Interesting Links for 06-04-2016

[andrewducker]

The psychology of creepy people (tags: psychology scary ) HTC Vive review: You can now buy your own holodeck simulator v1.0 (tags: VirtualReality thefuture Technology ) PayPal withdraws from North Carolina because of new LGBT discrimination law (tags: lgbt paypal usa bigotry ) Education secretary Nicky Morgan tells students that Science is

Comments

[bart_calendar]

To put some New York perspective on that hire driver story - this law is aimed at Uber drivers not taxi drivers.

New York Taxi Drivers are some of the nicest and most tolerant people in the world because to get a taxi medallion costs several hundred thousand dollars - and nobody wants to risk that at all. And the amount of stuff Taxi drivers put up with in New York is amazing - when you are sharing a studio apartment with four other people and hotels cost $350 a night where do you think many, many one night stands happen?

The problem is because Uber drivers don't go through the incredibly expensive process to get a medallion (and the extreme background checks involved) they are known assholes in the city right now. But New York has not figured out a way to legally ban Uber yet.

So they are putting this law into place with the end goal of collecting enough complaints about Uber drivers that they can find a way to build public momentum for laws banning Uber from the city. They simply cant's say Uber in the text of the law or they risk Uber changing their name in the city.

[ext_2864067]

I'm not following the reasoning there. Surely they wouldn't need to name Uber in any such law.

If that's what they want, surely they could just go for a law that essentially says, 'Any taxi hires in the city of New York without this particular license are illegal.'

Maybe they just want Uber drivers to clean up their act if they're going to operate in that area?

[bart_calendar]

They tried that and it's hung up in the courts and will be for a long time.

By far the easiest way to shut a company down in New York is to hit them with a ton of violations.

Technically Uber shouldn't be legal at all in New York, but they are arguing they are a limo but not a taxi service. And it's clear they'll appeal that up to the Surprme Court which means a decade of them operating while the legal fight goes on.

This law could get rid of them in a year or two.

[ticktockman]

I had the impression that generally the drivers aren't the medallion owners. In a separation of capital from labor, a fleet owner would buy the medallions and lease the cabs out shift by shift. That way a single cab could stay active nearly 24 hours/day.

[bart_calendar]

Yes, but if the driver fucks up the medalion owner loses the medallion.

How much do you think they monitor these guys when they can lose 500k if they fuck up?