Platform Cooperativism: Taking back the internet - Co-operative News
▻http://www.thenews.coop/100215/news/co-operatives/platform-cooperativism-taking-back-internet
Le mouvement des plateformes assoiciatives a été lancé il y deux ans. Depuis l’appel pour créer des alternatives aux plateformes de la mort les death-star platforms est entendu et discuté dans le monde entier.
Platform Cooperativism is a rising and ambitious movement, but based on a simple co-operative principle: to put power back in the hands of the people.
‘Ownership of the internet’ may sound like a lofty aim, but taking control of the online tools we use is really just a 21st century equivalent of owning the shop we run, or the pub we go to. Can the internet be owned and governed differently? And if so, how?
In November, over a thousand people convened for an event at the New School in New York to discuss how this could be achieved. Billed as a ‘coming-out party for the co-operative internet’, it attracted academics, co-operators, business leaders and those just curious about what was happening.
Writer and reporter Nathan Schneider co-organised the conference, and is at the heart of the movement. “[The phrase] ‘Platform Cooperativism’ is a call-to-action coined by my colleague Trebor Scholz,” he said, “just long and mysterious enough, I think, to arouse curiosity and to give a name to what, actually, a lot of people have been longing for and even working on.”
Platform Cooperativism : Nov 13-14, NYC
▻http://www.platformcoop.net/2015
Platform cooperativism is a way to put power back in the hands of the workers."
– Kristy Milland (worker at Amazon Mechnical Turk)
Introduction
The seeds are being planted for a new kind of online economy. For all the wonders the Internet brings us, it is dominated by an economics of monopoly, extraction, and surveillance. Ordinary users retain little control over their personal data, and the digital workplace is creeping into every corner of workers’ lives. Online platforms often exploit and exacerbate existing inequalities in society, even while promising to be the great equalizers. Could the Internet be owned and governed differently? What if Uber drivers could set up their own platform, or if cities could control their own version of Airbnb? Can Silicon Alley do things more democratically than Silicon Valley? What are the prospects for platform cooperativism?
Taxi drivers need to take control back of Uber, says economist - Co-operative News
▻http://www.thenews.coop/106530/news/co-operatives/taxi-drivers-need-take-control-back-uber-says-economist
A global economist has called for taxi drivers to unite against Uber and form a workers’ collective.
Ann Pettifor, analyst of the global financial system and director of Prime Economics, said that workers should be in control of platforms such as Uber and Airbnb, especially since they own the working capital of the business.
“This is an ideal opportunity for us to be arguing for more worker co-operatives,” said Ms Pettifor at the Co-operative Congress in Wakefield. “The really fascinating thing about Uber, about Airbnb and about these other sectors is that actually the capital of those businesses is owned by the workers.
Why should Uber operate in this way? Why do taxi drivers not come together and form a collective?
“So the drivers of the cars own the car, they have bought the car, they have invested in it, they maintain it, they invest in its maintenance, they insure it.”
Ms Pettifor added: “They pay for all of that and then they pay something for the app. They are then allowed by Uber in California, in Silicon Valley, to retain some of their allowance but why on earth should Uber be such a company? Why should it operate in this way? Why do taxi drivers not come together and form a collective?”
Congress 2016: Developing a national co-operative development strategy
Death Star Platforms | Grassroots Economic Organizing
▻http://www.geo.coop/story/death-star-platforms
Fighting Fire with Fire? Matthew Slater
How Platform Coops Can Beat Death Stars Like Uber to Create a Real Sharing Economy - Shareable
►http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-platform-coops-can-beat-death-stars-like-uber-to-create-a-real-sharin