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Rideshare Boycott Sparked By Murders In China (theatlantic.com)
Following a string of murders by drivers of China's top ridesharing app, Didi Chuxing, users are deleting the app in large numbers and calling for others to boycott the service. According to The Atlantic, "the hashtag #BoycottDidi on Weibo has garnered more than 1 million views." From the report: Over the weekend, the driver confessed to local police to raping and stabbing his 20-year-old passenger on her way to a friend's birthday party. The murder is the second in three months -- this May, a young flight attendant was killed by her Didi driver. It is the third in a year -- last May, according to Caixin Global, another woman was strangled and killed by her driver. And it is the fourth in two years -- the year before that, a female teacher was robbed and killed after threats from her driver.
"As a platform, we have disappointed the public's trust in us and cannot shirk this responsibility," Didi said in a statement, admitting to failing to react quickly to another passenger's complaint filed against the driver the day before the murder. The rideshare company has suspended its Hitch services (as it did after the last murder) and fired two senior executives, one in charge of Hitch, its intercity carpooling service, and the other in charge of customer service. The Didi president, Jean Liu, oft-regarded as a hero for Chinese women in business, issued an apology on Tuesday. China's government is now cracking down on reform across the transportation sector.
"As a platform, we have disappointed the public's trust in us and cannot shirk this responsibility," Didi said in a statement, admitting to failing to react quickly to another passenger's complaint filed against the driver the day before the murder. The rideshare company has suspended its Hitch services (as it did after the last murder) and fired two senior executives, one in charge of Hitch, its intercity carpooling service, and the other in charge of customer service. The Didi president, Jean Liu, oft-regarded as a hero for Chinese women in business, issued an apology on Tuesday. China's government is now cracking down on reform across the transportation sector.
I heard that the problem came down to drivers being allowed to add notes to each customers profile of how attractive they were. Predator drivers would then selectively choose passengers based on their appearance score, and then rape them. After it happened the first few times the company did not make any changes to their app, and I guess it started to become a repeat problem. Something tells me because its China that there are probably a lot more rapes and murders that don't get reported on because of the whole cultural thing of trying to keep up appearances. I don't know how much rape and sexual assault occurs in China, but it must be pretty bad if this started a rebellion against the company because that in itself is pretty rare in a country like China. Usually dissent is not something allowed.
never crossed my mind, that ridesharing could bring you in contact dangerous people like rapists and murderers, which was perhaps naive of me.
however, i wonder why this is such a big problem in China, i never hear about uber rapes/murders in US/EU.
must admit that i've never used these services, so can somebody explain how they prevent these things from happening?
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
This is the kind of outcome I would expect in an unregulated industry. That doesn't mean we need government involvement, but it does mean some kind of assurance to the customers of a product that is safe.
I remember a short anecdote of a vegetable farmer being interviewed on the topic of government inspectors. He said the government inspectors he could handle, it was the inspectors from the restaurants and grocers that were brutal. Where's the equivalent on this new trend in taxi services? Is there a way to check on the drivers beyond a checkbox on the app on not being murdered on the way to one's destination?
What is just maddening about this was the comment in one of the articles on how we shouldn't have to expect women to defend themselves but instead expect men to not abuse women. Well, sorry folks, that's simply not going to happen. People will have to be able to defend themselves, men and women, because not everyone looks at the social contract on good behavior with the same eyes. Should men behave themselves? Absolutely. When (not if) one of them don't then they should expect a face full of OC spray, a few grams of lead sent at great speed into vital organs, a several thousand volt surprise, or some other means to deter their crimes. Just knowing that such defensive measures are possible have a deterrent effect on their own.
I do see free market forces at work. If this company can't get it's act together and make people feel safe using their services then I can expect them to go out of business. If you want a cheap ride then you can take your chances with a company that doesn't check out their drivers before sending them to pick you up.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
As a comparison, http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/...
That may not even be necessary for China. They already have limitations in place for many industries as to how much of it can be foreign owned. Since a lot of them cap out a 50%, it means that regardless of which company comes out on top, Chinese investors will benefit. There's no point in trying to ban foreign competition when you guarantee that it's actually half-local competition.
what about the same background checks that taxi drivers need need to have? and Yes that means uber and lift as well.
Yeah, good idea. That way they don't run a 0.000000000000001% change of getting murdered by one of the drivers.
If you want total control, having a domestic company which does not report its statistics outside your borders can be helpful. A regime may wish to avoid ride-sharing that allows people to attend demonstrations or get to forbidden locations, for example.
Alternative Right.
Surely you mean "taxi"?
Ezekiel 23:20
No surprise here. For ages China and India have treated women as second and third grade citizens to the point that anyone who can afford it aborts pregnancies with female babies, because the dowry and other duties coming with female offspring are a measurable burden on families.
China has a male to female ratio of two to one in some places due to the one child policy having everyone aim for a male son.
Same thing in India.
I've seen this coming for decades and it's going to get worse. A lot worse, amplified by male sexual frustration. That has been my hunch for quite some time now anyway.
My 2 eurocents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Didi did more than allow an appearance-rating system to emerge. Apparently, they recruited male drivers using suggestive ads, hinting that hook-ups and relationships with female passengers could be a possibility, and promoted a case where a male driver who ended up marrying one of his female passengers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0...
Subtracting the emotional aspect (which I myself find non-trivial), I wonder what the actual risk of death is versus, say, death by auto accident, particularly if drinking is involved. I'm not trying to present this as a dichotomy ... you could also, say, take a regular cab, or not drink to excess before driving, or walk, or ...
There's never a good control group around when I need 'em :-)
Hmmmm, "activism in China".... That historically hasn't gone very well. At least any time a story got news worthy enough to jump the ocean so we actually hear about it. But this isn't against the government, but rather against a chinese company. And the government is, essentially, participating with regulation lockdowns as you'd expect a functioning government to do when there's troubles.
But it'll be interesting if the masses start to realize that they have power and can change things.
Sounds like Kalanick found a new place to work... for a while.
Have you ever thought maybe killing people is fun?