Author: bedelman

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Refused to honor taxi strike protesting Trump travel ban

When taxi drivers at JFK Airport went on strike to protest President Trump’s travel ban targeting seven Muslim-majority countries, Uber continued service. While Uber claimed that continued service would assist passengers in completing their journeys, critics saw Uber profiteering and failing to honor an important principle.

Criticism was sharpened because Uber CEO Travis Kalanick at the time served as a strategic advisor to Trump, suggesting that he supported the travel ban or Trump’s policies more generally. (Kalanick later stepped down from that advisory role.)

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Tracked driver activity on Lyft servers

News site The Information in April 2017 reported that Uber built a program it called “Hell” to track how many Lyft drivers were available, where they were located, and whether they drove for Uber also.  Uber then targeted these drivers with special promotions to encourage them to use Uber only.

By all indications, Uber collected data for “Hell” by connecting to Lyft’s servers in a manner prohibited by Lyft’s Terms of Service.

The Information reported that Uber then-CEO Travis Kalanick personally praised the Hell team, saying that they demonstrated Uber’s culture in their willingness to “hustle” in order to win.

In September 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported the FBI investigating Uber’s “Hell” practices.

Bloomberg reports that Hell was overseen by Joe Sullivan, Chief Security Officer of Uber, through a team formerly known as Competitive Intelligence.

See also the “Surfcam” program whereby Uber tracked data from Grab.

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“Fingerprinting” iPhones to track reinstalls

In 2015, Uber added code to its iPhone app to recognize when it had been deleted on a phone, then reinstalled.  The New York Times said this method “violated Apple’s privacy guidelines” and reported that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was summoned to meet Apple CEO Tim Cook, who insisted that Uber cease the practice or be removed from Apple’s App Store.

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Tracked users when app runs in the background

A May 2015 change in Uber’s privacy policy allows the company to access users’ locations even when the app is running in the background.  Uber described this as “get[ting] people on their way more quickly.”  But it also sharply increased the private information sent to Uber.

Details in a 2015 complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, submitted to the FTC.  Recode in June 2017 reported the FTC opening an inquiry.

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Google alleged Uber stole its autonomous car technologies

In a February 2017 lawsuit, Google alleged that Uber stole proprietary Google technology for autonomous cars. Google reported that Anthony Levandowski, an original member of Google’s self-driving car project, downloaded over 14,000 confidential files (9.7GB) pertaining to Google’s designs and testing, and used this information in Otto, a self-driving company that Uber later acquired. Complaint.

When Levandowski refused to testify or otherwise cooperate with litigation, invoking the Fifth Amendment to refuse to incriminate himself, Uber fired him.

Litigation brought by Benchmark Capital indicates that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick knew, before acquiring Otto, about the likelihood that Levandowski had Google materials. In particular, in March 2016, a month before Uber acquired Otto, Uber retained an investigator to assess whether Levandowski and others had Google materials. Benchmark Capital further alleges that Kalanick never shared this information with Uber investors.

Waymo v. Uber litigation docket

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Multiple drivers rejected blind passengers with service dogs

Multiple blind passengers reported Uber drivers refusing to transport them and their service dogs.

A key lawsuit challenging Uber’s treatment of blind passengers was National Federation of the Blind of California, et a., v. Uber Technologies, Inc.: Second Amended Complaint. Decision denying Uber’s motion to dismiss (including finding that Uber may be liable under the public accommodation provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act). Settlement agreement. Other case documents.

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Obtained medical records of a customer

After an unnamed customer reported being raped by an Uber driver in India in December 2014, Uber executive Eric Alexander obtained her medical records and showed them to CEO Travis Kalanick and SVP Emil Michael.  As of June 2017, Alexander had left Uber.

In a June 2017 lawsuit, the customer filed a lawsuit against Uber as well as Alexander, Kalanick, and Michael for intrusion into private affairs, public disclosure of private facts, and defamation. In addition to noting the impropriety of Uber managers obtaining and examining her medical records without her consent, she flagged the inconsistency between Uber’s public claims (“We will do everything … to help bring this perpetrator to justice and to support the victim”) and its actual action.

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