Uber secretly identified and tagged iPhones even after its app had been deleted and the devices eras

[FrodosNewPet]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by DonViejo (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Boing Boing

Mark Frauenfelder | 12:26 pm Sun Apr 23, 2017

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For months, Mr. Kalanick had pulled a fast one on Apple by directing his employees to help camouflage the ride-hailing app from Apple’s engineers. The reason? So Apple would not find out that Uber had been secretly identifying and tagging iPhones even after its app had been deleted and the devices erased — a fraud detection maneuver that violated Apple’s privacy guidelines.

But Apple was on to the deception, and when Mr. Kalanick arrived at the midafternoon meeting sporting his favorite pair of bright red sneakers and hot-pink socks, Mr. Cook was prepared. “So, I’ve heard you’ve been breaking some of our rules,” Mr. Cook said in his calm, Southern tone. Stop the trickery, Mr. Cook then demanded, or Uber’s app would be kicked out of Apple’s App Store.

For Mr. Kalanick, the moment was fraught with tension. If Uber’s app was yanked from the App Store, it would lose access to millions of iPhone customers — essentially destroying the ride-hailing company’s business. So Mr. Kalanick acceded.

~ snip ~

Read more: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/23/uber-secretly-identified-and-t.html

[FrodosNewPet]

1. Ubers C.E.O. Plays With Fire

Uber’s C.E.O. Plays With Fire

Travis Kalanick’s drive to win in life has led to a pattern of risk-taking that has at times put his ride-hailing company on the brink of implosion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/technology/travis-kalanick-pushes-uber-and-himself-to-the-precipice.html?_r=1

By MIKE ISAAC | APRIL 23, 2017

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In a quest to build Uber into the world’s dominant ride-hailing entity, Mr. Kalanick has openly disregarded many rules and norms, backing down only when caught or cornered. He has flouted transportation and safety regulations, bucked against entrenched competitors and capitalized on legal loopholes and gray areas to gain a business advantage. In the process, Mr. Kalanick has helped create a new transportation industry, with Uber spreading to more than 70 countries and gaining a valuation of nearly $70 billion, and its business continues to grow.

But the previously unreported encounter with Mr. Cook showed how Mr. Kalanick was also responsible for risk-taking that pushed Uber beyond the pale, sometimes to the very brink of implosion.

Crossing that line was not a one-off for Mr. Kalanick. According to interviews with more than 50 current and former Uber employees, investors and others with whom the executive had personal relationships, Mr. Kalanick, 40, is driven to the point that he must win at whatever he puts his mind to and at whatever cost — a trait that has now plunged Uber into its most sustained set of crises since its founding in 2009.

~ snip ~

There was one problem: Fingerprinting iPhones broke Apple’s rules. Mr. Cook believed that wiping an iPhone should ensure that no trace of the owner’s identity remained on the device.

~ snip ~

[klook]

8. Sure reminds me of somebody else (nt)

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r

These threads are pretty quiet these days, lol.

[dickthegrouch]

3. Most of us are resigned to it

Not that we agree with losing our privacy. And any company that gives my data to the government without a fully executed, and litigated, search warrant is asking for trouble.

Uber will implode anyways, their drivers are TERRIBLE. I've seen many more dangerous situations caused by Uber and Lyft drivers than I ever have caused by real taxis. The ride share services hire amateurs who couldn't care less about the rules of the road - someone else is picking up the insurance.

What the cops need is some rules that prevent Uber and Lyft drivers from obstructing traffic, performing illegal U-turns, turning left from the right-most of three lanes, failing to signal turns, stopping in the middle of intersections and on and on.... Oh wait, we have all those laws, but no cops when you want them.

(I witnessed ALL those offenses committed within 4 blocks last night and each one of the cars had an Uber sticker in it).

[Horse with no Name]

7. We were traveling recently and wanted to go to the airport

Uber driver responded that they would be there in 10 minutes. Then kept saying they were 10 minutes away, 10 minutes away. Then they said there weren't any drivers available.
We ended up having to get a cab.
I will never use Uber again.

[NBachers]

9. They don't bother pulling over, they just stop right in the middle of the road & block traffic.

[Maven]

4. So glad I no longer patronize this awful company.

Cook should have immediately removed them from the App Store.

[dalton99a]

5. Kick.

[not fooled]

6. Sounds like par for the course

for modern-day sociopathic CEOs and other vaunted new-economy types. Neofeudalism and flaunting authority for personal aggrandizement and to satisfy unbalanced mental states.

[DonViejo]

10. Locking...

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