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Uber's Investigators Admit To Lying While Digging Up Dirt On Legal Foes (theverge.com)
Andrew J . Hawkins, writing for The Verge: Ergo, the secretive, CIA-linked firm that was paid by Uber to investigate the plaintiff in one of the ride-hail startup's many lawsuits, has now admitted to lying and illegally recording phone calls during its probe, according to Law360. Lawyers for Ergo owned up to the infractions in oral arguments in court Thursday, drawing a rebuke from the judge overseeing the case. Last December, Spencer Meyer filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, alleging a scheme to fix prices in violation of antitrust laws. The same day, Uber hired Ergo to investigate Meyer out of concern he posed a security risk to Kalanick. But Ergo also gathered information on Meyer's lawyer, a move that some critics say went too far. Ergo's lawyer argued that the firm was unaware the investigation was tied to a lawsuit, even while admitting Ergo's investigator "dissembled and used false pretenses in his duties," Law360 said.
Laws mean nothing to them... Disruptive! $60 billion valuation! Disruptive!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
People lie? Never. That's a lie.
Honesty is for commoners. Law enforcers and similar running dogs of the oligarchy are expected and encouraged to lie whenever expedient.
I used my local Uber service recently, and it was a rather pleasant experience: polite driver, recent car model, but.. as i was leaving the vehicle at my destination, I handed a few bucks to the driver (Uber auto deducts via PayPal, but no tip is included). The driver then said this to me: " I rated you as '5-star' customer ( !!!! ) ... Thanks, I said ... then began thinking: Oh my! Rating customers??? What a convenient way of acting out all sorts of prejudices !!
I mean, Uber drivers telling aLL OTHER Uber drives about my 'qualities' ... with NO paper trail to document a fact where Uber drivers, seeing one's 'Star rating' decide to avoid the potential customer!
This is a very very bad idea!!! .. a form of 'long-distance prejudice ..No contact made .. so: no crime!
Uber can do terrible things and be Honest. Instead focus on how they break the perceived social contract between employee and employer. If you worked hard and played by the rules your employer would take care of you and let you have an OK life and die reasonably content. Whether this was true or not it's _suppose_ to be true. Uber breaks all that and so far nobody's noticed or cared.
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I haven't followed Uber closely (or ever used such a service), but I seem to recall many stories where Uber is lying to someone, sabotaging someone else, threatening someone else, "surge"-gouging others etc. Are they sort of a modern Mafia or something? If so, is anyone doing something about it?
but the effect is the same. The phrase you're looking for is "Job Creators". That's what the 1% call the social contract. It's a different slant on the narrative (a right wing one as opposed to a left wing one) but it's effectively the same base narrative. To wit: If you work hard and play by the rules you'll do good.
And when did I mention human history? If you wanna go back further life was nasty, brutish and short. We had 1200 years of dark ages when there was literally no human progress so that a lucky few could maintain their opulent status quo. As I think I implied this social contract is largely bullshit. It's a narrative to keep you from questioning why you struggle for existence so that the ruling class can have private jets and castles.
Again, did I even bring up how Uber's model functions? The point is that it's a "new" model different than employment that purports to achieve the same thing. My point is it's all smoke and mirrors. A ruse to take away what few gains Unions won in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.
That they're not following the contract is readily demonstrable. Again, this has nothing to do with reality. This is a narrative. Uber pays about $12/hr with no benefits after accounting for the cost of a vehicle. Less if you're city's median income is lower. You can't buy a house, pay for a child's college or save for retirement with that. You can google the statistics to prove that. I can't be arsed right now.
The point is we're being fed a load of old bull. We're being tricked. The gains the working class made (and fought and died for) are being taken away and we're gradually slipping into a new dark age. Thanks a lot.
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-1 gets a lot of attention on slashdot these days
Uber like airbnb provides an easy mechanism for all manner of discrimination, from race to LGBT to disabled. Personally I think one of the reasons so many people (white) like uber is they get white drivers instead of immigrants.
Travis is a dirtbag. Nothing new here.
I believe you are correct. At my airport it's mostly -gasp- immigrants from Africa driving Ubers. And the experience is...like a regular taxi cab!
And it's time for all those white Uber drivers to say what they really are - cab drivers.
But OMG this is a -private investigator- using false pretenses on the phone! I've -never- heard of a PI who is calling confirm employment history ever saying "this is Ray from National Finance", or "friending" the subject on Facebook while listing the subject's high school as their own, as though they went to the same high school. I certainly never did any of that when I was a PI, or heard of any other PI using false pretenses.
Except of course for most the cases we worked. That's what PIs do.
EVERY comment I have heard that lists the state of taxis makes some comment about the nationality of the driver. Every single one.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Whenever Uber hits the news, it disgusts me more. Not that i'm against the core notion; I think it's great, but Uber's top management are scumbags and I have never used them, and don't plan to. I'll happily use some other similar company, just not Uber.
Don't step on the baby.
EVERY comment I have heard that lists the state of taxis makes some comment about the nationality of the driver. Every single one.
It's quite relevant in many cases. I want someone who understands my language, and who I can understand.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
you're right the narrative is deeply broken. That's true as well. Employers don't really take care of employees and they cheerfully throw them to the wolves first chance they get. That's not the point. The point is we as a society let them get away with murder in service to that narrative.
Again, the claim isn't debatable. Any honest economist will tell you $12/hr isn't enough for those things. Take note of what I choose to list. It's all things that relate to long term economic security. Again, go do some googling. Read the fark politics tab for a few weeks. It'll do you some good to find out how awful the world really is for 90% of the human race.
Um.... wow. You really missed the whole point on the dark age. I didn't say we _were_ in a new dark age, I said we were heading for one. What caused the Dark Ages was the 1% of the time preventing any advancement in human civilization to prevent them from being ousted from power by widespread societal changes. This was largely accomplished by wealth inequality coupled with violence and the use of religious propaganda. Basically rampant conservativism. We're not there yet. We're heading there. I would like very much for us to stop. You're actions and belief systems are getting us there. Please stop. Really. Please. Stop.
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It was completely clear from context I was speaking metaphorically. You're building a straw man to dodge issues.
Again, $12/hr is not quite a bit of money. Spend some time on google looking at prices across the country. Ask yourself what it costs to raise a child (something most of society agrees anyone should be able to do). Look up what even an 800 sq/ft home costs, let alone a 1200 sq/ft home.
What _preceeded_ the Dark Ages was the collapse of Rome. What _caused_ them was conservativism used to prevent the working class from taking the wealth and privilage of the ruling class. When someone says "Dark Ages" they're referring to almost 1200 years of human history with little or no progress. Shit, Rome just collapsed again. Did we start another Dark Age? No, because a few libtards managed to put the breaks on "Austerity" and the madness and lies it represents.
I'll tell you the same thing I tell everybody else: Go Read "A people's history of the United States". Read some Gore Vidal too while you're at it. Listen to what Bill Nye tells adults when the kids aren't around. You and people like you are dragging us all down. If that's you're goal (e.g. if you're a shill for the 1%) Bravo Sir, you're doing a fine job. But if you have the slightest bit of human decency in you stop being foolish.
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