A piece of software used by Uber to evade regulators in areas where it wasn't welcome has landed the company in hot water with the Justice Department. Uber is facing a criminal probe due to its "Greyball" tool, which helped it hide cars from regulators attempting to conduct sting operations against the service.
Greyball was used in places like Portland, Oregon to keep the app running despite protests from local officials.
The tool was first revealed by The New York Times in March. Uber responded by claiming Greyball was meant to reduce fraud and protect drivers from taxi union protesters. It claims Greyball wasn't about skirting around regulations, though it did also protect drivers from "opponents" trying to conduct "secret stings to entrap drivers."
Greyball looked at data such as credit card info, location, and device type to figure out if a user should be allowed to access the service. When someone was disallowed because of their data, they'd be shown an alternative version of the app with fake non-responsive cars
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