So many governance problems, where to begin. In addition to the sexual harassment, there was also the problem of employees being classed as "independent contractors." Once they lost that battle, they then changed their TOS to make disputes resolved through arbitration. So if a driver's brakes fail or he tries to rape me, I can't sue Uber in court. I deleted me acct.
2
Before signing up with Uber I googled them. There were so many complaints from users saying they were charged for rides they never took. I wondered if some were rides their friends booked when they were too drunk to make it home on their own and forgot about the next day. Now it seems likely some overcharges were the result of hacking. Also, I did not like the fact that Uber misclassified drivers as independent contractors yet they tell the driver what he/she can charge and they must have a late model vehicle. Some of the drivers end up homeless, sleeping in their car, because their car payments eat up most of their ride income which has gone down over time. They can't give themselves a raise like a freelancer can and can't turn down riders per Uber's conditions.
7
Yeah they should have disclosed, closed my account too....
They went a step further & got hackers to sign non disclosure! What a joke. That's as believable as Trump saying the 12 women are all liars & that he believe Moore because he said he didn't do it.
It's all hubris, lies, greed and none of them care about the public interest.
11
Chilling that the head of security was a former federal prosecutor who knew full well he was breaking the disclosure laws of the state where the company's headquartered.
Did you Facebook fans notice that's where he worked last? Facebook -- another unscrupulous corp that couldn't care less about its users' privacy rights, nor about selling out the voters of our nation for a fistful of advertising rubles.
I hope he and the also-fired head of the legal department both do time behind bars, but I won't hold my breath in this corporatocracy.
7
I've had a green Amex card for 32 years. I've made about 390 consecutive on-time monthly payments and therefore have never been charged any interest. That's how the green card has always worked. I've never used another credit card. You know what they did to reward that kind of loyalty? Amex sent a contractual looking correspondence that informed me that I had recently signed up for (I haven't) a new "feature" that "allows" me to receive 0% interest for the next 6 months months (after which my rate will be 19.6%) unless I OPT OUT by Nov. 16th. The letter was mailed around Nov 10th.
Hey Amex: This is how you reward 32 years of loyalty? By lies to try to trick your customer in to switching to a more profitable product that nobody has asked for? Forcing your customer to waste time with half way around the world customer service to opt out of the change?
Hey corporate America: Get a clue!
Hey American Express: Where's your American customer service department?
Yes the article is about Uber. But it's also about corporate arrogance and this relatively new disregard for the value of trust.
8
Use real taxis, or the small by-phone liveries if you're in the outer boroughs, the taxis are being racist, or just to support a non-giant corporation.
Whatever you do, don't use Uber. Or Lyft. They are anti-law, anti-worker, and anti-privacy, and belong in museums of corporate malfeasance, not daily life.
(Only use those trendy mis-cabs if you have no other choice in a tyrant country like Saudi Arabia or China. There, the companies' anti-law karma conveniently runs over the countries' illegitimate-law dogma.)
3
This security breach should result in the demise of Uber. I don't like Uber because it is liberal. I don't like liberal things.
I am absolutely sure they broke New York State law by not disclosing the breach.
4
"I promise I deleted the data and you know you can trust me." Every morning is a fresh opportunity to feel like Bugs Bunny.
3
I thought this level of hubris belong only to Trumpistas.
Hey Uber - you are a corporation, and you actually DO have to obey laws, got it? You think you can "rewrite everything", but in fact you can't. Grow up.
8
Their entire existence is based on the idea that they can avoid the law and regulation by claiming they are just helping people connect to share rides. Somehow dispatching the cab by automatic program instead of speaking directly to the dispatcher makes the cab that shows up not a cab. Oh and then there is greyball, the refusal to cooperate until forced by the courts and so on in every part of the world they operate they flout government regulation.
Once a crook.....
5
This is so frustrating. Uber has constantly shown it's capable of great innovations and is consistently bogged down by this immature, bro-like crowd that cannot act ethically. The entire board needs a class in ethics.
6
Can anyone moderating this conversation explain how verifiable "destruction of the data" by the hackers is? Ie using the analogy of blackmail by incriminating photos, how can one be sure that the hackers had not copied the data before confronting their prey?
7
Uber is not telling the truth about the hack. I was charged for a ride around Moscow. I had to fight with Uber to get the charge removed. I told they had been hacked in May. They told me it was impossible. They were in denial.
8
If Uber had looked to the Greek instead of the German for their name they would have had to choose hubris.
4
The accompanying photo of workers at Uber’s SF office makes it look very like a sweatshop. Which makes sense to me.
3
I have never used Uber and this I will never use it. Never!
8
Can't track cash. Taxi!
5
The corporatists need to be heavily reined in.
12
No question that Uber has used questionable tactics to achieve the success it has today. However, new CEO, new rules. Uber is recently showing signs they're reforming their formerly cavalier ways. Note the opening of the article: "Uber disclosed..." I consider it a positive sign that Uber disclosed this rather than that the story was broken by the media. That had to have been difficult for Uber to do given the bad publicity they were undoubtedly aware would result.
4
Bad corporate policies and actions will not be swept away with a mea culpas and personnel changes. I'm tired of being asked to forgive the latest malfeasance with the probable empty promise that it won't happen again.
I'm so glad it's (still) a free market so I can opt to never ride Uber again. I'll choose a company which hasn't needed to apologize many many times.
4
How many nails does it take to close a coffin?
3
Wow, highly favorable review of a company who's customers' data was jeopardized twice, that we know of. And covered up the second hacking until now. Yep, they've really turned things around. Saints even.
2
It's jail time for those involved - not profiting from the upcoming IPO.
9
I think when you are considering signing up for any on-line service (any service) assume that at some point the details that you provide will be hacked. Consider whether that could be merely a nuisance or really problematic. Banking on-line has possibly the biggest fall out for users but at lest here your accounts are compensated up reasonable levels.
3
I was really against Uber from the beginning. The founder's agressive and bullying tactics were a real turn off, and I felt bad for taxi drivers who had to comply with all kinds of regulations that Uber drivers didn't. All that changed when I was forced to find transportation to work on a regular basis in a city with a very poor public transportation system. I found that if I wanted to make it to work on time I could not rely on taxis. I also found that in comparing the cost of a trip taxis are much more expensive. With the exception of one or two, the drivers I have had have been lovely and interesting people who seem to really enjoy their work. It's a shame the company itself is so unscrupulous, but that seems to be the new normal.
9
Maybe if ride sharing apps and driverless cars are a good idea, maybe someone can come up with one that reads the paper for me so I don’t have to bother with this anymore either. Feeling as I do now after reading the usually grim news of the day, what a welcome relief that would be.
7
Nothing can, nothing will be done about this. Too many white yuppies like Uber. Thus, all is forgiven. Doesn't matter whether Uber is really running an illegal taxi operation, doesn't matter whether Uber is illegally spying on customers, doesn't matter whether Uber is violating wage-and-hour laws, doesn't matter whether Uber hires sexual predators as its drivers. White yuppies show up at city council and county commission meetings with "Save My Uber" t-shirts, and elected officials roll over and play dead.
37
Just like nothing will be done about the unholy power and wealth of Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook.
Because they are things white yuppies like.
3
You know....even the fascist derivative name "Uber" could have told you what you were in for.
Sorry, but as a definite non-customer of this so called service, Im quite enjoying all the exposure of their 1) sexual harassment, 2) betrayal of Apple's illegal back door code, 3) spying on competition, 4) bribing and pandering to local officials, and 5) general crime and malfeasance.
....this so-called "disruption" from the trojan horse corporation called Uber............All just to get a simple, plain old cab ride.
39
Uber - U Lose
I’ve never used the service. But everything I read makes me glad about that.
This country is breeding so much mendacity and criminality. From top to bottom!
21
Yet another dumb decision by founder Kalaniick. Why he's still on the board of directors continues to amaze me.
16
If I owned or operated a cab company, I'd motto it to say "we reach and we don't breach". Then have all my cabbies explain to passengers who are a little slow in understanding the motto that simplicity is our goal and we don't do all that computer stuff: giving assurances that once you exit the cab you won't get an email from the cab company saying some cyberhacker knows everything about you.
4
You might wish to also emphasize that the cab ride -- if paid in cash -- is entirely private. You hail a cab, go somewhere pay. Nobody can trace you or spy on you.
How much of our privacy have we surrendered for "convenience"?
Indeed, Uber’s privacy policies are dreadful. I regularly receive email receipts for rides that another user with a similar email address has taken. It’s mildly interesting to see his comings and goings, and I’ve verified that he’s not riding on my credit card. Try as I can, there appears to be no way to flag Uber about the problem. Emails and contact forms have been completely ignored. I’m beginning to believe they simply don’t care about their users’ privacy. Who would have thought?
25
Uber has always shown disdain for its drivers (no tipping until recently, and Travis’s inappropriate conversation with an unhappy driver). But they disrespect customers too. Paying hackers to not use data they’ve stolen? And waiting a year to tell us?
I’m deleting Uber and Uber eats.
Lyft, please don’t disappoint me too. I’m counting on you.
12
Sounds like Uber needs a soul and conscience...
5
I fired Uber several months ago and I will not return to them as a customer.
10
Another reason NEVER to use Uber. Glad I did not have an account. But their corporate culture from what has leaked into the press is not too great. That has to factor into how the company is run. Buyers beware!
12
Why do our governments and regulators not have the will and the authority to shut down obviously incompetent companies acting in contempt of its customers, employees and the public?
14
Seems to me uber is guilty of abetting the hacker's crime. They deserve as much punishment as the hacker.
11
the only remarkable thing would be public furore - it doesn't matter how 'secure' your smart gadget is or the claims made by your service of choice, sharing your intimate details guarantees exposure. it's just a matter of time until that crystallized into loss. the net business model depends on predatory exploitation of your personal data.
4
I live "upstate" now, so am always leery of cab companies and luckily don't have a need to use any-yet. I sure do wish Cuomo would stop naming bridges and other muni works after his family and do something about the taxi situation outside of NYC.
3
My husband's Uber account was hacked. We discovered several hundred dollars of ride charges on our credit card in far away places that we've not visited. Whomever was fraudulently using the account kept trying to change the password to lock him out.
Uber's customer support is pitiful. My husband wanted to close his account, but couldn't log in. Customer support kept wanting to communicate via the email he used to set up the account, but my husband was worried that also had been compromised. There is no phone support, which is ridiculous.
Like others who have posted, we're done. Uber has absolutely zero customer focus and we no longer trust it as a good corporate citizen. It's ironic that the chief of security was a lawyer...who should have known that their cover up possibly was violating several laws.
Keep an eye on your credit card statement!
45
"No phone support" is typical of such new age tech companies. That's how they are so profitable -- almost no employees. To hire customer service reps -- actual warm human bodies -- would cost money.
Also, if you can't call them....they don't have to acknowledge any problems with customers.
All is well. All is well.
1
And they waited a whole year to tell us?
11
I’ve used Uber previously and I felt this was a great service with a good price. Uber you lied to me a customer because you didn’t disclose this data breach. Now I won’t use your services. You forgot your customers are the lifeline of your business. Think again. Goodbye forever.
10
Uber paid $100,000 to protect 57 million drivers and customers. That is better than "taking the moral hight ground" and rufusing to pay the ransom resulting in the accounts' data being sold on the Dark Net. Hushing it up kept the hackers "sources and methods" from being revealed. Again, a good idea.
2
I plan to close my Uber account. Besides having to jump through too many hoops to contact them, now they don't have the decency to advise those that subscribe to their services that they were exposed a year ago.
30
Its fascinating how technology exposes companies' ingrained attitudes about their customers. I am not offering these companies as corporate exemplars- however- both Amazon and Zappos come to mind when considering companies that became extremely popular through exceeding customer expectations. The customer in many ways is King; don't like it? We'll take it back for 365 days, fast, free shipping, discounts if something is wrong at all with the items. This contrasts with other companies' attitudes- ISPs with virtual monopolies about to obtain censorship level control on client's access to the internet, billing shenanigans that are highway robbery, credit reporting bureaus who act as enforcers and extorters- we are simply cattle on a feedlot to them.
23
Zappos? You mean the clods who took 2 months to ship me a pair of shoes?
I've happily used Uber a dozen times or so - the drivers were terrific - but the corporate culture always bothered me. I've started steps to close my account a couple of times (they don't make it easy - you have to go to "Privacy Settings") but this put me over the edge. Done. Finished. Lyft, you're up.
12
Lyft is just as bad. Same owners, Wall Street Robber Barons, different name. Do not use any company that breaks all the rules and lies. That would be just about every internet BIGGIE.
18
Uber and Airb&b break all the rules. Rules are to protect consumers. I do not feel a bit sorry for anyone who uses Uber or Airb&b to save a little money and loses their personal information.
Privacy is one of the most important protections Americans have enjoyed for years. Many young people do not realize the importance of their private data and Robber Baron and other crooks are taking full advantage of their "digital innocence". Many people have said, "I don't do anything wrong - I don't care what information they have about me."
Talk to me when the International Mafia gets control of the world and you have no rights. Zero.
NOW is the time to make sure it doesn't happen. The Robber Barons are selling and reselling people's private information. That is the true value of the internet. Do not let them trade on your life. Protect your privacy and demand serious regulation of the internet and ALL providers.
42
"I do not feel a bit sorry for anyone who uses Uber or Airb&b to save a little money and loses their personal information."
You do realize that people who are using these services to "save a little money" are not necessarily able to afford taxis and traditional hotels? Is your response to that - "just don't go"?
I'm not an Uber evangelist and could list a dozen problems I have with the company. But the service has increased mobility for a lot of people - including my elderly grandmother who is able to maintain her independence and take Ubers to have lunch with her friends and go to church (in an area with almost no public transit), and the many people I know who in another era might have been driving their cars home from the bar. These apps need to be better regulated, but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
I have never used Uber and I never will.
39