4 ms·

Setting aside the obvious PR opportunism, how would something like this actually work? Does Uber currently collect data on the race of the people who own restau

by bww 6y ago

Setting aside the obvious PR opportunism, how would something like this actually work? Does Uber currently collect data on the race of the people who own restaurants they deliver from? Is data like this publicly available somehow? Is this data something they're going to start collecting to facilitate this feature? Does that sound like data it would be good for Uber to have? Knowing what we know about Uber this all seems highly problematic.

Nextgrid 6y ago
I wonder how this will work from a legal point of view. This is a blatant, obvious example of racism, they aren't even attempting to be subtle about it.
- wutbrodo 6y ago
  It's effectively affirmative action, and there's a long history of legal apologia for it. In the final analysis, the law is interpreted by humans, and if a class of violation (like racism) is popular enough, the system finds a way to excuse it with hand-waving.
  - Nextgrid 6y ago
    Wouldn't defending such lawsuits still cost a lot of money though, even if you end up winning?
    - wutbrodo 6y ago
      Maybe, assuming that the lawsuits didn't get dismissed. Small companies don't have that much legal clout, and large companies are even more subject to the whims of the mob (through PR) as the justice system.
- mcculley 6y ago
  In the United States, we have several legal mechanisms for categorizing ownership of businesses, including the SBA 8(a) Business Development program (https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned) and the SBA Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting program (https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/women-owned-small-business-federal-contracting-program https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistan...). That's just for small businesses in general. When you look at purchasing entities such as the DoD and state governments, there are many such ways to identify ownership as belonging to a disadvantaged population.

by bww 6y ago

Nextgrid 6y ago

I wonder how this will work from a legal point of view. This is a blatant, obvious example of racism, they aren't even attempting to be subtle about it.

wutbrodo 6y ago
It's effectively affirmative action, and there's a long history of legal apologia for it. In the final analysis, the law is interpreted by humans, and if a class of violation (like racism) is popular enough, the system finds a way to excuse it with hand-waving.
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  Wouldn't defending such lawsuits still cost a lot of money though, even if you end up winning?
  - wutbrodo 6y ago
    Maybe, assuming that the lawsuits didn't get dismissed. Small companies don't have that much legal clout, and large companies are even more subject to the whims of the mob (through PR) as the justice system.
mcculley 6y ago
In the United States, we have several legal mechanisms for categorizing ownership of businesses, including the SBA 8(a) Business Development program (https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned) and the SBA Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting program (https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/women-owned-small-business-federal-contracting-program https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistan...). That's just for small businesses in general. When you look at purchasing entities such as the DoD and state governments, there are many such ways to identify ownership as belonging to a disadvantaged population.