Uber made history and continues to do so by successfully disrupting a stale and often corrupt taxi industry across the world. But as Uber supplants one form of corruption, it's clearly fallen victim to another. And if the company doesn't clean up its act, the good it's doing to unshackle people pinned down by the constraints of traditional transportation will be lost and left for its imitators to continue.
The latest bit of corruption dogging Uber came to light Tuesday as the company admitted that it hid the fact that hackers breached and gained access to 57 million user accounts. To make matters worse, Uber also now says it paid hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet, and did not report the incident.
In so doing, Uber moves from the lofty ranks of admirable disruptor to just another company doing what looks like a poor job or protecting its data and definitely doing a terrible job at handling the job of keeping its customers, investors, and the general public properly informed and prepared. This is essentially the same sin committed by Equifax, Target, Yahoo and many others.
And at recode, here come the Attorneys General:"This is a company that doesn't just have your address and credit card information, but detailed data on your movements and general travel history."But in some ways, a data breach at Uber is worse. This is a company that doesn't just have your address and credit card information, but detailed data on your movements and general travel history. A good hacker can find your home, and find where you are at any given time.
And that brings us to the second level of general corporate corruption that Uber has become a part of. That is the wave of sexual harassment and misconduct that is sweeping the nation right now. Actually, Uber's problems with this issue predate the fury that began this fall with the allegations surfacing against Hollywood Harvey Weinstein. "Way back" in June, the alleged culture of sexual harassment at Uber contributed greatly to the ouster of co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick....MORE
Uber is under investigation by multiple states over a 2016 data breach
Regulators around the country are questioning Uber for staying silent after the hack, which affected 57 million people.
Yesterday:
Uber Paid Hackers to Delete Stolen Data on 57 Million People
