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Uber and Lyft allegedly paid drivers to rally against employee status
There is seemingly no end in sight for Uber and Lyft's ongoing worker status dispute. The raging debate has seen battles in the UK Supreme Court, multimillion-dollar lawsuits, driver strikes and only a few small victories for labor groups. Now, the waters have been muddied even further following reports that Uber and Lyft essentially bribed drivers to protest in the companies' best interests.
Amazon looks into reports of staff leaking data to merchants
Bribery in tech companies or in their supply chains is nothing new (there are numerous stories of factory workers leaking unannounced products), but Amazon is grappling with some particularly serious concerns. The company has confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that it's investigating reports of employees in the US and China leaking data to merchants on the site in return for bribes. The shady resellers have paid as much as $2,000 to obtain internal sales data and reviewers' email addresses (to persuade them to alter or remove harsh reviews). In some cases, the merchants have paid Amazon employees to delete negative reviews outright.
YouTube reportedly curbing musician criticism with promotion deals
YouTube has always had a rocky relationship with the music industry, and the struggle looks set to continue following reports that the video streaming service is effectively bribing artists to keep their criticisms to themselves. According to sources cited by Bloomberg, YouTube has given a number of musicians several hundred thousand dollars for promotional support, on the promise that they don't say negative things about the site.
Telegram founder says US government tried to bribe developers
Dismissed as a WhatsApp clone when it launched in August 2013, Telegram has grown like a weed. The messaging service now counts more than 100 million monthly active users, who have flocked to the platform to play games, make video calls, interact with bots and, perhaps most importantly, benefit from its end-to-end encryption. Telegram's size and its desire to keep private messages truly private (although that has been debated) likely made it the target of US government, which reportedly tried to bribe its developers and influence its founder Pavel Durov last year.
The Soapbox: Six reasons MMOs should abandon raiding, part 2
In yesterday's Soapbox, I had some things to say about why it's time to dump raiding. I'm writing this before I've seen the comment responses, but I'm willing to bet that a fair amount of angry shouting was involved in the comments because that's what I usually expect. But I wasn't done, as suggested by the whole "part 1" thing in the title header. For those don't feel like reading the whole thing, the short version is that raiding is too expensive to develop for too small a portion of the players. This is a solid argument, but it's standard: You hear it every time this debate comes up. In some ways, it's the foundation of the argument against raiding beyond the reality that most people say they just don't like raiding. There's more to be said, though, and there are more serious issues up for discussion. Raiding isn't just expensive in terms of development. It's expensive in lots of ways.
Precursor weps, llamas are the bribes for watching GW2 PvP
Were you planning on watching Guild Wars 2's Tournament of Glory PvP livestream this weekend? No? What if we told you that you could win a precursor weapon or "a cute and cuddly Mini Llama?" Yep, that's what ArenaNet said in its latest blog post, which hypes both the North American and the European ToG finals. The Euro matches begin on Saturday, October 11th at 12:00 p.m. EDT. North American players take the stage on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EDT.
German prosecution charges HP staff with bribing Russian officials to clinch PC contract
The legal system's engines can take awhile to get churning, but there's no questioning the impact when they're at full bore. German prosecutors have wrapped up an almost three-year investigation into allegations of HP managers' bribery by charging the executives involved. Hilmar Lorenz, Päivi Tiippana and Ken Willett, along with claimed accomplice Ralf Krippner, have all been indicted for supposedly funneling €7.5 million ($9.7 million) in bribes through a German subsidiary and far-flung shell accounts to land a €35 million ($45.3 million) PC supply deal with Russia's Prosecutor General Office early in the previous decade. While only the people directly attached to the scandal currently face any consequences if found guilty, German lawyers are motioning to have the PC builder attached to the case, and there's a chance the formal charges could fuel an ongoing US investigation. HP is cooperating even as it's trying to distance itself from the indictments as much as possible -- these are for old allegations and a "former HP company," it says. While we don't yet know the whole story, it may be a protracted tale knowing that at least Tiippana and Willett plan to fight the accusations.
Apple supply manager arrested for wire fraud, money laundering
Ever wonder why -- after years of secrecy -- camera-ready iPod cases began rolling out? The answer could possibly be Apple supply manager Paul Shin Devine, who was just fingered by the FBI and IRS as a fraudulent, money laundering mole. Devine was arrested Friday for allegedly receiving kickbacks from six accessory suppliers in exchange for confidential information, which apparently gave them an edge in negotiating Apple contracts. "The alleged scheme used an elaborate chain of U.S. and foreign bank accounts and one front company to receive payments," reports the San Jose Mercury News, "and code words like 'sample' were used to refer to the payments so that Apple co-workers wouldn't become suspicious." Though we're not yet sure what specific confidential information might have been passed along and we doubt the indictment will say, a separate civil suit filed by Apple claims Devine accepted over $1 million in "payments, kickbacks and bribes" over the course of several years.
More than a dozen implicated in South Korean StarCraft scandal
[Image source: MTV] According to StarCraft forum Team Liquid, 16 South Koreans are being implicated in the StarCraft match-fixing scandal that we heard about earlier this year. The site claims that three brokers, 11 professional StarCraft players and two others (for making bets with insider knowledge) have been indicted thus far. The match-fixing is said to have taken place in December of last year, when brokers corroborated with players to intentionally lose matches. One of the players named in Team Liquid's report, Moon Sung Jin, has issued a rather grave formal apology via his Cyworld (South Korean social networking service) account. "I am sorry. Due to a hasty mistake, I have disappointed many people. I have nothing to say on this matter, and I do not have any intention of being forgiven," Jin wrote, according to 1UP, adding, "I will be entering military service on the 31st of May, and it seems like I am running away from the truth. I can only say that I will do my best to reflect on my actions and to be discharged as a better, more rational person. I am truly sorry once again." Reports of the amount each player received varies, from between two to six and a half million won ($2,000 to $6,000) for the calculated losses, which were then allegedly pooled and used to bribe a host of other players. [Via 1UP]
Officers' Quarters: Want loot? Buy us a server
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.As an officer or a guild leader, doing favors for your friends is one thing. The situation described below goes way beyond that. This one just blows my mind. Let's jump right into it. Hey Scott, I'm by no means an officer or leader of a guild but I am a very active raider. We use the EP/GP loot system in our guild; it calculates how often you raid vs. how much gear you acquire and based on that gives you priority when looting. Myself, a raider who attends almost every major raid, and an officer who tries to be there when he can, have both been wanting a certain item to drop. I finally pass this officer on priority and if the item drops it should be mine. Our last Naxx raid the item drops and I put in for it, and suddenly it gets awarded to the officer. I confront the guild leader about this, knowing he is friends with the guy and he gives me a vague answer such as "I'm sorry I know you're pissed at me, but that item has been destined to be his for a long time, I'm sure you'll get the next one." What kind of answer is that?! This is supposed to be a fair loot system right? So I go and confront the officer that was awarded the loot, after several minutes he told me that he had made a back door deal to get that item. He had just bought the guild a new Ventrilo server, and the condition he made to the guild leader was that he gets that item when it drops.
Samsung resignations spark rioting, photo burning
Think you're a fanboy? Supporters of the Samsung Group gathered for a rally during a press conference held by Kim Yong-chul, a lawyer calling for punishments to be handed out to disgraced company CEO Lee Kun-hee. During the proceedings, supporters burned pictures of Kim and generally made Apple and Microsoft fanatics look like choir boys on especially good behavior. Now that's dedication.[Thanks, Dooder; Image courtesy AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon]
Samsung's Korean headquarters raided by police
Samsung just can't seem to keep itself out of hot water these days. On the heels of its chairman's home raid, it now appears that the Samsung Group headquarters have also been the target of a shakedown. Apparently, the flurry of activity is all related to an ongoing probe into accusations that the electronics-maker is responsible for a slush fund used to bribe influential prosecutors, judges, and political figures. The charges are being lobbed by Kim Yong-chul, a former legal affairs official at Samsung, who claims that the conglomerate used some 200 billion won ($215 million) to fund the shady dealings. The company denies the accusations, of course, though Chairman Lee Kun-hee has been convicted of bribery before in Korean courts... so, uh, this isn't looking good.
Samsung chairman's home raided over bribery scandal
Oh noes. An independent investigation launched last week into an alleged multi-million-dollar slush fund has raided the homes of Samsung chairman, Lee Kun-Hee, and six other Samsung execs. The chairman and the executives are already banned from leaving the country. The investigation saw some 50 investigators seize documents and a laptop from Lee's Seoul villa after a search lasting several hours. Samsung, for its part, has denied the long whispered bribery claims, made formal by its former chief lawyer last year.
Samsung's slush fund valued at $216 million, says former legal executive
We're not sure what Samsung did to invite the wrath of Kim Yong-chul, nevertheless, the former Samsung legal executive is blowing his whistle... again. In a national news conference televised in South Korea this morning, Kim stated that "Samsung has created a large-scale slush fund" valued at some 200 billion won (about $216 million). According to Kim, the fund was used to routinely bribe prosecutors and politicians in hopes of making the investigations into Samsung's improprieties go away. Last week, South Korea's parliament voted to allow an independent counsel to investigate the Samsung group in addition to improper payments -- including a congratulatory election victory "gift" -- made to South Korea's residing president, Roh Moo-hyun. Roh, who denies the allegations, is considering vetoing the bill according to a statement made by his office. Unlike typical boasts of Samsung world's firsts, this certainly isn't the first case of a corporate slush fund. However, with Samsung controlling nearly 20% of South Korea's GDP, it has legs to become the world's most notorious case of political-industrial corruption in recent years.
A Samsung bribe is worth a thousand votes
It's embarrassing enough to be embroiled in scandal after scandal, particularly if you're Samsung, whose identity is indelibly linked with that of the proud, South Korean nation (and responsible for 20% of its exports). Now this, photographic evidence of an alleged bribe from Lee Kyung-hoon, a former in-house lawyer for Samsung Electronics, as proof of Samsung's nefarious efforts to coerce government officials into glossing over past, corporate indiscretions. The 5 million won (about $5,450) bribe disguised as a book was supposedly given to Lee Young-chul, the former Secretary to the South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, for Legal Affairs, on January 26, 2004. He gave it back, one month later. The evidence was presented today by the "People's Action" civil group in the hopes that the government would open an independent counsel to probe the activities of Samsung and its chairman, Lee Kun-hee.[Via Chosun, thanks Soc Gi]
Latest Samsung scandal gets hot-button treatment
It's no secret that Samsung and scandal have gone hand-in-hand in the past, but apparently, the latest one has been of particular significance in the firm's homeland. The most recent incident involves Kim Yong-chul, a former top Samsung lawyer, who went public this month with claims that Chairman Lee Kun-hee and other officials "masterminded a campaign to raise slush funds to pay prosecutors, judges and lawmakers and influence a high-profile court case." In response, independent prosecutors were called in to investigate the allegations of "bribery and policy manipulation," and not surprisingly, Samsung has reportedly fired back calling the proclamations "groundless and false." It should be noted that no "substantiating evidence" has been provided thus far, but analysts are already suggesting that these assertions, if proven legitimate, could even play a role in the nation's upcoming presidential election.[Via BusinessWeek, image courtesy of Forbes]
Indian political party trades TVs for votes; free HDTV campaign in 2008?
Although bribery isn't exactly smiled upon here in the States, we've got a hunch that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party in India is on to something. In news likely to cause turmoil (or not) among culturally-planted Americans, the DMK promised a bevy of new electronics to folks who cast their vote for them, and apparently, it worked. After falling from power in 2001, the party has stormed back into prominence by offering poor citizens niceties (such as stoves and TVs) which most could never afford on their own. By wording the goodies as "social welfare" benefits, the sets they hand out supposedly aid the voters in receiving news critical to their life, health, and work, which in turn benefits society the DMK as a whole. While America hasn't had the best luck so far with all these e-voting implementations, and considering a good few don't even cast a passing glance at anything political, we'd bet a "Free HDTV" campaign would result in surefire admission into the Oval Office.[Via Fark]
