person:uber

The Gnawing Anxiety of Having an Algorithm as a Boss - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-26/the-gnawing-anxiety-of-having-an-algorithm-as-a-boss

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I recently got the internet in my apartment fixed, and my technician had an unusual request. I’d get an automated call after he left asking me how satisfied I was with the service, he explained, and he wanted me to rate him 9 out of 10. I asked why, and he said there was a glitch with the system that recorded any 10 rating as a 1, and it was important for him to keep his rating up.

Since then, a couple of people have told me that technicians working for the company have been making this exact request for at least two years. A representative for Spectrum, my internet provider, said they were worrying over nothing. The company had moved away from the 10-point rating system, he said, adding that customer feedback isn’t “tied to individual technicians’ compensation.”

But even if the Spectrum glitch exists only in the lore of cable repairmen, the anxiety it’s causing them is telling. Increasingly, workers are impacted by automated decision-making systems, which also affects people who read the news, or apply for loans, or shop in stores. It only makes sense that they’d try to bend those systems to their advantage.

There exist at least two separate academic papers with the title “Folk Theories of Social Feeds,” detailing how Facebook users divine what its algorithm wants, then try to use those theories to their advantage.

People with algorithms for bosses have particular incentive to push back. Last month, a local television station in Washington covered Uber drivers who conspire to turn off their apps simultaneously in order to trick its system into raising prices.

Alex Rosenblat, the author of Uberland, told me that these acts of digital disobedience are essentially futile in the long run. Technology centralizes power and information in a way that overwhelms mere humans. “You might think you’re manipulating the system,” she says, but in reality “you’re working really hard to keep up with a system that is constantly experimenting on you.”

Compared to pricing algorithms, customer ratings of the type that worried my repairman should be fairly straightforward. Presumably it’s just a matter of gathering data and calculating an average. But online ratings are a questionable way to judge people even if the data they’re based on are pristine—and they probably aren’t. Academics have shown that customer ratings reflect racial biases. Complaints about a product or service can be interpreted as commentary about the person who provided it, rather than the service itself. And companies like Uber require drivers to maintain such high ratings that, in effect, any review that isn’t maximally ecstatic is a request for punitive measures.

#Travail #Surveillance #Algorithme #Stress #Société_contrôle

Connecticut legislators to consider minimum pay for Uber and Lyft drivers - Connecticut Post
▻https://www.ctpost.com/politics/article/Connecticut-legislators-to-consider-minimum-pay-13608071.php

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By Emilie Munson, February 11, 2019 - Prompted by growing numbers of frustrated Uber and Lyft drivers, lawmakers will hold a hearing on establishing minimum pay for app-based drivers.

After three separate legislative proposals regarding pay for drivers flooded the Labor and Public Employees Committee, the committee will raise the concept of driver earnings as a bill, said state Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, who chairs the committee, on Friday night.

A coalition of Uber and Lyft drivers from New Haven has been pressuring lawmakers to pass a pay standard, following New York City’s landmark minimum pay ordinance for app-based drivers approved in December. The legislation, which set an earnings floor of $17.22 an hour for the independent contractors, took effect on Feb. 1.

Connecticut drivers have no minimum pay guarantees.

Guillermo Estrella, who drives for Uber, worked about 60 hours per week last year and received $25,422.65 in gross pay. His pay stub doesn’t reflect how much Estrella paid for insurance, gas, oil changes and wear-and-tear on his car. Factor those expenses in, and the Branford resident said his yearly take-home earnings were about $18,000 last year.

Estrella and other New Haven drivers have suggested bill language to cap the portion of riders’ fares that Uber and Lyft can take at 25 percent, with the remaining 75 percent heading to drivers’ pockets. The idea has already received pushback from Uber, which said it was unrealistic given their current pay structure.

Connecticut legislators have suggested two other models for regulating driver pay. State Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester, filed a bill to set a minimum pay rate per mile and per minute for drivers. His bill has not assigned numbers to those minimums yet.

“What (drivers) were making when Uber started and got its name, they are not making that anymore,” said Cassano. “The company is taking advantage of the success of the company. I understand that to a point, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the drivers.”

State Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain, proposed legislation that says if drivers’ earnings do not amount to hourly minimum wage payments, Uber or Lyft should have to kick in the difference. Connecticut’s minimum wage is now $10.10, although Democrats are making a strong push this year to raise it.

As lawmakers consider these proposals, they will confront issues raised by the growing “gig economy”: a clash between companies seeking thousands of flexible, independent contractors and a workforce that wants the benefits and rights of traditional, paid employment.

Some Democrats at the Capitol support the changes that favor drivers.

“I thought it was important to make sure our labor laws are keeping up with the changes we are seeing in this emerging gig economy, that we have sufficient safeguards to make sure that drivers are not being exploited,” said Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown.

But the proposals also raise broad, difficult questions like what protections does a large independent contractor workforce need? And how would constraining the business model of Uber and Lyft impact service availability around the state?

Sen. Craig Miner, a Republican of Litchfield who sits on the Labor committee, wondered why Uber and Lyft drivers should have guaranteed pay, when other independent contractors do not. How would this impact the tax benefits realized by independent contractors, he asked.

Uber and Lyft declined to provide data on how many drivers they have in the state, and the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles does not keep count. In Connecticut, 82 percent of Lyft drivers drive fewer than 20 hours per week, said Kaelan Richards, a Lyft spokesperson.

Last week, Hearst Connecticut Media spoke to 20 Uber and Lyft drivers in New Haven who are demanding lawmakers protect their pay. All drove full-time for Uber or Lyft or both.

An immigrant from Ecuador, Estrella, the Branford driver, struggles to pay for rent and groceries for his pregnant wife and seven-year-old son using his Uber wages.

“A cup of coffee at the local Starbucks cost $3 or $4,” said Estrella. “How can a trip can cost $3 when you have to drive to them five minutes away and drop them off after seven or eight minutes?”

In December, 50 Uber and Lyft drivers held a strike in New Haven demanding better pay. The New Haven drivers last week said they are planning more strikes soon.

“Why is Uber lowering the rates and why do we have to say yes to keep working?” asked Carlos Gomez, a Guilford Uber driver, last week.

The drivers believe Uber and Lyft are decreasing driver pay and taking a larger chunk of rider fares for company profits. Many New Haven drivers said pay per mile has been decreasing. They liked Sen. Cassano’s idea of setting minimum pay per mile and per minute.

“The payment by mile, it went down by 10 cents,” said Rosanna Olan, a driver from West Haven. “Before it was more than one dollar and now when you have a big truck SUV, working long distance especially is not worth it anymore.”

Uber and Lyft both declined to provide pay rates per mile and per minute for drivers. Drivers are not paid for time spent driving to pick up a passenger, nor for time spent idling waiting for a ride, although the companies’ model depends on having drivers ready to pick up passengers at any moment.

Lyft said nationally drivers earn an average of $18.83 an hour, but did not provide Connecticut specific earnings.

“Our goal has always been to empower drivers to get the most out of Lyft, and we look forward to continBy Emilie Munson Updated 4:49 pm EST, Monday, February 11, 2019uing to do so in Connecticut, and across the country," said Rich Power, public policy manager at Lyft.

Uber discouraged lawmakers from considering the drivers’ proposal of capping the transportation companies’ cut of rider fares. Uber spokesman Harry Hartfield said the idea wouldn’t work because Uber no longer uses the “commission model” — that stopped about two years ago.

“In order to make sure we can provide customers with an up-front price, driver fares are not tied to what the rider pays,” said Hartfield. “In fact, on many trips drivers actually make more money than the rider pays.”

What the rider is pays to Uber is an estimated price, calculated before the ride starts, Hartfield explained, while the driver receives from Uber a fare that is calculated based on actual drive time and distance. Changing the model could make it hard to give customers up-front pricing and “lead to reduced price transparency,” Hartfield said. New York’s changes raised rates for riders.

James Bhandary-Alexander, a New Haven Legal Assistance attorney who is working with the drivers, said Uber’s current pay model is “irrelevant to how drivers want to be paid for the work.”

“The reason that drivers care is it seems fundamentally unfair that the rider is willing to pay or has paid $100 for the ride and the driver has only gotten $30 or $40 of that,” he said.

Pursuing any of the three driver-pay proposals would bring Uber and Lyft lobbyists back to the Capitol, where they negotiated legislation spearheaded by Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, from 2015 to 2017.

Scanlon said the companies eventually favored the bill passed in 2017, which, after some compromise, required drivers have insurance, limited “surge pricing,” mandated background checks for drivers, imposed a 25 cent tax collected by the state and stated passengers must be picked up and delivered anywhere without discrimination.

“One of my biggest regrets about that bill, which I think is really good for consumers in Connecticut, is that we didn’t do anything to try to help the driver,” said Scanlon, who briefly drove for Uber.
By Emilie Munson Updated 4:49 pm EST, Monday, February 11, 2019
emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson

#USA #Uber #Connecticut #Mindestlohn #Klassenkampf

Uber Drivers in four UK cities to protest ahead of company’s IPO · IWGB
▻https://iwgb.org.uk/post/5cd28b1260b6f/uber-drivers-in-four-uk

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8 May 2019 - Uber drivers in London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Glasgow to log off app and protest outside Uber offices in each city
Drivers condemn Uber for large payouts to founder, venture capitalists and executives despite failure to resolve pay issues

Drivers call on public to not cross “digital picket line” on 8 May
8 May: Hundreds of Uber drivers will log off the app and stage protests in London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Glasgow today, as part of an international day of action taking place in dozens of cities around the world ahead of the company’s IPO.

UK drivers are expected to log off the app between 7am and 4pm and the United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD) branch of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), is calling for drivers to protest outside of Uber’s offices in London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Glasgow.

The IWGB’s UPHD branch is asking the public to not cross the digital picket line by using the app to book Uber services during these times. Thousands of other drivers are expected to take action around the world, from the United States to Brazil, as part of an international day of action.

Drivers are protesting against the IPO, which will value the company at tens of billions of dollars and lead to massive payouts for investors, while driver pay continues to be cut.

Despite the expected massive payout for a few at the top, Uber’s business model is unsustainable in its dependence upon large scale worker exploitation. Since 2016, successive judgements from the UK’s Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal have all said Uber drivers are being unlawfully denied basic worker rights, such as the minimum wage and holiday pay. The IWGB is expected to face Uber at the Supreme Court later this year.

Uber’s own prospectus recently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission admits that being forced to respect worker rights and pay VAT as a result of the IWGB’s legal challenge would be a material risk to its business model. It also says that driver pay and job satisfaction will fall as Uber seeks to cut costs to become profitable.

Analysis by UPHD shows that Uber drivers currently earn on average £5 per hour and work as much as 30 hours per week before breaking even.

The drivers are demanding:

Fares be increased to £2 per mile

Commissions paid by drivers to Uber be reduced from 25% to 15%

An end to unfair dismissals*

Uber to respect the rulings of the Employment Tribunal, The Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal confirming ’worker’ status for drivers

IWGB UPHD branch secretary Yaseen Aslam said: “Since Uber arrived to the UK in 2012, it has progressively driven down pay and conditions in the minicab sector to the point where many drivers are now being pushed to work over 60 hours a week just to get by. Now, a handful of investors are expected to get filthy rich off the back of the exploitation of these drivers on poverty wages. We are protesting today demanding that the company pay drivers a decent wage and that government authorities tackle Uber’s chronic unlawful behaviour.”

IWGB UPHD branch chair James Farrar said: “Uber’s flotation is shaping up to be an unprecedented international orgy of greed as investors cash in on one of the most abusive business models ever to emerge from Silicon Valley. It is the drivers who have created this extraordinary wealth but they continue to be denied even the most basic workplace rights. We call on the public not to cross the digital picket line on 8 May but to stand in solidarity with impoverished drivers across the world who have made Uber so successful.”

The protests are expected to take place at:

London 1pm - Uber UK Head Office,1 Aldgate Tower, 2 Leman St, London E1 8FA

Birmingham 1pm -100 Broad St, Birmingham B15 1AE

Nottingham 1pm - King Edward Court Unit C, Nottingham NG1 1EL

Glasgow 2pm - 69 Buchanan St, Glasgow G1 3HL

#Uber #Streik #London #Birmingham #Nottingham #Glasgow

We’ve Been Trapped in ‘Uberland’
▻https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/10/uberland-and-how-ride-hailing-changed-work/573586

In her new book, Alex Rosenblat talked with drivers in 25 cities to trace the story of how ride-hailing redefined the nature of work. In 2009, Uber was born out of a simple idea : Tap a button, get a ride. As it grew popular, the platform, and the ride-hailing model it helped pioneer, seemed like it would go beyond just meeting a transportation need : It seemed to have the potential to solve problems of transit access and cater to people whom cab drivers may have discriminated against in (...)

#Uber #travail

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Can the Manufacturer of Tasers Provide the Answer to Police Abuse ? | The New Yorker
▻https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/27/can-the-manufacturer-of-tasers-provide-the-answer-to-police-abuse

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Tasers are carried by some six hundred thousand law-enforcement officers around the world—a kind of market saturation that also presents a problem. “One of the challenges with Taser is: where do you go next, what’s Act II?” Smith said. “For us, luckily, Act II is cameras.” He began adding cameras to his company’s weapons in 2006, to defend against allegations of abuse, and in the process inadvertently opened a business line that may soon overshadow the Taser. In recent years, body cameras—the officer’s answer to bystander cell-phone video—have become ubiquitous, and Smith’s company, now worth four billion dollars, is their largest manufacturer, holding contracts with more than half the major police departments in the country.

The cameras have little intrinsic value, but the information they collect is worth a fortune to whoever can organize and safeguard it. Smith has what he calls an iPod/iTunes opportunity—a chance to pair a hardware business with an endlessly recurring and expanding data-storage subscription plan. In service of an intensifying surveillance state and the objectives of police as they battle the public for control of the story, Smith is building a network of electrical weapons, cameras, drones, and someday, possibly, robots, connected by a software platform called Evidence.com. In the process, he is trying to reposition his company in the public imagination, not as a dubious purveyor of stun guns but as a heroic seeker of truth.

A year ago, Smith changed Taser’s name to Axon Enterprise, referring to the conductive fibre of a nerve cell. Taser was founded in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Smith lives; to transform into Axon, he opened an office in Seattle, hiring designers and engineers from Uber, Google, and Apple. When I met him at the Seattle office this spring, he wore a company T-shirt that read “Expect Candor” and a pair of leather sneakers in caution yellow, the same color as Axon’s logo: a delta symbol—for change—which also resembles the lens of a surveillance camera.

Already, Axon’s servers, at Microsoft, store nearly thirty petabytes of video—a quarter-million DVDs’ worth—and add approximately two petabytes each month. When body-camera footage is released—say, in the case of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man killed by police in Sacramento, or of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, this past fall—Axon’s logo is often visible in the upper-right corner of the screen. The company’s stock is up a hundred and thirty per cent since January.

The original Taser was the invention of an aerospace engineer named Jack Cover, inspired by the sci-fi story “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle,” about a boy inventor whose long gun fires a five-thousand-volt charge. Early experiments were comical: Cover wired the family couch to shock his sister and her boyfriend as they were on the brink of making out. Later, he discovered that he could fell buffalo when he hit them with electrified darts. In 1974, Cover got a patent and began to manufacture an electric gun. That weapon was similar to today’s Taser: a Glock-shaped object that sends out two live wires, loaded with fifty thousand volts of electricity and ending in barbed darts that attach to a target. When the hooks connect, they create a charged circuit, which causes muscles to contract painfully, rendering the subject temporarily incapacitated. More inventor than entrepreneur, Cover designed the Taser to propel its darts with an explosive, leading the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to classify it a Title II weapon (a category that also includes sawed-off shotguns), which required an arduous registration process and narrowed its appeal.

A few years after Tasers went on the market, Rick Smith added a data port to track each trigger pull. The idea, he told me, came from the Baltimore Police Department, which was resisting Tasers out of a concern that officers would abuse people with them. In theory, with a data port, cops would use their Tasers more conscientiously, knowing that each deployment would be recorded and subject to review. But in Baltimore it didn’t work out that way. Recent reports in the Sun revealed that nearly sixty per cent of people Tased by police in Maryland between 2012 and 2014—primarily black and living in low-income neighborhoods—were “non-compliant and non-threatening.”

Act II begins in the nauseous summer of 2014, when Eric Garner died after being put in a choke hold by police in Staten Island and Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson, of the Ferguson Police. After a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson—witness statements differed wildly, and no footage of the shooting came to light—Brown’s family released a statement calling on the public to “join with us in our campaign to ensure that every police officer working the streets in this country wears a body camera.”

In the fall of 2014, Taser débuted the Officer Safety Plan, which now costs a hundred and nine dollars a month and includes Tasers, cameras, and a sensor that wirelessly activates all the cameras in its range whenever a cop draws his sidearm. This feature is described on the Web site as a prudent hedge in chaotic times: “In today’s online culture where videos go viral in an instant, officers must capture the truth of a critical event. But the intensity of the moment can mean that hitting ‘record’ is an afterthought. Both officers and communities facing confusion and unrest have asked for a solution that turns cameras on reliably, leaving no room for dispute.” According to White’s review of current literature, half of the randomized controlled studies show a substantial or statistically significant reduction in use of force following the introduction of body cameras. The research into citizen complaints is more definitive: cameras clearly reduce the number of complaints from the public.

The practice of “testi-lying”—officers lying under oath—is made much more difficult by the presence of video.

Even without flagrant dissimulation, body-camera footage is often highly contentious. Michael White said, “The technology is the easy part. The human use of the technology really is making things very complex.” Policies on how and when cameras should be used, and how and when and by whom footage can be accessed, vary widely from region to region. Jay Stanley, who researches technology for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that the value of a body camera to support democracy depends on those details. “When is it activated? When is it turned off? How vigorously are those rules enforced? What happens to the video footage, how long is it retained, is it released to the public?” he said. “These are the questions that shape the nature of the technology and decide whether it just furthers the police state.”

Increasingly, civil-liberties groups fear that body cameras will do more to amplify police officers’ power than to restrain their behavior. Black Lives Matter activists view body-camera programs with suspicion, arguing that communities of color need better educational and employment opportunities, environmental justice, and adequate housing, rather than souped-up robo-cops. They also argue that video has been ineffectual: many times, the public has watched the police abuse and kill black men without facing conviction. Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan-African studies at Cal State Los Angeles, who is active in Black Lives Matter, told me, “Video surveillance, including body cameras, are being used to bolster police claims, to hide what police are doing, and engage in what we call the double murder of our people. They kill the body and use the footage to increase accusations around the character of the person they just killed.” In her view, police use video as a weapon: a black man shown in a liquor store in a rough neighborhood becomes a suspect in the public mind. Video generated by civilians, on the other hand, she sees as a potential check on abuses. She stops to record with her cell phone almost every time she witnesses a law-enforcement interaction with a civilian.

Bringing in talented engineers is crucial to Smith’s vision. The public-safety nervous system that he is building runs on artificial intelligence, software that can process and analyze an ever-expanding trove of video evidence. The L.A.P.D. alone has already made some five million videos, and adds more than eleven thousand every day. At the moment, A.I. is used for redaction, and Axon technicians at a special facility in Scottsdale are using data from police departments to train the software to detect and blur license plates and faces.

Facial recognition, which techno-pessimists see as the advent of the Orwellian state, is not far behind. Recently, Smith assembled an A.I. Ethics Board, to help steer Axon’s decisions. (His lead A.I. researcher, recruited from Uber, told him that he wouldn’t be able to hire the best engineers without an ethics board.) Smith told me, “I don’t want to wake up like the guy Nobel, who spent his life making things that kill people, and then, at the end of his life, it’s, like, ‘O.K., I have to buy my way out of this.’ ”

#Taser #Intelligence_artificielle #Caméras #Police #Stockage_données

Par voie judiciaire et syndicale, un front mondial se lève contre Uber - Equal Times
►https://www.equaltimes.org/par-voie-judiciaire-et-syndicale

De San Francisco à Tokyo, de Rio de Janeiro à Paris, de Santiago du Chili à Hong Kong, partout où Uber a s’est implanté, les taxis ont répondu par des protestations, voire des actions en justice. C’est que l’application mobile qui met en relation des clients avec des chauffeurs particuliers, parfois totalement amateurs, fait directement concurrence aux taxis professionnels. Les services Uber contournent toutes les règles, de salariat, de cotisations sociales, de sécurité, de formation, qui s’imposent aux taxis.

Dans plusieurs villes et pays, la justice ou les autorités politiques ont décidé d’interdire tout ou partie des services d’Uber

Fin 2016, la métropole brésilienne de Rio de Janeiro a ainsi adopté une loi de prohibition de toutes les plateformes de transports de ce type. À Bruxelles, la capitale belge, c’est la justice qui a interdit Uberpop, l’application de mise en relation de chauffeurs particuliers et de personnes à transporter. En France, le cas Uberpop est allé jusqu’au conseil constitutionnel, qui a confirmé en septembre 2015 l’interdiction du service introduit dans le pays un an plus tôt. En Italie, Uberpop a été interdit en 2015. Tous les autres services de chauffeurs de la firme se sont aussi vu prohibés par la justice italienne en avril 2017, suite à une plainte des taxis italiens.

« Mais Uber a fait appel de la décision. Celle-ci ne peut donc pas encore être mise en œuvre. C’est en suspens », regrette Mac Utara, secrétaire du transport interne à la Fédération internationale des travailleurs des transports (International Transports Workers’ Federation).

« Dans de nombreux pays, il y a une opposition des gouvernements, des chauffeurs de taxi et des compagnies de taxi contre Uber. Souvent, Uber perd en justice. Et parfois, la mise en œuvre des décisions de justice est stricte », explique Mac Utara. « C’est bien. Mais c’est encore mieux quand de véritables lois sont adoptées pour contrer Uber. »

C’est ce qui s’est passé au Danemark et en Bulgarie. Le Danemark a adopté une nouvelle loi sur les taxis en mars 2017, qui oblige notamment tous les véhicules à avoir des caméras de vidéosurveillance et des taximètres à bord pour avoir le droit de proposer un service de transport. « Ce qui exclut de fait les chauffeurs Uber qui roulent avec leurs véhicules personnels », souligne Mac Utara.

Suite à l’adoption de cette nouvelle réglementation, Uber a annoncé fermer ses services au Danemark. La Bulgarie a elle aussi adopté une loi spéciale en octobre 2015, qui a eu pour conséquences de chasser Uber du pays. Selon le texte, seules des sociétés enregistrées qui respectent les réglementations afférentes aux taxis peuvent opérer dans le pays.

En Allemagne, un groupement de sociétés de taxis a attaqué Uber en justice dès son implantation dans le pays en 2014. Il a ensuite fallu deux ans pour que, en juin 2016, la justice allemande interdise, en deuxième instance, l’usage de l’application par des particuliers. Depuis, seuls les taxis, les vrais, peuvent se servir d’Uberpop pour entrer en contact avec leurs clients.

« En plus de cette procédure judiciaire, des villes allemandes ont décidé d’elles-mêmes d’interdire Uber parce que ses services ne respectent pas les règles qui s’imposent aux entreprises de transport. Uber ne s’est pas opposé à ces interdictions », ajoute Mira Ball, responsable à la section des transports de la fédération syndicale allemande des services Verdi (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft).

« Mais il faut bien faire la différence entre Uberpop et les autres services d’Uber », tient à préciser Herwig Kollar, l’avocat qui défend les taxis allemands dans cette bataille judiciaire. « Les services UberBlack et UberX existent toujours en Allemagne, à Berlin et Munich. »

UberBlack est un service de location de voiture de luxe avec chauffeur, UberX un service de chauffeurs. « Et le conflit juridique avec Uber est encore en cours. L’entreprise a contesté le jugement d’interdiction rendu en deuxième instance. La procédure va donc aller jusqu’à la cour fédérale allemande. Celle-ci attend cependant une décision de la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne pour se prononcer. »

Le 11 mai, l’avocat général de la Cour a publié ses recommandations sur l’affaire. Celles-ci sont claires : Uber doit être considéré comme un service de transport. Et en tant que tel, l’entreprise peut être contrainte à respecter les obligations de licences et d’autorisations qui s’imposent aux entreprises de transports dans les différents pays européens.

« Dans 80 % des cas, la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne suit les recommandations de l’avocat général » se réjouit Mac Utara.

Les chauffeurs Uber s’organisent
Au-delà des batailles juridiques menées par les taxis et les autorités, il existe un autre front des travailleurs du transport face à Uber : celui des chauffeurs Uber eux-mêmes, qui commencent à s’organiser pour de meilleurs conditions de travail et de rémunération.

« Depuis qu’Uber a baissé les tarifs des courses, nous n’arrivons pas à joindre les deux bouts, même en travaillant 12 ou 14 heures par jour », rapporte Félix, chauffeur Uber à Paris depuis deux ans et membre de l’association française de chauffeurs de VTC (véhicules de transports avec chauffeurs) ‘Actif-VTC’. « Après l’interdiction d’Uberpop en France, Uber a revu les tarifs à la baisse avec l’argument que cela leur avait fait perdre de la clientèle et qu’il fallait des tarifs plus bas pour l’attirer à nouveau. Les autres plateformes de VTC ont suivi. Uber a aussi augmenté ses commissions. Le travail était déjà dur il y a deux ans. Aujourd’hui, c’est catastrophique. »

En janvier dernier, les différentes organisations représentatives des chauffeurs Uber en France ont entamé des négociations avec l’entreprise. Sans succès. « Uber n’a pas bougé d’un pouce, sur aucune des demandes de chauffeurs, ni l’augmentation des tarifs, ni sur l’arrêt du recrutement des nouveaux chauffeurs partenaires. Car aujourd’hui, tous les jours, Uber intègre de nouveaux chauffeurs », déplore Félix.

« Malheureusement, la plateforme Uber considère aujourd’hui les séances de négociations comme de simples consultations de façade, montrant son incapacité (volontaire ou non) à accepter un véritable échange sur la question prioritaire des tarifs », regrette aussi la fédération de transports du syndicat CFDT (Confédération française démocratique du travail), qui a participé aux discussions. Face à ce blocage, l’intersyndicale des chauffeurs Uber en France en a finalement appelé aux clients de la plateforme, en leur demandant de la boycotter tant que l’entreprise se refuse à négocier.

« Il y a une impuissance générale pour faire face à Uber », constate Félix. Pourtant, son organisation, qui réunit environ 200 personnes, refuse de baisser les bras. Les chauffeurs sont en train de lancer leur propre application et une coopérative indépendante pour travailler sans avoir à le faire avec Uber.

« Nous ne voulons plus de la dépendance à Uber », résume le chauffeur parisien.

–—

La fédération a recensé des actions en justice ou des interdictions prononcées contre Uber dans 49 pays de la planète, sur tous les continents. Toutes les actions ne débouchent toutefois pas forcément sur une interdiction pure et simple, et les procédures sont souvent longues.

Une association de taxis espagnols a en effet saisi la plus haute juridiction européenne pour trancher la question de savoir si l’activité d’Uber doit être classée comme un service de transports ou une simple plateforme de commerce en ligne, comme le réclame l’entreprise basée en Californie.

« Uber n’a jamais voulu négocier. À chaque fois, ils disaient qu’ils ne pouvaient pas bouger les tarifs parce que, sinon, ils ne faisaient pas d’argent. En gros, ça veut dire qu’eux ont le droit de gagner de l’argent mais pas nous. »

#Europe #Uber

La Californie tacle Uber
▻https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/travail-la-californie-tacle-uber

La commission du travail de Californie juge que les chauffeurs de la société Uber sont des salariés. Cette décision pourrait bouleverser le modèle économique du jeune trublion des transports, venu chasser sur le terrain des taxis.

Berceau d’Uber, la Californie vient de porter un coup à la société de chauffeurs privés devenue en cinq ans d’existence la bête noire des taxis du monde entier. Dans une décision prise début juin mais rendue publique après l’appel déposé par Uber le 16 juin, la commission du (...)

#Uber #travail

https://www.courrierinternational.com/sites/ci_master/files/styles/image_940/public/illustrations/thumbnails/1806-uber.jpg

De #crapaud ou de porcelaine, le livre dans tous ses états s’adjuge magnifiquement. La collection d’un bibliophile - Drouot Richelieu -
▻http://www.lecurieuxdesarts.fr/2018/02/de-crapaud-ou-de-porcelaine-le-livre-dans-tous-ses-etats-la-collect

https://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/0/85/88/28/20180209/ob_f50568_binoche-et-giquello-perre-berge-14-0.jpg

Isidore Ducasse, dit le comte de Lautréamont. Les Chants de Maldoror avec cinq lettres de l’auteur et le fac-similé de l’une d’elles. Paris, Au Sans Pareil, 1925. Reliure demi-veau vert bronze, plats de veau naturel brun avec, incrustées, les deux parties d’une peau de grenouille

https://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/0/85/88/28/20180209/ob_3049f5_binoche-et-giquello-perre-berge-14-0.jpg

https://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/0/85/88/28/20180215/ob_8d0ffa_p1320087.JPG

William Blake. Ausgewählte Dichtungen. Übertragen von Adolf Knoblauch. Berlin, Oesterheld & Co. Verlag, 1907. 2 volumes in-4.Tirage limité à 670 exemplaires numérotés. L’impression a été partagée entre Poeschel & Trepte à Leipzig, pour le premier volume, et l’officine berlinoise d’Otto von Holten, pour le second.

Encore plus étonnant, pour rester dans le domaine des amphibiens, cet « hymne à la rigueur et à la beauté » comme le qualifient les experts. Cette reliure fut conçue par la Wiener Werkstätte, en peau de crapaud teintée, doublée et signée de Josef Hoffmann, sur des plats de bois ondulés, doublures de peau de crapaud teintée de même composées de plusieurs pièces, gardes de soie taupe.

Fare Choices Survey of Ride-Hailing Passengers in Metro Boston – MAPC
►https://www.mapc.org/farechoices

http://www.mapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Figure-15-Household-Income-of-survey-respondents-without-car.png

Wie de privaten Fahrtenvermittlern dem öffentlichen Nahverkehr schaden
cf. ▻https://seenthis.net/messages/673637

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The ride-hailing industry, led by Uber and Lyft, has seen explosive growth in recent years. As more and more travelers choose these on-demand mobility services, they have the potential to transform regional travel patterns. These transformations may become even more profound if widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles makes on-demand mobility even less expensive and more efficient. Either way, it is likely that the use of ride-hailing today is but the tip of the iceberg, with an even greater expansion of these services to come.

This transformation in personal mobility is likely to bring a host of changes: some positive, others less so. For public agencies, planning for that transformation is made difficult by the paucity of information about ride-hailing trips. Conventional transportation surveys have been slow to measure the change in behavior; and transportation network companies see their data as a valuable commodity and are unwilling to provide it to transportation planners.

Public sector access to these data is essential. Only with a better understanding of this new mode of transportation can analysts develop better forecasts of travel behavior and infrastructure needs, measure the region’s progress toward a more sustainable future, and establish more efficient operations and management practices for existing roadways.

In an effort to begin filling those gaps in our understanding of the ride-hailing industry and its users, MAPC surveyed nearly 1,000 ride-hailing passengers in late 2017 and asked about their demographics, the nature of their trip, and why they chose ride-hailing over other modes of transportation.

Photo via Lyft
The results confirmed many common assumptions about ride-hailing users; they also provided striking new insight into the ways that the services are changing travel behavior and affecting our existing transportation system. Not surprisingly, the survey found that most ride-hailing users are under the age of 35, that most of them use the service on a weekly basis, and that most don’t own a car. Less predictably, we found that reported rider incomes are similar to the region overall, and a substantial number of trips are made by people from households earning less than $38,000 per year. (And no, they’re not all students; most of those lower-income riders are in the workforce.)

The survey results also provide some hard data about the types of trips made via ride-hailing. Most trips start or end at home, but nearly one-third (31%) are from one non-home location to another. Ride-hailing usage is distributed throughout the day; the evening hours from 7:00 P.M. to midnight see the greatest frequency of trips, but about 40% of weekday trips take place during the morning or afternoon commute periods. People also like to travel by themselves: only one-fifth of customers opt for a truly shared ride (e.g., UberPOOL), and the majority of travel is for a single passenger. Riders are willing to pay a substantial premium for the convenience and predictability of ride-hailing. Nearly two thirds of trips cost more than $10, and one in five costs more than $20.

While the services are justifiably popular, their growing use may result in negative outcomes for traffic congestion, transit use, and active transportation. When asked how they would have made their current trip if ride-hailing hadn’t been an option, 12% said they would have walked or biked, and over two-fifths (42%) of respondents said they would have otherwise taken transit. Some of this “transit substitution” takes place during rush hours. Indeed, we estimate that 12% of all ride-hailing trips are substituting for a transit trip during the morning or afternoon commute periods; an additional 3% of riders during these times would have otherwise walked or biked. Overall, 15% of ride-hailing trips are adding cars to the region’s roadways during the morning or afternoon rush hours.

Notably, we found that this “transit substitution” is more frequent among riders with a weekly or monthly transit pass. Those who ride transit more often are more likely to drop it for ride hailing, even while doing so at a huge cost differential, and even when they have already paid for the transit.

Riders without a transit pass opting for ride-hailing, on the other hand, means less fare revenue for the MBTA. After accounting for transit pass availability and substitution options, we estimate that the average ride-hailing trip represents 35 cents of lost fare revenue for the MBTA. This lost revenue exceeds the amount of the legislatively mandated 20 cent surcharge on each ride. That surcharge itself represents a remarkably small fraction of trip costs. When compared to reported fares, the surcharge amounts to less than 2% of the cost for most rides. Because it is a fixed fee, long and expensive rides that may have the greatest impact on traffic congestion and air quality pay 1% or less.

Photo by Anty Diluvian
These findings begin to provide a better understanding of this evolving mobility option that will undoubtedly continue to change the way people travel around the region. Our results raise concerns about how users are becoming accustomed to on-demand mobility, and what that means for the future of the region’s transportation system. Even if future ride-hailing vehicles were fully electric and autonomous, the region’s roadways could not accommodate unchecked growth in single-occupant vehicle travel. It is essential to ensure that the region has a reliable and effective transit system that—from the rider’s perspective—is competitive with and complementary to on-demand mobility services. For transit to thrive, it must change, perhaps by incorporating the types of on-demand response and real-time information that riders value.

Meanwhile, there is a great need to understand the effects of ride hailing and to ensure a balance of benefits and costs resulting from these commercial services. Ride hailing is already having substantial impacts on congestion and transit revenue, the costs of which are not recouped by the small surcharge. A higher fee would provide more resources to mitigate the negative effects of ride hailing without substantially affecting rider costs. Even more preferable would be a fee structure proportional to the impacts of each ride on the transportation system. To the extent possible, such fees should also be structured to incentivize shared trips, thereby reducing overall impacts on the transportation system while also accommodating ride-hailing preferences. Of course, effective policy requires better data about when, where, and why ride-hailing trips are taking place. Only by understanding the current adoption of ride-hailing and on-demand mobility can we plan for its successful and sustainable future.

#Uber #ÖPNV

Gros effort contre l’écriture inclusive, aujourd’hui…

– Harcèlement : les "briseurs de silence" désignés "personnalité de l’année" par "Time magazine"
▻https://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/monde/20171206.OBS8812/harcelement-les-briseurs-de-silence-designes-personnalite-de-l-

– Harcèlement : Merkel salue les "Briseurs de silence" récompensés par le magazine Time
▻http://www.bfmtv.com/international/harcelement-merkel-salue-les-briseurs-de-silence-recompenses-par-le-magazine-

– Celles qui ont « brisé le silence » désignées « personnalité de l’année » par le « Time »
▻http://www.lepoint.fr/monde/time-designe-les-briseurs-de-silence-comme-personnalite-de-l-annee-06-12-201

« Pour avoir donné une voix à des secrets de Polichinelle, pour être passés du réseau des chuchotements aux réseaux sociaux, pour nous avoir tous poussés à arrêter d’accepter l’inacceptable, les briseurs de silence sont personnalité de l’année », a-t-il ajouté, cité dans un communiqué du magazine.

– Les "briseurs de silence", "personnalité de l’année" 2017 selon "Time Magazine"
▻http://www.ozap.com/actu/les-briseurs-de-silence-personnalite-de-l-annee-2017-selon-time-magazine/544532

Et comme ça sur des dizaines de (gros) supports…

C’est d’autant plus crétin que le Time a ostensiblement rebaptisé le titre « Man of Year »/« Woman of the Year » en « Person of the Year » depuis… 1999.

Uber Knowingly Leased Unsafe Cars To Its Drivers In Singapore, Report Says : The Two-Way : NPR
▻http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/04/541692151/uber-knowingly-leased-unsafe-cars-to-its-drivers-in-singapore-report-says

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/08/04/ap_17172700590113_wide-381c53703f0b77c0db821bfb4fe20b4b7922b4b4.jpg

It was a good market to enter: In addition to all the rain you might expect in a tropical climate with two monsoon seasons, owning a car in Singapore is extremely expensive. The government requires owners to buy a certificate of entitlement, which represents “a right to vehicle ownership and use of the limited road space for 10 years.” The certificates are released through competitive bidding, and recently they’ve fetched prices from $44,000 and up.

That kind of expense made it hard for Uber to find drivers, the Journal reports, and so the company created a unit, Lion City Rentals, that would lease cars to drivers. It represented a new approach for the company, which avoids owning assets.

Instead of buying cars from authorized Honda and Toyota dealers, the company reportedly began importing hundreds of used cars a month from small dealers in the “gray market”, where safety standards are hard to enforce. At least one of those dealers didn’t get the Vezels fixed before selling them to Uber. While Uber was aware of the problem and asked the dealer to hasten its repairs, the company continued to lease the defective vehicles to drivers without warning them of the safety issue.

Even after the fire, Uber told drivers that the Vezels needed “immediate precautionary servicing” — without mentioning the risk of fire and overheating.

#Uber #disruption #Singapur

Uber avoue utiliser un logiciel secret pour éviter les forces de l’ordre
►http://www.lalibre.be/economie/libre-entreprise/uber-avoue-utiliser-un-logiciel-secret-pour-eviter-les-forces-de-l-ordre-58b

Uber, déjà montré du doigt dans plusieurs affaires ces derniers jours, a avoué vendredi l’existence d’un logiciel secret destiné notamment à éviter que ses chauffeurs ne soient contrôlés par les autorités. Uber a avoué utiliser ce logiciel surnommé « Greyball » après un article du New York Times qui en révélait l’existence. Selon un communiqué de service de réservation de voitures avec chauffeur, cet outil était utilisé dans les villes où il n’était pas interdit, et son objectif principal était de protéger les (...)

#Uber #algorithme

Uber va perdre 3 milliards de dollars cette année Le figaro - Lucie Ronfaut - 20 Décembre 2016
▻http://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/2016/12/20/32001-20161220ARTFIG00132-uber-va-perdre-3-milliards-de-dollars-cette-annee

L’entreprise spécialisée dans le transport de particuliers par VTC a perdu plus de 800 millions de dollars au troisième trimestre 2016, malgré son désengagement du marché chinois.

Uber ne roule pas sur l’or. L’entreprise américaine, spécialisée dans le transport de particuliers par VTC, est partie pour perdre autour de 3 milliards de dollars cette année, après 2 milliards de dollars de pertes en 2015, d’après les informations de BloombergBusinessweek. Au troisième trimestre 2016, elle a enregistré une perte de 800 millions de dollars. Si l’on y ajoute les six premiers mois de l’année, ses pertes s’élevaient déjà à 2,2 milliards de dollars fin septembre. Sur la même période, Uber aurait engrangé un chiffre d’affaires de 3,76 milliards de dollars, après paiement de ses chauffeurs.

Ces informations sont révélées quatre mois après l’arrêt d’Uber en Chine. Malgré le potentiel immense de ce marché, l’entreprise américaine a préféré s’en désengager, après y avoir investi beaucoup d’argent pour s’y développer. Début 2016, elle avait révélé perdre un milliard de dollars par an dans le pays. Uber a préféré céder ses activités à son rival Didi Chuxing, et a reçu en échange un milliard de dollars pour investir à l’international, ainsi que 17,5% du capital de la nouvelle entreprise issue de cette fusion.

Les informations de BloombergBusinessweek prouvent néanmoins que les autres activités d’Uber sont elles aussi très couteuses, et que le seul de rentabilité est encore loin. Les pertes du troisième trimestre ont en effet été enregistrées après la vente des actifs d’Uber en Chine à Didi Chuxing. Le chiffre d’affaires de l’entreprise a pourtant plus que triplé par rapport à la même période en 2015, atteignant 1,7 milliard de dollars.
Tensions législatives

La Chine n’est pas le seul souci d’Uber. Le géant américain du transport doit affronter la concurrence d’autres entreprises dans le monde, comme Ola (Inde), Grab (Singapour), Lyft (États-Unis) ou plus récemment Careem (Émirats Arabes Unis). Uber est aussi sous pression réglementaire dans plusieurs pays dans le monde. Son service UberPop, qui met en contact des conducteurs particuliers et des usagers, a été interdit en France, en Belgique et en Espagne. Uber est par ailleurs accusé de concurrence déloyale par les chauffeurs de taxi. En France, il fait l’objet d’une fronde de ses propres conducteurs, qui manifestent depuis la semaine dernière contre la baisse de ses tarifs.

Malgré ces difficultés, Uber prépare son avenir. La start-up a levé 8,7 milliards de dollars depuis sa création, auprès d’investisseurs convaincus que son modèle pourra être rentable un jour. Elle a beaucoup investi dans les technologies de voitures autonomes, testant même un service de taxi sans conducteur à Pittsburgh, aux États-Unis. Uber a néanmoins été interdit de mener des tests similaires à San Francisco, faute d’autorisation adéquate et face aux risques pour la sécurité des autres conducteurs et des piétons. Valorisée à plus de 68 milliards de dollars, Uber pourrait enfin s’introduire en Bourse en 2017.

#uber

Combien de temps encore Uber peut-il perdre des milliards de dollars ?
▻http://www.numerama.com/business/191612-combien-de-temps-encore-uber-peut-il-perdre-des-milliards-de-dollar

Cherchant à s’imposer au plus vite sur tous les marchés, Uber enregistre à nouveau des pertes record, qui se chiffrent en milliards de dollars. Une situation parfaitement calculée pour l’entreprise, qui dispose d’un trésor de guerre. Mais peut-elle tenir encore longtemps sans assurer sa rentabilité ? Uber peut-il finir, comme Take Eat Easy, par mettre la clé sous la porte, incapable de faire face à aux dépenses qu’il s’oblige à réaliser pour écraser la concurrence sur un marché où la « prime au plus (...)

#Uber #bénéfices

• Eerily Abandoned Checkpoints and Border Crossings of Europe
▻http://www.featureshoot.com/2016/02/eerily-abandoned-checkpoints-and-border-crossings-of-europe

In Josef Schulz’s poignant series Übergang, the Düsseldorf-based photographer documents the abandoned checkpoints across Europe.

http://www.featureshoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/unoe03-Layout.jpg http://www.featureshoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/debe01_layout.jpg http://www.featureshoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/frit08-Layout.jpg http://www.featureshoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/spfr08-layout.jpg

#frontière #photographie

Nouvel An à Cologne : 55 des 58 agresseurs n’étaient pas des réfugiés
▻http://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_nouvel-an-a-cologne-la-majorite-des-agresseurs-n-etaient-pas-des-refugie

Près d’un mois et demi après les faits, l’enquête fait la clarté sur les agresseurs de la nuit de la Saint Sylvestre à Cologne. Et manifestement, ce ne sont pas ceux à qui on a fait porter le chapeau jusqu’ici.

Sur les 58 suspects, seuls trois d’entre eux sont originaires d’un pays en guerre : deux Syriens et un Irakien. Les 55 autres sont pour la plupart Algériens et Marocains et ne seraient pas arrivés récemment en Allemagne. Trois Allemands figurent aussi parmi les personnes arrêtées. Ces chiffres ont été fournis par le procureur de Cologne dans une interview à Die Welt, l’un des plus gros quotidiens du pays.

Uber to Unveil Big E-Commerce Delivery Program With Retailers in the Fall | Re/code
▻http://recode.net/2015/09/04/uber-to-unveil-big-e-commerce-delivery-program-with-retailers-in-the-fall

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Napoleons_retreat_from_moscow.jpg

The popular ride-hailing service is planning a partnership announcement this fall with big retailers and fashion brands that could number in the dozens, as it looks to make Uber an express delivery option for shoppers on a wide range of shopping websites and apps, according to three sources. Uber could announce the partnerships as soon as late September or early October, these people said.

Two people familiar with the rollout say it will start in New York City and include among its partnerships some flashy, luxury brands whose flagship stores are usually found on or around Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Partnerships with retailers in San Francisco will be announced at the same time or soon after, another source said. It’s not clear which specific retailers and brands will be included in the initial launch.

In an effort to increase its number of partners, Uber has also been in talks with software companies like Bigcommerce and Shopify, which help small businesses set up online storefronts. Uber’s thinking, according to sources, is that by integrating with these software companies, it can make its delivery option available to a large number of small brick-and-mortar stores — potentially thousands in San Francisco and New York alone — without having to integrate with each and every one.

Zuerst drücke ich die Löhne und Preise für Beförderungen aller Art, dann baue ich ein neues Geschäftsmodell auf, dass als Ergebnis dieses Sozial- und Lohndumping möglich geworden ist. Ich suche mir Partner und Kunden, die ich auf mittlere Sicht, wenn ich mir ihre Expertise angeeignet habe, mit Gewinn fressen kann.

Klasse. So der Plan.
Ob das klappt ?

Wann kommt Uber an seine Beresina ?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/National_Museum_in_Poznan_-_Przej%C5%9Bcie_przez_Berezyn%C4%99.JPG

#disruption #buiness_development #uber

Robert Reich: In the New Economy, Workers Take on All the Risk | Alternet
▻http://www.alternet.org/economy/robert-reich-new-economy-workers-take-all-risk

http://www.alternet.org/files/story_images/robert_reich.jpg

Whether we’re software programmers, journalists, Uber drivers, stenographers, child care workers, TaskRabbits, beauticians, plumbers, Airbnb’rs, adjunct professors, or contract nurses – increasingly, we’re on our own.

And what we’re paid, here and now, depends on what we’re worth here and now – in a spot-auction market that’s rapidly substituting for the old labor market where people held jobs that paid regular salaries and wages.

Uber compte acheter 500.000 voitures Tesla, si ce dernier arrive à produire des voitures sans conducteur (RoboCar) d’ici 2020

▻http://learnbonds.com/119632/rise-of-the-robocar-uber-ceo-says-hell-take-500k-tesla-motors-self-driving-cars/119632

If Uber could get rid of the drivers that form the basis of its business, it would expand its margins, change the nature of transport forever, and make its investors very, very wealthy.

[...]

Meanwhile Uber’s own team is working on getting a Tesla Motors competitor onto the road. The self-driving Uber could kill a good chunk of the market for a Tesla Motors RoboCar.

Travis Kalanick, CEO #Uber
Elon Musk, CEO #Tesla Motors & #SpaceX
#RoboCar

Le parlement national Bundestag et la chambre des Länder Bundesrat votent une loi introduisant un système de communication officielle qui sera une proie facile pour les hackers gouvernementaux.

E-Government : « Unsicherheit per Gesetz » | heise online
▻http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/E-Government-Unsicherheit-per-Gesetz-1845320.html

http://www.allspammedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/de-mail.jpg

Die Forderung von Datenschützern und Sicherheitsexperten, eine Ende-zu-Ende-Verschlüsselung bei De-Mail standardmäßig vorzuschreiben, hat das Parlament nicht aufgegriffen. Dies ist der Hauptgrund dafür, dass die Opposition geschlossen gegen den Vorstoß stimmte. Die SPD-Fraktion rügte, die Koalition schaffe so „Unsicherheit per Gesetz“, zumal die Sicherheitsstandards für die Übermittlung von Sozial- und Steuerdaten gesenkt würden. Die wenigen De-Mail-Server bei Providern und Verwaltungsdienstleistern stellten hochinteressante Angriffsziele dar

Dans l’avenir je serai obligé par la loi de m’abonner à des services privés si je veux envoyer des documents officiels par internet. Ces prestataires de service offriront un service mail qui remplacera le cryptage sûr effectué par mes propres soins par un traitement sur leur serveurs qui brisera ainsi la chaîne de transmission cryptée et constituera une cible vulnérable aux attaques de qui voudras investir des sommes assez importantes pour y arriver.

J’ai l’impression que le gouvernement allemand et les partis CDU/CSU/FDP ont capitulé face aux cyber-armées étrangères et ne font pas confiance au peuple qu’ils jugent trop bête pour apprendre à se servir des outil de cryptage connus. Je partage cette interprétation de l’argument de facilité avancé par le gouvernement Merkel avec la plupart des commentataires des médias spécialisés. Seulement Computer-Bild y fait exception. On se demande pourquoi.

▻http://www.computerbild.de/artikel/cb-News-Internet-De-Mail-startet-Telekom-GMX-Web-de-6162507.html

De-Mail: Rechtssicherer Mail-Verkehr startet in Kürze
Von Dany Dewitz
Die lange Zeit des Wartens hat ein Ende: De-Mail, der rechtssichere E-Mail-Versand, steht vermutlich schon bald zur Verfügung. Welche Provider den Dienst anbieten und was die E-Mails kosten, erfahren Sie hier.

Pour Computer Bild DE-Mail est « rechtssicher ». La revue cache le fait que le faible niveau de sécurité fait courir le risque de messages manipulés aux utilisateurs de DE-Mail. Dans ce contexte le terme « rechtssicher » signifie que des messages potentiellement manipulés auront la qualité officielle d’une lettre remise personnellement par un huissier.

P.S. Les articles cités datent du mois d’avril 2013 du mois d’août 2012. Depuis les révélations sur l’intensité de l’intrusion des services américains dans notre communication n’ont pas fait changer l’attitude des partis au pouvoir. J’ai l’impression qu’ils sont simplement d’accord avec tout ce qu’entreprennent nos meilleurs amis. L’Allemagne est un des pays qui a acheté #prism, nous figurons parmi les pays les plus surveillés par les services américains et nos services ont accès à une grande partie des données collectées par leur collègues américains. Avec tout çà on reste bouche bée quand la chancelière décrit l’internet avec le terme _#Neuland_ (terre nouvelle) feignant une confiance naïve dans le grand frère et ses trucs d’avant-garde modernes.