What's absurd about it? Being hired to oversee Uber's overseas markets, it's hard to see what personal incentive he would have had to take all that data with him.
It's even harder to see what incentive Uber would have to ask him to spy on his employer? Besides, I get the impression Uber is beating the pants off Lyft. What do they want from them?
Who knows why he did it. Maybe he had anxiety about getting rid of things. But it's worth mentioning that Lyft did not name Uber in the lawsuit, which they would certainly do if they had any belief Uber instigated it.
To beat them in the market of course - the same incentive as in any other case of industrial espionage, if such it turns out to be. Most businesses would like to know what their competitors are up to. You're assuming that Uber is beating the pants off Lyft through merit, and concluding from that that Uber has nothing to gain.
Who knows why he did it. Maybe he had anxiety about getting rid of things.
Spreadsheet nostalgia!? Defending against this litigation is likely to be very expensive and his personal reputation has taken a severe hit regardless of outcome. That's some weapons-grade OCD you're suggesting.
Lyft hasn't named Uber but has left open the possibility of naming additional defendants. They do mention VanderZanden's admission to a Lyft board member back in August that he was in talks with Uber (before the termination of his employment), so you can bet they'll be wanting to look at any emails he might have exchanged with Uber. It's very common for legal complaints to be amended following the discovery process.
Are you a conspiracy theorist generally or just when it comes to Uber?
Having anxiety about letting things go has nothing to do with a sense of nostalgia. It's about the power of feeling like you have access and information, about the anxiety of losing something from years of your email that you might someday want or need, about a sense of entitlement that if you write it, it's yours to keep. I'm just speculating, but I could go on and nowhere on my list is "nostalgia". I think it wouldn't be on your list either; maybe you just wanted to score a debate point with a false equivalency?
I'm not one for online debates so please, have the last word. But so far all I've seen is you making a baseless accusation. And yes, it is absurd. Tell me, at what point in the Uber interview process does the coercion and fraud happen? How exactly do you think it went down? And why do you think it's more likely that this was a conspiracy, instead of just a guy who liked having access to things and felt entitled?
