
Uber has a bad identity of counteracting government officials in terms of sting operations. In fact, Ubar Technologies Inc. is facing a swirling mass of complaints. And law enforcement agencies started scrutinizing Uber. However, the corporation still argues officials do not have the right to conduct any operations.
Greyball
The ride sharing giant said that conducting operations by officials will be a violation of terms of service agreement. Customers accept the terms of service agreement during signing up to Uber App. Moreover, the corporation stated about the attempt. It said such attempt will be a violation of Greyball or Violation of Terms of Service (VTOS). It further claimed, Greyball as a prevention program. And the program can block the officials.
Greyball is a secret tool Uber used for years to collect data from the Uber application. And using the data it surreptitiously identified law enforcement officials wanting to prevent ride-hailing services.
As New York Times reported, “Outside legal specialists said they were uncertain about the legality of the program. Greyball could be… a violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or possibly intentional obstruction of justice, depending on local laws and jurisdications, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University who also writes for the New York Times. ‘With any type of systematic thwarting of the law, you are flirting with disaster… We all take our foot off the gas when we see the police car at the intersection up ahead and there’s nothing wrong with that. But this goes far beyond avoiding a speed trap’.”
All in all, Uber is facing a roster of problems for the past weeks. The company’s image is becoming controversial for these scandalous incidents.