Hoo-boy! This damning Uber letter is a wild ride
The disasters that former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick left in his wake at his popular ride-hailing app company was one of this year's biggest tech industry stories. Now, as we wrap up the year, Uber (through a court case) has gifted us a letter detailing many of the company's alleged wrongdoings and spy tactics.
The so-called Jacobs letter was written by an attorney representing Richard Jacobs, a former Uber security analyst. It alleges shady and potential illegal operations, including how Uber employees monitored the competition and acquired trade secrets.
The letter is among the evidence in the trial between Uber and Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car division. The letter's existence was unknown until late in the proceedings and ended up postponing the trial. The U.S. Justice Department had informed the judge on the case, William Alsup, about the letter. Alsup then called on three employees to testify on Nov. 28.
On Friday, the 37-page letter was open for public viewing and tons of juicy allegations were revealed. Here are some of the wildest ones:
1. Jacobs was digging dirt on narcotics operations in Colombia before joining Uber's Threat Operations (ThreatOps) team.
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2. Uber allegedly bribed government officials and employed sketchy information-gathering methods.
According to the letter, company also destroyed records, blocked lawsuit investigations, used encrypted communication tools, and eavesdropped "against opposition groups." Don't forget about abusing attorney-client privilege.
Uber allegedly even had a "sophisticated strategy to destroy, conceal, cover up, and falsify records or documents with the intent to impede or obstruct government investigations..."
3. Uber allegedly impersonated riders, drivers, taxi drivers, and protesters to get trade secrets about competitors and understand the opposition.
The letter even claims Kalanick used the illegally obtained data to inflate the valuation of Uber.
4. Uber allegedly created fake riders using SIM cards to impersonate customers and reverse engineer the competition's products.
5. The letter claims Uber snuck into private WhatsApp channels to sniff out taxi groups and labor unions.
6. Uber allegedly broke California law and secretly recorded phone calls, including one with an employee about sexual harassment allegations.
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7. Even more spying might have taken place at hotels and conference rooms visited by competitors.
Subordinates were sent to talk to competitors to see their reaction to news that Uber was receiving $3.4 billion from the Saudi government, the letter says.
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It looks like the new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has so much cleaning up to do.
UPDATE: Dec. 18, 2017, 11:55 a.m. EST Attorney Matthew Umhofer, who is representing four current employees at Uber, responded to Jacobs letter after it was released. He criticized the letter, alleging that its claims were exaggerated and Jacobs himself was a "failed" employee:
Ric Jacobs’ letter is nothing more than character assassination for cash. And Jacobs is nothing more than a failed Uber employee who underperformed and got demoted, and then retaliated against his supervisors and colleagues with a letter filled with distortions designed to line his own pockets. Jacobs took the good work my clients did and twisted it into something it wasn’t.
Jacobs has admitted under oath that several of the allegations in the letter aren’t true. He’s also called his own allegations ‘hyperbolic’ and ‘speculative.’ And Uber’s in-house counsel called the letter “meritless” and ‘extortionate.’
Mat, Nick, Ed, and Jake are good guys who worked day and night to protect Uber’s riders, drivers, and employees from real danger around the world. The competitive information gathering that was done at the explicit request of management was unremarkable and no different than what’s done by law-abiding companies across the country and Uber’s own competitors. And my clients constantly consulted with Uber’s lawyers to make sure they did things by the book.
The only wrongdoer here is Jacobs—he lied to get paid, and he didn’t care who he hurt in the process.
Joe Sullivan, former chief security officer at Uber, said in an emailed statement: "From where I sat, my team acted ethically, with integrity, and in the best interests of our drivers and riders.”
Mark Howitson, the attorney for Craig Clark, former legal director for security and law enforcement at Uber, added in a statement on behalf of his client, “Mr. Clark acted appropriately at all times. He has never been allowed to see Mr. Jacobs’ letter and looks forward to addressing it at the appropriate time. Mr. Jacobs' testimony on the content of his letter speaks for itself.”
Topics Self-Driving Cars Uber
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
