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This is officially the most blown-out-of-proportion story in the history of the Internet. When was the last time the US Senate got involved after you went on a

This is officially the most blown-out-of-proportion story in the history of the Internet. When was the last time the US Senate got involved after you went on a rant at a party? I'm certain that Sarah Lacy is enjoying both the attention and the money from pageviews, but this is getting ridiculous.

smrtinsert 12y ago
As soon as someone jokes at about the potential of putting someones family in harms way, it is no longer a joke. I couldn't stand SL at TC but I'm 100% behind on her this one.
- viscanti 12y ago
  Where were the allegations of putting someone's family in harms way? The initial reports read like it was a hypothetical solution to show bias in tech journalism. SL happens to work at a blog who was funded by a competitor of Uber. Real journalists give full notice about potential conflicts of interest (especially when they write flimsy attack articles). Exposing that unacknowledged conflict of interest doesn't seem like it puts someone's family in harms way. All it would do is show clear bias in a clearly biased attack article.
zecho 12y ago
Overstatements are hilarious no matter where they come from. For example: "When was the last time the US Senate got involved after you went on a rant at a party?" I am not a SVP of a company valued in the billions working in a highly regulated industry. I also didn't do the rant at a private "party" designed to improve relations with prominent members of the media that covers my particular industry. Also, the Senate sends letters on all sorts of mundane matters. That is not the issue of proportion here. The issue is the media giving undue emphasis to stories involving the media.
thinkling 12y ago
I get that people sometimes say stupid things after two or three glasses of wine. And I get that blabbing about something is different from actually doing it. But this was egregiously beyond the boundaries of basic ethics and societal values, and a company executive should know better. So you may think it's overblown, but I'd like Uber to feel that this is not OK, so it got me to finally install the Lyft app which I'll be giving a try.
- downandout 12y ago
  So you may think it's overblown I think it's the most absurd thing I've ever heard. I don't know if you read Sarah's actual article, but it reads as if this guy called her up and told her that he was going to murder her children. It is that sentiment, not facts about what actually happened, that has carried this "story" so far. She is exploiting others' fears about stalking and sexism for her own personal gain. IMO, that makes her far more evil than anything Uber could or would do.
  - ztnewman 12y ago
    It's not "exploiting others' fears" when there is actual evidence that Uber has tracked journalists and other high profile figures, and top execs have brashly threatened to spend millions investigating journalists' personal lives. This is disgusting.
    - downandout 12y ago
      top execs have brashly threatened to spend millions investigating journalists' personal lives Nope. ONE exec went on a rant at a party about what HE would hypothetically like to do to a self-declared enemy of the company. Have you ever been really frustrated with someone and said "Ugh sometimes I'd like to ring his/her neck" or similar? Now imagine someone overheard you, took it literally, and called the person you were frustrated with. Sensing an opportunity to exploit the situation, they call the police, contact Senators about you, and write a blog post about how you threatened to eradicate him/her and everyone they've ever spoken to from the planet in the most violent possible way - all in an effort to get clicks on ads on your blog. That is basically what happened here. You're right about one thing, it is disgusting.
      - snsr 12y ago
        Maybe you missed this post regarding Uber employees tracking customers for fun, in realtime, on a monitor at a public event. https://medium.com/@petersimsie/can-we-trust-uber-c0e793deda36 https://medium.com/@petersimsie/can-we-trust-uber-c0e793deda...
alexbecker 12y ago
Not that it isn't overblown, but you must have missed out on a lot of history if you think this is the most overblown story on the internet.
mipapage 12y ago
The scale of the story is not relevant; the moral issue is. There should be no sliding scale for things like this. Period.
deleted 12y ago
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smrtinsert 12y ago

As soon as someone jokes at about the potential of putting someones family in harms way, it is no longer a joke. I couldn't stand SL at TC but I'm 100% behind on her this one.

viscanti 12y ago
Where were the allegations of putting someone's family in harms way? The initial reports read like it was a hypothetical solution to show bias in tech journalism. SL happens to work at a blog who was funded by a competitor of Uber. Real journalists give full notice about potential conflicts of interest (especially when they write flimsy attack articles). Exposing that unacknowledged conflict of interest doesn't seem like it puts someone's family in harms way. All it would do is show clear bias in a clearly biased attack article.

zecho 12y ago

Overstatements are hilarious no matter where they come from. For example: "When was the last time the US Senate got involved after you went on a rant at a party?" I am not a SVP of a company valued in the billions working in a highly regulated industry. I also didn't do the rant at a private "party" designed to improve relations with prominent members of the media that covers my particular industry. Also, the Senate sends letters on all sorts of mundane matters. That is not the issue of proportion here. The issue is the media giving undue emphasis to stories involving the media.

thinkling 12y ago

I get that people sometimes say stupid things after two or three glasses of wine. And I get that blabbing about something is different from actually doing it. But this was egregiously beyond the boundaries of basic ethics and societal values, and a company executive should know better. So you may think it's overblown, but I'd like Uber to feel that this is not OK, so it got me to finally install the Lyft app which I'll be giving a try.

downandout 12y ago
So you may think it's overblown I think it's the most absurd thing I've ever heard. I don't know if you read Sarah's actual article, but it reads as if this guy called her up and told her that he was going to murder her children. It is that sentiment, not facts about what actually happened, that has carried this "story" so far. She is exploiting others' fears about stalking and sexism for her own personal gain. IMO, that makes her far more evil than anything Uber could or would do.
- ztnewman 12y ago
  It's not "exploiting others' fears" when there is actual evidence that Uber has tracked journalists and other high profile figures, and top execs have brashly threatened to spend millions investigating journalists' personal lives. This is disgusting.
  - downandout 12y ago
    top execs have brashly threatened to spend millions investigating journalists' personal lives Nope. ONE exec went on a rant at a party about what HE would hypothetically like to do to a self-declared enemy of the company. Have you ever been really frustrated with someone and said "Ugh sometimes I'd like to ring his/her neck" or similar? Now imagine someone overheard you, took it literally, and called the person you were frustrated with. Sensing an opportunity to exploit the situation, they call the police, contact Senators about you, and write a blog post about how you threatened to eradicate him/her and everyone they've ever spoken to from the planet in the most violent possible way - all in an effort to get clicks on ads on your blog. That is basically what happened here. You're right about one thing, it is disgusting.
    - snsr 12y ago
      Maybe you missed this post regarding Uber employees tracking customers for fun, in realtime, on a monitor at a public event. https://medium.com/@petersimsie/can-we-trust-uber-c0e793deda36 https://medium.com/@petersimsie/can-we-trust-uber-c0e793deda...

alexbecker 12y ago

Not that it isn't overblown, but you must have missed out on a lot of history if you think this is the most overblown story on the internet.

mipapage 12y ago

The scale of the story is not relevant; the moral issue is. There should be no sliding scale for things like this. Period.

deleted 12y ago

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