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Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

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21–30 of 66 posts

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#22
post #15

Serious question, Who gets the proceeds of an eventual settlement? It appears that Lyft was hurt or Lyft investors and uber was committing essentially fraud. But I feel like these settlements are normally used to line the pockets of the regulatory and persecutory bodies.

These are two different things... For a criminal probe such as this, any possible fines generally go into the administration's coffers. I know many people like to believe that prosecutors may be motivated by that money, the people making decisions on prosecution (US attorneys in this case) are so far removed from the general budget of the federal government that it's an absurd idea. The amounts are also negligible in…

Im not 100% convinced authorities are not motivated by settlement funds.

In ny, the mayor used bank settlement funds to buy iPads for police. It was a significant amount of money.

http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/490-14/mayor-de...

Mortgage settlements were large and went to various administrative entities including prosecutors office.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/business/dealbook/24mortg...

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#23
post #21

If Papa John's calls in thousands of fake pizza delivery orders to Donimos, are they doing research on response times and how many drivers their competitor has, or are they committing a crime?

That depends, did Domino's pay for each pizza in full or cancel them when they made it 90% of the way there?

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#24
post #15

Serious question, Who gets the proceeds of an eventual settlement? It appears that Lyft was hurt or Lyft investors and uber was committing essentially fraud. But I feel like these settlements are normally used to line the pockets of the regulatory and persecutory bodies.

These are two different things... For a criminal probe such as this, any possible fines generally go into the administration's coffers. I know many people like to believe that prosecutors may be motivated by that money, the people making decisions on prosecution (US attorneys in this case) are so far removed from the general budget of the federal government that it's an absurd idea. The amounts are also negligible in…

Couldn't Lyft also file a civil suit?

And would that make redundant a class-action suit by Lyft shareholders?

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#25
post #15

Serious question, Who gets the proceeds of an eventual settlement? It appears that Lyft was hurt or Lyft investors and uber was committing essentially fraud. But I feel like these settlements are normally used to line the pockets of the regulatory and persecutory bodies.

These are two different things... For a criminal probe such as this, any possible fines generally go into the administration's coffers. I know many people like to believe that prosecutors may be motivated by that money, the people making decisions on prosecution (US attorneys in this case) are so far removed from the general budget of the federal government that it's an absurd idea. The amounts are also negligible in…

There's also straight lawsuits, which is what lyft will probably doing to Uber.

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#26
This probably explains why Uber charged me $2 last time I canceled a ride with them. They need a billing paradigm that prevents them from being taken advantage of by strategies like those that they employ against their competitors.

Nevermind that the ride I canceled was 10+ minutes away, and was canceled immediately upon being booked.

Advantage: Lyft.

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#27
post #21

If Papa John's calls in thousands of fake pizza delivery orders to Donimos, are they doing research on response times and how many drivers their competitor has, or are they committing a crime?

That's exactly what we have a court system to answer.

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#28

This probably explains why Uber charged me $2 last time I canceled a ride with them. They need a billing paradigm that prevents them from being taken advantage of by strategies like those that they employ against their competitors. Nevermind that the ride I canceled was 10+ minutes away, and was canceled immediately upon being booked. Advantage: Lyft.

Hey William, the reason Uber charges a cancellation fee is to compensate the driver for driving towards you.

Without cancellation fees, drivers would have to eat the cost of whatever progress they made towards you.

While the policy varies by city, typically an UberX or UberBLACK vehicle can be cancelled for free within 2 minutes.

UberPOOL rides typically get billed cancellations immediately, because the canceling rider may have also added to the ETA of an Uber rider already in the vehicle.

Uber will occasionally waive the cancellation fee when the ETA of a POOL pickup is significantly higher than the prediction given pre-booking.

If you believe you may be eligible for a refund, you can contact Uber support. Read more here: https://help.uber.com/h/24e75a3b-cf44-44e4-abae-8c2dce3b07a3

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#29
post #14

Well, good. It's an investigation, not a definite thing. The FBI isn't charging anyone with anything, they just are saying "let's have a good look here and see if something illegal has gone on". There's lots of reasons to think they might be right, but I leave it to them to make the call. We should want investigations into possible crimes, especially when the overall victims are consumers who will have less competiti…

We should want investigations into possible crimes,...

Of course. That said, though, I wish they'd keep this sort of thing private so that there is more chance folks are actually innocent until proven guilty instead of having public opinion labeling you as such before the trial.

Re: Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Rival Lyft

#30
post #15

Serious question, Who gets the proceeds of an eventual settlement? It appears that Lyft was hurt or Lyft investors and uber was committing essentially fraud. But I feel like these settlements are normally used to line the pockets of the regulatory and persecutory bodies.

These are two different things... For a criminal probe such as this, any possible fines generally go into the administration's coffers. I know many people like to believe that prosecutors may be motivated by that money, the people making decisions on prosecution (US attorneys in this case) are so far removed from the general budget of the federal government that it's an absurd idea. The amounts are also negligible in…

US Attorneys need splashy settlements to brag about when they run for the Senate.
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