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Uber Banned In Delhi After Taxi Driver Accused of Rape
RockDoctor writes BBC News is reporting that a 26-year old Indian woman is alleging rape against a driver for the embattled Uber transport-managing company. In a post on the Uber blog, one "Saad Ahmed" implicitly admits that the driver was a Uber driver, that the lift was arranged through Uber's service, and that the full range of Uber's safety mechanisms had been applied to his employment, and by implication, that Uber accepts some culpability for putting this (alleged) rapist into contact with his (alleged) victim. "Our initial investigations have revealed shortcomings of the private cab company which didn't have GPS installed in its cabs and the staff wasn't verified," Delhi Special Commissioner Deepak Mishra said. But Uber says safety was paramount, and added it had GPS traces of all journeys. "We work with licensed driver-partners to provide a safe transportation option, with layers of safeguards such as driver and vehicle information, and ETA-sharing [estimated time of arrival] to ensure there is accountability and traceability of all trips that occur on the Uber platform," its statement added.
So, hitch-hiking but with cooler technology?
Me, why I'd want to get a ride from someone who has neither the proper drivers license nor insurance to be doing this has always been a mystery.
Oooh, but it's an app, so it must be good, right?
Uber likes to try to frame this discussion of how it's trying to compete with the big bad taxi lobby. What they are actually doing is running unlicensed cabs operated by people who aren't very accountable, and if something goes wrong they'll claim "well, we just dispatch, we're not a cab company".
Sorry, but no.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Hello and welcome to Uber.
We are going to pretend that we offer you a service like a taxi, you know - licensed and regulated so that we manage to keep whack jobs out of the driving seat and you can feel a measure of safety in your journey.
But instead, for half the price we are going to send you some completely random fucker that we have no real record of. He could be anyone, and probably is. So basically you are hitchhiking with all of the associated risks, but you are paying us for the privilege.
Yay for Uber. Please feel free to call* and ask questions if you survive your trip.
* actually not really, this would push up costs. But you know, it's the thought that counts.
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Because it's not like anyone's ever been raped by a 'licensed and regulated' taxi driver.
Being a convicted rapist doesn't even seem to be an impediment to getting a taxi license in the UK:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-eng...
Having spent many years living in Asia, I can tell you confidently how to solve *much* of the rape problem in India: Legalize and institutionalize prostitution.
Unlike every nation in Asia, India has a tiny sex-trade per capita. Smaller even than in the United States. Couple poverty with truly intense social mores, highly limited pre-marital sex and a defacto caste system (despite the propaganda) and you have a recipe for pent up male sexuality. The standard modern response mechanism is to demonize said sexuality and hope to preach morality and respect to a seething mass of adolescent male anger and hormones. To say this policy of condemnation has failed is an understatement. When policy fails, pursuing more of it is insane.
Prostitution is a rational free-market solution which carries many additional economic benefits besides reduced sexual violence.
Now cue scores of sexist, white-knight "do-gooders" who will say things like "sex-work endangers women" and other sexist statements that treat women like children. (If you're going to insist, show me the stats please, and then cross reference against miners, fishermen, industrial labor, law enforcement and the military).
Male sexuality is male sexuality. And in societies where it is deprived to hundreds of millions of men (for decades) until said men prove themselves worthy of marriage is an exercise in social disaster.
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From what I can tell, they seem to accept none of that, and they claim since these people don't work for them they're exempt from all regulations, because they just dispatch.
Where I live, to be a cab you need a commercial drivers license, proper insurance, regular vehicle inspections, a tax license, and are legally required to have a camera installed in your car.
Uber is claiming they don't have to worry about any of those things, and that the laws don't apply.
I think Uber is full of shit, and are running a shady business where they're skirting around the law and calling it competition.
You can't simply decide the laws and regulations around a car-for-hire service don't apply to you. They're just telling people it's safe to ride in an unlicensed cab which may or may not have the proper insurance.
No thanks. I don't want to do business with a company who does that.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Police needs to be disbanded when policeman makes a violent crime.
Army needs to be disbanded when army people kill a person.
The medical profession and regulations need to be disbanded, when malpractice occurs, for it takes only one mistake to cause harm.
All the regulations need to be disbanded, because they do not make the crime disappear.
Most of the males need to be aborted, using the same logic, for all the males are statistically potential rapists. The remaining pool for the purposes of procreation should be kept all locked in the "Male camps" and used during scheduled conjugal visits.
In a most populous country with more than 1 billion people, statistically there will be all kind of mishaps, accidents and crimes. It is unavoidable.
If truly rapes and strangers are an issue, then most of the progress would be achieved in eliminating this type of crime closing all the night clubs and bar.
Also the night life is when a lot of crime happens, it is safer if all the people would be under curfew during the dark hours.
Per capita, there are 20 times more rape cases in the US than in India. But rapes sell newspapers so thats all you see on the front pages.
You have to take the law into consideration when looking at those statistics. In the U.S., the law allows for rape charges if a wife is forced to have sex with her husband. In India, the law can only be invoked if the husband and wife are separated.
Also, there are social reasons for underreporting of rape in India. If you file rape charges, then you are considered to have been raped. This can be cause for a future arranged marriage to be terminated, a marriage to be terminated and for the woman to be shunned.
It used to be similar in the U.S., but woman were empowered and encouraged to speak out. There are still a lot of rapes not reported, but there are also a lot of false reports as well.
In all, it is difficult to compare rates of a lawbreaking in countries where the law differs as do also the social implications of reporting the charge,
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.