Since when was Canada considered a lousy jurisdiction? Last I checked, most of the jurisdictions they operate in are no worse than the US. Unless you’re saying that all first world countries are lousy jurisdictions, I think you are being rather hyperbolic.
I can easily see this tool having been built for operating in those kinds of countries.
What's upsetting people is that this got used in a country which is nominally not corrupt in order to hide from "proper" law enforcement.
If this was being used to hide from a raid in Russia, people would be cheering instead.
Personally, I wouldn’t be cheering. I’m of the mind that if you’re going to do business in a country, you can’t choose to ignore the local laws and expect zero repercussions.
That said, do I care that Uber built this system, nope! But I would laugh if it backfired on them and got them into more legal trouble.
However, the problem is that this represents a nuclear escalation that I'm not sure tech companies really want to have.
These warrants will probably now move directly to "comply or shut down."
I suspect that the next time this occurs, the police will decide that intimidation is the better part of valor, seize EVERYTHING, arrest EVERYBODY, and tell Uber to come sort it out.
They may not be able to get Uber, but I suspect that they will grind enough employees through the police and legal system with enough force that everybody will think twice about calling a shutdown number ever again.