Internet

Is Amazon's Mechanical Turk A Digital Sweatshop?

Ross Reynolds — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:40:00 +0000

The Mechanical Turk was a fake chess playing robot that fooled Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin. Today the Mechanical Turk is a service Amazon provides, linking workers with people who need tasks done. Some pay as little as a penny. Critics call Mechanical Turk a digital sweatshop. Ross Reynolds talks with Jonathan Zittrain, co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, about working for points, Mechanical Turk and artificial-artificial intelligence.

Seattle: Welcome To The Internet Fast Lane

Ross Reynolds — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:49:45 +0000

Seattle is launching a pilot project to bring ultra high-speed broadband service the city. The city is working with the University of Washington and the tech company, Gigabit Squared, to launch the new service.

There will be 12 “demonstration fiber projects” in neighborhoods around the city. Ross Reynolds talks with Ed Lazowska, who holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in computer science and engineering at the UW, about the pilot program.

Wash. Congressman Doubts Lame Duck Cyber Sales Tax Vote

Austin Jenkins — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:37:36 +0000

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Cyber Monday was expected to generate $1.5 billion in internet sales nationwide. That’s great for on-line retailers, but not so good for tax coffers in states like Washington and Idaho. That’s because many cyber retailers still don’t collect sales tax. And Congress is unlikely to close that loophole anytime soon.

The Washington Department of Revenue estimates state and local tax coffers will miss out on $1 billion over the next two years due to internet sales. That’s roughly the size of the current state budget shortfall.