I'm not trying to defend Uber with any of the other stuff, I just think that one particular thing was blown up a little bit more than was necessary.
I prefer Lyft anyway.
Senior executives of billion-dollar companies do not accidentally have dinner with reporters. The dinner was part of a PR effort. Maybe the guy's really a rube or a loose canon. But personally, my guess is that he "joked" about harming a journalist whose coverage they didn't like because he wanted other journalists to think twice about giving them bad coverage.
You could joke about fucking with people's privacy because you don't have a huge database of abortion clinic visits and one night stands and children's daycare locations. As soon as you did, people would start holding you accountable.
Sorry to break it down to you, but you're infact defending Uber.