Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber and Ayn Rand superfan, thinks regulation is for suckers, and his company has been slow to expand background checks and tighten the screening process every bit information technology ravenously expands. Surprise: people are beating Uber'southward weak rules.

The higher up message was posted to Whisper, the anonymous messaging and confessional app, by an Uber commuter who has worked for the transit firm's Los Angeles branch. The source's subsequent conversations with Valleywag and Whisper, which put us in touch with the driver, speak to a corporate civilization of laissez-faire gone wrong:

[Uber's] background check is washed through a tertiary party called Hirease. It consists of filling out your proper noun, address, DL & SSN online. That's it. Every taxi company I worked for required drug screening and livescan fingerprinting at the local law department before being issued a taxi driver permit.

Signing up online sounds lax plenty, but information technology's the account-swapping that'south truly worrying hither:

One person could fill out all the info and hand off the approved account to another person. You lot tin can't practise that in the taxi world. That's what this limo company did that I used to charter from. Without anyone knowing.

I know of a few guys that "share" an account. I was approved by Uber, totally legit, and the other just drives.

Then there's what the limo company I used to lease from is doing. That's even more underhanded. They asked me to assist two new drivers a few months ago. When to work, where to get, etc. I consistently generated over $2000 a week in acquirement so I suppose that'due south why.

When these drivers told me they had interviewed only a few days prior to starting, I became suspicious. Uber is slow to get new drivers onboard - it took me a little over two weeks. Information technology turns out that the limo company took ii agile driver accounts - guys that were in skilful standing but no longer driving - and changed the proper noun and the photo on the account to that of these new guys.

They already had extra Uber phones in the function so the new guys were on the road in a few days, completely circumventing the "rigorous background cheque" or the driving bank check. I'm pretty certain they have valid driver's licenses because I doubt the limo company would forego insurance coverage. They as well ain one of the major cab companies in LA, I just don't remember they'd take chances that.

Merely this means Uber didn't check the driving tape for these guys. It's harder to find drivers than you'd imagine. The visitor just wants someone in that machine paying the charter. I had to railroad train these guys on how to apply a smartphone. They had no clue. No clue that they were not going through the normal channels

Fifty-fifty if yous're not falsifying or swapping your driver bio, our source says the screening process itself falls brusk:

Uber'south claim that their screening process is " often more rigorous" than what it takes to become a taxi driver is an outright lie. I've been a taxi driver in MA, FL and CA. You take to provide a 10 twelvemonth driving history from the DMV dated within xxx days, pass a drug and alcohol examination, go to the police department and become fingerprinted, and in some cases pass a examination that shows you can at least read a Thomas Guide. Uber requires none of this. Your UberX driver could exist shooting speedballs before he goes online and starts accepting rides.

Ultimately, our commuter source says information technology was a mix of limo company scheming and Uber indifference that turned him off from the job: "I never desire to get back to generating revenue for a company like Uber, that in my eyes doesn't requite a fuck nigh its drivers. Information technology's a keen idea. I just wish information technology was in different hands."

I've asked Uber, Travis Kalanick, and Hirease for comment—if I hear back, I'll update.

To contact the author of this mail service, write to biddle@gawker.com