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Comment by putlake | Hacker News Reader

Being an ex-con should not disqualify you from driving a cab. Especially in a country like the US that has obscene incarceration rates, and where who ends up in prison is a factor of race and wealth more than the seriousness of the crime.

An ex-con has paid his or her "debt to society" by being in prison. If we don't let them get a job and earn a living, how will they get rehabilitated in society?

Edit: typo/car/cab.

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Oh, I don't mind, personally, and I agree with you. I also think security on these apps is done by the dissuasive power of knowing that you are live-tracked and almost certain to be caught, rather than any pre filtering (which is the taxi industry's MO); this is a feature.

This is what Uber checks for in California: https://newsroom.uber.com/details-on-safety/

Basically any lifetime sex offense, or terrorist register; and anything violent, or DUIs in the last 7 years.

Both of my drivers would not have passed the last 7 years bit (from what I deduced from our conversation) so the standards are clearly different abroad.

I agree if they fiddle with some numbers on a spreadsheet and payed less in taxes or smuggled drugs or something. If they beat somebody up or raped somebody I don't ever want to be near them, much less trust my life to them. I don't give a hoot if they can't get a job or be integrated in society. As far as I am concerned they are permanently broken people - probably like their victims.

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