So it's ok for the NSA to snoop on people out of curiosity, but not Uber employees. Some citizens are more equal than others. Gotcha
Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
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Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you may think it's overblown I think it's the most absurd thing I've ever heard. I don't know if you read Sarah's actual article, but it reads as if this guy called her up and told her that he was going to murder her children. It is that sentiment, not facts about what actually happened, that has carried this "story" so far. She is exploiting others' fears about stalking and sexism for her own personal gain. IMO,…
It's not "exploiting others' fears" when there is actual evidence that Uber has tracked journalists and other high profile figures, and top execs have brashly threatened to spend millions investigating journalists' personal lives. This is disgusting.
top execs have brashly threatened to spend millions investigating journalists' personal lives
Nope. ONE exec went on a rant at a party about what HE would hypothetically like to do to a self-declared enemy of the company. Have you ever been really frustrated with someone and said "Ugh sometimes I'd like to ring his/her neck" or similar? Now imagine someone overheard you, took it literally, and called the person you were frustrated with. Sensing an opportunity to exploit the situation, they call the police, contact Senators about you, and write a blog post about how you threatened to eradicate him/her and everyone they've ever spoken to from the planet in the most violent possible way - all in an effort to get clicks on ads on your blog. That is basically what happened here.
You're right about one thing, it is disgusting.
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was my reaction as well. Yes, Uber's behavior here is reprehensible. But it's also kid stuff compared to what other entities (including the Federal Government itself, whose behavior we never agreed to in a TOS agreement) are engaged in, and I have to wonder what, if any, authority the government could exert in these circumstances (disregarding the appropriateness of the use of said authority, or any potential le…
My feeling also. If this isn't a case of the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is. The Federal government is one of the worst offenders at being careless with personal data and of using it for political purposes when it suits them. I'm not defending Uber here, but this is just grandstanding by Frankin.
> My feeling also. If this isn't a case of the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is. The Federal government is one of the worst offenders at being careless with personal data
So all federal government is responsible for all other arms of federal government, Al Franken is a member of the federal government, therefore guilt by association?
Just a question, but are you ok with your movements being tracked by Uber? Are you ok with any corporation spying on your movements and potentially using that information against you? So because the NSA spies on you, it's not ok for Al Franken to stand up to corporate privacy issues? Just saying ...
Yes, I would like to see anyone stand up for privacy issues, corporate or federal. As has been pointed out in other threads on this post, Al Franken actually does stand against both.
So let's agree that "the pot calling the kettle black" is a bad analogy because not all federal government necessarily agrees with other arms of the federal governments' actions. Yeah?
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think the condescending tone is necessary—there are actually about ten million links if you spell organization correctly. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22People%2C+Organisation%2C... EDIT: Removed quotes.
While the condescending tone is unnecessary, logicallee is right. There are actually zero links, Google just removes the quotes and shows results for that. None of them seem to have all the words together or the acronym. Just random occurrences of words on the page, and it's predominantly military documents.
I'm seeing one [relevant] link, an Australian senate hearing regarding the "Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2006". This confirms my initial suspicion that it probably originated from some sort of military handbook - you can the pretty much tell by usage of the word "doctrine" alone.
EDIT: To be precise, I see [1], plus two mirrors of it, plus two links back here, but only from my phone. On my desktop I get zero results.
[1] http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w...
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#95So, I completely agree with this letter, but I felt a sense of unease reading it. I realized why. Other companies are as bad or worse about privacy, where are all those letters? I wish there were a lot more of these and wonder if the only reason this one exists is because the blowup with Uber was so visible and so it can be used for political posturing.
Letters like this appear all the time but only when the issue is sensationalized. It's inconsistent and doesn't actually solve any root problems between technology and society.
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#96So, I completely agree with this letter, but I felt a sense of unease reading it. I realized why. Other companies are as bad or worse about privacy, where are all those letters? I wish there were a lot more of these and wonder if the only reason this one exists is because the blowup with Uber was so visible and so it can be used for political posturing.
This was my reaction as well. Yes, Uber's behavior here is reprehensible. But it's also kid stuff compared to what other entities (including the Federal Government itself, whose behavior we never agreed to in a TOS agreement) are engaged in, and I have to wonder what, if any, authority the government could exert in these circumstances (disregarding the appropriateness of the use of said authority, or any potential le…
> including the Federal Government itself, whose behavior we never agreed to in a TOS agreement
You voted for them, which is their way of saying "see, it's in the fine print, hahaha"
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was my reaction as well. Yes, Uber's behavior here is reprehensible. But it's also kid stuff compared to what other entities (including the Federal Government itself, whose behavior we never agreed to in a TOS agreement) are engaged in, and I have to wonder what, if any, authority the government could exert in these circumstances (disregarding the appropriateness of the use of said authority, or any potential le…
>But it's also kid stuff compared to what other entities (including the Federal Government itself, whose behavior we never agreed to in a TOS agreement) are engaged in, Complaining about gov't behaviour compared to private enterprise is like complaining about how kernel-level processes can do so much more than userland processes.
No, it would be like complaining that a bug found in an userland program is publicly scrutinized but not when the same one is found on a kernel program.
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
[deleted]
I don't think the condescending tone is necessary—there are actually about ten million links if you spell organization correctly. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22People%2C+Organisation%2C... EDIT: Removed quotes.
s/correctly/in the corrupted American form/
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#99So, I completely agree with this letter, but I felt a sense of unease reading it. I realized why. Other companies are as bad or worse about privacy, where are all those letters? I wish there were a lot more of these and wonder if the only reason this one exists is because the blowup with Uber was so visible and so it can be used for political posturing.
Because Uber isn't part of the SV crowd that works with the US government in it's push against privacy, unlike for instance Google and Facebook, who regularly work together with the US government to pressure entire nations into removing their privacy related civil rights protection.
Uber is not (yet) on the inside, and its brazen, undiplomatic and downright stupid behavior is an embarrassment and a liability for those who work to destroy privacy quietly.
A backlash against Uber might escalate into a broader backlash, and that makes a lot of people very nervous.
Re: Senator Al Franken's Letter to Uber [pdf]
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have a link to the original 'boober' transcript? Haven't been able to find one, context is everything so I'd rather have the full backstory before making any assumptions.
It took about 30 seconds of Googling to turn up a link to the GQ interview where this was originally reported. http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201403/uber-cab-c...
"Not to make assumptions, but Kalanick probably wasn't the first kid in his class to lose his virginity. But the way he talks now—which is large—he's surely making up for lost time. When I tease him about his skyrocketing desirability, he deflects with a wisecrack about women on demand: “Yeah, we call that Boob-er.”"
Yeah seems more like an insult than a transcript to a conversation.