3 ms·

These claims provide precisely zero evidence that Uber ever used battery life as a pricing variable.

• thfuran 2y ago
  They're all about things way shadier then battery-level-based pricing.
• Terr_ 2y ago
  They are proof that Uber has already done worse things that involve similar capabilities and rewards. In other words, it is the kind of organization that is much more likely to have done battery-panic pricing, and that should affect how credible you think the accusation is. Compare the vibe of: "So what if he was convicted of home-invasion robbery, that doesn't prove he ever mugged anybody in an alley!" True in the most literal sense, yet also missing the point.
• acdha 2y ago
  In your hurry to donate time of your life pro bono to Uber’s PR team, you might have missed that I never claimed they did. The argument I did make is that when you’re talking about a company which has put considerable effort into building tools specifically to deceive governmental authorities and break its legal agreements you can’t rely on a small unscientific study to say anything doesn’t happen. “Uber doesn’t price based on battery life”, “Uber disables price manipulation for known journalists and their cohabitants”, and “Uber disabled price manipulation features after reports went wildly viral” are indistinguishable in that experiment, and there’s nothing like enough data to even begin to make the argument that the claim could not possibly be true. Put another way, if I say someone cheated at cards and you say that’s an urban legend because they were never caught, knowing that the alleged cheat was Bernie Madoff might change your confidence in that belief because you know without a doubt that he was willing to cheat in even more serious areas.
• andreareina 2y ago
  It's not evidence that they did, but it's evidence supporting the claim they would. This isn't a court of law, I'm allowed to use "they've done <shady shit> before" to inform my prior for "they're doing <different shady shit> now".