industryterm:secret technology

Uber president Jeff Jones quits, deepening turmoil
▻https://www.yahoo.com/tech/uber-president-jeff-jones-quits-deepening-turmoil-003436110--sector.html
Zunächst bekam man den Eindruck, ein Anführer der Uber-Bande hätte ein schlechtes Gewissen bekommen.

“It is now clear, however, that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business,” he added. Jones wished the “thousands of amazing people at the company” well.

Aber dann ging es wohl doch mehr um Differenzen bei der Frage, welche Ausbeutungsmethoden am besten funktionieren.

The Independent Drivers Guild, an organization that advocates for Uber drivers, on Sunday was critical that Jones “has left the company without making a single improvement to help drivers struggling to make a living,” said Ryan Price, executive director of the guild.

Das liest sich dann so:

“I joined Uber because of its mission, and the challenge to build global capabilities that would help the company mature and thrive long term,” Jones said.

Und das hat sich dann nicht so entwickelt wie der Herr es sich vorstellte. Man hört auch, dass der Big Boss ein ganz schöner Kotzbrocken sein soll.

Bloomberg released a video that showed Kalanick berating an Uber driver who had complained about cuts to rates paid to drivers, resulting in Kalanick making a public apology.

Oder will der Mann einfach nicht riskieren, wegen Bildung einer kriminellen vereinigung im Knast zulanden?

And earlier this month Uber confirmed it had used a secret technology program dubbed “Greyball,” which effectively changes the app view for specific riders, to evade authorities in cities where the service has been banned. Uber has since prohibited the use of Greyball to target local regulators.

Noch mehr kriminelle Machenschaften bei Uber?

Uber is also facing a lawsuit from Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car division that accuses it of stealing designs for autonomous car technology known as Lidar. Uber has said the claims are false.

Jeff Jones ist nicht der einzige Abgang aus der Chefetage von Uber. Der Chefkartograph will lieber in der Politik etwas werden, ein Wochenendpicknick im Vergleich zum Überlebenskampf in der Konzernzentrale des weltgrößten selbsterklärten Gesetzesbrechers.

Uber’s vice president of maps and business platform, Brian McClendon, said separately he plans to leave the company at the end of the month to explore politics.

“I’ll be staying on as an adviser,” McClendon said in a statement to Reuters. “This fall’s election and the current fiscal crisis in Kansas is driving me to more fully participate in our democracy.”

Könnte es sein, dass die Ratten das sinkende Schiff verlassen?

Jones and McClendon are the latest in a string of high-level executives to leave the company.

Last month, engineering executive Amit Singhal was asked to resign due to a sexual harassment allegation stemming from his previous job at Alphabet Inc’s Google. Earlier this month, Ed Baker, Uber’s vice president of product and growth, and Charlie Miller, Uber’s famed security researcher, departed.

Lokaler Widerstand gegen die Plattformkapitalisten lohnt sich, und zwar besonders dann wenn sie sich intern selbst zerlegen.

#Taxi #Uber #disruption

N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/nsa-effort-pries-open-computers-not-connected-to-internet.html?_r=0

While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the #Internet, according to #N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.

The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and #USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target.

The radio frequency technology has helped solve one of the biggest problems facing American intelligence agencies for years: getting into computers that adversaries, and some American partners, have tried to make impervious to spying or cyberattack. In most cases, the radio frequency hardware must be physically inserted by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user.

N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers - NYTimes.com
►http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/nsa-effort-pries-open-computers-not-connected-to-internet.html?smid=tw-nyti
#surveillance

While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.

The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target.