Although I largely agree with the premise, the author assumes that the only way to solve this problem is with government regulation. I think a better way to solve this problem is with decentralization. The problem Uber solves is one of coordination. This does not require a central intermediary like Uber. It could be solved in a decentralized manner with p2p networks. With a decentralized Uber, only you and the driver would know where you started from and where you went. Privacy would be improved.