Mechanical Turk and the Danger of Digital Sweatshops - Jonathan Zittrain

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/11/19/Minds_For_Sale_The_Future_of_the_Internet

Professor Jonathan Zittrain offers some background on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, an online crowdsourcing marketplace that pays small amounts of money for "human intelligence tasks." He analyzes the social implications of paying workers as little as a penny per task.

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Imagine a future in which passengers on a subway stare into screens for a few minutes - and earn as much money in that time as their respective skills and stations allow.

New projects like Amazon's Mechanical Turk and LiveOps are making the application of human brainpower as purchasable and fungible as additional server rackspace. Zittrain discusses a future in which human computing is ubiquitous and nearly any mental act can be bought and sold. - The Commonwealth Club of California

Jonathan L. Zittrain is an American professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and a faculty co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Previously, Zittrain was Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford and visiting professor at the New York University School of Law and Stanford Law School. He is the author, most recently, of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It; and co-editor of the book Access Denied.

Amanda Congdon was the co-producer and host of a weekly vidcast for ABC. She has an independent videoblog, Starring Amanda Congdon. However, she is probably best known for hosting the daily news show Rocketboom, which she hosted and produced until 23 June 2006.

Category:

Science & Technology

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[pastelparas0l]

I use MTurk frequently to help pay for my college tuition and:

1) I feel offended being compared to a rat

2) I do receive positive feedback in my life, which motivates me to use MTurk so I can continue to be active in my life

3) Only people in the US can request a HIT

4) Not everyone can earn a living giving speeches that condescend others. It may just be a penny here or there, but it can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars

[yoran35]

What a condescending douche.

[Zelticon]

Clearly he hasn't seen how hard it is in the American market to get a job period. I'll take my penny all the way to the bank.

[freshnyc]

What a silly little ass-monkey...a grumpy pound cake stuffed muppet.

[Yeslek276]

I am sure this man has his mansion already. They want to keep the poor, poor so they would have someone desperate enough to do their dirty work. Which is better? Doin the work on the Turk or running around robbing people?

[xxdiogenescynicxx]

@pastelparas0l Exactly I am so sick of these socialist elite douche bags trying to tell us how we should make our money.

[hellsmachine]

I spy a virgin

[kristell9]

The only thing more depressing than the prospect of being homeless is trying to make money on Mechanical Turk.

[Freakawn]

I don't think this guy understands the basics of what people do on the Internet.

"Play spot the difference game!"

You kidding me?

[aaronelharar]

@tam10thegame that's not racist? I'm jewish and I'd love to know how that's not racist. (FYI I completely disagree with him and think he's a total douche-monger with the point he's making).

[aaronelharar]

@thc024 please explain why he makes sense

[tehpewpew420]

What a fucking total douche tool.