Uber remotely locked PCs in foreign offices to thwart investigators


We all know by now that Uber has some shady practices when it comes to law enforcement. Today, Bloomberg reported that the ride-hailing startup has a program called Ripley, which is designed to thwart local police and government investigators that raid Uber's local offices. When officials show up at Uber's offices, company managers were instructed to call a number that pinged Uber headquarters. Employees in San Francisco would then log onto the foreign office's machines remotely and sign out of computers and devices, change passwords and even lock up data in order to ensure that investigators couldn't find what they were looking for.

Uber has used Ripley multiple times in various countries, such as Belgium, Amsterdam and France. The last time it was used is unclear, but insiders told Bloomberg the protocol was definitely utilized in late 2016. While managers were reportedly informed about Ripley, regular employees at foreign offices were not.

The idea for Ripley came about after a raid on Uber's Brussels office in early 2015. There were accusations that the service had been operating without proper licenses, and the courts were able to shut the company down based on what the police found in Uber's offices. Salle Yoo, who was Uber's general counsel at the time (and has since left the company), asked her staff to prepare measures to counter these kinds of raids. The IT department began working on the early stages of Ripley; the company's security team took the program over in 2016.

Uber has the right to protect its trade secrets and ensure that secret company information isn't handed over to just anyone. And people who spoke to Bloomberg made clear that, in some cases, local law enforcement didn't have proper paperwork or were operating under overly broad warrants. In that case, the use of a program like Ripley is justified.

However, the fact is that Uber has flouted local authority again and again in an incredibly shady way, refusing to comply with local regulations and using tools like Greyball to tag known investigators and serve a fake version of the app to thwart possible sting operations. It's not surprising that Ripley exists, knowing that, but the scope and intent of the program is eyebrow raising -- at least, as eyebrow raising as anything can be anymore when it comes to Uber.

Source: Bloomberg

via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2AQZpac"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs?
Read more