Uber should start keeping a log of the troubles it is being faced with at the moment because they just seem to be getting completely out of hand. The ride-hailing giant is today adding to their list another latest dispute between itself and the city of Portland in Oregon.
The company, as reported by local publication Oregonian, may be staring at the possibility of being served with a subpoena to hand over the details of its authority and regulator-evasive ‘Greyball’ program. Uber has failed to hand over the complete playbook of this software over to the Portland authorities before a required deadline. Portland launched a separate investigation into Uber’s Greyball program after reading about it in the New York Times earlier last month.
Thus, Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman is asking the city council to compel the ride-hailing giant to surrender the required data with the help of a subpoena. Saltzman, who oversees Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has mentioned that Uber was using the Greyball program to track and identify passengers using the service. While Uber has clarified that it forbids the usage of Greyball to track local regulators, instead —
[It is being] used to hide the standard city app view for individual riders, enabling Uber to show that same rider a different version. It’s been used for many purposes, for example — the testing of new features by employees; marketing promotions; fraud prevention; to protect our partners from physical harm; and to deter riders using the app in violation of our terms of service.
Saltzman further stated that it was segregating them into two defined categories namely the passengers and undercover regulatory officials, while operating illegally within the state in December 2014. The company openly resisted the city regulations and allegedly used the Greyball program to track officials. It was not until later in 2015 that it agreed to an official pilot program and launch in the Portland city.
The PBOT, who has published a full audit report of the Greyball scandal today, alleges that Uber’s sketchy Greyball software tagged 17 accounts within the state. Out of these, sixteen accounts are said to have belonged to government officials or other authorities. This resulted in their accounts being blacklisted and Uber drivers would refuse to pick them up, even when they booked a ride.
Talking about the same, Saltzman tells Oregonian:
If I could issue a fine I thought would stand up, I would. I’m upset by what they did. My interest now is in making sure this doesn’t happen again.
He further continues to mention that Portland’s transportation authorities need access to the company’s strategy playbook and the Greyball software itself to conduct a thorough investigation. Saltzman believes that if the program could discern between passengers who were usual customers and regulators — to deny them rides then the same algorithm could have been used to discriminate against potential riders based on their income.
On the other hand, Uber has released an official statement highlighting the fact that they’ve been co-operative with the authorities of Portland. It also brought the fact that the city had found no wrongdoing by the company since 2014. Saltzman wants to subpoena the company, a request similar to the one filed by Commissioner Nick Fish earlier last month, to get to the bottom of this highly secretive operation that it used to run back in the day.
In the statement released today, Bryce Bennett, general manger of Uber in Portland has stated that the ride-hailing giant has always been forthcoming and has shared the required Greyball details with PBOT. It is trying to maintain transparency moving forward. He further said:
Specifically, we provided details about the use of the “Greyball technology” in Portland, which was confined to the accounts of 17 individual Uber riders for approximately two-weeks in December 2014. Only three of those individuals sought to request an Uber ride during that period.
It is unfortunate this investigation and the report have become so politically charged, and that Commissioner Fish has used the process to make baseless claims about our conduct in Portland.
