I think what happens in the media is small outfit bias.<p>Über is big, so what they do must be judged in that light, yellow cab is small, so they get a pass even though they engage in similar practices.<p>I listen to NPR and they had a bit about über and them being &quot;unfair&quot; to drivers, but never was that compared to how drivers are treated at yellow cab for example.  So, because they are big they are looked at more suspiciously, plus they are &quot;tech&quot; so there must be a bad angle there somewhere.  People have a thing for underdogs, I do too, but not so much in this case because cabs can often be worse for the drivers, at this time.  No telling in the future when automation takes over.  The point will be irrelevant then.