Uber—Uber used 'Greyball' software to deceive law enforcement in cities where service was illegal
Uber developed and deployed software tool 'Greyball' from 2014-2017 to identify and deceive law enforcement officers attempting to enforce laws against the service. The tool displayed fake cars that would never arrive when police tried to hail rides. Used in Portland, Las Vegas, Boston, and internationally in China, South Korea, France, Italy, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Denmark with knowledge of senior management including CEO Travis Kalanick and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty. US Department of Justice launched criminal investigation in May 2017.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Deceptive Lobbying | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Regulatory Capture | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -1.073 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.64)
Evidence (2 signals)
US Department of Justice launched criminal investigation into Greyball
US Department of Justice launched criminal investigation for Uber's use of Greyball, secret software that identified users violating terms of service and denied ride requests to them. Investigation announced in May 2017.
New York Times investigation revealed Uber's Greyball tool to evade authorities
New York Times investigation revealed Uber developed and used Greyball software tool to identify and deceive law enforcement officers in cities where service was illegal. Tool displayed fake cars on targeted users' phones. Used globally with knowledge of senior management including CEO Travis Kalanick.