[floody-berry]

Companies like Uber are much worse than that. They're a glorified web app profiting off of hundreds of thousands of people who do all the work and bear all the risk while the only people getting rich are the scum at the top and their reprehensible backers.

Uber, Airbnb, etc. should make their slogan "Loopholes 101: Exploitation on a global scale. You do the work, we make the money. Fuck you, we don't care!"

[ahallock]

Your comment is filled with vitriol -- did you something happen to you? Why would Uber drivers be getting "rich" anyway? A decent living might be possible, but I don't think driving cars is valued as much in the economy as those creating jobs, nor should it be. And to say Uber bears no risk is completely false--people invested money into Uber without any guarantees. And I'm not saying that these companies are without criticism or that they don't exploit workers. I'm just more baffled that alternatives haven't come along to disrupt them -- say a completely open, peer to peer network of drivers using open source applications that get paid through Square, Stripe, etc.

[floody-berry]

Why would something need to happen to me to point out exploitation? Uber and Airbnb make money off people breaking the law. They exploit hundreds of thousands of people wanting to make a little extra money so that they can make a lot. They and their investors deserve to be singled out and condemned. That this _doesn't_ happen regularly should be more shocking than pointing it out in less than diplomatic terms.

[ahallock]

> They exploit hundreds of thousands of people wanting to make a little extra money so that they can make a lot.

Turning a profit does not automatically equal exploitation. How do you think companies create new jobs or make capital investments? You must think that profits are direct-deposited into the CEO's bank account, and never re-invested into technology, new jobs, or into open source software that benefits the community.

And I don't think you should be using the word "exploit" so freely. Look at the sweat shops making designer clothes--that's exploitation. Taking a transactional fee off a house rented on Airbnb?--I don't think so. What was that house doing before Airbnb? It wasn't generating any revenue. Renters were not depending on that as a primary source of income. Save your outrage for real exploitation.

[herval]

While I tend to agree with you on Über (as well as those food delivery services with "personal shoppers" which are "independent, but must work for us 8h/day"), why do you think Airbnb also qualifies as such?