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Washington Post: Justice Department opens criminal probe into Uber

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...bar&tid=a_breakingnews&utm_term=.92aa522aefe4

The Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into Uber's use of a secret software that was used to evade authorities in places where its ride-sharing service was banned or restricted, according to a person familiar with the government's probe.

The program, called Greyball, which was first revealed by the New York Times in March, helped the company evade officials in cities where Uber was not yet approved. The software helped Uber identify transportation regulators that were posing as Uber customers and denied them rides. The officials were posing as customers to prove that the company was operating illegally.

company seems to be having a good 2017
 

Dali

Member
How did it accomplish this? Was it just based on where the ip originated from so if you were using your office of transportation Wi-Fi they'd be like nope?

Honestly curious how they assumed someone was trying to get them.

Was there are prompt? "Are you a narc? Yes/no"
 

numble

Member
How did it accomplish this? Was it just based on where the ip originated from so if you were using your office of transportation Wi-Fi they'd be like nope?

Honestly curious how they assumed someone was trying to get them.

Was there are prompt? "Are you a narc? Yes/no"

These were probably the main mechanisms:
Geofencing. Uber would create a digital map that identified the locations of city government offices. If a potential rider attempted to hail a ride from the area around a government building, Greyball would flag the individual as a possible law enforcement agent.
Mining credit card databases. If Uber identified a credit card as being associated with a government agency or police union, it would flag that individual in Greyball.
Identifying devices. Since government agencies would often buy cheap cellphones for use in sting operations, Uber employees would visit electronics stores to obtain model numbers for inexpensive phones and input those model numbers into Greyball.
Searches of social media. Uber employees searched social media profiles to identify possible law enforcement agents. Uber then flagged those individuals in Greyball.
 
If true, someone deserves criminal charges.

Not a slap on the wrist fine.

Rich criminals need to get arrested.

In the thread describing the original NYT article we had people talking about how cool uber was for doing this

How did it accomplish this? Was it just based on where the ip originated from so if you were using your office of transportation Wi-Fi they'd be like nope?

Honestly curious how they assumed someone was trying to get them.

Was there are prompt? "Are you a narc? Yes/no"

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/technology/uber-greyball-program-evade-authorities.html
 
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