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Uber Faces Criminal Probe into Cloaking Software
The U.S. Dept. of Justice has opened a criminal probe into software developed by Uber Technologies Inc. to evade local regulators, sources tell Reuters.
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The U.S. Dept. of Justice has opened a criminal probe into software developed by Uber Technologies Inc. to evade local regulators, sources tell Reuters.
The so-called “Greyball” software was revealed by The New York Times in March as a tool that could mask Uber’s ride-hailing operations in markets that hadn’t yet approved the service. The software was able to identify transportation and regulatory officials and deny them rides to avoid having their drivers ticketed or vehicles impounded.
Uber said at the time that Greyball was created to safeguard drivers and identify fraud and illegitimate ride requests. But it also was used to identify regulators and other officials, in part by checking credit card information to determine if the owner was in law enforcement. In such cases, the software could display a special version of its smartphone app that masked the location of its drivers.
Reuters says Uber has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury for information about how Greyball worked. The news service notes that the investigation is at an early stage and may not lead to charges.
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