4 ms·

The reason why Airbnb and Uber are working is because they found a loophole with the law and skirting around it as much as they can. So are you going to fire th

The reason why Airbnb and Uber are working is because they found a loophole with the law and skirting around it as much as they can. So are you going to fire the guy for doing that?

madeofpalk 10y ago
"loophole with the law" is a very interesting way avoiding the fact that they flat our broke the law in jurisdictions and reimbursed fines drivers incurred.
- stale2002 10y ago
  Well, the laws in question (forced taxi monopoly laws) were bad to begin with.
  - Ntrails 10y ago
    Ah, so it's ok to break laws as long as you disagree with them? Because I have some serious issues with the idea that [insert abhorrent thing] is wrong so it'd be neat to just say it's a bad law and get on with doing it
    - ionised 10y ago
      There is a case to be made for a form of civil disobedience involving significant numbers of people breaking a law in an attempt to have it repealed. I personally break a few laws I just don't care for. Drugs laws to name one. Nobody is taking my LSD from me and I imagine there are millions like me. That said I don't agree with what Uber is doing. They are one company trying to skirt the law.
      - kedean 10y ago
        You can't invoke civil disobedience when a commerce is happening, because civil disobedience is a symbolic act, meant to draw attention. As soon as somebody is making money doing it, it's just breaking the law.
        ionised 10y ago
        That makes sense
    - stale2002 10y ago
      Absolutely, given the extremely high stakes that are involved in this situation. A million people die every year due to cars. These laws are partly responsible for these deaths. These laws are not worth the lives of a million people every year.
anigbrowl 10y ago
Yes. Exploiting wrinkles like that is the opposite of real productivity. If your whole business strategy based on arbitrage then everything you build is on legal quicksand.
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago
  By that definition everything is on "legal quicksand" because virtually anything can be outlawed. Uber found a confluence between technology, consumer demand and political change. That confluence has historically defined winning companies.
  - anigbrowl 10y ago
    Oh please, Uber has built a reputation on flouting rules, and has arguably even used it as a low-cost publicity tactic. Read it in context, you know quite well it wasn't meant to be an all-encompassing principle.

The reason why Airbnb and Uber are working is because they found a loophole with the law and skirting around it as much as they can. So are you going to fire the guy for doing that?

madeofpalk 10y ago

"loophole with the law" is a very interesting way avoiding the fact that they flat our broke the law in jurisdictions and reimbursed fines drivers incurred.

stale2002 10y ago
Well, the laws in question (forced taxi monopoly laws) were bad to begin with.
- Ntrails 10y ago
  Ah, so it's ok to break laws as long as you disagree with them? Because I have some serious issues with the idea that [insert abhorrent thing] is wrong so it'd be neat to just say it's a bad law and get on with doing it
  - ionised 10y ago
    There is a case to be made for a form of civil disobedience involving significant numbers of people breaking a law in an attempt to have it repealed. I personally break a few laws I just don't care for. Drugs laws to name one. Nobody is taking my LSD from me and I imagine there are millions like me. That said I don't agree with what Uber is doing. They are one company trying to skirt the law.
    - kedean 10y ago
      You can't invoke civil disobedience when a commerce is happening, because civil disobedience is a symbolic act, meant to draw attention. As soon as somebody is making money doing it, it's just breaking the law.
      - ionised 10y ago
        That makes sense
  - stale2002 10y ago
    Absolutely, given the extremely high stakes that are involved in this situation. A million people die every year due to cars. These laws are partly responsible for these deaths. These laws are not worth the lives of a million people every year.

anigbrowl 10y ago

Yes. Exploiting wrinkles like that is the opposite of real productivity. If your whole business strategy based on arbitrage then everything you build is on legal quicksand.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago
By that definition everything is on "legal quicksand" because virtually anything can be outlawed. Uber found a confluence between technology, consumer demand and political change. That confluence has historically defined winning companies.
- anigbrowl 10y ago
  Oh please, Uber has built a reputation on flouting rules, and has arguably even used it as a low-cost publicity tactic. Read it in context, you know quite well it wasn't meant to be an all-encompassing principle.