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How I got blacklisted by Uber

blog.will3942.com

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Re: How I got blacklisted by Uber

#41

Post by mangotree »

will3942 wrote: post #16
tedivm wrote: post #14

Lets be clear here- 600 requests every 1.2 seconds is 30,000 additional requests a minute. Uber is not Facebook or Twitter- the amount of requests per minute they get in a given city is probably in the hundreds, not the thousands. These were also not public API's- they were reverse engineered. That means that this puts real load on them, costs them real money in infrastructure costs, and was not done with anything ev…

I completely agree with this, I acknowledged this and realised I would probably get banned. It was more a case of letting people see how the Uber api could be used, that's why I've now replaced it with a video so people can continue to see it. I completely agree with why they banned me, it's a huge load to throw on the server. Although I'd love to be unbanned and use it again, I would be surprised if I was. Thanks fo…

So you knew you would get banned, but you are also upset at getting banned, because you use ht service? Why did you out up a website then?

Re: How I got blacklisted by Uber

#42

Post by csmattryder »

kyro wrote: post #22

Sorry, have to side with Uber. Hackers do not live in a bubble of innovation that renders them immune to being penalized for the potentially negative consequences of their hacks. Uber's priority is to serve their paying customers (like me) as best as possible, and if that requires banning someone who's being a nuisance, then so be it.

100%. Some people never empathise with the company they're using, if they were the CTO at Uber and saw this spike in traffic from some guy's hack, you wouldn't do the exact same?

I will drop 10 customers doing this so that 100 customers can use the service. I bet you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't. It's basic business.

Although, just banning a user is a little extreme, did they not ask for the project to be dropped, and themselves reset the tokens etc?

Re: How I got blacklisted by Uber

#43

Post by will3942 »

mangotree wrote: post #41
will3942 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with this, I acknowledged this and realised I would probably get banned. It was more a case of letting people see how the Uber api could be used, that's why I've now replaced it with a video so people can continue to see it. I completely agree with why they banned me, it's a huge load to throw on the server. Although I'd love to be unbanned and use it again, I would be surprised if I was. Thanks fo…

So you knew you would get banned, but you are also upset at getting banned, because you use ht service? Why did you out up a website then?

I understand why I was banned, I'm not particularly upset, I'd just rather be able to use the service again. I fully accept responsibility.

Re: How I got blacklisted by Uber

#44

Post by will3942 »

csmattryder wrote: post #42
kyro wrote: post #22

Sorry, have to side with Uber. Hackers do not live in a bubble of innovation that renders them immune to being penalized for the potentially negative consequences of their hacks. Uber's priority is to serve their paying customers (like me) as best as possible, and if that requires banning someone who's being a nuisance, then so be it.

100%. Some people never empathise with the company they're using, if they were the CTO at Uber and saw this spike in traffic from some guy's hack, you wouldn't do the exact same? I will drop 10 customers doing this so that 100 customers can use the service. I bet you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't. It's basic business. Although, just banning a user is a little extreme, did they not ask for the project…

I can agree with you, I understand why I was banned and I can see it is a valid response to the situation. I just want to make sure (if Uber have read this) that they understand why I did it and what caused the spike.

Re: How I got blacklisted by Uber

#45

Post by alan_cx »

I can't know, but I imagine you cause a lot of internal grief. Bosses would have been kicking off, blaming techies for it, one way or another. I imagine a couple of decision making noses were well put out of joint, if not broken. Egos well bruised. Perhaps lots of Malcolm Tucker, if you know what I mean.

If you want your account back, or what ever, try writing a proper letter to the MD or something. Grovel like hell, and offer something helpful in return if you can.

Re: How I got blacklisted by Uber

#47

Post by [deleted] »

will3942 wrote: post #44
csmattryder wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100%. Some people never empathise with the company they're using, if they were the CTO at Uber and saw this spike in traffic from some guy's hack, you wouldn't do the exact same? I will drop 10 customers doing this so that 100 customers can use the service. I bet you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't. It's basic business. Although, just banning a user is a little extreme, did they not ask for the project…

I can agree with you, I understand why I was banned and I can see it is a valid response to the situation. I just want to make sure (if Uber have read this) that they understand why I did it and what caused the spike.

[deleted]

Re: How I got blacklisted by Uber

#50

Post by speedracr »

Regarding prior notice et al.: "Private API" is a slight understatement IMO. Uber is running a $3.4bn business and their car data is a lot of what makes them valuable. I wouldn't blame them for automatically blacklisting accounts with unusual usage patterns just to be safe.
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