Report on Uber Executive Shows What Portland Regulators Are Up Against

The Sunday New York Times profiles Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick, attributing the company's pattern of defying regulations and industry standards to the man who founded and leads the company.

Uber is currently under investigation in Portland for using a high-tech tool the company called Greyball to helped unlicensed cars evade regulators. The company has admitted Greyball exists; it's unclear how long the company continued to use it here after Portland legalized the ride-sharing app in 2015.

But Greyball is not the only time the company has crossed a line with its use of technology, the Times reports.

Uber employees, at the direction of chief executive Travis Kalanick, also defied Apple's privacy policies for a time, tracking iPhones even after the company's app was deleted.

Unlike Portland regulators, the technology giant Apple was able to figure out how Uber was using technology to evade its rules. Apple handed Kalanick an ultimatum in 2014 to follow privacy rules or it would bar the Uber app from iPhones — a prospect that could have destroyed Uber's business.

"In a quest to build Uber into the world's dominant ride-hailing entity, Mr. Kalanick has openly disregarded many rules and norms, backing down only when caught or cornered," writes Times reporter Mike Isaac, who broke the story in March on the company's use of Greyball technology to evade Portland and other regulators. "Mr. Kalanick was also responsible for risk-taking that pushed Uber beyond the pale, sometimes to the very brink of implosion,"

The results of Portland's investigation are due out later this week.