14 DAY TRIAL // Tim Cook reportedly threatened Uber's CEO with taking down the app from the store if they didn't stop infringing on people's privacy by tracking down their devices even after the Uber app had been uninstalled.
According to a report from The New York Times, Travis Kalanick had a discussion with Apple's Tim Cook back in 2015 where Apple'a CEO was more than clear in regard to what Uber is allowed to do, or more specifically, what they weren't allowed to do.
Cook reportedly approached Kalanick in a rather calm tone, "So, I've heard you've been breaking some of our rules." The rules in question involve a feature Uber's engineers were instructed to include and hide in the app that allowed Uber to secretly identify and tag iPhone users, even if the app had been deleted from the phones.
The threat to remove Uber from the App Store was too much for Kalanick, who complied with Cook's demand. After all, losing access to millions of iPhone users wasn't worth it because it could destroy Uber's business altogether. Not that what has been happening with Uber in the past few months, all the scandals the company has been involved in, will do it any good, we may add.
Uber denies claims
"We absolutely do not track individual users or their location if they've deleted the app. As the New York Times story notes towards the very end, this is a typical way to prevent fraudsters from loading Uber unto a stolen phone, putting in a stolen credit card, taking an expensive ride and then wiping the phone - over and over again," Uber said in a statement. "Similar techniques are also used for detecting and blocking suspicious logins to protect our users' accounts. Being able to recognize known bad actors when they try to get back onto our network is an important security measure for both Uber and our users."
Regardless of whether Uber was really using this "typical" feature for safety concerns rather than nefarious purposes, the truth remains that Uber has been known for being involved in less than legal situations. For instance, back in 2014, an Uber exec allegedly used the "God View," an internal feature that allowed him to track down the location of a reporter, without her knowledge. This is a tool that ultimately allows employees to check Uber users' activity logs, something that obviously has deep privacy implications.