So, they're using the shadow profiles for identification or what?

No, cows are smarter than that.

Most libertarians don't know what 'free market' in Adam Smith's sense means and instead are subscribed to the notion that 'free market' is unregulated market. It is an education failure that is simple to correct by reading, but alas, nowadays people get their information from comments on social sites.

[citation needed].

I've said that in these Uber discussions before, and I'll say it again: I split my time between three or four different countries and everywhere the difference between Uber-like services and 'regular' taxis comes to exactly just a bit less than all tax, license and insurance they should be paying, but don't -- I've made the calculations out of pure curiosity.

Also, strangely, there are Uber-like companies that work over the Internet, service different taxi operators and licensed individuals, provide similar level of quality and speed and are not in conflict with anybody.

Finally, the 'living wage' argument isn't all that bad, apparently there were times when taxis were really dangerous because of the adverse selection of cars and drivers due to the low wages.

Unpossible, there's no Galaxy with only three stars.

+1.

What 'tangible' service? They are just free riders which happen to be receiving payments in a jurisdiction where the tax authorities of the countries they operate in cannot get a hold of them.

There are three uber-like services at home, they all operate similar web services. The only difference is they provide those services to registered taxi operators -- individuals or companies.

Amazingly, they don't have problems with the law.

There are fees that aren't due by the drivers. It is boring to explain, but basically the VAT, part of the social security and most insurance is due by the operator -- those who collect the fees and organize the service.

You can believe what you want, and refuse to believe what you choose, I'm not here to make you change your mind. However, except for the price there isn't really noticeable difference here, and that comes almost exactly to the amount they are "saving" in fees and taxes.

But "they" do where I live -- in two countries. Uber refuse to pay required taxes, licenses, insurance, social security payments. All this gets paid by someone -- me. Why? Because a few thousand hipsters think that taking a cab at a 30% discount is uber-cool. Thanks, but no thanks. And it only 'works' because Uber can collect payments outside of the jurisdiction they provide services in.

I don't know if retweeting even qualifies as 'immaterial' support. What if the fucking terrorist uses one of those fake Paulo Coelho quotes every other time they tweet? They'll get a following of imbeciles in no time, yet I bet there is an overzealous prosecutor who'll try to go ahead with finding some 'terrorist support' even in retweets like these. The damned Russian Federation was better than not 10 years ago. People who retweet out of stupidity need help and education, not prosecution.

And what should be the 'consequences' of 'being utterly stupid' while retweeting someone's tweet, as often happens? The electric chair? Lobotomy? Castration? 'Material support' implies one provides materials to the terrorists. Tweets are still speech and not really 'material', precious little there to justify prosecution.

I don't know about your area, but where I live, all licensed cabs have the driver's name, license number and a complaint phone or qr code on the dashboard. You can use these to complain to either the company or the municipal regulator. Here, both accept complaints online.

I've only been overcharged once, a couple of years ago, when I was asked to pay two times the amount I usually pay on a certain course. Interestingly, that was also the amount displayed on the meter. Since I travel that route quite often I simply called the cab company and complained to them about the problem. They did some short investigation, called me back and asked if I'd like to have my money back or a voucher for their services.

So, it is really, really simple.

True, but the Internet was much smaller and less important then; it was, with few exceptions, a one-country, one-language affair and, luckily, that country wasn't Turkey, China, or the Soviet Union. That time is gone, however, now the Internet is big, international and outright dangerous to many a regime and government. So you're only going to see more of this.

Oblig DNT implementation: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprivatelee.com%2Fsearch%2F...