Re:How Uber Used Secret “Greyball” Tool to Deceive Authoriti...
by ams6110 on Friday March 03, 2017 @06:56PM
(#13788074)
Seems to imply that they knew they were breaking the law, which would also seem to constitute mens rea. IANAL.
Re:How Uber Used Secret “Greyball” Tool to Deceive Authoriti...
by rmc on Saturday March 04, 2017 @05:21AM
(#13790243)
Just because the legal team approved it doesn't mean it is legal. Legal teams make mistakes all the time
Re:How Uber Used Secret “Greyball” Tool to Deceive Authoriti...
by ubernostrum on Friday March 03, 2017 @04:02PM
(#13786517)
Well, that's a bold legal strategy if true -- I wonder why Microsoft simply didn't put it in the Windows license agreement that government users couldn't sue them for antitrust violations!
(Uber's real argument seems to be "it violates our terms of service for a government official to try to figure out if we're following the law")
Re:How Uber Used Secret “Greyball” Tool to Deceive Authoriti...
by SilasX on Friday March 03, 2017 @04:06PM
(#13786555)
That wouldn't work:
a) exempting themselves from specific laws by EULA generally doesn't work,
b) you can block specific people from a service and even police have to leave when told (barring further e.g. probable cause), but police are under no obligation to honor a general "no police" policy.
It's legal, though, to kick someone off a service because you think they're a cop. (e.g. biker bars that kick people out on that basis)
>At least 50 to 60 people inside Uber knew about Greyball, and some had qualms about whether it was ethical or legal. Greyball was approved by Uber’s legal team, headed by Salle Yoo, the general counsel.
I (though not a lawyer) assume their reasoning was: "It's legal to use public sources to identify possible law enforcement agents, it's legal to deny services to them. Seems legit."