bedelman – Page 19 – Uber Scandals

September 28, 2017October 2, 2017

London Police said Uber “aware of criminal activity and yet haven’t informed the police”

In an April 2017 letter, the London Metropolitan Police questioned why Uber had not notified the police about criminal offenses known to Uber. The Police reported Uber refusing to provide information within its custody unless the police submit a formal request, and also refusing to report crime to the police because such reports may breach rights of a passenger. The Police questioned Uber’s approach, saying that Uber is “allowing situations to develop” that affect public safety, and noting also that the extra steps Uber calls for can impede prompt prosecution and ultimately lead perpetrators to go free.

The letter’s conclusion:

The significant concern I am raising is that Uber have been made aware of criminal activity and yet haven’t informed the police. Uber are however proactive in reporting lower level document frauds to both the MPS and LTPH. My concern is twofold, firstly it seems they are deciding what to report (less serious matters / less damaging to reputation over serious offences) and secondly by not reporting to police promptly they are allowing situations to develop that clearly affect the safety and security of the public.

September 27, 2017September 29, 2017

Five rapes by fake Uber driver targeting women leaving bars

In Chicago, a man was charged in five area cases. He picked up four of his five victims by claiming to be an Uber driver.

September 27, 2017September 27, 2017

Threatened to leave Quebec due to “severe” rules

In response to Quebec rules that Uber considered “severe,” the company threatened to leave the province. The disputed rules require 35 hours of training for each driver.

September 27, 2017November 27, 2017

Investors mark down their holdings in Uber

In litigation challenging various Uber misconduct, plaintiffs point out that Uber’s investors have begun to mark down their investments in the companies. Vanguard and T. Rowe Price reportedly marked down their shares by as much as 15%. Plaintiffs say that Uber’s loss in market capitalization was at least $18 billion.

September 27, 2017November 27, 2017

Claimed to be an “information society service,” but regulator said actually a transportation service

Seeking to avoid regulations from individual countries in Europe, Uber argued that it is an “information society service” that could only be regulated in accordance with Europe-wide procedures. In a May 2017 decision, the European Court of Justice said that Uber “falls within the field of transport” and therefore “Uber can … be required to obtain the necessary licenses and authorizations under law.”

September 27, 2017September 29, 2017

Texas firemen retirement fund claims Uber misled them about risks and law-breaking

In a lawsuit, the Irving Firemen’s Relief & Retirement Fund alleges that Uber and its former CEo Travis Kalanick knowingly misled them while raising funds, including failing to disclose that the company had broken laws.

The lawsuit chronicles a variety of Uber improprieties including “Greyball” evasion of law enforcement, “Hell” tracking of rivals, allegations of intellectual property theft from Google, sexual harassment and other human resources violations, knowingly renting out recalled and unsafe vehicles, and theft of a passenger’s medical records.

The lawsuit seeks class-action treatment for Uber investors.

complaint

September 27, 2017

San Francisco Police Department finds that Uber and Lyft drivers committed 65% of downtown traffic violations

At a hearing, Commander of Municipal Transportation for the San Francisco Police Department Robert O’Sullivan, reported that Uber and Lyft drivers were cited for the majority of traffic violations in downtown San Francisco. In particular, he reported that on the dozen tags SFPD studied, Uber and Lyft drivers caused 1723 of 2656 violations, 65%.

The most common violations resulted from using transit-only lanes (authorized for use by buses and taxis but not Uber or Lyft) (1144 violations). The second-most common category was obstructing a bicycle lane (183 violations).

San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin remarked on the seriousness of the situation and added that “We should take this to the state attorney general.”

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017

Stripped of license to operate in London because “not fit and proper”

In September 2017, Transport for London informed Uber that TfL will not renew Uber’s license to operate in London after September 30, 2017. TfL summarized its concern as Uber being “not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator license” based on a series of deficiencies including:

Its approach to reporting series criminal offenses
Its approach to how medical certificates are obtained
Its approach to how Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks are obtained
Its approach to explaining the use of Greyball in London, software that could be used to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to the app and prevent officials from undertaking regulatory or law enforcement duties

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the ruling was appropriate because “companies must play by the rules.”

Uber appeared like to challenge the ruling in court, and could continue operation during litigation.

September 21, 2017September 21, 2017

Encouraged passengers to circumvent Buenos Aires ban on payments to Uber

After Buenos Aires banned local credit card processors from providing payment to Uber, the company encouraged passengers to circumvent the ban by using prepaid card use, offering a 25% discount on rides paid with foreign prepaid cards, and sending an email to local users telling them about the required procedure.

September 18, 2017

Promotion perpetuated gender stereotypes

In India, an UberEats promotion offered a discount on food delivery, suggesting that a customer “let your wife take a day off from the kitchen” and thus presuming that all cooking is done by women and not men. Readers criticized Uber’s promotion as perpetuating gender stereotypes.