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There aren't much details available, but it seems that the driver appeared to be a pretty "normal" family man. If the criminal background/etc didn't turn anything up, then why would there be a significantly higher bar for Uber compared to a typical cab company.

I'm no über fanboy, but this certainly looks like a piece trying to stick it to Uber and generating negative PR which could scare future users from using uber. Bring out the pitchforks!

I don't disagree with anything you said, but I think it is more reasonable to ask questions of Uber than the craigslist scenario that was provided.

Are you saying that the employers of all murderers, rapists, etc are responsible for looking into the future and determining whether or not an employee will do something illegal?

not in the least, but providing a service that allows people to connect but provides no promise of a backgroudn check and simply facilitates offline contact (i.e., craigslist) seems notably different from Uber's directly connecting of customer and driver, facilitation of interaction, promise of background checks, and charging of a customer safety fee.

Presumably, this guy passed the same cookie cutter background check that any employer, including a traditional taxi company, would have used.