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A few defenders of Ottawa’s conventional taxi industry have gone online to pursue businesses and individuals who’ve spoken up in favour of car-hiring service Uber.

They’ve promised to send customers away from restaurants, dug up details about people’s personal lives and told bosses their workers support lawbreaking.

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There are about three of them — every now and then another joins in, occasionally from another city. They use Twitter aliases like @TheChamp1978, @navintaxi and @J_francis613, often responding to one another in ever-widening circles that rope others in along the way. “Joe Francis,” at least, has identified himself as a taxi driver and a member of the city’s taxi union.

They’ve boasted about driving some Uber supporters off Twitter entirely.

Uber is the U.S.-based service that lets users summon freelance drivers via a smartphone app. It doesn’t obey the same rules that govern the conventional taxi industry, including using drivers who have regular drivers’ licences but not taxi licences. Uber says it’s just a technology company so the taxi rules don’t apply, but neither the industry nor regulators agree.