Uber Drivers Arrested By Undercover Cops In Hong Kong

The Stack reports that local police have raided Uber's Hong Kong office, "after several officers posed as Uber customers and arrested drivers on Tuesday morning in an attempt to put an end to illegal taxi services. Five drivers who had offered their services across the taxi-hailing app were arrested on suspicion of illegally carrying passengers and driving without third-party insurance. The men are being held for further investigation." Are local police quite this concerned in your city with car-sharing dispatch services?

Comments

Can we quit pretending that it's car "sharing"?

[Rei]

There's nothing at all related to "sharing" about services like Uber.

Re:Can we quit pretending that it's car "sharing"?

[Rei]

If by "money" you mean "the money everyone else has to pay in higher insurance premiums due to Uber drivers taking part in commercial driving without paying commercial premiums", then yes.

Beyond that, even if you don't like the current system, that doesn't mean that you can legally willfully violate it. For better or worse, Uber has a business model built around breaking the law. Don't get so shocked when legal action gets taken.

Re:Can we quit pretending that it's car "sharing"?

[Jawnn]

I don't argue the point that Uber drivers and/or Uber itself is breaking laws in many jurisdictions.

The point is that while some of those laws seem to serve a legitimate purpose (providing insurance protection for passengers, etc.) others are intended to protect the profits and often poor service of the taxi monopoly.

Perhaps, but before the taxi industry was regulated it was a fucking nightmare. Trust me, you don't want that. No. Really. All the coolness of Uber is going to look like so much dumb-ass naivete if they succeed in making their unregulated service "legal". History... doomed to repeat it, and all that.

Re:How is it not car sharing?

[Nidi62]

If I sign up, using my own car, how am I not sharing the car that I have with others?

Sharing does not imply I'm doing so for free; just that I am willing to let someone else use resources I own and could otherwise deny the use of...

We're you headed the same way they were when you gave them a ride? No, you specifically drove with the intention of picking up someonand drive them around for money? Then you are operating as a taxi.

Plenty of people borrow boats and cars in return for beer or pizza or other favors. That's sharing too. So too is Uber, even if it's more formalized and at a larger scale.

So if your friend want's to borrow your boat for the weekend, do you say "sure, but I have to drive the boat around for you"?

You'd think Slashdot of all places would hold people understanding how others can use technology to share what they have at a larger scale than possible before...

If you are giving/loaning something to someone for the express purpose of receiving money from them in exchange, you aren't sharing. You are selling (whether it be a good or a service).

Compare the definition of sell:

to exchange (something) for money

with share:

: to use, experience, or enjoy with others

There is a pretty big distinction between the two.