Thursday, October 1, 2015

Uber Execs on Trial in France Face Jail Time, Heavy Fines

Nothing laissez-faire going on here.

The two Uber executives were arrested in June and charged with running an illegal taxi service and other violations. While Uber Pop has shut down, Uber's main service, which relies on professional drivers, remains in business.

The trial of two Uber executives,  Uber France chief Thibaud Simphal and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, general manager for Western Europe, kicked off in France on Wednesday.. But the judge in the case quickly decided to delay further proceedings until mid-February, reports Yahoo. After some initial skirmishing by lawyers on the case, Judge Cecile Louis-Loyant said a five-month delay was needed to give prosecutors time to provide documents and computer files requested by Uber, Reuters reported.

The two execs could be sent to prison for up to five years and fined as much as 300,000 euros if found guilty of deceptive commercial practices and other charges.

French taxi drivers took to the streets this summer, smashing cars and setting tires on fire, as part of widespread protests against Uber. They also lobbied for a 2014 law which outlawed non-professional drivers from carrying passengers for profit -- the exact business model of Uber's lowest cost Uber Pop service in France. The country's highest court upheld the law last week.

If French taxi drivers really want to go back to the old days, the state should take away their cars, give each a horse and buggy and leave Uber alone.

  -RW

9 comments:

  1. How does this not push people to a libertarian perspective? PUTTING PEOPLE IN JAIL FOR SELLING CAR RIDES!!

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    1. Yes, next thing you know they will be demanding everyone who drives has a drivers license.

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    2. Right, because we all know that people would never drive without a driver's license. We also know that people with driver's licenses always follow the rules and would never consider doing things like speeding or driving while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Driver's licenses protect us from these things.

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  2. Ugg. Must be getting close to an election year. The trolls are with us. Breaking out the same old tired "drivers license" argument to justify economic totalitarianism.

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    1. Funny, I thought they were being facetious! Including The POP. LOL.

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  3. Uber needs to get into so many other things. Like healthcare for starters...

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    1. Tom Woods has interviewed about 5 free market medical pioneers. Here is the latest with links to the others:
      http://tomwoods.com/podcast/ep-481-how-capitalism-can-fix-health-care/

      He wrote about the surgery center of oklahoma http://tomwoods.com/blog/surgery-center-defies-insane-health-market-keeps-prices-down/

      This place is really cool http://www.surgerycenterok.com/

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  4. Nothing pushes most people towards a libertarian perspective because people love government. People want all the goodies handed out by the state, even though they would be much cheaper and of better quality if handled by the private sector. The thing they love the most is the fact that a third party will use guns to enforce their views on others. Most people are cowards that would wet themselves in the face of actual danger, so they get the goons in uniform to do the dirty work for them.

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