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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

#41

Post by lotsofmangos »

spacefight wrote: post #18
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…

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-...

Now, which of their executives is going to end up as a senator?

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#42

Post by clay_to_n »

spacefight wrote: post #18
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…

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-...

>"Sims got the text “from someone he hardly knew,” he recalls in a Medium post, asking him if he was in an Uber car at 33rd Street and 5th Avenue."

Wow I forgot about this fiasco. It literally reads like a scene from The Circle. Disturbing.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#43

Post by blackdogie »

QuadDamaged wrote: post #33

Just looking at my uber rides, I am pretty certain Uber could already infer some interesting facts about my life. Cross-referencing with geo-data, time, and weekly occurences, I am pretty sure Uber could infer who's in my social circle, and under which category (coworker, wife, arm-candy...) The day Uber links its userbase with Facebook we are doomed.

Seeing as Uber now has distinct ties to Google, I doubt that they are an acquisition target for FB.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#45

Post by spacefight »

clay_to_n wrote: post #42
spacefight wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-...

>"Sims got the text “from someone he hardly knew,” he recalls in a Medium post, asking him if he was in an Uber car at 33rd Street and 5th Avenue." Wow I forgot about this fiasco. It literally reads like a scene from The Circle. Disturbing.

That fiasco is reason alone to never ride in an Uber.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#46

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

bhouston wrote: post #22

I can see how being assholes, intimidating the press, undermining rivals via dirty tricks, and other such behavior, can maximize shareholder value. So maybe we just have to accept that this is the new normal and we should all focus on how we can play dirty tricks on our competitors, how we can intimidate the journalists who have written bad stories on us or haven't covered us. Where does the strategy to use intimatio…

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.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#47

Post by grayclhn »

just2n wrote: post #31
DanBC wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Off the record" is a specific construct used by journalists. This was not off the record. Threatening journalists who write negative articles is indefensible. It's a stupid thing to say, especially to a room full of journalists. It's firmly on topic here because it speaks to ethics of company founders.

Even the author of this article recognizes, and confirms, that it was a hypothetical. It's completely defensible. Would you rather people go to jail for painting hypotheticals of crimes? Perhaps we should send everyone who's ever written a violent novel to jail? Thoughtcrimes are real, now. People can never be frustrated. Further, why does this article repeat over and over that this wasn't "off the record" going to e…

> It's completely defensible. Would you rather people go to jail for painting hypotheticals of crimes? Perhaps we should send everyone who's ever written a violent novel to jail? Thoughtcrimes are real, now. People can never be frustrated.

I haven't read anything suggesting that people should go to jail. I know I'm unlikely to use a taxi service that contemplates blackmailing or retaliating against me using private information if they decide that I'm too annoying, though, even if they decide not to do it. I'm kind of surprised other people feel differently, TBH.

> Further, why does this article repeat over and over that this wasn't "off the record" going to every length to try to justify publishing it?

So that the reporter's future sources will feel comfortable giving explicitly "off the record" information with the expectation that it will stay confidential. It has literally nothing to do with the accuracy of this story one way or the other.

Re: Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists

#49

Post by _pmf_ »

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?

> You don't say things like this to an audience containing media members and not expect it to get out.

You do if you're a psychopathic megalomaniac who got shoved money up the ass by shriveling old millionaires for having a business model that is based on siphoning money off less-than-minimum wage workers.

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