

Uber allowed to continue operating in Boston - nelhage
http://www.mass.gov/hed/undersecretary-barbara-anthony-statement-on-uber-technologies.pdf

======
mc32
That's pretty cool of MA. They seem to have provided pretty quick turnaround
and resolution, once they became aware of the situation and its possible
repercussions on innovative companies operating in MA.

As companies see quick response to something like this they might say, "gee,
MA responded quickly and found quick resolution to an emergent issue; they are
receptive to new ways of doing business, I think I'll do business in their
state" as opposed to a possible recalcitrant alternative, which could have
happened ---letting the process drag on...

~~~
lukejduncan
How could they not have known this prior to staging a "sting" and issuing a
cease and desist?

Just sounds like a politicking to me.

~~~
ajross
That "they" in your sentence is misapplied. It's not like there's some Great
Cambridge Hive Mind at work. Someone was an idiot, they embarrassed the state
government, and got overruled by their boss. Then someone else wrote up a
press release to make it sound as unembarrassing as possible.

That's "politicking" I guess. But it's the kind of politics we want, where
governments do the Right Thing because people ask them to.

~~~
adgar
> It's not like there's some Great Cambridge Hive Mind at work.

This is a common motif in internet outrage, and it's not surprising to see it
every day on HN which is startup focused.

Massachusetts' government is not 1 giant perfectly-in-sync machine. Nor is
Apple. Nor is Microsoft. Nor is Google. They're enormous and have tons of
inertia.

It is perfectly consistent for one part of such a large organization to make a
routine action as part of policy, only to find that somewhere (often higher
up) in the organization, priorities no longer reflect the policy in place.
This means the action was an error for the organization.

It doesn't mean people are lying. It doesn't mean people are acting in bad
faith at all. It means that tens of thousands of people acting toward the same
goals don't manage to act with perfect information.

------
hop
This is an excellent advertising strategy and cities play right into their
hand - go launch in a new place, knowingly bend some old taxi laws and get
served, make huge deal about it stopping innovation and be featured on every
local news channel and newspaper. City changes old laws, doesn't want to look
bad. That creates another multimillion dollar round of free advertising so
everyone in town knows about them. Bravo.

~~~
joeshaw
Anecdotally, it seems to be working. When I asked my Boston Uber driver last
night about his workload recently he said that it's been much, much higher in
the last week. He also attributed it to people hearing about the service for
the first time due to the controversy and increased media coverage. He expects
it to increase even more as the college students return over the next few
weeks.

------
ilamont
Our governor actively encourages founders and young companies to launch or
relocate here, and is a very public champion of the MassChallenge accelerator.
He makes a lot of appearances at local events related to innovation and
entrepreneurship.

It doesn't hurt that his office staff use Uber, either:

[http://www.universalhub.com/2012/governor-were-going-find-
wa...](http://www.universalhub.com/2012/governor-were-going-find-way-let-uber-
operate)

------
nchlswu
Is this type of statement characteristic of Massachusetts government?

I really like he overall tone and stance taken in the statement and it seems
uncharacteristic of government in general.

~~~
_delirium
This particular department, at least, seems to be trying to put forth a
modern/accessible image as consumer advocates, with delivery style perhaps
patterned more on _Consumer Reports_ than traditional bureaucratese. They have
a YouTube channel trying to demystify various things, e.g. which aspects of
home improvement might require permits:
<http://www.youtube.com/user/massconsumer>

------
theorique
Good for MA - it's a fine thing to see some rational people in government
rather than the bureaucratic drones that they are so often (and often
unfairly) stereotyped as.

As a Cambridge resident, I use Uber often and I think it's a valuable service.
It would be a loss to the Boston area to have Uber shut down.

~~~
kd0amg
What are your usual use cases for Uber? MBTA covers pretty much everywhere I
go, but I think MBTA coverage has also shaped where I tend to go (and where I
live).

~~~
theorique
For me:

\- calling a car to my home (faster, easier, and more trackable than phoning a
taxi) if I'm in a hurry

\- late-night after bars close (0200+) and street taxis are scarce (downside:
surge pricing)

I'll typically prioritize my transportation: (1) walk/MBTA where possible, (2)
hail a cab if they are available, and (3) Uber. Still, that leads to a handful
of trips a month.

------
aerosuch
According to the state ruling, the "device" in question is an "I phone"
[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/408509-massachusetts...](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/408509-massachusetts-
ruling-on-uber-metering.html)

It uses some technology (circa 1978) called "GPS".

We're living in the future!

~~~
revelation
Quite frankly, I wouldn't certify that. Measuring based on data derived from
the GPS chip (not the raw data), always at the mercy of the operating system
not to hibernate your app.

------
enginous
I assume that the device entering an NIST evaluation process provides some
preliminary assurances of the device's accuracy that MA is willing to make do
with.

So is the state essentially trusting Uber's word that the device is accurate,
knowing that if it turns out that it isn't, Uber opens itself up to liability?

