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Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

businessinsider.com

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Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#111

Post by paublyrne »

ars wrote: post #100
mwfj wrote: post #3

This seems like a good place to tell Uber users that the only way of removing your credit card details from your Uber account is to either: a) plead with Uber's customer service to do so or b) add another payment method (like another credit card) This, of course, is horribly bad practice. I can only imagine that they arrived at this very peculiar arrangement after extensive A/B testing - Uber has hired plenty of FB f…

Just use an online credit card number generator to put in a random number. Also see if you can use a test number (there are lists online).

Is there any concern that in doing this you're exposing yourself to accusation of attempted fraud?

Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#112

Post by tomsthumb »

paublyrne wrote: post #111
ars wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use an online credit card number generator to put in a random number. Also see if you can use a test number (there are lists online).

Is there any concern that in doing this you're exposing yourself to accusation of attempted fraud?

One the one hand you /do/ want them to believe the fake is your cc number, but on the other hand you /don't/ intend they charge the number.

Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#113

Post by singlow »

bigmofo wrote: post #106
mwfj wrote: post #3

This seems like a good place to tell Uber users that the only way of removing your credit card details from your Uber account is to either: a) plead with Uber's customer service to do so or b) add another payment method (like another credit card) This, of course, is horribly bad practice. I can only imagine that they arrived at this very peculiar arrangement after extensive A/B testing - Uber has hired plenty of FB f…

When you lose your credit card and you call your credit card company and them them that you lost it, they issue you a new card with new numbers; this way anybody that had the information on the card would not be able to make further transactions. I would consider the card lost when a company would not delete the credit card information on my request to delete the information.

A new number doesn't necessarily prevent charges from vendors who had the old one. For your convenience the banks actually allow new charges on the old cards after they are cancelled. I assume they whitelist vendors that have good reputations or filter based on patterns of charges against your account which you have not disputed.

Verizon was able to charge against my old account for over a year. I kept getting snail mail letters from my bank telling me that the card I was using had been cancelled and that I needed to update it, but I kind of just wanted to see how long they would let it go.

In other cases, the bank will actually update the vendor with your new card number so that subscriptions are not interrupted.

Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#114

Post by Crosseye_Jack »

blairanderson wrote: post #82

Vote with your fingers and delete the app

I would also request an account deletion

  Menu -> Help -> Account And Payment -> Account Settings and Ratings -> Delete my Uber Account -> Fill in the form.
Oh on iOS you will need to turn on location tracking otherwise the nag screen about how wonderful enabling location services is seems to prevent the app showing the menu button...

EDIT: Oh you can still press the Menu Button, its just the nag screen has a strong tint to it and I had my brightness low. Doh.

Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#115

Post by jokoon »

I think there is a need to regulate how data is used in internet companies. I mean there is the same need for NSA and surveillance, but I'm much more anxious about how a company can be irresponsible compared to a federal agency.

Every time you have customer's information, the people responsible for giving access to that data should be held responsible...

Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#117

Post by taejo »

robrenaud wrote: post #44
dominotw wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So, no, I'm not surprised that this company is doing other unethical things - it sort of seems interwoven into their DNA. Grubhub refused to delete my account even after pleading with them to do so many many times. To me seems like a general tech company trend not something specific to uber.

Is it legal to refuse to delete a users account?

Not in the EU.

Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#119

Post by paublyrne »

onion2k wrote: post #71
michaelvoz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I work for Uber. However, my opinions are mine. I am also not defending nor attacking in any way Uber gathering location data. With that out of the way - you know your cell phone carrier already has this data right? They have way better data than Uber ever will about all your habits, including establishing relationships based on who you call, which sites you visit, who you are signed up on a plan with, et…

I'll agree with your point as soon as Uber signs up to the same level of regulatory restrictions as every phone carrier enjoys. The fact is that there are laws that strictly prohibit my phone carrier doing certain things with data about my usage. Case in point, the stalking that the article mentions - I don't think employees of my phone carrier can do the same thing. Technically they could because they have the neces…

That's a shame really, because I'm sure most of us would prefer companies weren't restricted by regulation and were just sensible and ethical by default, so laws weren't necessary.

Interesting. I prefer regulation by default to be honest. Possibly shows my biases from growing up and living in Europe. I see regulation as something you should start with not something you should end up having to do. Just like I prefer civil laws to be in place by default rather than leaving it to people to be good to each other.

Maybe I'm in the minority here.

Re: Uber employees used the platform to stalk celebrities and their exes

#120

Post by dmichulke »

paublyrne wrote: post #111
ars wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use an online credit card number generator to put in a random number. Also see if you can use a test number (there are lists online).

Is there any concern that in doing this you're exposing yourself to accusation of attempted fraud?

"Oh, I must have accidentally mistyped a few digits, however, since I don't intend to use your service anymore, you can just delete it"

"Well, I cannot delete it"

"Oh, well, thanks, good bye"

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