Category: New York

Disputes in New York

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#deleteUber campaign

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 254) describes users’ online protest against Uber, inspired by Uber’s apparent refusal to honor a taxi strike in response to a Trump travel ban. Chicago writer Dan O’Sullivan Tweeted “congrats to @Uber_NYC on breaking a strike to profit off of refugees being consigned to Hell”, then “Don’t like @Uber’s exploitative anti-labor policies & Trump collaboration, now profiting off xenophobia? #deleteUber.”  O’Sullivan then pointed out the surprisingly difficult task of deleting an Uber account.

Tens of thousands joined the #deleteUber protest, often posting screenshots of their account deletions.  Within a week, more than 500,000 people deleted their Uber accounts, while others removed the app from their phones.

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Drug traffickers and prostitutes used Uber with stolen credit card numbers

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 182) reports drug traffickers and prostitutes using Uber for local transportation — and not even paying for it.

In Brooklyn, … credit card thieves used stolen card numbers to run drug trafficking and prostitution rings using Uber vehicles. The ruse was simple: the dealers would buy stolen credit card numbers from the Dark Web, then plug those numbers into the app to charge Uber trips to the stolen accounts. Over hundreds of trips per week they delivered drugs and call girls throughout New York City–all paid by Uber incentives or through chargebacks from credit card companies after the original card owners reported the fraud.

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Pushed taxi and livery drivers to financial ruin

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 146) summarizes the “financial ruin” that car services and taxis faced when Uber entered their market and destroyed the value of their permits and medallions.  Quoting from driver Doug Schifter’s suicide note:

When the industry started in 1981, I averaged 40-50 hours. I cannot survive any longer with working 120 hours! I am not a Slave and I refuse to be one.”

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New York City Councilors regretted their decision not to restrain growth of Uber

In 2015, the New York City Council declined to proceed with Mayor De Blasio’s proposal to cap the number of new Uber drivers (in part based on Uber’s vigorous advocacy). Looking back on that decision, the new Speaker of the New York City Council, Corey Johnson told WNYC radio that he had chosen the wrong approach. In particular, he explained, “given what we’ve seen and the explosive growth of this industry and how it’s affected the streets of New York City, I think we should have done more.”

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Opposed De Blasio plan to limit number of vehicles

Concerned about growing congestion, New York City Mayor De Blasio proposed a bill to limit the issuance of new for-hire vehicle licenses. The proposal would have limited Uber to about 200 new drivers in New York during the subsequent year.

In response, Uber alerted its New York Customers — creating a “De Blasio’s Uber” feature that always showed either no cars available or a wait time of 25 minutes. With a single button, users could email the mayor and city council to send a form letter prewritten by Uber.

Uber also sent emails to all Uber users in the district of New York Councilman Steve Levin who was sponsoring the bill. And Uber investor Ashton Kutcher Tweeted to criticize the proposal — as did Neil Patrick Harris, who had made money by Tweeting Uber signup links, as well as Kate Upton.

All told, Uber spent $1 million lobbying New York city government officials to defeat the driver cap bill.

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Passenger steals driver’s tips; Uber declines to assist

After a passenger stole cash from a driver’s tip jar, caught in dashcam video, the driver contacted Uber to report the problem. Uber replied to note that the passenger denied the allegation. Uber continued:

If you believe the rider has your cash as captured from your dash cam and is refusing to return it, you may want to initiate a formal investigation via the police.

Facing subsequent media scrutiny, Uber indicated having banned the passenger from further use of Uber.

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Driver names and license numbers improperly secured

In September 2014, Uber experienced a data breach resulting from an Uber engineer posting an access code which let an unauthorized third party accessed driver names and driver license numbers. Uber failed to notify affected drivers or the state of New York for seven months.

The New York Attorney General described the breach and Uber’s handling of the situation:

The Attorney General found that in early 2014 an Uber engineer posted an access ID for Uber’s third-party cloud storage on Github.com, a website designed to allow software engineers to collaborate. The post was accessible to the general public. On May 12, 2014, someone unaffiliated with Uber accessed the database that included Uber driver names and driver license numbers. Uber discovered the breach in September 2014 but did not provide notice to the affected drivers and Schneiderman’s office until February 26, 2015. General Business Law § 899-aa requires notice be provided to affected individuals and various government agencies including Schneiderman’s office “in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay.”

As part of a settlement with the New York Attorney General’s office, Uber promised to implement multi-factor authentication for any employee could to access especially sensitive rider personal information, among other improved data security practices. Uber also paid a $20,000 penalty for failing to timely notify drivers and the State of New York.

A subsequent FTC investigation and settlement found that more than 100,000 drivers were affected. The FTC reported that in addition to 100,000+ names and driver’s license numbers, Uber also revealed 215 names and bank account numbers with routing numbers, and 84 names and security numbers. Furthermore, the FTC found that Uber’s efforts to notify affected drivers were piecemeal and incomplete: The company initially notified less than half of the drivers affected, whereas others were notified some 16+ months later.

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Inferior access to passengers who use wheelchairs (New York City)

A July 2017 complaint, filed by the nonprofit legal group Disability Rights Advocates in New York, criticized Uber’s failure to include wheelchair-accessible vehicles in its standard UberX fleet, claiming that 99.9% of Uber’s vehicles were inaccessible to people with mobility disabilities, in violation of New York’s anti-discrimination laws.

The lawsuit alleged that Uber riders who need wheelchair-accessible vehicles face significantly longer wait times than other passengers, and that at some periods and in some places, no wheelchair-accessible vehicles are available at all.

The lawsuit further alleged that passengers attempting to use Uber’s accessible service face extended wait times, or are denied access to
the service altogether, which the plaintiffs said reveals that the accessible service was “window-dressing designed to avoid government regulation and legal requirements” and insufficient under law.

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Overcharged commissions to New York drivers

For New York drivers, Uber took its commission based on gross fares including state taxes, rather than net fares after deduction of taxes. The New York Times estimated that this overcharged New York drivers by more than $200 million — and increased Uber’s revenue by the same amount.

A subsequent New York Times analysis compared Uber’s tax and billing practices across jurisdictions, examining receipts to assess irregularities and comparing changing contract language to understand Uber’s shifting approach.

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