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posted by cmn32480 on Monday September 18 2017, @07:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-don't-have-to-accept-your-business dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow5743

Portland, Oregon, was one of the cities we mentioned where Uber employed the so-called "Greyball" tool. The city has now released a scathing report detailing that Uber evaded picking up 16 local officials for a ride before April 2015, when the service finally won approval by Portland regulators.

The Greyball software employs a dozen data points on a new user in a given market, including whether a rider's Uber app is opened repeatedly in or around municipal offices, which credit card is linked to the account, and any publicly available information about the new user on social media. If the data suggests the new user is a regulator in a market where Uber is not permitted, the company would present that user with false information about where Uber rides are. This includes showing ghost cars or no cars in the area.

The city concluded that, when Uber started operating in the city in December 2014 without Portland's authorization, the Greyball tool blocked 17 rider accounts. Sixteen of those were government employees. In all, Greyball denied 29 ride requests by city transportation enforcement officers.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/heres-a-real-life-slimy-example-of-ubers-regulator-evading-software/


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  • (Score: 2) by BK on Tuesday September 19 2017, @01:02AM

    by BK (4868) on Tuesday September 19 2017, @01:02AM (#569995)

    I live in a place that at least pays lip service to the laws of physics... I can legally receive any frequency.

    --
    ...but you HAVE heard of me.
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