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Joe Rogan has a joke about “not boycotting things because I don’t take stuff that seriously”. Normally, I totally agree… what difference can I make?  This isn’t about making a difference. It’s just how Uber makes me feel gross. So I won’t use it.

This has just about everything, and makes it easy to delete Uber, even if you like it.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2848628/why-you-should-delete-uber-and-what-to-use-instead.html

I also aggressively suggest you listen to 18th Nov 2014 (today’s) KQED Forum with Sarah Lacy talking about her article, and Emil’s comments. It is so horrific and disgusting:

http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201411180930

Not sure which is the scariest issue, but a few popped up recently, and the privacy issue just came up within last few hours:… that Uber used “GOD MODE” and illegal tracking. So creepy.

—Top NY exec being investigated after publicly tracking a Venture Capitalist without his permission for a “totally cool party” on a huge screen on “God View”.

 

And among so many other awful infractions, they had a highly organised and potentially illegal methodology of trying to sabotage Lyft in the most evil and orchestrated way.

 

Or that “Taking people with disabilities is another transportation company’s problem”
http://wamu.org/news/14/11/18/uber_seeks_changes_to_wheelchair_accessible_taxi_bill

*BUT*… this is where it goes off the rails….

This Sarah Lacy Pando article about “asshole culture and why I deleted Uber” is where Uber goes above and beyond horribleness.
http://pando.com/2014/10/22/the-horrific-trickle-down-of-asshole-culture-at-a-company-like-uber/

 

Buzzfeed Ben breaks this:

Remarks made by Uber’s senior vice president for business, Emil Michael, have put the spotlight on the company once more. A Buzzfeed editor overheard Michael outlining “the notion of spending ‘a million dollars’ to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. That team could, he said, help Uber fight back against the press—they’d look into ‘your personal lives, your families,’ and give the media a taste of its own medicine. – http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists

Lastly, anecdotal driver stuff isn’t the most helpful, but there are so many cases. I can attest I have been fearful of the Uber X drivers – at least their driving and inexperience if nothing else.

http://boingboing.net/2014/11/18/uber-driver-to-cancer-patient.html
driver harasses cancer patient “you are an animal”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/09/30/uber-driver-hammer-attack-liability/
Passenger loses eye after hammer attack

doesn’t include the NYE hit “We’re not responsible if he isn’t “hired”: http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2014/05/05/uber-files-defense-new-years-eve-death-driver-was-not-our-employee

the partnership with escort agencies: http://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/french-uber-bird-hunting-promotion-pairs-lyon-riders-with-a

the lack of background checks: http://valleywag.gawker.com/uber-driver-heres-how-we-get-around-background-checks-1596982249

 

It goes on and on. But it’s off my phone…. *NOW*!

So that’s about it…. Done. Forever. I just had an incredible ride from SFO to Marin in a Yellowcab. That’s fine.  The untrained UberX people are not worth it. Yellow Cab vets people, and have Million dollar insurance policies. I am down with that, and I am becoming pretty okay with some types of regulation.

By Uncle FishbitsCategories: UncategorizedTags: , ,

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