Uber Employees Used the Platform To Stalk Celebrities and Their Exes, Says Former Employee (businessinsider.com)

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Uber Employees Used the Platform To Stalk Celebrities and Their Exes, Says Former Employee (businessinsider.com)

Posted by msmash on Monday December 12, 2016 @08:10AM from the my-app,-my-rules dept.

Uber employees are able to view customer trip information, and many of them are using it to spy on ex-girlfriends and celebrities like Beyonce, according to a former employee. From a report on BusinessInsider: A new piece out from Reveal's Will Evans details Uber's history with security and privacy. The story cites the experience of Ward Spangenberg, Uber's former forensic investigator who was fired from the company last February. Spangenberg is suing Uber for, among other things, wrongful termination, defamation, and age discrimination. In a stunning October court declaration, Spangenberg alleges that Uber employees freely accessed trip information about celebrities and politicians and helped each other spy on ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends by tracking where and when they travelled. Spangenberg, who worked at Uber for 11 months, said the company's lack of security violated consumer privacy and data protection regulations.

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Let me put on my shocked face... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:13 · Score: 0

I know i had it here somewhere...
1. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by Yvan256 · 2016-12-12 08:20 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I found it!
2. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:22 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Immoral people who are given any type of power over others usually will and do misuse that power. Film at eleven.
3. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by moeinvt · 2016-12-12 09:19 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "Immoral people who are given any type of power over others usually will and do misuse that power."
  Yes, but "normal", healthy, psychologically stable people who are put in positions of power over others will also abuse that power. Look up "Stanford Prison Experiment".
  "Power Corrupts" isn't just an adage, it's a real psychological phenomenon. For some reason, power is a corrupting influence on the human psychology. That's what makes government so fundamentally dangerous and so naturally inclined toward corruption.
4. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by BigBuckHunter · 2016-12-12 09:22 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The normals will do whatever their peers/leadership are doing. If they have immoral peers and leadership, they will act immorally. If they have moral peers and leadership, they will act morally.
5. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · 2016-12-12 11:31 · Score: 1
  
  Obligatory SMBC.
  
  --
  Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
6. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 12:40 · Score: 0
  
  That's what makes government so fundamentally dangerous and so naturally inclined toward corruption.
  What we need to save us from government corruption is some sort of super-government with even more powers! Save us, Super Government!
7. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by BarbaraHudson · 2016-12-12 12:59 · Score: 1
  
  The "Stanford Experiment" was a joke. They chose white-bread middle-class people. Of course these test subjects will do whatever the f*ck they're told to do. If it means being mean, they'll love the chance to cast off the chains of good behavior and be as mean as possible.
  They wouldn't last 1 hour with lower class subjects as prisoners, who you can be sure at a few won't take that shit, because they already know that obeying assholes with authority is stupid, that putting fear into the guards is the way to go.
  Talk to any prison guard, they'll tell you the inmates run the place. Remember the song "Me and Bobbie McGee?" - "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose." When you've got people who have little to lose, you'd better tread carefully, because one slip and you're dead. Just takes one guy, everyone will follow.
  You'd need 1 guard per prisoner, continuously, and even then ... so in real life everyone on both sides polices their own to make sure the unwritten rules are followed. Guards make sure the bad eggs among them don't get so out of hand as to jeopardize their own individual safety, and prisoners make sure that, as long as the guards behave, the other prisoners don't ruin things for everyone.
  They mentioned juveniles as well in the Wikipedia article. Don't think that kids haven't got it figured out - they learn really fast. Just goes to show that the majority of experiments have results that are not applicable in real life.
  
  --
  "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
8. Re: Let me put on my shocked face... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 17:13 · Score: 0
  
  Power without a sense of responsibility and empathy corrupts. A parent has plenty of power over their small child, but this is (in most cases) regulated and moderated by their emotional connection, and the parent is motivated to always see to the best interests of the child. This dynamic needs to be in place for power not to corrupt.
9. Re: Let me put on my shocked face... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 17:34 · Score: 0
  
  Yes.
  https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code
10. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by davester666 · 2016-12-12 18:08 · Score: 1
  
  Yay, we're going to join the EU! huzzah!
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
11. Re:Let me put on my shocked face... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-13 08:21 · Score: 0
  
  In other words, "Hang with the losers, you become a loser. Hang with the winners, you become a winner."
fix the typo, plz by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:14 · Score: 0

Uber employees are able to customer trip information ...
1. Re:fix the typo, plz by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:28 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I think they accidentally something.
2. Re:fix the typo, plz by abelenky17 · 2016-12-12 08:54 · Score: 1
  
  Constant mistakes in the first sentences of stories is why I read Slashdot less and less.
  For a tech-site, they sure cannot learn to use Spell and Grammar checkers.
3. Re:fix the typo, plz by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 11:13 · Score: 0
  
  You'd think that proof-reading twenty stories a day wouldn't be such an arduous or difficult task. :(
Yeah but by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:15 · Score: 0

What if my ex is Beyonce?
1. Re:Yeah but by Oswald+McWeany · 2016-12-12 09:03 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  What if my ex is Beyonce?
  Blow up dolls with celebrities faces printed on them don't count.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
2. Re:Yeah but by kilfarsnar · 2016-12-13 03:13 · Score: 1
  
  What if my ex is Beyonce?
  Then you done goofed!
  
  --
  "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:16 · Score: 2

... you get no sympathy from me.
Pay for a proper taxi, you cheapskates.
1. Re:If you're rich and you use Uber by Yvan256 · 2016-12-12 08:22 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  If you're rich and you use a taxi, you're not really rich.
2. Re:If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:32 · Score: 0
  
  Please. If you're rich, your main alternative isn't a "proper taxi", it's whatever local luxury-car service competes with Uber Lux, which offers to pick you up in an immaculately maintained Audi or Tesla or BMW or the like.
3. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:36 · Score: 0
  
  Or just pay for your own driver. I mean when you make $10 + million a year what's one full time drivers salary?
4. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:46 · Score: 1
  
  I wouldn't go with less than 3. Each taking an 8 hour shift.
5. Re:If you're rich and you use Uber by Penguinisto · 2016-12-12 08:53 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Well, they call them limos, but they're still rented.
  Besides, even the rich like to yap at parties about having participated in certain trends and fashions; what better than to tell your zillionaire friends how you "got in touch with the common folk" by taking an Uber?
  
  --
  Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
6. Re:If you're rich and you use Uber by DanielRavenNest · 2016-12-12 09:32 · Score: 2
  
  In New York City, where an awful lot of rich people live, normal travel is to call downstairs to the doorman, and tell them to hail a taxi. By the time you ride the elevator to the lobby, the taxi is waiting. Uber just has better than average quality vehicles. Limos take longer to get hold of, because there aren't 30,000 of them driving around Manhattan like taxis. They often lounge around nice hotels and restaurants, but not every building, because there just aren't that many of them. So they take longer to arrange.
  The choice will depend on things like "are you running to a business meeting or trying to impress a date?" - speed vs quality.
7. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by bodog · 2016-12-12 09:49 · Score: 2
  
  You'd need more than 3 drivers for a 7 day week...
8. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Type44Q · 2016-12-12 09:59 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Newsflash: Uber's success - and the reason they're popular - has less to do with their cost and more to do with the fact that cabs in the U.S. tend to fucking suck.
9. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 10:06 · Score: 0
  
  If you need to be driven around that much, your business is probably in trouble, and you might want to stop spending money on drivers.
10. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Type44Q · 2016-12-12 10:06 · Score: 1
  
  (24Ã--7) Ã 3 = 56hrs, so... not necessarily.
11. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Type44Q · 2016-12-12 10:07 · Score: 1
  
  Ack, so much for math symbols...
12. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 10:14 · Score: 0
  
  We've been using asterisks for multiplication on computers for a long, long time.
  There's no need for a symbol that won't even work in any programming language.
13. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by TechyImmigrant · 2016-12-12 10:33 · Score: 2
  
  Newsflash: Uber's success - and the reason they're popular - has less to do with their cost and more to do with the fact that cabs in the U.S. tend to fucking suck.
  
  Yes. This.
  Why are all traditional US taxis grimy? Why is the driver always sullen?
  
  --
  I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
14. Re:If you're rich and you use Uber by stephanruby · 2016-12-12 10:36 · Score: 2
  
  If you're rich and you use a taxi, you're not really rich.
  Maintaining an entourage is expensive. It's not worth it according to Chris Rock.
  Besides, Uber has UberBlack and UberSUV and it's harder to follow someone and place gps trackers on their car if that celebrity keeps on switching cars and switching transportation services.
15. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by NormalVisual · 2016-12-12 13:13 · Score: 1
  
  And how about the drivers that go out of their way to try to screw you? Most of my cab travel was on business, so as long as I got a receipt I didn't care, but in Chicago especially, the drivers would play games with the meter or drive way the hell out of the way just to jack the fare. I wasn't losing any money, so it wasn't worth the time for me to hold them to the fire for it.
  
  --
  Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
16. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 15:31 · Score: 0
  
  Not just the US. You would think that taxi drivers everywhere would realise they now have competition and react accordingly, but no. The last guy I had the misfortune of sharing a cab with decided to whinge to me for the whole trip about a near miss he had just before picking me up, and what terrible drivers everyone else was, and on and on. Dude, I don't care just take me to where I want to go and if you must talk, talk about the weather. Oh, and don't put talk-back radio on either, thanks.
17. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 16:24 · Score: 0
  
  I had this, do the drivers think that because you're not from there that you can't tell when they're ripping you off? Luckily I tend to avoid using taxis as much as possible.
18. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-13 01:06 · Score: 0
  
  Probably because it has been declared a low entry job instead of a job someone might like to do for a while without having to worry about being able to pay the bills while raising a family and giving all your children a kick start in live (like paying for good education).
  We always had good taxi services in my European country until people who didn't even talk the language were given a job as a low wage taxi driver for large taxi companies. These cheaper alternatives out competed the traditional smaller taxi services and have turned the taxi experience in an unpleasant experience that most people avoid.
  Of course this is generalization, there are probably still places where being a taxi driver is a normal job with an average wage with drivers who really like their job as taxi driver. But unfortunately in my area the taxi drivers are all but one people who somehow failed to get a decent job and just drive a taxi because it is the only thing they are qualified to do (they have a drivers license) and it seems they still regret their life every kilometer they drive.
19. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-13 01:58 · Score: 0
  
  To be a Taxi you must pay a large sum to be legally allowed to do it. Immigrants take on debt to work a shitty job then get pissed when they were oversold on the pay.
  Then kids with smartphones ignore the laws and shit on them because no overhead.
20. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by kilfarsnar · 2016-12-13 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  The last guy I had the misfortune of sharing a cab with decided to whinge to me for the whole trip...
  Where did anyone get the idea that there is a "g" in "whine"? This is not the first time I have seen this misspelling and I really don't understand it.
  
  --
  "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
21. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by I+am+not+Ingvar+Kamp · 2016-12-13 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  They're both proper words, not mispellings. There's some nuance in the difference, and "whinge" is simply more frequently found in Commonwealth countries. The internet is international after all. :) For history and distinction: http://www.grammarphobia.com/b...
22. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by TechyImmigrant · 2016-12-13 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  The last guy I had the misfortune of sharing a cab with decided to whinge to me for the whole trip...
  Where did anyone get the idea that there is a "g" in "whine"? This is not the first time I have seen this misspelling and I really don't understand it.
  Your engine might whine, but it would never whinge.
  
  --
  I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
23. Re:If you're rich and you use Uber by stoatwblr · 2016-12-13 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  "Well, they call them limos, but they're still rented."
  They're also usually cheaper on a per-day basis than a taxi.
24. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by kilfarsnar · 2016-12-14 02:18 · Score: 1
  
  They're both proper words, not mispellings. There's some nuance in the difference, and "whinge" is simply more frequently found in Commonwealth countries. The internet is international after all. :) For history and distinction: http://www.grammarphobia.com/b...
  
  Well, bust my buttons and call me Columbus! And it's actually pronounced differently. I have been educated. Thanks, Internet stranger!
  
  --
  "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
25. Re: If you're rich and you use Uber by Hognoxious · 2016-12-20 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  If only there was a website where you could type in an unfamiliar word and see if there's a definition for it...
  Some fucker should patent that. *eyeroll*
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Might want to by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:17 · Score: 1

Might want to have your ducks in a row before you fire your FORENSIC INVESTIGATOR, who probably knows about all the dirty laundry.
1. Re:Might want to by LeftCoastThinker · 2016-12-12 09:22 · Score: 1
  
  This exactly. If you fire someone like that, you better pay them a lot of severance and have an ironclad NDA. Pissing them off like this is a surefire way to get seriously screwed over.
  
  --
  If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
2. Re:Might want to by youngone · 2016-12-12 09:41 · Score: 1
  
  I am not a lawyer (although I play one on the Internet) but I would think that no NDA can prevent him spilling the beans about something illegal.
  I could be wrong though, so don't take my legal advice as gospel.
Same Same! by dohzer · 2016-12-12 08:17 · Score: 1

Wow, this thing actually IS just like the regular taxi service.
1. Re:Same Same! by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:54 · Score: 0
  
  Except without any licensing requirements, safety standards or sustainable employment for those who drive for Uber.
It's easy to use they said... by mitcheli · 2016-12-12 08:17 · Score: 4, Interesting

And now they have the same technology that the phone companies and many other darker parts of the Internet have had for years (so sayeth Snowden). So it's interesting to see what comes of folks who are "unmonitored" and "unregulated" and what they do with the tech. hmm....

--
Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
1. Re:It's easy to use they said... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 10:29 · Score: 0
  
  You must be a pissed off taxi driver. hhmmmmm...
2. Re:It's easy to use they said... by barc0001 · 2016-12-12 10:36 · Score: 1
  
  They do the same thing as those who were "monitored" and "regulated". Spy on SOs, exes etc. And of course, people were shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that the NSA staffers would ever do such a thing. Same as when cops were revealed to be doing the same thing...
3. Re:It's easy to use they said... by Culture20 · 2016-12-12 12:44 · Score: 1
  
  They do the same thing as those who were "monitored" and "regulated". Spy on SOs, exes etc. And of course, people were shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that the NSA staffers would ever do such a thing. Same as when cops were revealed to be doing the same thing...
  We were unhappy to have been proven correct, but no one was shocked, because the people that really would have been shocked have never heard this ever took place. They do get shocked when I tell them, and then they demand proof.
4. Re:It's easy to use they said... by kilfarsnar · 2016-12-13 03:25 · Score: 1
  
  They do the same thing as those who were "monitored" and "regulated". Spy on SOs, exes etc. And of course, people were shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that the NSA staffers would ever do such a thing. Same as when cops were revealed to be doing the same thing...
  We were unhappy to have been proven correct, but no one was shocked, because the people that really would have been shocked have never heard this ever took place. They do get shocked when I tell them, and then they demand proof.
  And no amount of proof can persuade them.
  
  --
  "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
That could be very easily monetized by chispito · 2016-12-12 08:21 · Score: 3, Insightful

Just occasionally send the info to your buddy the paparazzo for a small payout.

--
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
1. Re:That could be very easily monetized by Calydor · 2016-12-12 10:46 · Score: 1
  
  There was a case in Denmark just recently where a tabloid, Se & Hør (See & Listen, literally translated) paid an employee at a credit card processing company (NETS) for information about activity on cards belong to celebrities, royals etc.
  It went to court last month and the involved parties ended up with jail time or community service.
  For more information, though in Danish: https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
  
  --
  -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
I wish I were... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:24 · Score: 0

I wish I were able to customer trip information.
Also my captcha is "stalked". The level of coherency between these captchas and the stories' contents suggests that they are intertwined. Does the slashdot captcha generate pull words from the story? The firehose? Confused...
1. Re:I wish I were... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 09:51 · Score: 0
  
  Also my captcha is "stalked". The level of coherency between these captchas and the stories' contents suggests that they are intertwined. Does the slashdot captcha generate pull words from the story? The firehose? Confused...
  You should read up about how Kek works.
  Captcha: ordains
Would it be too difficult to proofread by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:25 · Score: 0

the very first sentence of the summary?
"Uber employees are able to (read? access? monitor?) customer trip information"
Beyonce, really? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:30 · Score: 0

Beyonce takes public ride sharing services?
1. Re:Beyonce, really? by Opportunist · 2016-12-12 08:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  That's what you're surprised about?
  My surprise moment was already "Beyonce is considered a celebrity?"
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
2. Re:Beyonce, really? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:52 · Score: 0
  
  Well, the kids like her...
  Captcha: bizarre
3. Re:Beyonce, really? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:53 · Score: 0
  
  Sure. All the big celebrities use ride sharing services and public transportation. Just the other day I shared a ride with Beyonce, Brad Pitt, and Robert Ne nero.
4. Re:Beyonce, really? by Oswald+McWeany · 2016-12-12 09:01 · Score: 1
  
  Of course Beyoncé needs a taxi! She doesn't own a car in every city she visits- even if she can afford to own a car in every city.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
5. Re:Beyonce, really? by stephanruby · 2016-12-12 10:43 · Score: 1
  
  My surprise moment was already "Beyonce is considered a celebrity?"
  Believe me, if you had seen the traffic near her concert in San Jose a couple of months ago, you wouldn't be saying stuff like that.
6. Re:Beyonce, really? by mjwx · 2016-12-13 01:13 · Score: 1
  
  Of course Beyoncé needs a taxi! She doesn't own a car in every city she visits- even if she can afford to own a car in every city.
  Yes but when someone like that gets a taxi, they have their minders arrange for the local limousine company to deliver a Maybach and competent driver, they wont order an Uber (Uber is for peasants).
  
  That being said, a lot of artist do travel with their own cars. Bands like the Rolling Stones have a convoy of trucks and not all of them full of guitars.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
7. Re:Beyonce, really? by Opportunist · 2016-12-13 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  Considering the traffic jam during the last hurricane, by that metric she could qualify as a natural disaster as well.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
First Sentence, No Verb. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 08:48 · Score: 0

The original text should be updated.
Huh? by SeaFox · 2016-12-12 09:00 · Score: 1

Uber employees are able to customer trip information...
I think you accidentally a word, msmash.
1. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 09:29 · Score: 0
  
  What's worse is that this isn't a user submission. It's basically a blog post by msmash. So you know he read the text before posting because he wrote the damn thing. Unlike user submissions where you can at least understand how an "editor" could be lazy and just click "Approve" on a story without doing their job and proofreading it first.
Easy to change by p51d007 · 2016-12-12 09:01 · Score: 3, Interesting

Any uber "customer" should be nothing more than a random number generated by uber when you request their services.
1. Re:Easy to change by SlaveToTheGrind · 2016-12-12 09:19 · Score: 0
  
  Any uber "customer" should be nothing more than a random number generated by uber when you request their services.
  Sure, as long as you don't mind breaking significant customer-profile-related functionality in the Uber platform that makes the system better for everyone, like automatic billing (all-around time savings and certainty), passenger reputation scores (this helps drivers make rational decisions whether they want the business or the potential headache of known nasty customers, and increases the odds the nice customers can get a ride during peak times), and so on.
2. Re:Easy to change by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 09:28 · Score: 0
  
  I don't mind that at all. Uber is unter.
3. Re:Easy to change by Solandri · 2016-12-12 09:54 · Score: 1
  
  That's all true, but doesn't really change OP's suggestion. All you need is to give riders the option to request a ride under their real name and profile, or as a random number. Kinda like how a particular website lets people post under the profile or anonymously. People extremely paranoid about their privacy, like celebrities, can use the service anonymously all the time if they wish.
4. Re:Easy to change by stephanruby · 2016-12-12 10:14 · Score: 1
  
  Any uber "customer" should be nothing more than a random number generated by uber when you request their services.
  Please no! I UberPool as "Beyonce" all the time.
  I just like to see their faces when they notice that Beyonce has a beard. Please do not take this away from me.
5. Re:Easy to change by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 10:50 · Score: 0
  
  There's the small issue of payment here.
  Uber bills you after the trip is over. So, the company takes the rather small risk of your card being declined and you never paying off your balance. It does lock your account after 24 hours with an unpaid balance (happened to me once), to limit the amount of damage you can do, but not right away, because it could be that you're dependent on Uber at the moment.
  If you're going to ride anonymously, they must price and charge your ride on advance.
6. Re:Easy to change by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 15:35 · Score: 0
  
  They can do every single one of those things without knowing who you really are, as long as you use the same 'avatar' each time you use the service. That's because they are supposed to be based solely on your experiences with Uber. If they are plugging in other shit, of course, then that's different. Are you sure you want it to be different?
7. Re:Easy to change by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 15:39 · Score: 0
  
  All of that jazz works just fine without exposing identity. Uber can tell the driver the rating of the next passenger without telling them who the passenger is.
I am Jack's ... by PvtVoid · 2016-12-12 09:11 · Score: 1

... total lack of surpise.
Human nature.. for some by wbr1 · 2016-12-12 09:25 · Score: 3, Insightful

You give people access to others private data.. location, pics, emails, etc - some will abuse it. Period. This goes for google, NSA, Uber, police with stingrays, license readers, whoever.
Tools can be made to limit access and log it but not eliminate it.
The question is, is there a culture present with the data that treats it as normal or one that thinks privacy violations are vile. Guess we know which culture Uber has now. In that type of culture, the behavior flourishes, until it is caught out by some big mistake or whistle blower. In the other type of culture, the people who think it is okay stick out like a sore thumb and are quickly dealt with.

--
Silence is a state of mime.
1. Re:Human nature.. for some by waspleg · 2016-12-12 09:49 · Score: 1
  
  I'd say most would. Definitely human nature.
2. Re:Human nature.. for some by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 10:22 · Score: 0
  
  I remember reading an article a couple years ago about someone who did an interview at Uber, and one of the executives followed every step she took on her way to the offices... her waiting for the ride, getting picked up... where in traffic she was. All up until the front door. That behavior at the top should tell you exactly what they're like there.
Sounds like slashdot by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 09:48 · Score: 0

Sounds like how unidentifiable anonymous slashdot trolls stalk and harass apk and his exe https://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=9982895&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=53468617/
is English that hard? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 10:25 · Score: 0

Uber employees are able to customer trip information...
"Able to customer trip information"? WTH is that supposed to mean? I know /. editors are well-known for less-than-stellar editing, but come on...
Uber employees are able to customer trip informati by Michael+Woodhams · 2016-12-12 10:40 · Score: 1

I don't see what your problem is with this. Uber employees are able to throw customers under the feet of information so that it falls over.

--
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
I don't get this power corrupts by FeelGood314 · 2016-12-12 10:45 · Score: 2

I worked at a credit bureau. As developers we had unlimited access to everyone's data and zero oversight on read access. We could even change people's files and unless we were really stupid no one would catch us. I don't know anyone who was even tempted to abuse the power. No one even looked at their own reports. Even the poor guy who was a victim of identity fraud went through the proper channels (and then updated them because they sucked).
Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 11:27 · Score: 0

... Uber employees are able to [access] customer trip information ...

Which C-level manager decided to essentially stalk their customers? Which IT staff decided to have no access control on the business database? How did Uber staff justify a 25% commission for doing nothing, month after month? Employees should be going to jail for this behaviour.
Never Happens At TLAs by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 12:21 · Score: 0

We promise and pinky swear, this never happens at the Three Letter Agencies. Also all those security companies with networks of security cameras? Never misused, oh no. License plate readers? Only used by Mormons and the Amish for the squeaky-clean mandates of heaven. Police databases? All cleared by judges on active investigations and with appropriate paperwork on file...
Re:Human nature.. been going on for a long time by The+Optimizer · 2016-12-12 13:07 · Score: 1

This is old news, just newer tech.
I remember in the late 1980s the guys at the auto body shop using the DPS terminal to access the state license plate database and get the name and address info on cute girls they saw in their cars.
The base urges to and desire to gain an advantage if they think there are no consequences have always been there.
Life again mimics art by Mandrel · 2016-12-12 13:52 · Score: 1

Stalking by an employee of an Uber-like company was the subject of an episode of Elementary.
Oh Ward... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 15:59 · Score: 0

LOL. I worked with the guy a few years back - Different company. He introduced himself at the all-hands meeting with a story about a night he had 3 blind dates and how drunk he got attempting to woo the poor ladies... And his driving from points A to B to C after said drinks. Complete tool with no filter. Somehow I'm not surprised by this turn of events.
What's the taxi control rate? by trawg · 2016-12-12 22:47 · Score: 1

As with almost everything weird that comes out of Uber it'd be interesting to compare this against the rate of this thing happening in existing companies (e.g., taxis, limo services, private car hire, etc).
I'm not excusing the behaviour or trying to justify it or anything (obviously it's obnoxious and gross and creepy and all that). But presumably it's already happening in these other services and understanding whether or not these new tech services are better or worse than the others in this regard would be much more useful information than the occasional scare story about randomly bad actors.
Location Information Anyone?? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-12 23:29 · Score: 0

Uber is requesting to access your location information even when you are not using the app.
I'm sure it's to just 'improve' the service.
I switched to Lyft. by lasermike026 · 2016-12-13 10:35 · Score: 1

When the Uber app was updated on my phone and I read the disclaimer it creeped me out. I don't know if it helps but I downloaded Lyft and I like it. Lyft treats the divers better too.