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I wonder what rate of false negatives is, in terms of assigning Greyball status to someone who is not in fact a local official conducting a sting operation. Pi
by leroy_masochist 10y ago
I wonder what rate of false negatives is, in terms of assigning Greyball status to someone who is not in fact a local official conducting a sting operation.
Picture a 19-year-old woman in college whose dad convinced her to put Uber on her phone so she'd have a way to get home safely at night -- and linked her account up to his credit card so she wouldn't worry about having to afford the ride.
Now picture her leaving a house party drunk at 2am. The party happens to be close to city government offices, and her dad's a cop and his credit card tracks back to a police credit union. She opens the app and tries to get a car, but there are no cars. Or there are lots of cars, but none will give her a ride.
A low-probability edge case, to be sure, but I wonder if Uber considered the possibility?
- danielweber 10y agoIt would be pretty stupid to make your very first use of a service an escape from a dangerous situation. Lots of people are scared to use Uber/Lyft at first and need to be convinced to ride.
- leroy_masochist 10y agoI get that it would be stupid, but wouldn't it also be pretty realistic for a college student to use Uber for the first time when she knows it's too late and she's too drunk for the walk home to be a good idea? Especially if she's a responsible individual who doesn't want to rack up charges on Mom and Dad's credit card, and therefore this is the first time she's pulled the trigger?
- dpatru 10y agoYour example would be better put to government officials trying to shut down Uber.
- leroy_masochist 10y agoThat's a very fair point.