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Read the complaint, it's pretty bad. Dude googles how to copy his work email from gmail, and also copies hot corporate documents to his private dropbox the day

Read the complaint, it's pretty bad. Dude googles how to copy his work email from gmail, and also copies hot corporate documents to his private dropbox the day he quits for Uber. All the while emailing the Lyft founders saying "I still love you like brothers". I try to avoid people and companies with poor ethics.

shoyer 12y ago
Indeed, the evidence is pretty damning. My guess is that this ends with him fired from Ubert. Now that Lyft has presented the evidence, that may be the only way for Uber to avoid liability itself.
colinbartlett 12y ago
Link to complaint: http://www.scribd.com/doc/245665642/Lyft-Sues-Former-COO http://www.scribd.com/doc/245665642/Lyft-Sues-Former-COO It's pretty damning if it is proven. Be on the lookout for a confidential settlement.
- bradleyjg 12y ago
  Why would Lyft agree to a confidential settlement? The bad publicity for Uber is more valuable than whatever money they can get from their former employee.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
    - meowface 12y ago
      I think that enemy has already been made...
  - colinbartlett 12y ago
    I just think it's unlikely this comes to trial simply because of the evidence. And if it doesn't go to trial, that means a settlement and I think these sorts of things are customarily confidential. IANAL.
    - anigbrowl 12y ago
      I'd think a court would be OK with sealing any documents containing Lyft's confidential information, after establishing the accuracy of the documents' description. The factual question is whether the defendant did in fact copy all that information as described, and there might be additional questions later about whether that information was passed to Uber, and if so, how that came to pass. If Lyft were to prevail and a jury was awarding damages, then it would be enough to know what sort of documents were taken to establish whether they were important commercial information or not, no?
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    Not just VanderZanden - notice they're also suing 'Does 1-10' which is lgal biolerplate for 'defendants we can't identify by name yet.' Uber executives or the firm itself could easily be named as co-defendants. I don't know how to assess the scope of the potential damages - while I don't think it would be fiscally catastrophic for Uber, it could get very very nasty.
PhasmaFelis 12y ago
I try to avoid both unethical people and people who are dumb as rocks. I think this guy qualifies as both, if he actually did corporate espionage unencrypted over the corporation's own network.
encoderer 12y ago
The complaint alleges that a few days before resigning he made a to-do list (using his working computer naturally) that included "Backup Lyft Email and Contacts". What a fool. Hubris.
tedks 12y ago
I think at this point, it's clear to me that Lyft is the one with poor ethics. I would literally never have heard of Lyft without all of their accusations against Über. Über is trying to poach drivers; Über is getting our C-level guys to baldly incriminate themselves and then jump ship to Über; Über is stealing our cookies; waaaah waaah waaah Uber. Honestly, I find it impossible to believe the Über team is both this B-movie-level evil, and stupid. It's really, really hard to believe that a COO of a successful startup wouldn't know how to copy documents that are on his OWN MACHINE (the private dropbox documents). So, since Lyft obviously gets assloads of free publicity from all these accusations, and since I've never seen an actual court judgment against Über reported, I somewhat doubt that these are actually true, or at least not actually provable, since like others have said, if Lyft could successfully sue Über over any one of these things, the media would have even more of a field day than it's having now. So okay. Über stole your drivers, your COO, shot your dog, made a mean face at you, whatever. Prove it in court. Until then I'm done with this bullshit. And I'll be happily using Über. (The only thing that Über has really done that's unethical is be as brutally capitalist as they can, but I find that a difficult accusation to level against them since it's not like any other company is doing exactly the same thing. That's a systemic issue, not a local one.) Edit: You know, if Lyft was running a black-hat PR campaign against Über, it'd be just like them to shill on HN. Thanks for the downvotes, Lyft.
- chimeracoder 12y ago
  > Honestly, I find it impossible to believe the Uber team is both this B-movie-level evil, and stupid. It's really, really hard to believe that a COO of a successful startup wouldn't know how to copy documents that are on his OWN MACHINE (the private dropbox documents). > So, since Lyft obviously gets assloads of free publicity from all these accusations, and since I've never seen an actual court judgment against Uber reported, I somewhat doubt that these are actually true, or at least not actually provable, since like others have said, if Lyft could successfully sue Uber over any one of these things, the media would have even more of a field day than it's having now. So just to clarify, you think Lyft is making these accusations up for the sake of getting publicity? And fabricating evidence to file in a lawsuit?
  - 12y ago
Schweigi 12y ago
I'm interest to know if Uber knew about this. I wouldn't hire people who take documents with them they stole in their previous company - who knows what they do once they leave.

shoyer 12y ago

Indeed, the evidence is pretty damning. My guess is that this ends with him fired from Ubert. Now that Lyft has presented the evidence, that may be the only way for Uber to avoid liability itself.

colinbartlett 12y ago

Link to complaint: http://www.scribd.com/doc/245665642/Lyft-Sues-Former-COO http://www.scribd.com/doc/245665642/Lyft-Sues-Former-COO It's pretty damning if it is proven. Be on the lookout for a confidential settlement.

bradleyjg 12y ago
Why would Lyft agree to a confidential settlement? The bad publicity for Uber is more valuable than whatever money they can get from their former employee.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
  - meowface 12y ago
    I think that enemy has already been made...
- colinbartlett 12y ago
  I just think it's unlikely this comes to trial simply because of the evidence. And if it doesn't go to trial, that means a settlement and I think these sorts of things are customarily confidential. IANAL.
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    I'd think a court would be OK with sealing any documents containing Lyft's confidential information, after establishing the accuracy of the documents' description. The factual question is whether the defendant did in fact copy all that information as described, and there might be additional questions later about whether that information was passed to Uber, and if so, how that came to pass. If Lyft were to prevail and a jury was awarding damages, then it would be enough to know what sort of documents were taken to establish whether they were important commercial information or not, no?
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  Not just VanderZanden - notice they're also suing 'Does 1-10' which is lgal biolerplate for 'defendants we can't identify by name yet.' Uber executives or the firm itself could easily be named as co-defendants. I don't know how to assess the scope of the potential damages - while I don't think it would be fiscally catastrophic for Uber, it could get very very nasty.

PhasmaFelis 12y ago

I try to avoid both unethical people and people who are dumb as rocks. I think this guy qualifies as both, if he actually did corporate espionage unencrypted over the corporation's own network.

encoderer 12y ago

The complaint alleges that a few days before resigning he made a to-do list (using his working computer naturally) that included "Backup Lyft Email and Contacts". What a fool. Hubris.

tedks 12y ago

I think at this point, it's clear to me that Lyft is the one with poor ethics. I would literally never have heard of Lyft without all of their accusations against Über. Über is trying to poach drivers; Über is getting our C-level guys to baldly incriminate themselves and then jump ship to Über; Über is stealing our cookies; waaaah waaah waaah Uber. Honestly, I find it impossible to believe the Über team is both this B-movie-level evil, and stupid. It's really, really hard to believe that a COO of a successful startup wouldn't know how to copy documents that are on his OWN MACHINE (the private dropbox documents). So, since Lyft obviously gets assloads of free publicity from all these accusations, and since I've never seen an actual court judgment against Über reported, I somewhat doubt that these are actually true, or at least not actually provable, since like others have said, if Lyft could successfully sue Über over any one of these things, the media would have even more of a field day than it's having now. So okay. Über stole your drivers, your COO, shot your dog, made a mean face at you, whatever. Prove it in court. Until then I'm done with this bullshit. And I'll be happily using Über. (The only thing that Über has really done that's unethical is be as brutally capitalist as they can, but I find that a difficult accusation to level against them since it's not like any other company is doing exactly the same thing. That's a systemic issue, not a local one.) Edit: You know, if Lyft was running a black-hat PR campaign against Über, it'd be just like them to shill on HN. Thanks for the downvotes, Lyft.

chimeracoder 12y ago
> Honestly, I find it impossible to believe the Uber team is both this B-movie-level evil, and stupid. It's really, really hard to believe that a COO of a successful startup wouldn't know how to copy documents that are on his OWN MACHINE (the private dropbox documents). > So, since Lyft obviously gets assloads of free publicity from all these accusations, and since I've never seen an actual court judgment against Uber reported, I somewhat doubt that these are actually true, or at least not actually provable, since like others have said, if Lyft could successfully sue Uber over any one of these things, the media would have even more of a field day than it's having now. So just to clarify, you think Lyft is making these accusations up for the sake of getting publicity? And fabricating evidence to file in a lawsuit?
- 12y ago

Schweigi 12y ago

I'm interest to know if Uber knew about this. I wouldn't hire people who take documents with them they stole in their previous company - who knows what they do once they leave.