The U.S. Justice Department appears to be probing Ubers use of software to avoid regulators
Will Uber's hubris come back to bite them? Travis Kalanick DID publicly withdraw from 45's business advisory council, embarrassing the snowflake-in-chief, which loses him that protection.
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The U.S. Justice Department appears to be probing Ubers use of software to avoid regulators
The practice, known as greyballing, is the subject of the investigation, which may be criminal in nature.
https://www.recode.net/2017/5/4/15552184/us-justice-department-uber-investigation-greyball
by Tony Romm and Johana Bhuiyan May 4, 2017, 8:03pm EDT
The U.S. Justice Department appears to have opened an investigation into Uber following reports that the ride-hailing company used a special tool to evade regulators and law enforcement officials around the country.
In cities like Portland, Oregon, where Uber previously did not have permission to operate, the company in 2014 had relied on software known internally as Greyball to identify government officials and prevent them from booking rides. The New York Times first revealed Ubers practice this March, leading the tech giant days later to say it would not use the system -- originally designed to detect fraud to avoid scrutiny.
In their report on Ubers behavior, however, Portland officials indicated last week that they had been notified by the U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California that Uber is the subject of a federal inquiry. A report from Reuters on Thursday said the company specifically had received a subpoena from a grand jury there, meaning that the DOJs investigation is likely criminal in nature.
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For its part, Uber confessed to Portland officials in an April 21 letter that it had used Greyball to mask its UberX drivers over a two-week period in December 2014, when the company did not have permission to operate UberX in the city. The company suspended its operations there shortly after.
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