Debate: The Ethics of Crowdsourcing

By

For many who come across the idea of crowdsourcing in its many forms, their first thoughts are about the ethical issues. As such, in writing Getting Results From Crowds, it was important to address the ethical domain rather than ignoring or glossing it.

We address the ethical issues of crowdsourcing in Chapter 5 on Relationship Value, offering Points and Counterpoints on a number of the major ethical issues in the field.

To bring the debate to life we have created a video providing some of the arguments on each side.



The four topics addressed in the video are:

* People should be paid for their contributions to for-profit ventures

* It is exploitation to pay people very low amounts

* Businesses should support their countries and communities by employing locally

* Professionals should not do unpaid work

What do you think? What are your views on these four issues? What other important ethical issues are there in crowdsourcing?