Airbnb’s business in New York City
Airbnb “releases” new numbers and claims they prove the critics wrong. They don’t. Continue reading
Lake Wobegon and the Panopticon: a simulation of real-world reputation systems
Current reputation systems show to contradictory effects: everybody is above average (Lake Wobegon effect) and yet service providers live in fear bad of ratings (Panopticon effect). I present a model that explains this, and which argues that reputation systems are to be avoided. Continue reading
Uber: (Getting Over)^3
Cross-posted from Medium: a response to Tim O’Reilly’s response to Susan Crawford’s “Getting Over Uber” Continue reading
Volkswagen, IoT, the NSA and open source software: a quick note
Some argue that open source software makes it more difficult for developers to hand your personal info to the NSA, but the NSA happily makes its data collection tools open source. Continue reading
Something I didn’t know: Bronte edition
Creation and tragedy for the Brontes, all in a turbulent two years. Continue reading
More employee/contractor cases
A new round of cases is challenging the “independent contractor” status of Sharing Economy service providers. Continue reading
Sharing Economy: Three Critical Pieces
Nick Carr on power drills; Jathan Sadowski and Karen Gregory on Uber’s ambitions, and Michelle Chen on worker rights in the gig economy. Continue reading
