Friday, September 15, 2017

Portland Concludes Uber Hampered Regulators, But No Fine Or Action

The City of Portland this week said that Uber deliberately sought to evade regulators through the use of a tool called "Greyball", which allowed Uber and its drivers to evade giving rides to regulators. According to City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, the city concluded its investigation into Uber's use of its Greyball tool, and says it how has "no attempts to evade regulators or deny service to riders in violation of City code or law will be allowed in the future." Portland said that Uber has since made changes explicity prohibiting its employees or drivers from evading regulators, and did not take any other action. Uber started using its Greyball tool in 2014, when it launched into Portland--without any permits or approval from the city--and apparently stopped using the tool when it received permission to operate in 2015.