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Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

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Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#11

Post by pravda »

Asparagirl wrote: post #10
rhizome wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't say things like this to an audience containing media members and not expect it to get out. Not only that, but by the same token this is in no way "attempted" blackmail. Are we supposed to assume Uber does not already buy 1MM PR spends?

Yeah, if this is the shit they do and talk about in public, WTF do they do and talk about in private? EDIT: Oh my God, they also have the location data of the comings and goings of lots of politicians and industry regulators, don't they? Late night trips from locations some of those people might not want made public? If they'll so casually threaten a mother's kids, threaten journalists with $1M smear campaigns, what…

First of all, I don't think anyone's kids were threatened.

But what is wrong with threatening a woman's children? Other then it being illegal, of course.

If a woman or man is doing something dishonorable, I don't see any problem with suggesting that their behaviour is not in the best interests of their children.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#12

Post by VieElm »

justinv wrote: post #2

Personally, I've stopped using Uber because of the lack of the company/management's lack of ethics. Lyft comes off as a much friendly, consumer-focused company & frankly, my experiences have been better in a Lyft than an UberX. Also - I'm not one to usually browse Buzzfeed, but this was their story to break, so props to them for getting it out there.

There's also Sidecar, it's pretty great. It is usually cheaper and let's you select from available drivers. You see their price upfront.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#13

Post by dang »

Buzzfeed stories are normally penalized, but we take the penalty off for major stories. We've done that here. HN tends to frown on media controversy, but since this story seems destined to be above the line in any case, it may as well be the original source. We've demoted the other posts on the same story as duplicates.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#15

Post by [deleted] »

justinv wrote: post #2

Personally, I've stopped using Uber because of the lack of the company/management's lack of ethics. Lyft comes off as a much friendly, consumer-focused company & frankly, my experiences have been better in a Lyft than an UberX. Also - I'm not one to usually browse Buzzfeed, but this was their story to break, so props to them for getting it out there.

[deleted]

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#16

Post by spacefight »

Asparagirl wrote: post #3

Attempting to blackmail the press if they challenge your company's PR? Specifically targeting parents' worst fears by threatening to reveal details of the location of their children? Openly rifling through the location metadata of another female journalist, a customer of theirs, without her consent? Implicitly saying they'll leak customer data of Uber customers who are journalists, the kind of thing that can potentia…

I couldn't even install the app - it asks for way too much permissons.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#17

Post by unohoo »

pravda wrote: post #11
Asparagirl wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, if this is the shit they do and talk about in public, WTF do they do and talk about in private? EDIT: Oh my God, they also have the location data of the comings and goings of lots of politicians and industry regulators, don't they? Late night trips from locations some of those people might not want made public? If they'll so casually threaten a mother's kids, threaten journalists with $1M smear campaigns, what…

First of all, I don't think anyone's kids were threatened. But what is wrong with threatening a woman's children? Other then it being illegal, of course. If a woman or man is doing something dishonorable, I don't see any problem with suggesting that their behaviour is not in the best interests of their children.

If you read the story, it mentions digging dirt on Sarah's family. Family includes children.

>> But what is wrong with threatening a woman's children? Clearly you dont have children. If you dont see anything wrong with this notion, having a thoughtful discussion with you is a moot point. Do you work for uber ?

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#18

Post by spacefight »

Asparagirl wrote: post #10
rhizome wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't say things like this to an audience containing media members and not expect it to get out. Not only that, but by the same token this is in no way "attempted" blackmail. Are we supposed to assume Uber does not already buy 1MM PR spends?

Yeah, if this is the shit they do and talk about in public, WTF do they do and talk about in private? EDIT: Oh my God, they also have the location data of the comings and goings of lots of politicians and industry regulators, don't they? Late night trips from locations some of those people might not want made public? If they'll so casually threaten a mother's kids, threaten journalists with $1M smear campaigns, what…

They have the location data of everyone using their service. They also have "god view":

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/10/03/god-view-...

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#19

Post by sbuk »

Not necessarily a bad idea...

Edit FWIW, I personally do not and refuse to use Uber. I think that they are vile. But...

I find that too many journalist hide behind 'freedom of the press' when they are axe-grinding. A lot of online tech reporting that I encounter is knee-jerk reaction and factless click-bait. Personal blogs, where you'd expect to find this behaviour, in my experience tend to be far more credible...

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#20

Post by bhouston »

rhizome wrote: post #9
Asparagirl wrote: post #3

Attempting to blackmail the press if they challenge your company's PR? Specifically targeting parents' worst fears by threatening to reveal details of the location of their children? Openly rifling through the location metadata of another female journalist, a customer of theirs, without her consent? Implicitly saying they'll leak customer data of Uber customers who are journalists, the kind of thing that can potentia…

You don't say things like this to an audience containing media members and not expect it to get out. Not only that, but by the same token this is in no way "attempted" blackmail. Are we supposed to assume Uber does not already buy 1MM PR spends?

> Not only that, but by the same token this is in no way "attempted" blackmail.

This is a direct attempt to shut her up -- this an attempt to silence their critics via blackmail -- and they hoped it wouldn't get mainstream press coverage. They hoped she would find out just via whispers from those who were there.

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