Hi Justin, that is a good point. According to this study in 2010 on page 4 http://sites.uci.edu/andrewzaldivar/files/2012/05/SocialCode... about 82% of the survey responders answered that the income was not essential, but the other 18% responded that the income was either important or essential to make ends meet.
Doing some turking to buy extra things while someone else pays your bills isn't exploitive in my opinion. But, for the 18% who are using is to make ends meet I do think it has a very real possibility to be exploitive. That's where regulation could help, in ensuring for those people who really need it have the safeguards in place to prevent the exploitation. I am far from an expert on Mechanical turk, and if it could guarantee that minimum wage was being met then I would not be against it.
Doing some turking to buy extra things while someone else pays your bills isn't exploitive in my opinion. But, for the 18% who are using is to make ends meet I do think it has a very real possibility to be exploitive. That's where regulation could help, in ensuring for those people who really need it have the safeguards in place to prevent the exploitation. I am far from an expert on Mechanical turk, and if it could guarantee that minimum wage was being met then I would not be against it.