Uber Employees Used the Platform To Stalk Celebrities and Their Exes, Says Former Employee (businessinsider.com) 99
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.
Re:Let me put on my shocked face... (Score:5, Funny)
I found it! [memes.com]
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Immoral people who are given any type of power over others usually will and do misuse that power. Film at eleven.
Re:Let me put on my shocked face... (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.
Re:Let me put on my shocked face... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yay, we're going to join the EU! huzzah!
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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
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I think they accidentally something.
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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.
Uber employees are able to customer trip informati (Score:2)
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.
Re:Yeah but (Score:5, Funny)
What if my ex is Beyonce?
Blow up dolls with celebrities faces printed on them don't count.
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What if my ex is Beyonce?
Then you done goofed!
If you're rich and you use Uber (Score:2)
... you get no sympathy from me.
Pay for a proper taxi, you cheapskates.
Re:If you're rich and you use Uber (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're rich and you use a taxi, you're not really rich.
Re:If you're rich and you use Uber (Score:4, 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?
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"Well, they call them limos, but they're still rented."
They're also usually cheaper on a per-day basis than a taxi.
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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 lon
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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.
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I wouldn't go with less than 3. Each taking an 8 hour shift.
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You'd need more than 3 drivers for a 7 day week...
Re: If you're rich and you use Uber (Score:2)
Re: If you're rich and you use Uber (Score:2)
Re: If you're rich and you use Uber (Score:5, Insightful)
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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?
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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.
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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... [grammarphobia.com]
Well, bust my buttons and call me Columbus! And it's actually pronounced differently. I have been educated. Thanks, Internet stranger!
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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*
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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.
Might want to (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.
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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.
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I could be wrong though, so don't take my legal advice as gospel.
Same Same! (Score:2)
Wow, this thing actually IS just like the regular taxi service.
It's easy to use they said... (Score:5, Interesting)
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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...
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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.
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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.
That could be very easily monetized (Score:4, Insightful)
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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/... [wikipedia.org]
Re:Beyonce, really? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's what you're surprised about?
My surprise moment was already "Beyonce is considered a celebrity?"
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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.
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Considering the traffic jam during the last hurricane, by that metric she could qualify as a natural disaster as well.
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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.
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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.
Huh? (Score:2)
Uber employees are able to customer trip information...
I think you accidentally a word, msmash.
Easy to change (Score:4, Interesting)
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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.
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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.
I am Jack's ... (Score:2)
... total lack of surpise.
Human nature.. for some (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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I'd say most would. Definitely human nature.
Re:Human nature.. been going on for a long time (Score:2)
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.
I don't get this power corrupts (Score:2)
Life again mimics art (Score:2)
What's the taxi control rate? (Score:2)
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 b
I switched to Lyft. (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.