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Delhi Government bans Uber, says it is misleading customers (indiatimes.com)
20 points by ing33k on Dec 8, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments



I'm not sure what to think. Uber has proved itself to be a generally scummy company, but in this case I think they are being scapegoated by the government of India. Banning uber is not going to stop rapes in Delhi. Neither are the existing auto and taxi drivers any safer than uber.


Uber is being banned for skipping the process of police verification which would have prevented this incident from happening. If verification had been done then that driver would have never gotten hired. Other cab companies are following this process, so why should Uber skip it ? Companies which are negligent in their duties towards their customers will face repercussions.


If Uber had done all the due diligence and followed all laws, then nobody would be blaming them. But given people perceive that they are willing to break laws in many countries, they will have no sympathy here in India. The American libertarian BS does not work here, sorry.


Most laws are created around an existing society/market-place. Since laws need to appear reasonable they normally don't ban existing services but tend to protect them through framing and licensing.

This is why disruptive players naturally break laws in highly regulated markets.

This quirk is noones fault but a natural implication of public choice. Since disruption can lead to many people being much better off, I think being unlawful alone is not a bad thing.

Laws are justified by making everyone better off. If they don't, don't follow them. This is in no way revolutionary or anything. Using the own mind to judge justice is a standard insight since enlightenment.


Uber is banned for not following Indian laws, they don't have proper permits to operate in Delhi. Uber has been operating illegally under the radar in Delhi so far.


While Uber may be evil and everything, the "misleading" argument stated in the article is just administration putting up a smokescreen to protect their regulations from being detected as cause for incompatibility with uber services.

I guess they just saw the recent rape incident as a nice background for their ban.




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