess it's time to order in the super-sized bag of popcorn. This just keeps getting weirder and wilder by the day.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What bag?

      This is getting into the realm of no longer funny.

      I am surprised that the situation has not reached a point where RICO and other similar statute books are being thrown at them. IMHO it is only a matter of time for this to happen.

      Frankly, it is high time Uber is closed down one way or another - we have yet another Uber driver to kill a passenger after trying to rape her as recently as last night: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/suspect-arrested-over-death-of-british-diplomat-rebecca-dykes-in-beirut

      1. a_yank_lurker

        Re: What bag?

        I was also wondering about RICO and similar charges.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What bag?

        > I am surprised that the situation has not reached a point where RICO and other similar statute books are being thrown at them. ...

        Just to point out, the kinds of activities being alleged against Uber here are not really anything special. Many other ethically challenged large businesses operate similarly.

        The difference is that most don't have the information become public.

        1. lglethal Silver badge
          Stop

          Re: What bag?

          "Just to point out, the kinds of activities being alleged against Uber here are not really anything special. Many other ethically challenged large businesses operate similarly.

          The difference is that most don't have the information become public."

          Lets just be clear here AC, I hope your not saying "Someone else is doing it, so it's ok for Über do have done it!"

          If Über did These things, and they are illegal then they should absolutely get taken to the cleaners for it, and People (including Management) should get prison time. If you have Information that other firms are doing the same, then YOU should be talking to the Police.

          Saying "shit happens" and giving a firm a free pass because other firms potentially might be doing the same thing is utter bollocks...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: What bag?

            > If you have Information that other firms are doing the same, then YOU should be talking to the Police.

            NDA's, and really... whistle blowers don't fare well.

            1. lglethal Silver badge
              FAIL

              Re: What bag?

              NDA's do not protect against illegal activity. If you do keep quiet about illegal activity, you're an accessory. Saying you couldnt say anything because of an NDA will get you laughed out of court...

    2. BillG
      Angel

      And Now For Something Completely Different

      I wonder what would have happened if Uber had put all this time, effort, and money into providing a quality service that everyone liked?

      1. c1ue

        Re: And Now For Something Completely Different

        Instead they're selling $1 rides for $0.60 - and those are very popular.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So much spying...

    They must have all sorts of embarrassing 'stuff' on important people all over the world. They seem to be getting more like the old style Mafia every day. Perhaps in the not to distant future, the verb 'to Uber' means not getting an underpaid driver to posibly take you somewhere you don't want to go but where all your dirty laundry gets aired in public.

    Or will someone sue them for so much money that they have to cease operations?

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: So much spying...

      The only person in a better position to spy on you than your driver is the housemaid.

      What people fail to understand is that Uber is not amorphous, anonymous like a taxi you hail in the middle of a street. All data on you has been collated by the company. That data is anything but amorphous and anonymous. They know where you live. Where you go. Where you take your kids. When you take your kids. When you pick them up. Minimal correlation also yields whom do you meet, when and where.

      That would have been worrying In the hands of a fit and proper company.

      Now think for a second about all that data being in the hands of a company with their track record, their governance and their management.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So much spying...

        .....what, like Google?

        I know nothing about Uber, I live in the back of beyond, but most of their practices seem like normal modern business.

        ...collecting data, knowing everything about you, knowing exactly how competitors operate, analysing the market place and targeting their efforts....sounds like many other companies to me.

        As for illegal stuff preventing officialdom from knowing anything, pretty much on a par with operating off-shore accounts and having 35 holding companies to move profits in and out of countries to avoid tax...which all large companies seem to do.

        Paying low wages...again so do most large companies.

        Making their staff be "self employed" when really they are employees....so does the BBC.

        I know they've upset a lot of people but isn't half of the complaints just sour grapes?

        1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

          Re: So much spying...

          what, like Google?

          Yes. Like Google. Or Apple for the Apple-centric households.

          The issue with both is that while they are not angels, they have never tried to engage into outright criminal sh*t targeting specific individuals.

          I am not aware of Google hiring PIs, hacking into people's systems to get their private data, getting illegally their medical information and violating laws and regs in every jurisdiction it operates. In all the years it has been the "eye in the sky" for a large chunk of human population there was just one case of an employee abusing site engineering access to target someone personally if memory serves me right. Apple has an even better record - afaik their record so far is practically spotless.

          Now, shall we compare that with Uber?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: So much spying...

            Yes. Like Google. Or Apple for the Apple-centric households.

            The issue with both is that while they are not angels, they have never tried to engage into outright criminal sh*t targeting specific individuals.

            Google doesn't have to (they already know everything about you) and Apple could not care less on account of making enough money with hardware to bother about data and software other than a means to sell even more..

  3. Gotno iShit Wantno iShit

    Kalanick

    Surely the authorities have to go after Kalanick personally at some point? He ran this company, he set the way they operated. If he is allowed to walk away a precedent is set; Run a startup any way you like. Lie, cheat, steal, break laws, behave like utter shits. Do what the hell you like to get rich. It's all fine.

    1. Rich 11

      Re: Kalanick

      Corporatism at its finest.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Uber will have more troubles...

    ... if the news the Englishwoman killed in Lebanon has been raped and killed by an Uber driver with a criminal record will be confirmed.

  5. ma1010
    Alert

    Like I said before...

    Uber is a sinkhole of corruption with no bottom. There really seems to be no end to their crimes and crooked business practices.

    Popcorn for all, as we wait for new crimes to be revealed next month!

    My wife occasionally uses ride sharing, but I've got her using Lyft instead of Uber. Friends don't let friends use Uber.

    Hopefully government will just kill this monster and bury it deep in a radioactive toxic waste dump where it belongs.

    1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Like I said before...

      Quote: Hopefully government will just kill this monster and bury it deep in a radioactive toxic waste dump where it belongs.

      Not radioactive.. as that tends to mutate and bring back to life anything buried in it

      Or so my comic told me

  6. Marcelo Rodrigues
    Mushroom

    Now, that's efficiency!

    There isn't much left to accuse them of. Bravo! Must be some kind of world record...

    1. Captain DaFt

      Re: Now, that's efficiency!

      There isn't much left to accuse them of. Bravo! Must be some kind of world record...

      As far as I can tell, the only crimes Uber hasn't yet been accused of are:

      Treason

      Littering

      and... um... ?

      1. kain preacher

        Re: Now, that's efficiency!

        Murder(yet)

        Genocide.

  7. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    "Strategic Services Group (SSG)"

    The "services" provided being to support the "strategy" of

    a) Kill all competitors.

    b) Destroy any legal obstacles to growing in any market anywhere.

    The real model for these guys is the National Cash Register "Hit Squad" to (literally) destroy competition by undercutting their prices, selling poor quality counterfeits to destroy their reputation and steal their IP.

    They were as successful in this as Microsoft has been in keeping any serious unified competitor off the desktop for the last 40 years.

    1. the Jim bloke

      Re: "Strategic Services Group (SSG)"

      Another atrocity to be laid at Ubers door...

      Besmirching the good name of SSG.

      Strategic Studies Group where, and possibly still are, an Australian computer game writing/publishing company, responsible for Battlefront, Europe Ablaze, Carriers at War, and I think Warlords and Reach for the Stars - before those thieving bastards at mcdonalds stole the name for a marketing/charity ploy.

      1. Justin Clift

        Re: "Strategic Services Group (SSG)"

        Wow. I'd forgotten about Reach for the Stars. Used to play it years ago:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reach_for_the_Stars_(video_game)

      2. Just Another Fuckin Anarchist

        Re: "Strategic Services Group (SSG)"

        Strategic Studies Group are still alive and well...

        Some of their games have been updated to modern hardware (CaW amongst them) and are being sold through Matrix Games.

        http://www.ssg.com.au/

  8. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Wow!

    Uber really has become the business world equivalent of the Jerry Springer Show. I'm almost expecting that the next newstory out of that company is that an executive once smashed a chair over someone's head, all the while dropping F-bombs

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Wow!

      I'm almost expecting that the next newstory out of that company is that an executive once smashed a chair over someone's head, all the while dropping F-bombs

      Is Ballmer now working for Uber?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    proof if any more were needed

    That there is a different set of rules for those with money than those without.

    At this rate the day uber loses it all will the be the day Trump gets impeached.

    Anon because I hear the helicopters circling....

  10. This post has been deleted by its author

  11. unwarranted triumphalism

    'Accused'

    Oh well they must be guilty then. If they've been accused. Stands to reason doesn't it?

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