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They've got several years now of being able to operate in illegal fashions all over the globe, and found that governments were willing to just accept it. Why w
by Twirrim 10y ago
They've got several years now of being able to operate in illegal fashions all over the globe, and found that governments were willing to just accept it. Why would this time around be any different? They've been almost conditioned to expect it.
For what it's worth, they do have a very active and effective lobbying arm, which they've used to swing laws in their favour (and deliberately against competitors) in various markets.
I wonder if, between the successful disruption of the market, the tech sector and then society all falling over themselves lauding them, and the governments willingly towing the line, maybe they've become a little arrogant?
- andy_ppp 10y agoIf I as a business do something illegal but it is very useful to consumers, governments seem to accept it over worker rights for a long time. Similarly, it seems taxes are optional (corp/vat) if you employ lots of people. I'm not sure about Uber as a company, but I am very sure that changing laws (AirBnB/Uber/Deliveroo/others) has been good for me and this should be the first thought in a startup rather than let's not bother because it seems to be illegal or I have to register as a bank (it's always a bank with the ideas I come up with...) to be allowed to do X. It's probably easier to break the law and ask forgiveness than mire yourself in regulation before you have customers... I'd love to hear YCs take on this but as ever you only get their advice if you are in the club. Also they probably can't advocate doing illegal things (publicly anyway).
- WalterSear 10y agoIt's not about being good to consumers. It's about lobbyists, money and power.
- andy_ppp 10y agoIs there any way to prove either way it's definitely corrupt or does it just seem that way? I'm likely to agree, but you know someone would have piped up and argued the opposite if I had have said corruption yada yada... To be fair, globalisation has been brilliant for me, the lobbyists, Apple and hundreds of millions pulled out of poverty worldwide. And it's destroyed the climate, the environment and hope for even more people, some even throwing themselves off the side of foxcon plants. It's very difficult to say how corrupt a system actually is but there must be some research into it.
- Animats 10y agoUber has been shut down in many countries already.[1] Their success in the US comes from the fact that regulation in the US is local, and many municipalities don't want to go up against Uber. In countries with national regulation, Uber isn't faring too well. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber_protests_and_legal_actions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber_protests_and_legal_action...