Google "Craigslist killer." Autocomplete will give you "craigslist killer movie" "craigslist killer TV" "craigslist killer Seattle..."

We have a titillation and fear whenever we are asked to trust someone outside of our typical trust structures. With a classified ad it's assumed that "the police" have some sort of Columbo-like relationship with the newspaper and any nefarious deeds will be traced back to whoever posted that classified ad post-haste. With Craigslist HOLY SHIT THERE'S NOBODY IN THE MIDDLE YOU COULD BE BUYING A COUCH FROM A SERIAL KILLER!

Likewise, Uber. With Taxis there's medallions and livery licenses and dispatch and all that shit. But with Uber there's an app run by some of the most flamboyantly shady dotcom assholes in the Valley and we're all eager to make the leap to the worst-case scenario provided by the near-total lack of our (mostly apocryphal) safety net.

The outsided attention, in short, comes from the fact that "nurses/cab drivers/personal care givers/doctors/lawyers etc." have some sort of professional organization, some sort of licensing structure that permits them to reside within our "professional" sphere while Uber is anybody with a car and a smart phone... yet we allow them into our "professional" microcosm. There's something unsettling about that and stories such as this play directly into the place of that unsettlement.

Not saying it's sensible, not saying it's logical, not saying it's rational, just pointing out where the titillation and sensationalism comes from.