My original reaction to the concept, when I encountered it
in New York last year, was that this was something in which I would only
participate if that were one of the demands made by terrorists holding my wife.
To me, it sounded like the service was made for carjackers (have a car and a
smart phone brought right to your door, whenever you want!) and armed robbers,
not to mention the risk to Uber passengers, such as being kidnapped or
assaulted by some random driver. And while it is true that the company would
have some record of what happened to you – and where the police could find the
driver after you went missing – I still couldn’t help thinking that this would
be cold comfort to you if you ended up being the victim. I’ve known at least
two people who were killed while hitchhiking, and while this is somewhat safer
that just sticking your thumb out, it doesn’t seem that much safer…
It turns out I’m not the only one who thinks so. In fact,
apparently some of these things are actually happening, according to an article
on the Daily Beast site earlier this year. It turns out that there have been
complaints against Uber drivers, including at least one who was accused of
raping a passenger, and several who appear to have gotten access to their
riders’ personal information and stalked them over the Internet (and possibly
in person). I haven’t seen any cases of Uber drivers being carjacked – I’m not
sure how you would tell such a crime from a “regular” carjacking unless the
company went out of their way to acknowledge it as such – but it seems unlikely
that a large number of people can expect to place themselves in harm’s way on a
regular basis without some ill effects. This is especially true when you
consider the statistics on cab drivers being assaulted and robbed while on duty…
Now, I understand that the vast majority of Uber drivers are
fine, upstanding citizens trying to scratch out a living as contractors for an
Internet company, just as the vast majority of Uber customers are just ordinary
people who are just looking for a safer, faster, and less expensive way of
getting around the city. The problem is, most of the people who live in your
town are probably good, honest folks, too, but that probably doesn’t keep you
from locking your doors at night…
The author of the linked article describes being stalked by
an Uber driver, who then tracked down her work email and her employer’s work
email to protest the negative review she gave the driver as the result of the
stalking incidents. He may not actually have meant any harm by this – it could in
fact be a case of wanting to explain himself and apologize for his actions. But
if the drivers can actually get access to passenger information (and the
company has contradicted itself a number of times about how much of this is
possible) then I don’t think it’s a very far stretch to conclude that
eventually somebody is going to use that same information to do harm to one of
their riders, either in person or in terms of identity theft…
All things considered, it just seems like a lot of risk to
accept in the name of cheaper and potentially more convenient transportation –
or for a low-paying part-time job. Or, to look at it another way, the entire
business model looks a lot like another great idea ruined by people…
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