4 ms·

I will defend the right of sex offenders, people with suspended licenses etc. unless I know the specific crime for which they were convicted. A person pissing i

I will defend the right of sex offenders, people with suspended licenses etc. unless I know the specific crime for which they were convicted. A person pissing in a bush can become a sexual offender, an 18 year old kid having sex with 16 year old girlfriend can become sex offender. People might get their license suspended because of economic hardship. Putting all these people in same bracket as a brazen criminal is a bad idea.

dogma1138 10y ago
Yes but that is a different issue that has little baring on this case. If you would not be able to pass a CBC and hold a taxi license you should not be driving people around. If you think edge cases are an issue then it's an issue with the criminal justice system not background check. There will always be extreme cases because you need to draw a line at some point. You might find it acceptable for an 18 year old to have sex with your 16 year old child, how about 19? 20? Public urination can land you on the list but it's pretty rare compared to actual sexual assault cases.
- tsukikage 10y ago
  Uber's entire business model is pretty much to cut in on traditional licensed taxi services by lowering the entry requirements for their drivers, on the assumption that customers prefer that risk/cost tradeoff. If you are more risk averse, you're not their customer - you use a traditional taxi.
- bingomad123 10y ago
  I am personally fine to ride with a driver who was convicted of anything as long as he has served his/her time. I consider the debt paid and believe in second chances. If traditional Taxi drivers want to use "our drivers are safer than Uber" as a competitive advantage then let them be but I don't see why Uber should be forced into some arbitrary check as long as the riders know their options.
spectistcles 10y ago
Probably safe to say that those fringe cases aren't representative of the full slew of 8,000 people here.
eridius 10y ago
What you're describing are really rare edge cases. Nearly all people on the sex offender registry actually did something that justifies being on there. And those people should not be put into a position of power over strangers at night. As for economic hardship, I don't see how that justifies getting a job as a driver when your license is suspended. It's literally illegal for them to drive at all like that. It doesn't matter why it's suspended, people for whom it is illegal to be driving should not be given a job as a driver.
- alpha_squared 10y ago
  > Nearly all people on the sex offender registry actually did something that justifies being on there. Citation? I don't necessarily doubt it's true, but 'nearly all' can be completely relative. I'd like to see actual numbers for a statement like that.
  - pdelbarba 10y ago
    As far as I'm concerned, just 1% is enough for me to question whether this is a reasonable metric and 10% would be "this is utter garbage"
    - alpha_squared 10y ago
      Indeed, of the things I've read, the sex offender registry is quite flawed.[0] [0] https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2013/09/02/the-wrongfully-convicted-sex-offender/ https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2013/09/02/the-wrongfull...
- adrianratnapala 10y ago
  At a guess, I bet the register has large fractions of serious criminals and also your "rare" edge cases. The probability that someone doing one of these minor things getting on the register might be low. But the number of people doing them in the first place will roughly compensate. Anyway, laws where there is a low probability of a serious (and over the top) punishment are bad. For one thing they don't work well as incentives. Worse, they are most likely to hit the disadvantaged, low status people who have less leverage to officials to look the other way.

dogma1138 10y ago

Yes but that is a different issue that has little baring on this case. If you would not be able to pass a CBC and hold a taxi license you should not be driving people around. If you think edge cases are an issue then it's an issue with the criminal justice system not background check. There will always be extreme cases because you need to draw a line at some point. You might find it acceptable for an 18 year old to have sex with your 16 year old child, how about 19? 20? Public urination can land you on the list but it's pretty rare compared to actual sexual assault cases.

tsukikage 10y ago
Uber's entire business model is pretty much to cut in on traditional licensed taxi services by lowering the entry requirements for their drivers, on the assumption that customers prefer that risk/cost tradeoff. If you are more risk averse, you're not their customer - you use a traditional taxi.
bingomad123 10y ago
I am personally fine to ride with a driver who was convicted of anything as long as he has served his/her time. I consider the debt paid and believe in second chances. If traditional Taxi drivers want to use "our drivers are safer than Uber" as a competitive advantage then let them be but I don't see why Uber should be forced into some arbitrary check as long as the riders know their options.

spectistcles 10y ago

Probably safe to say that those fringe cases aren't representative of the full slew of 8,000 people here.

eridius 10y ago

What you're describing are really rare edge cases. Nearly all people on the sex offender registry actually did something that justifies being on there. And those people should not be put into a position of power over strangers at night. As for economic hardship, I don't see how that justifies getting a job as a driver when your license is suspended. It's literally illegal for them to drive at all like that. It doesn't matter why it's suspended, people for whom it is illegal to be driving should not be given a job as a driver.

alpha_squared 10y ago
> Nearly all people on the sex offender registry actually did something that justifies being on there. Citation? I don't necessarily doubt it's true, but 'nearly all' can be completely relative. I'd like to see actual numbers for a statement like that.
- pdelbarba 10y ago
  As far as I'm concerned, just 1% is enough for me to question whether this is a reasonable metric and 10% would be "this is utter garbage"
  - alpha_squared 10y ago
    Indeed, of the things I've read, the sex offender registry is quite flawed.[0] [0] https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2013/09/02/the-wrongfully-convicted-sex-offender/ https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2013/09/02/the-wrongfull...
adrianratnapala 10y ago
At a guess, I bet the register has large fractions of serious criminals and also your "rare" edge cases. The probability that someone doing one of these minor things getting on the register might be low. But the number of people doing them in the first place will roughly compensate. Anyway, laws where there is a low probability of a serious (and over the top) punishment are bad. For one thing they don't work well as incentives. Worse, they are most likely to hit the disadvantaged, low status people who have less leverage to officials to look the other way.