Uber Greyball — 60s explainer (D05)

01 / 08 · Setup

UBER IN PORTLAND.

where it was banned

02 / 08 · Tension

BANNED ? OPERATING.

thanks to Greyball

03 / 08 · Reveal

GREYBALL

internal tool to identify and block regulators

04 / 08 · Mechanism

suspect = regulator → fake app, no drivers

User

opens Uber

Greyball scoring

Backend

geofence + pattern → fake UI

tagged: police stations, city hall, prepaid, usage patterns

05 / 08 · Scale

10+ CITIES. CONTINUOUS COVER-UP.

2014 launch 2017 exposed 2017 Kalanick out

Portland

Paris · Boston · Phila

AU · KR

China · Vegas

DOJ

criminal investigation

06 / 08 · Exposure

MARCH 2017

Mike Isaac

New York Times

former staff

anonymous sources

Travis Kalanick

CEO · steps down 2017

one of many Uber scandals in 2017

07 / 08 · Consequence

DOJ

criminal investigation ongoing

Travis Kalanick steps down 2017 (Greyball one of many factors). Uber: zero greyballing of regulators. Portland: token penalty.

08 / 08

GREYBALL

A program built to hide not from customers. From the state.
Case D05 in Big Tech Files.