For a Few Dollars More: Class Action against Crowdsourcing

Abstract

This paper will give an introduction into the rise of crowdsourcing, its methods and the controversies surrounding it. To some, crowdsourcing is a neutral umbrella term that describes new processes of distributing labour; to others it is the exploitation of cheap or free labour with detrimental effects for workers and professions. The questions are: Is crowdsourcing exploitative even when all participants are volunteers and know the conditions? Is it labour when people do the work as a hobby? Is crowdsourcing inherently unethical or is it just a question of how the parameters are configured? And how can national labour laws tackle a global phenomenon? It is not easy to evaluate crowdsourcing because of its varying definitions and methods. The deal between those who do the work and thosewho profit from it varies from platform to platform. The different approaches in crowdsourcing are scattered across a spectrum that reaches from productive leisure and play over altruistic volunteering to precarious labour.