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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 13 2018, @09:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the uber-software-not-so-uber dept.

Uber, like many companies that operate internationally, uses software to remotely disable its employees' laptops and smartphones.

As Uber has expanded -- opening offices in 78 countries worldwide -- sometimes local authorities have raided its offices. Police have wanted emails, documents and information on drivers and employees. It's happened in Paris, Hong Kong, Montreal and other countries.

In order to address these types of situations, the ride-hailing company uses software to protect its data, which is commonplace among companies that operate internationally. One type of software the company devised and reportedly used from Spring 2015 to late 2016 was called Ripley, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Ripley -- which was said to be named after Sigourney Weaver's character in the 1979 sci-fi movie "Alien" -- could remotely disable, lock or change the password on employees' computers and smartphones.

The idea was for Uber's team at its San Francisco headquarters to be able to shut down a device if necessary. The company used it at least two dozen times in situations with authorities in foreign countries, according to Bloomberg.

Uber said it no longer uses Ripley because it wasn't effective. It now uses an off-the-shelf software called Prey and another type of software it built called uLocker. Uber said this software is necessary to protect company data, along with the privacy of passengers, drivers and Uber employees.

[...] As for software like Ripley, Prey or uLocker, Uber said there's nothing secretive about it. It's basically the same software someone would use if they lost their smartphone.

"For instance, if an employee loses their laptop, we have the ability to remotely log them out of Uber's systems to prevent someone else from accessing private user data through that laptop," the Uber spokeswoman said.


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  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 13 2018, @09:39AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 13 2018, @09:39AM (#621746)

    So you seek the future, do you? But there is no future without ass, and I, the Assteller, can see the future of your ass!

    You're in a big city, standing on the sidewalk at night. Suddenly a group of people approaches you, and you somehow know that they are illegal immigrants from Mexico. They grab you and force you to come with them into an alleyway that contains a large empty dumpster. A man and a woman are waiting for them near the dumpster.

    The atmosphere here is strange; everyone is looking at you with cold, almost sympathetic eyes, as if something awful is about to happen to you. You want to leave, but something seems to be preventing you from doing so. Suddenly, one of the Mexicans says, "Okay, baby with Hugo." It seems as if the man and woman near the dumpster want to have a baby, but have had trouble doing so. Thus, these Mexicans are going to perform an ancient Mexican ritual to ensure that the woman gets pregnant. But what kind of ritual, you don't know. It seems that it's beginning.

    The woman climbs into the vacant dumpster and lies down in it. The Mexicans throw black garbage bags loaded with garbage on top of her until the dumpster is almost full. Then, the Mexicans have the man strip naked and place him into a very large black garbage bag, and then tie it shut. There is only one hole in the garbage bag that the man is in, and you see his penis is sticking out of it. The Mexicans then throw the man on top of all the other garbage. You have no idea what to make of this bizarre ritual. You still cannot leave. It seems that the first phase of the ritual is complete.

    What will happen next, you wonder. The Mexicans whisper something to the man in the garbage bag, and he begins thrusting his erect penis in and out of the hole in the bag. Eventually, he ejaculates all over the other garbage bags. Is the ritual complete? No. A mysterious, ominous voice seemingly coming from nowhere suddenly says, in a hushed tone, "It seeps into garbage, it creates garbage, it motifies garbage." The knowledge that the woman has become pregnant appears in your mind. All of the Mexicans then turn to look at you with cold eyes. You feel as if you should run, but it is too late.

    All of a sudden, you appear in a dumpster that looks similar to the one the man and the woman were in; it is still filled with trash, but you sense that both of them are gone. You sense a malevolent entity - which you somehow understand is a children's toy - in the dumpster with you, and realize that you were the sacrifice to ensure the ritual's success. You have to get out, but the dumpster doors are shut and won't budge. So you take the offensive, and crawl through the garbage towards the small toy to try to grab it. But this turns out to be foolish as the toy easily maneuvers its way around you and gets sucked into your snappyhole as if it's nothing more than a spaghetti noodle!

    A powerful mixture of dread and anxiety overwhelms every fiber of your being. You know that something awful is about to happen, even if you cannot fully grasp the extent of the suffering that will soon befall you. At last, it happens: An incomprehensible amount of tickle can be felt coming from deep within your asshole! You scream in your mind, 'No! It tickles! Please, stop!' That toy - whose appearance you don't know - is wriggling around at extreme speeds on the walls of your rectum, inflicting tickle upon every ass molecule! No matters how much you scream, no matter how much you plead for mercy, the overwhelming ass tickle - so concentrated that it would be capable of transforming any being into shells of their former selves - continues.

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