Topic: Uber vs. The State: The Fight Goes Worldwide (Read 661 times)

Already is organizing seems more likely. I've already seen tons of press about how you can't trust individuals to rent their property out because of such and such standards are not up to par and yada yada. Bunch of excuses to deprive people the right to use their property in a way they deem fit. I have no desire to use Air BnB on either side of it, but I don't see the merit in denying people who want to that ability.

The hotel industry will soon be organizing the same response to Air BnB.

Already FUD articles coming out like how an Air BnB apartment can make an owner $2500 a month when renting it would only make $1000 - $1500 and that people are being kicked out of their homes so the landlord can go Air BnB.   

A couple weeks ago, there were about 150 taxis circling city hall near where I work and beeping incessantly to protest Uber. They had signs in their windows and were being extremely disruptive to all the offices in the area. I couldn't think of a more perfect example of a special interest group that just didn't get it. Rather than adapt, they were ignoring customers and being obnoxious in an effort to convince the public to support regulations to keep Uber out and protect their racket.

You can even expect fresh regulation to limit Uber's reach.
When rules and regulations regarding taxi services operators were drawn up, nobody imagined a service like Uber to pop up.

The only thing a capitalist hates more than a communist is a competitor.

Uber is wrecking the competition by using automation to cut out the middle man. Expect this trend to continue and affect every industry. Code is always more efficient than human labor.

Urban transportation company Uber is having a rough week. The company is encountering legal struggles in a few of its international markets. On Monday, around 25 armed police officers searched the company’s office in Paris. In Germany, a court ordered a nationwide ban on Uber’s cheaper ride-sharing service UberPOP. In South Korea, executives and employees were charged with violating the transportation laws and many items were seized.

If you have been following the news, legal struggles are nothing new for Uber. But today’s news shows that it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier.

And it’s easy to understand why. According to its website, Uber is now available in 55 countries. Each country has its own legislation. Some very active local governments also have their say in Uber’s way of doing things.

In many cases, Uber launches a new branch and then figures out if it complies with existing laws. It’s a smart strategy as there are many ways to interpret a piece of legislation. But it doesn’t always work.

In France, there have been many attempts to limit Uber’s entire business. The so-called ‘15-minute law‘ was supposed to give an edge to taxi drivers. One month later, the law was suspended.

Uber then launched UberPOP in Paris. It was the company’s first rollout for its new ride-sharing service. As you don’t need a specific driver’s license to become an UberPOP driver, many professional drivers saw the new service as unfair competition. UberPOP was banned in Brussels, the Netherlands and, yes, France.

Yet, a court recently ruled that the French government couldn’t ban UberPOP that easily. That might explain the reason why 25 police officers were looking for evidence in Uber’s office.

More...http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/19/uber-faces-legal-challenges-in-france-south-korea-and-germany/