by Arthur Foxake
16 May 2017
For several years the dodgy 'ride sharing' service Uber has been getting away with murder because politicians around the world feared being accused of standing in the way of progress by holding a high - tech startup to the same laws as other companies with a more traditional business model. While undrer the Obama administration, Uber seems to possess a free pass to ignore federal and state laws, in Europe the right of Uber to do what the fuck they liked because science' had a head on with European Union workers rights laws and regulations covering insurance and passenger safety.
Currenty the first globalised taxi service that claims it is not a taxi service but a socil media app for people who want to get into cars with total strangers and play carpool karaoke has been battling with Barcelona taxi drivers who have argued that UberPOP engages in unfair competition by using unlicensed (and therefore uninsured) drivers that are not subject of the same regulatory hurdles as a regular "transport company." And while Uber has historically taken the approach of just entering new markets and leaving drivers who signed up to the ride sharing app to deal with the regulatory hurdles, it looks like the lawmakers are finally catching up with them ...which we suspect will not be good news for Uber's private investors who recently shovelled $68 billion of money into the IPO of a company that had no reliable business model, no track record of profits and dividends and no real product or service to sell but earned revenue by taking a cut of monies illegally obtained by private car owners posing as taxi drivers from people too self interested to pay fares that allow properly registered and monitored drivers to make a decent living.
As Reuters reported earlier this month, the Court of Justice of the European Union's (ECJ) Advocate General Maciej Szpunar issued a preliminary opinion that Uber is actually a "transport service" under the terms of EU law and not just a ride sharing app. And the moment an Uber driver asks a passenger for money, it becomes a regulated transaction rather than a personal favour. The ruling is significant because, if it stands, it would require Uber to operate effectively as a taxi company and thus provide insurance to drivers and guarantee that they are properly licensed and complying with all safety regulations. Per Reuters:
"Although the opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union's (ECJ) Advocate General Maciej Szpunar is non-binding, its judges usually follow such advice and are likely to reach a final ruling in the landmark case in the coming months."
If the ECJ rules that Uber is a transport service, this will impact on the Silicon Valley firm's operations in Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, and Finland where it still runs UberPOP, using amateur drivers to pick up riders.
The ECJ's final ruling cannot be appealed by Uber
While Uber has always argued in similar disputes that they are merely a 'market maker' offering an app for matching demand for rides with supply, the ECJ's Szpunar saw it differently finding that moment money changes hands the legal position of all involved in the transaction changes, the passenger is uninsured, the car owner, unless a licenced taxi operator, has invalidated private car insurance and the middle man is seen by law as a taxi service operator and an employer which requires it to comply with local employment laws. "Uber does much more than link supply and demand: it created this demand itself" adding that "Uber can thus be required to obtain the necessary licenses and authorizations under national law," the ECJ judgement stated.
The ECJ's Szpunar said that Uber's argument that it merely matches supply and demand between drivers and passengers was a "simplistic view of its role."
"In effect, Uber does much more than link supply and demand: it created this demand itself," Szpunar wrote.
The service provided by Uber amounts to the "organization and management of a comprehensive system for on-demand urban transport," the ECJ said.
Regulating the software company as a "new economy" information service meant treating Uber as if it was simply an air traffic controller or market maker connecting drivers to passengers.
Instead, by forcing Uber to comply with myriad local transportation regulations – some dating back as long as a century – it must take more responsibility for certifying, insuring and paying its drivers, as taxi firms now do.
Meanwhile, Uber representatives were dismissive of the initial ruling saying that such decisions only serve to "undermine the much needed reform of outdated laws..."
A spokeswoman for Uber said it would await the ECJ's final ruling, but added it "would not change the way we are regulated in most EU countries as that is already the situation today".
And a ruling against it would "undermine the much needed reform of outdated laws which prevent millions of Europeans from accessing a reliable ride at the tap of a button," she added. Well whatever Uber may lack in terms of regulatory compliance, track record, proven business model and so on, they are not short of arrogance.
The real question as far as news reporters are concerned is just how long the negative news can continue to pile up for Uber before all those investors who just added nearly $13 billion to company coffers over and above the $68 billion opening valuation start to get a little nervous that the company is still burning a couple billion dollars a year after while not showing even an operating surplus let alone a balance sheet surplus from which dividends could be paid. Do we smell a repeat of Enron or Worldcom brewing?
RELATED POSTS:
World Domination Freak Bill Gathes Appeals For World Government
In a recent interview with the German magazine “Süddeutsche Zeitung“, Bill Gates, son of a CIA director and the New World Order's 'made man' uttered some highly sinister comments in support of abolishing democracy and nationhood in favour of world government.
Google attempts to become the Internet's Ministry of Truth
Readers of The Daily Stirrer will know we have always said the full version of Google's corporate motto Don't Be Evil, is Don't Be Evil, That's Our Job. Here's the latest example of Google being evil, their plan to censor the internet and ensure that controversial or dissenting views from those approved by the government / corporate complex never show up in listings. Read to end to learn how to beat the evil empire.
Since making a media debut in Fritz Lang’s cinema classic Metropolis, the idea that robots will replace humanity has obsessed the kind of scientists who make your average fruitcake look suitable fare for people with nut allergies. In the same way that computers with superhuman intelligence would surpass humans, it has been predicted with boring regularity that robots would replace their creators as more efficient and diligent exponents of human activity
GM babies? How About The Frankenstein Lobby Try A Bit Of Honesty And Call It Eugenics
As the British Parliament debated legalising the use of techniques to create three parent babies and the dishonest champions of scientific fascism claim is is a perfectly safe development to remove faulty genes from humanity and in no way similar to programs with the same aim carried out in Nazi Germany, we challenge them to be honest and admit what they propose is Eugenics, a morally repugnant quest to create a master race. And all three main political parties support it.
How To Be Totally Uncool (By TryingTo Look Cooler Than You Are)
Many of the 4700 people camped outside the Apple store on New York's 5th Avenue in the picture above are unemployed (and very likely being paid cash in hand by others to queue for days). Few, if any, among either the campers or the buyers will spend $3,600 for a "gold" iPhone like someone in China just did. But those who are buying will gladly pay ...
IBM Lays Billion Dollar Bet On Artificial Intelligence System Called Watson: They'll Lose
This publication has always been sceptical of the claims made by computer scientists that'the thinking computer is just around the corner'. The fact is pointy heads have been saying arificual intelligence would be with us in two or three years for the past forty years. And the old computer professional who owns the site says we are no nearer than when he wrote his fisrt program.
PayPal Asserts Copyright Ownership Over All Intellectual Property of its Users
The update comes in the aftermath of the announcement that eBay and PayPalwill split apartinto two separate companies. Under the heading “Intellectual Property,” PayPal announcesthat it is introducing a new paragraph to its agreement, effective July 1, 2015, that will allow the company to “use content that you post for publication using the Services”.
Google's Brave New World Of Artificial Intelligence - And The Destruction Humanity
Almost every day we hear scientists burbling about artificial intelligence and how very soon machines will be smarter than humans. As scientists are nowhere near as smart as humans its hard to see how science can build something smarter. The problem is of course we don't understand what contsitutes intelligence - those who think academic qualifications are the only indicator are retards. So where will this madness to replace us with machines end?
Will Humans Become Redundant In Your Lifetime?
by Ian R Thorpe.As unemployment continues to rise a few people in all walks of life are starting to recognise that contrary to what we are constantly being told, the internet and technology in general is not a job creator but a job killer. And yet our politicians continue to export low skill jobs to low wahe economies and automate the work requiring higher skill levels.
Scientists Seriously Debate Human Rights For Robots
Human rights for robots? That's the craziest thing I ever heard, you might well be saying. but those unfailingly loony and dysfunctional fuckwits in the science academe are so convinced they can build machines (robots) with human attibutes they are demanding equal rights for animated tin cans. This over - the - top rant pusts a few things in perspective.
The Perfect Killing Machine
In Greek myth Atlas was the giant who held up the sky on his shoulders (it's a common misconception that he held up the world which is why pictures usually show him with a globe on his back). He was not a killing machine, not even a ...
Health hazards of Wi Fi world revealed
Technology is a psycholigical hazard
Technology and The Orwell - Huxley - Dick index of Dystopianism
Technology - a man made monster we cannot control
Technology: They lied, cellphones do cause cancer
Technology: Does Wi-Fi damage human fertility
UK Health Watchdog: Studies Show Mobile Phones Do Cause Brain Tumours
Technology Taking Over Your Life? Just Say No.
Greenteeth Elsewhere: [ The Original Boggart Blog] ... [ Writerbeat ] ... [ Daily Stirrer.shtml ]...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]... [ Ian's Authorsden Pages ]... [ It's Bollocks My Dears, All Bollocks ] [Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... [ Latest Posts ] [Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [Latest Posts] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [ Authorsden blog ] ... [Daily Stirrer Headlines]
[ Ian at Facebook ]
No comments:
Post a Comment