Virtual sweatshops

Virtual sweatshops are a form of crowdsourcing in which companies break large tasks down into smaller tasks that can then be outsourced online to independent contractors. These smaller tasks require human intelligence that computers, algorithms, and artificial intelligence are unable to solve. The first company to use virtual sweatshops cannot be traced, however, the trend began in the early 2000s. Most companies that use virtual sweatshops are not transparent about the process, but the phenomenon gained media attention in December of 2014 when the workers at Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a form of a virtual sweatshop, protested against the company’s owner. Virtual sweatshops have come under scrutiny in the later half of the 2010s, as ethical concerns regarding working conditions, policy gaps, and transparency have arisen.

Overview

Background

The name “virtual sweatshop” derived from the term “sweatshop”, coined in 1884, which signifies a shop or factory that works employees for long hours and at low wages. Virtual sweatshops are often likened to sweatshops in the Industrial Revolution, except they are now accessible online and can hire on a global scale. Defining attributes of virtual sweatshops include: employees work on tasks outsourced by a company, employees receive low compensation for completed tasks (in US currency, wages can start as low as 1 penny), and all work is completed online.

Ethical Concerns

Job Exploitation

By Ashley Carroll