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I'm all for democracy, but the government shouldn't even have the right to regulate markets in such a way that innovation (and competition) can be stifled by th

I'm all for democracy, but the government shouldn't even have the right to regulate markets in such a way that innovation (and competition) can be stifled by the established players. Some regulations are necessary. They ensure that we don't usually get feces in our food, etc. But this is a clear case of legislation directly interfering with competition.

nikatwork 14y ago
There's a noticeable incidence of rape by taxi drivers here in Oz. If the driver is foreign this usually leads to a media frenzy about government driver regs. I'm wondering what the regulatory fallout will be when Uber suffers their first (unfortunately apparently inevitable) rape incident.
- jrockway 14y ago
  Is the incidence of rape by taxi drivers higher than that of the population at large? And are the rapes happening in taxicabs, to customers? It sounds like you've cited something that's technically true without any context, so it's unclear as to whether there is a trend, or if it's just hysteria.
  - jarek 14y ago
    It doesn't matter if it's just hysteria as long as the media frenzy does happen. Voter and societal outrage rarely follows logic.
- gojomo 14y ago
  Uber and other mobile-dispatched-and-paid services typically feature identity/GPS tracking of each driver and passenger, by device and photo. I predict that driver-on-passenger crime will be less frequent, and easier to prosecute, in such a system, compared to the traditional-licensed taxis sector. And also: compared to 'gypsy' cabs that successfully pretend to be licensed cabs, because of supply and authentication problems inherent to the traditional system (but obsoleted by Uber-like services). So if/when an unfortunate event occurs, the right response will likely be: his new system is already doing better than the traditionally-regulated category, and so no special regulations are needed – just vigorous investigation and prosecution of individual crimes.
- imgabe 14y ago
  Most cities in the US have had plenty of foreign taxi drivers for many, many years now without any noticeable incidence of rape. I don't know that the taxi regulations include any "likelihood of being a rapist" in their driver screenings (whatever that would entail), so I don't see how services like Uber would increase the probability of any given driver being a rapist.
victoro 14y ago
"government shouldn't even have the right to regulate markets in such a way that innovation (and competition) can be stifled by the established players." This statement is completely impractical. I can't think of a single law that does not affect the markets in some way. By its nature, any regulation requires proof of compliance on the part of the regulated party. This will always create some costs, at least in time spent, to the regulated party. Since "established players", by virtue of being established, have more resources at their disposal, they can comply more easily than upstarts with much more limited time and money on their hands. Hence, any regulation will stifle innovation to some extent while benefiting the established players. Creating and updating regulations for the benefit of the majority is exactly what democracy is supposed to do most efficiently. Taking that right away from the government would be tantamount to taking the government away entirely. 10 years ago taxi regulations were not stifling innovation enough to be detrimental to the majority. Over the past few months they have. Then they were updated democratically. The system worked.

nikatwork 14y ago

There's a noticeable incidence of rape by taxi drivers here in Oz. If the driver is foreign this usually leads to a media frenzy about government driver regs. I'm wondering what the regulatory fallout will be when Uber suffers their first (unfortunately apparently inevitable) rape incident.

jrockway 14y ago
Is the incidence of rape by taxi drivers higher than that of the population at large? And are the rapes happening in taxicabs, to customers? It sounds like you've cited something that's technically true without any context, so it's unclear as to whether there is a trend, or if it's just hysteria.
- jarek 14y ago
  It doesn't matter if it's just hysteria as long as the media frenzy does happen. Voter and societal outrage rarely follows logic.
gojomo 14y ago
Uber and other mobile-dispatched-and-paid services typically feature identity/GPS tracking of each driver and passenger, by device and photo. I predict that driver-on-passenger crime will be less frequent, and easier to prosecute, in such a system, compared to the traditional-licensed taxis sector. And also: compared to 'gypsy' cabs that successfully pretend to be licensed cabs, because of supply and authentication problems inherent to the traditional system (but obsoleted by Uber-like services). So if/when an unfortunate event occurs, the right response will likely be: his new system is already doing better than the traditionally-regulated category, and so no special regulations are needed – just vigorous investigation and prosecution of individual crimes.
imgabe 14y ago
Most cities in the US have had plenty of foreign taxi drivers for many, many years now without any noticeable incidence of rape. I don't know that the taxi regulations include any "likelihood of being a rapist" in their driver screenings (whatever that would entail), so I don't see how services like Uber would increase the probability of any given driver being a rapist.

victoro 14y ago

"government shouldn't even have the right to regulate markets in such a way that innovation (and competition) can be stifled by the established players." This statement is completely impractical. I can't think of a single law that does not affect the markets in some way. By its nature, any regulation requires proof of compliance on the part of the regulated party. This will always create some costs, at least in time spent, to the regulated party. Since "established players", by virtue of being established, have more resources at their disposal, they can comply more easily than upstarts with much more limited time and money on their hands. Hence, any regulation will stifle innovation to some extent while benefiting the established players. Creating and updating regulations for the benefit of the majority is exactly what democracy is supposed to do most efficiently. Taking that right away from the government would be tantamount to taking the government away entirely. 10 years ago taxi regulations were not stifling innovation enough to be detrimental to the majority. Over the past few months they have. Then they were updated democratically. The system worked.