The recent Guardian article explains that “ Uber developed its kill switch systems in the midst of a flurry of raids by police and officials”, suggesting that rather than a single tool, there were various systems in place. Though the Uber files leaks and related articles have brought Uber’s use of kill switch software to the attention of the public, it is not the first time that it has been reported on, with a number of related stories stemming from reporting by Bloomberg back in January 2018 which we will discuss further momentarily. Putting in processes to prevent regulators and law enforcement from accessing data that they are lawfully entitled to collect is not typically going to be seen as a good move. Much of the focus of dawn raid preparedness for companies lies in identifying the data sources that regulators and/or law enforcement may be interested in and ensuring that data is accessible and exportable if required.
I have advised clients on best practices on how to respond to dawn raids for many years. Working in digital forensics, one of the things that struck me when I first starting reading some of the reports based on the Uber files, was the mention of a “kill switch” which, according to the Guardian, was used “ to prevent police and regulators from accessing sensitive data during raids on its offices”. They have been the focus of a number of recent articles which have been published questioning the ethical nature of many of Uber’s activities. The Uber Files is a set of more than 124,000 files leaked to the Guardian, by an Uber insider.