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Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

reuters.com

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Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#51

Post by adrianN »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #50
adrianN wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of countries don't have guns in every purse without rampant rapists. I think there are different solutions to the problem, like promoting a culture where women are equal.

Which do you think will reduce rape right now ? A bunch of rapists showing up at hospitals with holes in them, or some sort of education campaign to change the culture? If things can get better in 10 years that's great. I'd also like the women I care about to be safe tomorrow. A few dead rapists is a small price to pay for that.

If you want to reduce rape right now, you should start by putting more effort into getting rapists in jail. Currently three fourths of the rapists get away scot free. Get the police to do their job, don't force everybody to be their own police.

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#52

Post by what_ever »

RealGeek wrote: post #10

Uber is not being banned just because of this rape incident. Uber did not following Indian laws & Delhi transport regulations, and operated illegally under the radar. Before this incident, Delhi Government was not aware about how Uber operated. This incident prompted Indian authorities to investigate the operations of Uber. Uber's stance is that we are not a taxi company, we are an app company; so we do not need to f…

He is saying press@uber.com and not Paisa Dooba.

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#53

Post by [deleted] »

awinder wrote: post #33
GrinningFool wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No sexual offenses From the article: "Uber, which had employed the driver even though he had been arrested on allegations of sexual assault three years ago" THe implication there is that he had not been convicted of any offense - which means no sexual offense was [in the eyes of the law...] committed. I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand yeah, he was arrested for it and convicted or not, that's probably a risk U…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/10/delhi-rape-one-conv... Of 706 reported rape cases, 1 lead to an actual conviction. So you have an under-reported category of crime which is irregularly prosecuted. There's obvious ethical issues with denying jobs to people based on accusation rather than conviction, but in a society with a broken justice system surrounding that, there's ethical dilemmas no matter how you slice…

[deleted]

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#54

Post by what_ever »

mike_hearn wrote: post #32
RealGeek wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Uber didn't hire this driver, this crime could have been prevented. Delhi laws require all cabs to have an onboard GPS: "The vehicle must be fitted with GPS/GPRS based tracking devises which must be in constant communication with the Central Control unit while the vehicles is on duty." Uber didn't even have an on-board always on GPS, their only way to track is through mobile app; which the driver conveniently turn…

How would that have achieved anything? You want a Minority Report-esque flying police department that drops themselves onto the road if the driver veers off route?

It seems to be doing okay with other cabs which have been operating for much longer.

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#55

Post by tomp »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #50
adrianN wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of countries don't have guns in every purse without rampant rapists. I think there are different solutions to the problem, like promoting a culture where women are equal.

Which do you think will reduce rape right now ? A bunch of rapists showing up at hospitals with holes in them, or some sort of education campaign to change the culture? If things can get better in 10 years that's great. I'd also like the women I care about to be safe tomorrow. A few dead rapists is a small price to pay for that.

The only problem with your solution is that it would very likely increase the rate of murder, probably much more than it would decrease the rate of rape. (At least in EU and other countries where weapons are generally banned.)

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#56

Post by [deleted] »

RealGeek wrote: post #21
pyrois wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite understand the wording on the website. The article said the driver was acquitted; would a proper screening still have disqualified him, given his acquittal? Quick disclaimer: clearly, given what you said, Uber needs to dramatically change how it operates in India, and thorough background checks are hugely important for a commercial transport service. I'm just wondering if it would have been enough to pr…

If Uber didn't hire this driver, this crime could have been prevented. Delhi laws require all cabs to have an onboard GPS: "The vehicle must be fitted with GPS/GPRS based tracking devises which must be in constant communication with the Central Control unit while the vehicles is on duty." Uber didn't even have an on-board always on GPS, their only way to track is through mobile app; which the driver conveniently turn…

[deleted]

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#58

Post by dhm »

snlacks wrote: post #4

So, I'm not a Uber fan, but I get the feeling this is India deflecting a couple of other underlying issues and placing blame. Sooner or later they have to face the issue head on, because scapegoating gets old.

I guess the way to approach it would be to compare the statistics of sexual assault by driver of taxi or similar travel for hire with the statistics we see in the case of Uber and try to discern whether they are meaningfully different.

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#59

Post by lettergram »

awinder wrote: post #33
GrinningFool wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No sexual offenses From the article: "Uber, which had employed the driver even though he had been arrested on allegations of sexual assault three years ago" THe implication there is that he had not been convicted of any offense - which means no sexual offense was [in the eyes of the law...] committed. I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand yeah, he was arrested for it and convicted or not, that's probably a risk U…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/10/delhi-rape-one-conv... Of 706 reported rape cases, 1 lead to an actual conviction. So you have an under-reported category of crime which is irregularly prosecuted. There's obvious ethical issues with denying jobs to people based on accusation rather than conviction, but in a society with a broken justice system surrounding that, there's ethical dilemmas no matter how you slice…

I would just like to point out, that the crimes aren't necessarily under-reported (i.e. 706 reported), rather, there was not enough evidence to convict.

I would still argue that there is a high amount of under-reporting because people are embarrassed, just want to put it behind them, etc. However, I also feel a large number of the reported cases are skewed due to angry ex-girlfriends, intoxication, etc.

Specifically, in this case if he was not convicted it's not the responsibility of Uber to disclose that information (instead it's the driver). Uber (in the U.S.) cannot even disclose if someone was accused of rape (unless there was a felony conviction), conversely it is the drivers responsibility to share any convictions upfront (though a background check should still be done).

Overall, I believe this has more to do with Uber's business practices. The rape wouldn't have even been an issue if Uber was capable of helping the police or explaining some basic questions.

In other words, if Uber was able to say, "We did a background check, and he wasn't convicted" then there wouldn't have been an issue. However, Uber couldn't even be contacted, and was breaking transportation laws.

Re: Uber banned from operating in Indian capital after rape accusation

#60

Post by n0body »

auxon0 wrote: post #45
bjacobel wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Uber's fault because they claim to screen their drivers' backgrounds for criminal activity, including sexual assault. This driver raped a woman in a taxi he was driving in 2011, which Uber either didn't know or didn't care about. Pretty reasonable to expect Uber to detect and prevent people like that from driving cars for them, I think.

That changes my opinion. Uber is liable if this is a) true, and b) that information was actually available.

same
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