>the Greyball technique was also used against suspected local officials who could have been looking to fine drivers, impound cars or otherwise prevent Uber from operating, the employees said
Doesn't Uber have a responsibility to protect itself and its drivers from fake riders looking to do harm even if they're government employees??
I think going after average or in many cases poor people trying to make a buck driving Uber is an "aggressive tactic"
I heard of cases where police officers would request rides in places where it was legal to pick someone up but there was an increased chance of the driver making a mistake and doing something they can ticket.
If LEOs decide they want to waste everyone's time in what's basically entrapment, I've no problem with people wasting their time back.
Imagine they were doing that to a pizza place, ticketing delivery drivers? How bad would the pizza place be for letting the phone ring? For saying "Yeah, we'll get that right out to you..." and doing nothing?
(I don't know enough to say whether (or to what degree) the system was misapplied; it might well have been. Just that not all law enforcement use is automatically legitimate...)
If those local officials were issuing arbitrary fines and illegally impounding cars I'd agree with you. But they weren't. Those local officials were enforcing the laws of their jurisdictions, which Uber was trying to circumvent.
If a police officer pulls me over and finds that I was driving without a license, they aren't going to let me drive away and file a case the next day. They're going to impound my car. Following that same logic, if a jurisdiction requires licenses for commercial taxi drivers, then operating as a taxi without that license will result in your car being impounded. Why do you feel these should be treated differently?
Doesn't Uber have a responsibility to protect itself and its drivers from fake riders looking to do harm even if they're government employees??
I think going after average or in many cases poor people trying to make a buck driving Uber is an "aggressive tactic"