“Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
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Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#2> It requires passengers to run a nonfree program (an app). As always, a nonfree program tramples its users' freedom
Off to a great start persuading the everyman once again, Stallman
Agreed on the more salient point of the pervasive record-keeping and the government have full access to them, though. Shoulda lead with that.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#3> Uber plans to do away with human cab drivers.
> It would be easy for a non-plutocratic government to prohibit this, and that's what every country ought to do, unless/until every person gets an adequate basic income so people don't need to be employed.
Okay, so I am extremely liberal and everything, but "let's ban any new technologies that might make somebody lose their job to a robot" is seriously the most ridiculous argument I've ever heard RMS make. What the hell.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#4I was following the arguments until I came across the one where the company is to blame because some customers are afraid of being harassed by drivers with the conclusion: "this problem comes directly out of the practices listed above that mistreat all users of Uber".
No it doesn't. It's a non sequitur.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#5> With real taxis, you can flag one on the street or phone in any fashion; you can pay cash; you can be anonymous.
And even with Uber around, you can still do that. No one's taken that choice away. Use Lyft/Uber if you're comfortable with it. If not, user a regular cab.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#6RMS doesn't use credit cards and walks around town wearing a "Don't be tracked. Pay with cash" button. Even if Uber addressed every single point on his list, he still wouldn't use them.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#7That's all well and good. Except that I still need to get around, and Uber (and it's competitors) remains better than my local cab system. That's true of basically every city I've ever visited as well.
Until that is no longer true, I'll continue to be an extremely satisfied Uber user.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#8Actually, many of these arguments apply to a lot of other companies too; small ones like AirBnB, but also big ones like Google and Apple.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#9RMS doesn't use credit cards and walks around town wearing a "Don't be tracked. Pay with cash" button. Even if Uber addressed every single point on his list, he still wouldn't use them.
I do respect him for his unwavering commitment to his principles.
Re: “Why you should not use Uber (the car ride brokering company)”
#10His points start out idealistic and abstract, and full of Free Software rhetoric. The list then turns to more concrete and specific objections, whatever their validity may be.
Talk about burying the lede :P I think it would resonate with a larger audience if he just flipped the order of his bullet points.