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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

#71

Post by schuman »

tim333 wrote: post #66
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…

They should probably fire Emil Michael or similar. The "spending 'a million dollars' to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. .... they’d look into “your personal lives, your families,” and give the media a taste of its own medicine" proposal is a bit out of order. The money to throw $1m around that kind of way comes from Google and like investors and they could object that they don't want to be…

App was a great step forward, but it's clear they have a poisoned culture. Emil isn't a bad apple, he's the same as the rest of the barrel.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#72

Post by potatolicious »

foobarqux wrote: post #69
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…

> Attempting to blackmail the press if they challenge your company's PR? Every major company does this, just not in the ham fisted way that Uber has done. Want NYT tech reporter to give positive reviews of Apple? Give him special access to newsworthy stories from inside, early access to devices, free gear, fly him out to special events and treat him like a prince. He gives an overly critical review? Take it all away.…

Surely you can see the difference between "loss of favorable treatment and perks" and "gross abuse of private data and anonymous slander"?

What you've described - while highly problematic - is a pretty big distance away from "blackmail".

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#73

Post by schuman »

foobarqux wrote: post #69
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…

> Attempting to blackmail the press if they challenge your company's PR? Every major company does this, just not in the ham fisted way that Uber has done. Want NYT tech reporter to give positive reviews of Apple? Give him special access to newsworthy stories from inside, early access to devices, free gear, fly him out to special events and treat him like a prince. He gives an overly critical review? Take it all away.…

That's very very different than ruining the journo"s life.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#74

Post by thesystemis »

nailer wrote: post #65
thesystemis wrote: post #53

I am surprised not to see the word misogynist on this page. Here, a SVP is not only threatening a reporter and her family (which is truly repugnant) and reporters generally, he's also discussing sexual assault in such a trivializing way: "He said that he thought Lacy should be held “personally responsible” for any woman who followed her lead in deleting Uber and was then sexually assaulted." The top comment on this p…

It's possible he's pissed of at Sarah Lacy for reasons other than that she's a woman.

I don't think he's pissed off because she's a woman, he's pissed about because she's critical. Still, when he says someone will be "personally" responsible for someone's sexual assault, he's essentially trivializing sexual assault. It's like saying that a rape victim is "partially at fault", it's wrong, indefensible and misogynistic.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#75

Post by Bahamut »

bcantrill wrote: post #23
dang wrote: post #13

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.

To say that this is "media controversy" borders on the absurd: this is entirely inappropriate and indefensible behavior from a top executive at a top company -- and it raises all sorts of legitimate questions about corporate culture and how companies internalize public criticism. You use the passive voice when you say that "it seems destined to be above the line" when in fact it is above the line because many in the…

It's disrespectful that the community cannot allowed to at least see the stories we want to see bubble to the top, good or bad. There are good lessons to be learned in all of these issues, moreso than a lot of articles that bubble up to the top here.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#76

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

7952 wrote: post #67
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats defeatist. We have labels for organic food, so why not have something certified asshole-free? You know, a certificate for ethical behavior or something. I'm only glad that he really looks like the asshole he is (and so does weev btw.). At least you can still trust your gut instincts.

That kind of labelling is never going to happen. But really it has always been the wrong way round. For example, you shouldn't really need to have "dolphin friendly tuna" anymore than "kitten friendly chocolate". If a company spends millions on marketing but does horrible things it is incredibly disineguous. Having unethical practices and not telling customers is like selling vegetarian food which contains animal pro…

I wouldn't count on that. In the financial market, its already happening. You can buy information from a ratings agency that assesses a companies ethical behavior. If they don't meet the investor's targets, they won't invest in that stock.

I could see that happening on a consumer level as well, all you need is that data and a smartphone.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#77

Post by worldheadway »

schuman wrote: post #71
tim333 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should probably fire Emil Michael or similar. The "spending 'a million dollars' to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. .... they’d look into “your personal lives, your families,” and give the media a taste of its own medicine" proposal is a bit out of order. The money to throw $1m around that kind of way comes from Google and like investors and they could object that they don't want to be…

App was a great step forward, but it's clear they have a poisoned culture. Emil isn't a bad apple, he's the same as the rest of the barrel.

yeah that is not....

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#78

Post by timjahn »

VieElm wrote: post #12
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.

Sidecar is a joke in Chicago. They have only 2-3 drivers available at any time, wait times of 15-30 min, and 98% of the time they refuse your request anyway.

I fully expect Sidecar to just give up in Chicago any day now.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#79

Post by nailer »

thesystemis wrote: post #74
nailer wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible he's pissed of at Sarah Lacy for reasons other than that she's a woman.

I don't think he's pissed off because she's a woman, he's pissed about because she's critical. Still, when he says someone will be "personally" responsible for someone's sexual assault, he's essentially trivializing sexual assault. It's like saying that a rape victim is "partially at fault", it's wrong, indefensible and misogynistic.

That is not in any way 'like' blaming people for being raped.
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