What if Gig Workers Banded Together to Resist Algorithms? (technologyreview.com) 68
"As more and more workers have fallen under the gaze of algorithms, a growing chorus of experts have noted how platform companies have paralleled the practices of colonial empires," writes MIT Technology review, "in using management tools to surveil and exploit a broad base of cheap labor." But resistance rose in Jakarta from an informal "base camp" for gig-worker drivers with Indonesia's largest ride-hailing company Gojek. And their experience "could reveal a new playbook for resistance: a way for workers to build collective power, achieve a measure of security, and take care of one another when seemingly no one else will."
"If one person shares a tip or a concern, it quickly travels through a loose network of WhatsApp and Telegram groups and across social media," the article points out — also noting that drivers eventually learned that by repeatedly rejecting certain gigs, they can train the app's algorithm to offer them different kinds of work. But that's just the beginning... Other drivers who are skilled in deciphering the mysteries of the algorithm offer paid "therapy services" to those who are struggling. A therapist will take over a client's phone for a week and slowly coax the account back to health before returning it to its owner.
Then there are more sophisticated hacks. The more tech-savvy in the driver communities have developed an entire ecosystem of unauthorized apps that help drivers tweak and tune their accounts, Qadri says. Some are relatively trivial, built simply to eliminate a reliance on Gojek's engineering team: they enlarge the text on the app's user interface to improve its readability, or help drivers accept jobs automatically, a feature Gojek has by now incorporated. But the most popular, with more than half a million downloads, spoof a phone's GPS. They can give the illusion that a driver who is resting is still working. This can avoid penalties for sick time or help quickly graduate an account to higher levels with more earning potential. Such apps can also give drivers access to places with high customer demand without requiring them to muscle into crowded spaces....
As driver networks have grown and accumulated political capital, they've also sought to agitate for broader reforms. They use social media to protest undesirable app updates or push for feature requests. Gojek now sends representatives to base camps to seek feedback and buy-in from drivers about forthcoming changes.
"This sense of community is now at the heart of what distinguishes Jakarta's drivers from other gig workers around the world," the article argues. "While such workers everywhere have felt increasingly squeezed and exploited by unforgiving algorithms, most have struggled to organize and effect concrete changes in the platforms that control their work or the government policies that enable their mistreatment."
Or, as one California law professor tells the site, "You don't get the kind of regulations you want without worker power, and you don't have worker power without worker community."
"This story is part three of MIT Technology Review's series on AI colonialism, the idea that artificial intelligence is creating a new colonial world order. It was supported by the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program and the Pulitzer Center. Read the full series here."
"If one person shares a tip or a concern, it quickly travels through a loose network of WhatsApp and Telegram groups and across social media," the article points out — also noting that drivers eventually learned that by repeatedly rejecting certain gigs, they can train the app's algorithm to offer them different kinds of work. But that's just the beginning... Other drivers who are skilled in deciphering the mysteries of the algorithm offer paid "therapy services" to those who are struggling. A therapist will take over a client's phone for a week and slowly coax the account back to health before returning it to its owner.
Then there are more sophisticated hacks. The more tech-savvy in the driver communities have developed an entire ecosystem of unauthorized apps that help drivers tweak and tune their accounts, Qadri says. Some are relatively trivial, built simply to eliminate a reliance on Gojek's engineering team: they enlarge the text on the app's user interface to improve its readability, or help drivers accept jobs automatically, a feature Gojek has by now incorporated. But the most popular, with more than half a million downloads, spoof a phone's GPS. They can give the illusion that a driver who is resting is still working. This can avoid penalties for sick time or help quickly graduate an account to higher levels with more earning potential. Such apps can also give drivers access to places with high customer demand without requiring them to muscle into crowded spaces....
As driver networks have grown and accumulated political capital, they've also sought to agitate for broader reforms. They use social media to protest undesirable app updates or push for feature requests. Gojek now sends representatives to base camps to seek feedback and buy-in from drivers about forthcoming changes.
"This sense of community is now at the heart of what distinguishes Jakarta's drivers from other gig workers around the world," the article argues. "While such workers everywhere have felt increasingly squeezed and exploited by unforgiving algorithms, most have struggled to organize and effect concrete changes in the platforms that control their work or the government policies that enable their mistreatment."
Or, as one California law professor tells the site, "You don't get the kind of regulations you want without worker power, and you don't have worker power without worker community."
"This story is part three of MIT Technology Review's series on AI colonialism, the idea that artificial intelligence is creating a new colonial world order. It was supported by the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program and the Pulitzer Center. Read the full series here."
Why avoiding the U word? (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't this just a union? Or is that only for certain situations?
I've wondered about distributed unions, or mutual support pacts, or whatever you'd want to call an online (and sometimes in person) group of people willing to support each other (agree to similar goals, perhaps nominate a spokes person or people, etc).
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I've wondered about distributed unions, or mutual support pacts, or whatever you'd want to call an online (and sometimes in person) group of people willing to support each other (agree to similar goals, perhaps nominate a spokes person or people, etc).
Like the UN, EU, and NATO? I'd throw in the US, but we don't seem to want to support each other, agree on similar goals or even agree on the nominated (elected) spokes person. Come to think about it, those other ones have their problems too... Anyway, probably not the scale you're thinking about.
Re:Why avoiding the U word? (Score:5, Informative)
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Isn't this just a union?
It is better than a union.
No one is forced to join and there are no dues to pay.
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So you finally figured out that collective action is effective, but you still believe all the anti-union bullshit you've been fed over the last 40 years?
Well, one step at a time.
Union dues, viewed as an investment, have phenomenal [illinoisupdate.com] returns [bls.gov]. You'd have to be an idiot to turn down a union because you're worried about the cost of dues. They easily pay for themselves many times over, year over year.
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So, you're saying it's "better", because it enables freeloaders, except when the bosses just fire the ones fighting back.
Bet you cheat on your taxes, too.
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Basically, yeah, but there would have to be a bunch of freeloaders and lawyers in charge.
The much more interesting question is how an AI would deal with a union. *grabs popcorn and a beer*
I think this old song covers it (Score:2)
Everybody stand up and holler for the union
Let's give the brothers a cheer
Everybody stand up and holler for the union
I ain't hit a lick all year
Worked in the mill and I worked on the dock
I worked for the railroad line
Before I hit a lick under union scale
I'll carry this picket sign
Everybody stand up and holler for the union
Let's give the brothers a cheer
Everybody stand up and holler for the union
I ain't hit a lick all year
Money's all gone and I'll admit
Got holes in both of my shoes
But I'm still a smokin' thi
Re: (Score:3)
Everything old is new again
Hitting licks ain't what it used to mean.
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What did it used to mean, and what does it mean now? I honestly have no clue what the hell that song is saying.
It used to mean getting lucky and coming in to a bunch of money.
Today it most often means robbing people.
Union bosses (Score:2)
Bet ya' didn't think that even union bosses would be automated out of their jobs. Of course management will be too. It'll be algo vs. algo, and after 15 milliseconds of absolutely brutal contract negotiations, both sides will agree to KILL ALL HUMANS with a benefits package that includes biting my shiny metal ass. Sorry if you don't like it. This is the contract, and it was fairly negotiated.
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Re: Why the war against gig economy? (Score:1)
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The gig economy is bad for workers. Really bad. Many earn well-below minimum wage, have no affordable healthcare options, and virtually no stability.
Does no one realize that the entire music industry is a gig economy?
Everyone does. We also know how few people can "make it" in that industry. The term "starving artist" exists for a reason, you know. You might as well talk about how many uber drivers win the lottery.
What if buggy whip manufacturers banded together? (Score:1)
Read the stories on the Luddite movement. Weâ(TM)re facing the same question. In a free market, you adapt. Otherwise youâ(TM)re just a neo-Luddite.
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Read the stories on the Luddite movement.
Sure, what's the URL for their website? :-)
can't work (Score:3)
It is simply a variation of the Prisoners' Dilemma.
What if... (Score:2)
What if Gig Workers Banded Together to Resist Algorithms?
What would that look like?:
If Gig Worker then Resist Algorithm.
Oh...wait...
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Maybe if they ate all the 0s
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But metrics! (Score:2)
Metrics is the be all and end all to everything. Count it, group it, classify it. That's all that needs done. Everything works better because of metrics.
Re: But metrics! (Score:2)
https://dougbelshaw.com/blog/w... [dougbelshaw.com]
push for labor laws to make it min wage at least (Score:1)
push for labor laws to make it min wage at least and not 1099 work.
Chemist band together to resist molecules. (Score:2)
Seriously dude, what the fuck is unite against algorithms?
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It's unite against the use of algorithms, dolt.
Re: Chemist band together to resist molecules. (Score:2)
Which algorithms? Idiot. There are many types of algorithms. You cannot do anything without an algorithm.
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If you don't know what it means in this context, turn in your geek card and start posting on Truth social.
Re:Chemist band together to resist molecules. (Score:5, Interesting)
Collective cheating. Everyone who doesn't cheat gets fucked, because low level jobs also need to get done, and when top people all cheat, honest workers get penalized by getting those jobs that cheaters successfully rose above by cheating.
In the long run, everyone loses. Honest workers lose because their honest work is graded lower on the relative scale compared to cheaters, so they get worse jobs and are therefore incentivized to quit. Those paying for orders lose because they are more likely to get shit tier cheater instead of a good worker for good orders, incentivizing them to stop using the platform. Company providing the platform loses because it starts to bleed reputation on one end and honest workers on the other, ending with more and more bad customers and bad workers.
Cheaters win for a while, until the platform is ran into the ground if they're not purged harshly before the death spiral. Then, they also lose, because there aren't enough good customers to pay for their low quality work. And then you end up with a lot of formerly employed people who are now destitute, and in a country like Indonesia, that means poverty of the kind that most people in developed countries struggle to even imagine.
Though I should correct myself. The scumbag western journo wins, because he sells the clicks. First when he reports on the platform, then when he lionises cheaters and finally when he gets to proudly declare the evil colonialist (I'm not even joking, this is straight from the OP, these insane nutjobs literally call this colonialism) system dead because of cheating he lionised. The fact that he was party to driving a large amount of people to crippling poverty is simply irrelevant. They served his needs. Beyond that, they're subhuman trash to be discreetly discarded.
Re: Chemist band together to resist molecules. (Score:1)
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My point is stop calling it "algorithm" without specifying the type of algorithm .. it is like saying molecules are bad, without saying which molecule it is .. an algorithm is just a procedure for accomplishing a task. I could easily see the ignorant masses get mad at all algorithms the same way they are against anything nuclear.
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The only person confused by this is you.
They should (Score:2)
They should unite and hire an app developer to write a little ride hailing app. Then they could be actual gig workers, instead of just casual employees of a large corporation.
Re: They should (Score:4, Interesting)
Driver's Co-op is doing/trying to do this in NYC
https://drivers.coop/ [drivers.coop]
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Good for them. I hope they succeed. It's a terrible waste to have these low capital businesses run by a big expensive management structures, then build other big expensive management structures to protect employees from them.
Beat to become a trade and certify (Score:3)
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The primary leverage a gig worker has is personal excellence at task required by the gig. One of the main things that AI algorithms try to look for in the gig economy work is the top 5-20% of the workers who will bring lion's share of income, and then elevate them to get the best paid gigs to enable them to bring as much revenue and profit as possible.
Unions are pretty much irrelevant, because most workers on gig worker sites are short term workers who aren't going to get involved in a dispute between the s
Part of the union till the day I die (Score:3)
smells like a union
looks like a union
quacks like a union
it must be a union
drown it
Seriously folks, wake up, the rich guys are taking advantage of workers across the world to make themselves rich at the workers expense.Employers band together to increase their domination, why not workers to counteract the power imbalance.
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the rich guys are taking advantage of workers across the world to make themselves rich at the workers expense
Yes. This is why unions are so damn important!
Two options (Score:2)
If someone is offering money for a job and you don't want to do what they want you to do you have two options. 1) Tell them you don't want to do it and accept their decision on whether they want to pay you anyway. 2) Trick them into believing you're doing what they want you to do so you can collect the money.
Most of what's described here is option 2. Unions are mostly option 1, but with a fair amount of focus on finding leverage to force them to pay you even though you're not doing exactly what they wanted.
This kind of thing is a good start. (Score:3)
And the more they make the more lobbyists, algorithms, and graft they can afford.
The way to stop this is two pronged. The first is disclosure. What if every person who bought a misrepresented piece of crap on Amazon took the time to report this to the rest of the world via some open repository rather than just giving it a bad review on Amazon's corrupt review system?
The second is owning you citizenship and using your power as a consumer. What if everybody switched from Google to DuckDuckGo or Brave? What if everybody stopped using GMail and started using secure alternatives like ProtonMail?
The powers that be would try to stop these efforts with new regulation. What if we then stopped buying for a week?
The people who are running the show are the same personalities who have always been running the show. They only understand power and greed.
The kind of things I have suggested only require small adjustments by individuals. However the combined impact of billions making small changes, keeping up communication, and owning their own behavior could be staggering.
The power elite can't be stopped by business as usual because they created business as usual.
This makes no sense (Score:2)
spoof a phone's GPS. They can give the illusion that a driver who is resting is still working
I would think that one of the primary metrics of driver productivity would be how much revenue they make for each mile traveled. If you spoof your GPS to show movement when you are not actually picking up fares, the algorithm should rank you down. On the other hand, if you move only with a fare onboard, you are the most efficient driver ever. And we will give you more work.
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You probably shouldn't use that idiotic argument when we're in the middle of a labor shortage.
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and you probably shouldn't use that idiotic statement as fact. there is no "labor" shortage, there is "desire to work for unacceptable wages" shortage.
A market for lemons... (Score:2)
With all the cheating and GPS spoofing going on, honest customers are getting screwed over. This reduces the perceived value of the service brand and how much customers are willing to pay. This drives away the best workers and creates a downward spiral.
Ironically, traditional taxi services were disrupted by Uber et al for the same underlying reason. Looks likethe time is ripe for Uber to be disrupted...
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Uber and Lyft should never have been allowed to cheat the way they did. It's a problem we've already solved, we just need to start enforcing the old rules.
Fraud (Score:2)
" spoof a phone's GPS. They can give the illusion that a driver who is resting is still working."
If they are openly advocating fraud, I cannot be on board. Not only they are stealing from the parent company, worse, they are stealing from other gig workers, who would otherwise be eligible for these jobs.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can either have a proper protest, and ask for better working conditions *for everyone on that app*, or you can resort to cheating and steal from *competition*.
And
Wasn't this a Twilight Zone episode? (Score:1)
The Brain Center at Whipple's
Musk is designing driverless vehicles, so are many other companies. Uber, Lyft, Doordash and the big-rig trucking will be driverless. Unions can't stop progress.
The unions can train people to repair the automation. These can be good middle class union jobs, driving for Uber is not.