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Uber secretly recorded phone calls with its employees without their permission, explosive letter claims

One claim is that Uber secretly recorded ‘listening session’ calls that were supposed to be anonymous

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Co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Uber, Travis Kalanick at an event in New Delhi. Photo: AFP/MONEY SHARMA
Business Insider

By Kif Leswing

A recently unsealed letter written by a lawyer for a former Uber intelligence manager makes a lot of explosive claims, including that the company had teams tasked with bugging hotels, infiltrating sensitive WhatsApp groups, and hacking taxi company databases.

But Uber employees may want to focus on one claim in particular that affects them. According to the letter, Uber recorded phone calls with its own employees without asking permission first. The findings from these recordings led to one employee leaving Uber.

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Uber hasn’t verified all the claims in the so-called “Jacobs letter,” a spokesperson told Business Insider on Friday. Still, if the claim about the call recording is true, it could change the way that Uber employees see their already-embattled employer.

Recording a phone call without permission violates California law.

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Here’s the relevant part of the letter:

Here’s what it says: 

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