"But their game is circumventing any regulation and, lately, trying to get rid of any regulatory authority so they can profit as they please without a care."

In California, for example, it is illegal to seek non-conviction data in a background check or deny employment based on such. Why hasn't someone sued Uber if they aren't performing the background checks enumerated on their website? Clearly that is a violation of multiple laws.

I think that there should be additional regulations to level the playing field with traditional cabs. If we are to assume that they actually perform the background checks on drivers that they claim to do, what structural changes are needed? Drivers are essentially contractors. Uber provides a platform for connecting…

How is actually asking for data shilling? How is actually asking for data a "knee-jerk" defense? Your whole argument is based on news stories which are inflated for anything involving Uber, Lyft, or others because they are a hot topic. If however, the data shows that you are, for example, more likely to be assaulted…

how is posing legitimate questions "shilling"? I'm not sure what "performed by the state" vs. privately performed is supposed to show? Since the state does not do background checks for most private companies, doesn't your argument prove too much? Do you expect the state to do background checks for all employees?

tone-deaf PR folks are pretty common in the tech world

Clearly people who drive cabs still commit crimes so the background check isn't a panacea. When they do, the victim is less likely to be able to identify the assailant. How often do you write down the driver name and taxi ID? On the other hand, with Uber there is a record of who the driver was, what they were driving,…

Before drawing conclusions on the relative danger of riding in an uber et al it would be useful to know how crime rates in uber compare to crime rates in cabs. Do you have any data on that? Obviously the degree of media attention is not a reliable indicator.

Looking more into this, it looks like FMR is exactly what was applied. The driver of the car is the one that actually shot the trooper (also convicted of murder). The conviction included a conviction for murder of the other passenger in the car, which is also consistent with the Felony Murder Rule where you can be…

Isn't shooting at a cop trying to arrest you a felony? I'm sure a clever prosecutor could argue that having guns with them as wanted individuals meant that a shootout was foreseeable.

Does the Felony Murder Rule apply to a shootout during an arrest? In which case, she could be found guilty of murder even if she didn't shoot anyone.

It seems to me that it doesn't have to be federally protected information (e.g., HIPAA) to still be private communications that should not be thrown into the public square. I can probably buy your argument that emails about Obama are newsworthy as the go to issues of race. But reporting that Pascal doesn't like…

As someone who is also conflicted, thank you for acknowledging you are as well!

We'll set aside the fact that simplifying an argument does not equal a strawman. I think we should be able to agree that feminism can have many flavors. People can find some issues more important than others without invalidating the others. I agree that "people have it worse" is a trope that tends to silence…

you are right..oops!

referring to someone with a different point of view as simple minded is always a great way to foster discussion on the different (and valid) ways people can view feminism.

A bit of my response is the tone of the story, sorta like "A new allegation against Bill Cosby, but now by someone with credibility"

What really concerned me was how this was framed by a lot of the media. NBC Nightly News last night seemed to couch it as a story to be believed because she was a supermodel. As if the other accusers were less worthy of belief for some reason.

Fair enough, especially the last phrase!

true, but then they said "here are texts and photos of "drew" " and then WaPo found Drew who was never a student at UVA. That is a lot more than just denying they were a-holes to a rape victim.