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I mean they were greyballing city employees in some cities -- I don't know if that's 'personal pricing' but it's certainly an adversarial personalization featur

I mean they were greyballing city employees in some cities -- I don't know if that's 'personal pricing' but it's certainly an adversarial personalization feature VW during dieselgate had the ability to detect the testbench. I might build this here if I were concerned about getting caught. Uber built a remote kill switch for their tax docs in canada, this isn't unprecedented for them. also nobody denies location is used to personalize pricing, so wtf are they talking about. customizing the user's experience based on location is 100% personalization? the problem here is less the accusation than the total lack of price transparency + accountability on these markets

BenTheElder 5y ago
> Uber built a remote kill switch for their tax docs in canada, this isn't unprecedented for them. Do you have a pointer to more on this? Naive searching doesn't seem to turn up anything for me.
- awinter-py 5y ago
  it's their 'ripley' system https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/11/uber-developed-secret-system-to-lock-down-staff-computers-in-a-police-raid https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/11/uber-deve... https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-12/uber-looks-great-when-the-police-barge-in https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-12/uber-l...
  - BenTheElder 5y ago
    Thanks!
PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> also nobody denies location is used to personalize pricing Why would anyone be surprised that location is a factor for a ride service? Location and availability of drivers are basically the two main inputs. The service wouldn’t make much sense if they didn’t consider location of your start and finish points when pricing rides. This isn’t some nefarious scheme.
- pc86 5y ago
  There is an undercurrent online, even on HN, of something generally approaching "price discrimination is totally fine so long as it results me paying a lower price." As soon as more "fair" price discrimination schemes end up with the user paying 2, 3, 4x more than others (or than what they've paid previously) it's a great social injustice. I don't like it either but it's kind of silly to spend most of your professional life trying to help companies maximize revenue then get upset when as a customer you can see that you're helping companies maximize revenue.
- awinter-py 5y ago
  if you look at the message I'm replying to you'll see uber is denying personalizing prices

BenTheElder 5y ago

> Uber built a remote kill switch for their tax docs in canada, this isn't unprecedented for them. Do you have a pointer to more on this? Naive searching doesn't seem to turn up anything for me.

awinter-py 5y ago
it's their 'ripley' system https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/11/uber-developed-secret-system-to-lock-down-staff-computers-in-a-police-raid https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/11/uber-deve... https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-12/uber-looks-great-when-the-police-barge-in https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-12/uber-l...
- BenTheElder 5y ago
  Thanks!

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

> also nobody denies location is used to personalize pricing Why would anyone be surprised that location is a factor for a ride service? Location and availability of drivers are basically the two main inputs. The service wouldn’t make much sense if they didn’t consider location of your start and finish points when pricing rides. This isn’t some nefarious scheme.

pc86 5y ago
There is an undercurrent online, even on HN, of something generally approaching "price discrimination is totally fine so long as it results me paying a lower price." As soon as more "fair" price discrimination schemes end up with the user paying 2, 3, 4x more than others (or than what they've paid previously) it's a great social injustice. I don't like it either but it's kind of silly to spend most of your professional life trying to help companies maximize revenue then get upset when as a customer you can see that you're helping companies maximize revenue.
awinter-py 5y ago
if you look at the message I'm replying to you'll see uber is denying personalizing prices