Uber Admits Its Ghost Driver 'Greyball' Tool Was Used To Thwart Regulators, Vows To Stop (usatoday.com)

Uber has admitted it used a tool to thwart city regulators, and announced a review of its controversial Greyball technology. From a report on USA Today: Greyballing, a play on blackballing, was a way for Uber officials to remotely provide ghost driver information to a targeted individual. A March 3 report on the program in The New York Times cited a 2014 example where a regulator in Portland, Ore., a city in which Uber was operating without approval at the time, was unable to hail a car because of his Greyball-powered app. "We have started a review of the different ways this technology has been used to date," Joe Sullivan, Uber's chief security officer, wrote in a blog post. "In addition, we are expressly prohibiting its use to target action by local regulators going forward."

Comments

`We don't need regulation, we pinky-swear'

[TimothyHollins]

Ahh yes, the classic "We promise to stop if you promise not to double-check".

Who here will bet that the regulators won't get caught in some other filter instead, perhaps one sending a "certified" car for the pickup?

Re:Drivers should be able to control this feature

[silentcoder]

Driver in a cab company is an employee of a public business. Public businesses do NOT have unlimited right of association - and are required to serve all members of hte public the same. It's called the Civil Rights Act.

Companies are not people and do not have, nor should they have, the same freedoms as individuals.