I agree that some of the things Uber gets blamed for are commonplace and Uber is just being held to a different standard. But, it is also true that Uber pushed a lot further into the dark side than other companies.

For example, do Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook set up surveillance of hotel and conference rooms of executives from other companies?

Those companies have competive intelligence, but they aren’t run like a college fraternity on probation, so I doubt you’ll find those kind of abuses.

Facebook’s business model is essentially surveillance. Same with Google, who was also involved with illegal, wide-scale wage fixing. Amazon is notorious for labor abuses, and Microsoft’s history on all these fronts is storied. And they all court and pay off politicians to avoid repercussions. The mob of old could only dream of having this kind of reach.

Uber is not really a different standard. They’re more like an upstart gangster faction whose lack of discretion is calling attention to the baseline amorality and criminal intentions that lurk beyond the (quite thin) veil of techno-utopianism. The big guys lean on this ideology to get away with what they’re doing and thus don’t like Uber undermining it with their flagrant criminality.

Mistaking investor happiness for a moral compass, what could possibly go wrong