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I'm curious whether Holder's "investigation" will also look at Uber's historical attitude and pattern of behavior towards women as a whole, not just their femal

I'm curious whether Holder's "investigation" will also look at Uber's historical attitude and pattern of behavior towards women as a whole, not just their female employees. For example, there's Uber's refusal to background-check their drivers using a system that includes fingerprints, which is something that most traditional taxi companies are required to do. The SF District Attorney has publicly called a background check without fingerprints "worthless." Journalist Sarah Lacy of PandoDaily linked Uber's fingerprinting refusal to the number of cases of women kidnapped and/or raped by their Uber drivers, and how Uber seemed to think that this was either not happening or wasn't their fault. Lacy claimed in one article that that Uber PR would even smear the passengers as having been drunk and dressed inappropriately. In one case, a woman was choked by her Uber driver and police were called to the scene, but CEO Kalanick claimed in an interview in "GQ" that it didn't happen. (We're talking about hundreds of incidents of assault; a partial list is here: http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents ) Lacy also pointed out Uber's collaboration with escort services in Lyon, France -- which objectified Uber's female drivers as lingerie-clad escorts, and offered passengers free 20-minute rides with them... And there was BuzzFeed News reporter Johana Bhuiyan, who had her trip information accessed on two occasions without her consent... And then there was the report from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which is non-partisan and non-profit, that found in a two-year study covering 1500 rides and published last October that female Uber passengers were taken on longer and therefore more expensive rides than male Uber passengers...

eh78ssxv2f 10y ago
I have seen that list of incidents that you shared (http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents). That list includes regular driving accidents too which could happen to anybody. After seeing that website, I think the first few questions I had were: (i) During a given time period, how many rideshare trips were taken? (ii) How many rideshare riders were affected (killed, assaulted etc.)? (iii) During that same period, how many taxi trips were taken? (iv) How many taxi riders were affected? That website only answers (ii), and not the rest of the three questions which makes the presented data meaningless (and also misleading, IMO).
- Asparagirl 10y ago
  How about data like "how many Uber drivers had glaring criminal records (sex offenders, murderers, etc.) and were still hired by Uber, because Uber doesn't do decent background checks with fingerprints, whereas those drivers would not have been hired by traditional taxi companies, and therefore this policy recklessly put female Uber passengers at risk?" Because just in Los Angeles alone, that number is at least twenty-five identified drivers, according to a lawsuit that Uber settled last year: https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/04/07/uber-settles-lawsuit-with-s-f-and-l-a-district-attorneys/ https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/04/07/uber-settles-lawsuit-wi...
  - dllthomas 10y ago
    If Uber is hiring drivers with criminal records, and nonetheless has fewer incidents per number of rides than traditional taxis, GREAT! People who have committed crimes and served their time need a way to make a living, and obviously the risk to passengers is not substantial as we accept more from taxis. On the other hand, if ... and has substantially more incidents than traditional taxis, this is an important criticism! But you're not actually making the comparison that matters (and neither has any media that I've seen), so we don't know.

eh78ssxv2f 10y ago

I have seen that list of incidents that you shared (http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents). That list includes regular driving accidents too which could happen to anybody. After seeing that website, I think the first few questions I had were: (i) During a given time period, how many rideshare trips were taken? (ii) How many rideshare riders were affected (killed, assaulted etc.)? (iii) During that same period, how many taxi trips were taken? (iv) How many taxi riders were affected? That website only answers (ii), and not the rest of the three questions which makes the presented data meaningless (and also misleading, IMO).

Asparagirl 10y ago
How about data like "how many Uber drivers had glaring criminal records (sex offenders, murderers, etc.) and were still hired by Uber, because Uber doesn't do decent background checks with fingerprints, whereas those drivers would not have been hired by traditional taxi companies, and therefore this policy recklessly put female Uber passengers at risk?" Because just in Los Angeles alone, that number is at least twenty-five identified drivers, according to a lawsuit that Uber settled last year: https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/04/07/uber-settles-lawsuit-with-s-f-and-l-a-district-attorneys/ https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/04/07/uber-settles-lawsuit-wi...
- dllthomas 10y ago
  If Uber is hiring drivers with criminal records, and nonetheless has fewer incidents per number of rides than traditional taxis, GREAT! People who have committed crimes and served their time need a way to make a living, and obviously the risk to passengers is not substantial as we accept more from taxis. On the other hand, if ... and has substantially more incidents than traditional taxis, this is an important criticism! But you're not actually making the comparison that matters (and neither has any media that I've seen), so we don't know.