Uber Criminal Probe Shines Light on Vanishing Message System
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The Waymo driverless car is displayed during a Google event, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, in San Francisco.
Photographer: Eric Risberg/AP Photo
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A criminal probe of Uber Technologies Inc. has turned up revelations that the ride-hailing company used encrypted messaging to hide its tracks while spying on rivals, evading authorities and fighting off lawsuits.
Richard Jacobs, who was a manager on a corporate surveillance team at Uber, privately told federal prosecutors about the secret messaging system and publicly testified about it on Tuesday. He provided details on how Uber employees were trained to “destroy communications that might be considered sensitive.”