Where do citizens go to raise concerns about the platform economy? Where do Taxi drivers go if they want to protest against the non-regulatory practices of Uber and Lyft? Sometimes they go to the local government buildings, other times they decide to block the major avenues. In Bogota, Paris, Bratislava and many cities around the world, taxi drivers have protested against the lack of regulation of the new companies of the so called platform economy. This companies do not offer products nor even services but instead a distributed system that connects participants and leverages rich databases. In the new platform economy participants engage with each other directly using networked technologies and distributed knowledge. Although participants of the system are many, even crowds in the most successful companies, the platform owners are few. Although the companies seems to be everywhere due to the interconnection of all the users, its physical location is sometimes difficult to determine. In such kind of context, protests against the new platform or sharing economy could happen nearby software and high tech companies like Microsoft.
Last Thursday I was surprised when I found a group of 20 local cab drivers in front the building of Microsoft Research in Cambridge, MA. The protesters were parked their taxis along memorial drive, and formed a group on one of the sidewalks. Carrying several signs and shouting, they spoke up their concerns about the lack of regulation of Uber and Lyft. One of them gave a printed flyer that explained some of their concerns. According to the taxi driver they needed the support of the local community and were expecting that they could call the attention of some of the Microsoft workers. Specifically, they wanted to call attention to the fact that the Uber and Lyft drivers do not have to check their criminal records with the police and are un-insured. Their protest seemed to have some elements of media panic that could touch local sensibilities. Perhaps in an effort to also humanize the invisible and ubiquitous platform, the taxi driver protesters had to articulate an argument that included rapes, crimes, and accidents.
