The Uber Conflation
stratechery.com
The Uber Conflation
1–10 of 143 posts
Re: The Uber Conflation
#2A major point of this article is that Uber skirts regulations by sticking to the letter of the law while violating its spirit, which a lot of people (falsely, in the author's eyes) see as Uber thinking its above the law.
I was under the impression that Uber outright broke the law in many places. The author describes how things went for them in San Francisco: the laws never considered smartphone apps, so Uber was able to legally operate as a "limo service." In that particular case, I agree with the author. But I thought that in many other cities, Uber came in and started operating in clear violation of the letter of the law, not just the spirit.
Is that true, or am I just misinformed?
Re: The Uber Conflation
#3A major point of this article is that Uber skirts regulations by sticking to the letter of the law while violating its spirit, which a lot of people (falsely, in the author's eyes) see as Uber thinking its above the law. I was under the impression that Uber outright broke the law in many places. The author describes how things went for them in San Francisco: the laws never considered smartphone apps, so Uber was able…
You are not. Here is a list of scummy things Uber does that I put together recently for another thread.[1] All are pretty gross, many are "word but not spirit" issues, but at least a few of them are outright, flatly illegal.
Re: The Uber Conflation
#4A major point of this article is that Uber skirts regulations by sticking to the letter of the law while violating its spirit, which a lot of people (falsely, in the author's eyes) see as Uber thinking its above the law. I was under the impression that Uber outright broke the law in many places. The author describes how things went for them in San Francisco: the laws never considered smartphone apps, so Uber was able…
They violate the letter of the law regularly. For example, their driverless car experiment.
Re: The Uber Conflation
#5A major point of this article is that Uber skirts regulations by sticking to the letter of the law while violating its spirit, which a lot of people (falsely, in the author's eyes) see as Uber thinking its above the law. I was under the impression that Uber outright broke the law in many places. The author describes how things went for them in San Francisco: the laws never considered smartphone apps, so Uber was able…
Uber is careful to violate local (civil) laws where it has popular backing, as opposed to state or federal laws that can carry criminal penalties. Think: Zenefits or Theranos versus Airbnb.
Re: The Uber Conflation
#6A major point of this article is that Uber skirts regulations by sticking to the letter of the law while violating its spirit, which a lot of people (falsely, in the author's eyes) see as Uber thinking its above the law. I was under the impression that Uber outright broke the law in many places. The author describes how things went for them in San Francisco: the laws never considered smartphone apps, so Uber was able…
In Philly, Uber asked for a license, was denied, then told its drivers they would cover the costs of any fines and they should drive anyway. Offering upfront to pay fines doesn't sound like they thought they found a loophole.
Re: The Uber Conflation
#7A major point of this article is that Uber skirts regulations by sticking to the letter of the law while violating its spirit, which a lot of people (falsely, in the author's eyes) see as Uber thinking its above the law. I was under the impression that Uber outright broke the law in many places. The author describes how things went for them in San Francisco: the laws never considered smartphone apps, so Uber was able…
You are not. Here is a list of scummy things Uber does that I put together recently for another thread.[1] All are pretty gross, many are "word but not spirit" issues, but at least a few of them are outright, flatly illegal. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13793923
Thanks. That's quite a list. Given that, it seems like this whole article rests on false pretenses.
Re: The Uber Conflation
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are not. Here is a list of scummy things Uber does that I put together recently for another thread.[1] All are pretty gross, many are "word but not spirit" issues, but at least a few of them are outright, flatly illegal. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13793923
Thanks. That's quite a list. Given that, it seems like this whole article rests on false pretenses.
The funny thing is it's not even complete. There is definitely much more out there; I just ran out of time to compile it all.
In fairness, I'm not sure I would go so far as saying the article's pretenses are false - rather, the article is assuming good faith when it probably shouldn't. I also think that it's talking mostly about Uber's core business idea being a gray area (which it is), rather than all the myriad bad things Uber does that aren't directly related to its actual business.
Re: The Uber Conflation
#9A major point of this article is that Uber skirts regulations by sticking to the letter of the law while violating its spirit, which a lot of people (falsely, in the author's eyes) see as Uber thinking its above the law. I was under the impression that Uber outright broke the law in many places. The author describes how things went for them in San Francisco: the laws never considered smartphone apps, so Uber was able…
Uber is careful to violate local (civil) laws where it has popular backing, as opposed to state or federal laws that can carry criminal penalties. Think: Zenefits or Theranos versus Airbnb.
Richard Petty, the legendary Nascar driver, once said that the secret to winning at Nascar is knowing how to "cheat neat."
There's great art in knowing how to rejigger a car that must look like a Toyota Camry, but obviously is not the same Camry that you or I could buy from the local dealer for $30,000.
There's a blog post for someone to write about Silicon Valley's efforts to put the Petty Principle in action. Lots of gray in the middle on this one. I'd love to see someone's comprehensive take on what's forgivable these days vs. unforgivable.
Re: The Uber Conflation
#10To me it is a clear case Uber is being systematically attacked. Most likely by Google. They fear Uber will get credit for self driving cars before them and they are horrified. So they use the full weight of their online power to bring the narrative Uber is evil. The easiest way to do that is trot out the good old "sexist" card. That gets the ball rolling and it's all downhill from there.