Uber has been using Grayball tool to evade authorities

Uber is unquestionable the biggest ride hailing service. But it didn’t get there just through hard work and determination, the company has been using a secret weapon named “Greyball” to further its interests. Grayball is a part of a larger program named VTOS or violation of terms of service.

The program was brought into the attention of The New York Times by four former and current employees of the company who wished to remain unnamed. The VTOS program came into being in 2014 and its purpose was to stymie competitors or local officials who might target Uber.

Greyball uses data collected through the app and other sources to identify and tag officials who might want to penalize Uber drivers for breaking local laws or competitors who might want to set up sting operations to discredit Uber. If anyone suspected of being an official or a competitor, used the Uber app, they would be shown a fake app to show Uber vehicles in the vicinity that didn’t really exist. So, their hails will be ignored or rides canceled.

Uber admitted that they are still using the VTOS program, but in a smaller scale. “This program denies ride requests to fraudulent users who are violating our terms of service – whether that’s people aiming to physically harm drivers, competitors looking to disrupt our operations, or opponents who collude with officials on secret ‘stings’ meant to entrap drivers,” Uber said.

Uber has used this program in cities like Boston, Paris, Las Vegas etc and also in countries like Australia, China, Italy and South Korea where local taxi laws are very strict. Uber claimed they have rarely used the program to evade law enforcement. The primary goal of the program is to keep Uber drivers safe from abuse or intimidation and befuddle competitors.