NYTimes: Raped, Literally, By the "Sharing Economy"

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/16/1412451/-From-The-NYTimes-Raped-Literally-By-the-Sharing-Economy

This story is so terrible and infuriating it deserves the admittedly click-baitish headline. And it speaks to something broader, the continuing trend of corporations, particularly corporations who make up the so-called "sharing economy," of absolving themselves through their business models of any responsibility or liability for their actions, while they continue to generate staggering profits for themselves.

Early in the evening of July 4, Micaela Giles’s mobile phone started sounding alerts, and a series of messages straight out of a horror movie began scrolling down her screen.

Her 19-year-old son told her that his Airbnb host in Madrid had locked him in the fourth-floor apartment where he was supposed to be staying and removed the key. The host was still there, he said, rattling knives around in the kitchen drawer and pressing him to submit to a sexual act. He begged his mother for help.

When she called Airbnb, its employees would not give her the address and would not call the police.

Rather than contact the police themselves, Airbnb told the mother to contact the police, giving her a number that was useless and led to a recorded message. When she tried to call Airbnb back she got sent into voicemail. Meanwhile her son was sexually assaulted. After the assault he managed to escape, barely, and he is now still in therapy, having returned to Massachusetts.

[OneGrassRoot]

1. This is going to piss people off...

but as an advocate for worker-owned co-operatives and other aspects of what is now often referred to as the sharing/gift/collaborative/etc economies, here is what I observe about the "sharing" economy.

I've researched the biggest websites -- not only sharing economy sites and apps -- and by far they were developed by white, young males with libertarian leanings. This modern libertarianism is imbued in the very foundation of the majority of these "sharing economy" ventures.

There is most definitely a bootstrap mentality imbued in the culture, and a fairly typical profit motive overshadowing the sharing and cooperative aspects.

I still have faith that the core idea of sharing and collaborating has great value, but they've been co-opted by traditional capitalistic values (including racism and sexism, btw). It's as though those building it don't even realize that while they are protesting the evils of Wall Street, they've already been co-opted by that culture.

[NJCher]

2. that would make an essay of great interest

for some place like Salon, and there are numerous others but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

I urge you to write up your findings.


Cher

[OneGrassRoot]

3. You know...

I have been meaning to do that for months, and life keeps getting in the way.

Thanks for the encouragement to do so.

[Starry Messenger]

4. I've seen the same thing.

You might enjoy this, if you haven't seen it already OGR: https://thenib.com/the-case-against-sharing-9ea5ba3d216d

[Cal Carpenter]

5. "That's not sharing, that's SELLING".

Ding ding ding, we have a winner.

(Now I'll read the actual article rather than just the cartoon on top Thanks for the link)

[Starry Messenger]

7. You're welcome!

Susie Cagle is great. I love her art and her writing. You can follow her on FB or Twitter too. https://www.facebook.com/secagle https://twitter.com/susie_c

Her most recent pictorial essay is on this too: http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/your-gig-economy-is-some-kind-of-marketing-wizardry

Technology has had a hand in widening the wealth gap and eliminating much of the middle-class since this industry shift began decades ago. But with the other hand, tech scoops up and delivers old promises of middle-class life and delivers them to the new poor. It’s cheaper to eat out, to shop, to entertain yourself, and to obtain consumer technology that makes all those things even more convenient, even on just $21,000 a year. A knowledge economy is sometimes referred to as “an economics of abundance, not scarcity.” It’s really an economics of scarcity with the appearance of abundance.

[OneGrassRoot]

10. That was fantastic! (warning: rambling commentary ahead)

Apologies in advance...I've been rather consumed by this entire subject for the last couple of years, so I ramble quite a bit below...lol


I've seen quite a few articles about this topic, but the format used at the link is really brilliant. Wish I had the artistic/graphic skills to be able to create posts/articles like that!

Not only the format, but it delves more deeply into the trust, privilege and racial aspects.

As I mentioned above, I've been an advocate for cooperatives my whole life, and it has been a real uphill battle -- still is -- here in the US. You may recall that I still want to structure Wishadoo (if you remember me and Wishadoo, that is...lol) as a member- and worker-owned cooperative.

But over the last couple of years as I've continued to gather information about existing co-ops and sharing/gift economy efforts in my quest to organize information and resources, the lack of diversity was undeniable. I created quite a bit of disruption pointing this out in the various "new economy" discussion venues. Most of the people did NOT want to hear about it, not wanting to face the truth of it let alone deal with it.

Interestingly, it's the same argument we've seen play out here on DU re: the trickle-down justice theory of those who feel economic justice will result in racial and other types of social justice.

I also did a lot of research about the history of co-ops here in the US, and co-ops and mutual aid societies were created by the AA community not long after the Civil War, for obvious reasons. Then white people co-opted it as something "new" in the 60s and it's been whitewashed ever since then.

The shitstorm that has erupted over the last two weeks has left me wondering if I'm alone. I feel like Kevin Costner (If you build it, they will come), but I sincerely fear that I may be left standing in the field, all by myself. I've intended to start gathering and inviting those supportive of and/or engaged in issues of racial, social and economic justice (supportive of all three!!!); those who long for civil, respectful dialogue to counteract the negative (to say the least) general online culture; and those who long to employ compassion and empathy as we collaborate in a variety of ways to reduce suffering and increase joy.

“The internet is light at the end of the tunnel…it is creating a global society…there are others like you…find the others” - Terrence McKenna

I want to find the others but I'm afraid I'll discover they aren't there.


Below is an excerpt from a mini-bio of sorts that I wrote last year which is pertinent to this discussion:

All along I've been working to model a more Caring Society in different ways, especially when I began the journey of a social entrepreneur decades ago: advocating for more compassionate, collaborative, egalitarian systems, including worker cooperatives, time banking, sharing and gift economies, and other aspects of what is now referred to as the "new economy." Engaging in activism around social justice, environmental issues, and animal rights has been part of my visions of a more Caring Society as well.

Seeing the types of initiatives I have dreamed of and worked toward for decades finally visibly manifesting in the last few years (since I know where to look and actively seek it out), largely under the "new economy" umbrella term, has been exciting and encouraging.

Over the last year as I have curated articles and stories about these initiatives for inclusion in the Community Good magazine, I noticed something very disturbing, an observation which cut me to the quick: As a whole, there is a glaring lack of diversity within the individual projects.

To a noticeable, significant degree, this new economy movement (at least in the United States) is segregated by race and socioeconomics. Having been engaged in social justice and race relations most of my adult life, this was a huge red flag.

This is a problem, a gargantuan problem. How are we going to create new, lasting ways of being and doing when there is this much separation and division within communities?

After exploring the reasons for this disparity, it comes down to this simple truth: People don't trust one another.

TRUST. Quite simply, it comes down to a lack of trust.

http://dena-patrick.blogspot.com/p/caregiverism.html

I'm going back to the article you shared to read it again.

[Starry Messenger]

15. Great post. Thanks OGR.

And yeah cosign here:

"Interestingly, it's the same argument we've seen play out here on DU re: the trickle-down justice theory of those who feel economic justice will result in racial and other types of social justice.

I also did a lot of research about the history of co-ops here in the US, and co-ops and mutual aid societies were created by the AA community not long after the Civil War, for obvious reasons. Then white people co-opted it as something "new" in the 60s and it's been whitewashed ever since then.

The shitstorm that has erupted over the last two weeks has left me wondering if I'm alone."

I haven't done the research that you have, but coming out of art school in the Bay Area, I saw the genesis of mostly white creative people using co-ops and mutual aid societies in the DIY movement, as it was called then. 20 years later, I've seen the results, and it led to a kind of "hipster capitalism" that has been gentrifying Oakland, instead of the renaissance that was supposed to supplant monopoly capitalism and its monoculture and exploitation.

Coupled with the tech industry basically tapping into this cultural "gig" "DIY" strain, the original Black and brown people who have been Doing It Yourself for hundreds of years have been shoved to the margins.

I don't know what the short-term answer to this is, but it is good that we're talking about it, because this shit-storm erupts over and over in different spaces all over the US. If we don't honor who was already here, doing the work, and end up erasing their contributions, how is that different than the economic system that we are trying to replace?

[OneGrassRoot]

16. Amen to infinity

Everything you just said.

[closeupready]

6. They are ALL in it for the money, Wall Street being source #1.

That is the ENTIRE point.

I, too, would be interested in reading about your findings in more detail. Thanks.

[OneGrassRoot]

11. word...

There's a whole lotta co-opting going on all over the place.

[closeupready]

17. Look at Steve Jobs - like many, I followed his career almost

from its inception. He was, at FIRST, about Haight-Ashbury, counter-culture, being a weirdo and computer geek. A stereotypical American 'liberal'.

THEN, after he'd amassed a VAST fortune of establishment currency, jealously hoarded his stash to the point that he had to be ordered by a court to financially support his daughter.

I mean, somebody better call Guinness, because that has GOT to be fastest 'messiah to miser' transformation ever.

[OneGrassRoot]

18. ...

somebody better call Guinness, because that has GOT to be fastest 'messiah to miser' transformation ever.



I really don't know much about him, to be honest. Thanks for that tidbit. A cautionary tale for certain.

[NightWatcher]

8. People need to stop blindly following their smartphones and apps into danger.

Is Airbnb regulated by any government office?

Would this have happened had he gone to a legitimate hotel, bed and breakfast, or other establishment that was licensed?

I wouldn't use Uber (I know they claim to check people out) for this same reason. Licenses, regulations, and insurance are not just there for window dressing.

Would you stay in a room in a stranger's house just because it popped up on a website or phone app?

[nichomachus]

9. This is actually not a new business model

It's been around for quite a while. It's the apps that are making it more prevalent.

For example, when you move long distance, the person who takes your stuff does not work for the company you contract with. So, the truck that shows up with "Allied Van Lines" on the side isn't owned by Allied Van Lines, and the driver is not employed by them. The company is just a low-tech version of Airbnb or Uber. If the driver gets drunk and crashes the van with your stuff inside, you have to sue him, not Allied Van Lines.

There are many other companies, where what you think are "employees" are actually "independent contractors," and the company takes no legal responsibility for their actions.

Hell, even in the hospital, the ER doc is not an employee of the hospital. If he or she screws up, your beef is with him or her and not the hospital.

[KittyWampus]

12. My family owns a place that rents rooms. We have to continually pass fire AND health inspections,

Last edited Wed Aug 19, 2015, 02:14 PM - Edit history (1)

report income and pay taxes, pay our employees a fair wage and have to pay into their taxes.

This is also contributing to extreme overcrowding in this area.

There are so many expletives I'd like to spill out about these websites.

Edit- I also forgot to mention higher insurance rates.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. I can only imagine...

feel free to let loose with the expletives!

[OneGrassRoot]

13. About trust and the new economy as it concerns Millennials...

I read a good article recently (if I can find it again, I'll edit to include link) which spoke to the generational aspects to this movement.

In general, the younger generation doesn't trust companies or brands (they're not alone, of course). When it comes to things like Airbnb and Uber and such, they may not trust the individual providing the service (because they simply don't know them), but they DO trust the crowdsourced reviews -- even though the reviews are done by strangers, too.

I find this fascinating. I mean, I know it's kind of a "duh" thing, but there's another level to it that warrants exploration, imho. Again, I find this fascinating because I'm also focused on trust, rather the lack thereof, in our society.