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4 votes
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Groundbreaking lawsuit accuses Roblox of exploiting young creators
22 votes -
The tragic story of this famous meteorite and the boy who fought the museum that took everything from him
14 votes -
After many years, migrant workers in Norway won legal protection from exploitative agencies – but now a European Free Trade Association ruling puts progress in peril
3 votes -
Why most tennis players struggle to make a living
5 votes -
How Stan Lee became the face of an exploitative industry
14 votes -
Alone and exploited, migrant children work brutal jobs across the US
11 votes -
The predatory US prison phone call industry is finally about to be fixed
15 votes -
How Twitter’s child porn problem ruined its plans for an OnlyFans competitor
9 votes -
A dangerous place to be Latino
3 votes -
Why miners risk their lives to get sulfur from an active volcano | Risky Business
4 votes -
Megan Thee Stallion and fast food’s ongoing pursuit of Black buy-in
6 votes -
Beyond Britney Spears: Abuse, exploitation, and death inside America's guardianship industry
10 votes -
A brief history of grindhouse/exploitation film: From the birth of cinema to Tarantino
5 votes -
Rehab scam: Defendants in court-ordered rehab program made to work in chicken plants for free
6 votes -
Child labour doesn’t have to be exploitation – it gave me life skills
6 votes -
Meet the customer service reps for Disney and Airbnb who have to pay to talk to you
29 votes -
At hundreds of rehabs, recovery means work without pay
4 votes -
How poor Americans get exploited by their landlords
7 votes -
Mike Bloomberg exploited prison labor to make 2020 Presidential campaign phone calls
23 votes -
Inside the ghosting, racism, and exploitation at game publisher Nicalis
10 votes -
Hanoi's street boys and runaways are easy prey for exploitation
6 votes -
Undocumented, vulnerable, scared: The US women who pick your food for $3 an hour
6 votes -
G-20 leaders resolve to prevent exploitation of Internet for terrorism
G-20 leaders resolve to prevent exploitation of Internet for terrorism This statement was reportedly an initiative of the Australian Prime Minister.
9 votes -
Empire of meat
2 votes -
Workers with disabilities are making cents per hour — and it’s legal
19 votes -
"Making video games is not a dream job": "The workers behind hits like Fortnite and Call of Duty need unions to protect them from exploitation"
10 votes -
I tried to block Amazon from my life. It was impossible
13 votes -
It's time for video game makers to unionize
14 votes -
What will be left of the people who make our games?
20 votes -
Unprotected: "An acclaimed American charity said it was saving some of the world’s most vulnerable girls from sexual exploitation. But from the very beginning, girls were being raped."
9 votes -
The business of voluntourism: Do western do-gooders actually do harm?
13 votes -
Exploitation and coercion
Those two words and their relationship with "consent" and "freedom" fascinate me. I've sort of ruminated about it in the back of my mind for a while, but haven't sorted a lot out. It would be nice...
Those two words and their relationship with "consent" and "freedom" fascinate me. I've sort of ruminated about it in the back of my mind for a while, but haven't sorted a lot out.
It would be nice for two people to be able to make any agreement they like between each other without restrictions. "I'll do this for me and you give me that in return". If there aren't restrictions on what sort of agreement two private people make, in some sense, that can be maximum freedom.
But then exploitation and coercion come into the mix. "If you don't sign this contract, I will kill you" is a clear example of an agreement not being free. "If you don't sign this employment contract, you won't be able to afford to buy food" is still fairly clear, but a little further removed. "If you don't sign this employment contract, you'll be able to get food, but the food you can afford will be heavily processed and laden with oils and processed sugars, and you could suffer poor health in the future" is getting into a lot of grey area.
We talk a lot about minimum wage workers being exploited. It's true that most of them (almost all of them?) hate their jobs. It's also true that life necessarily requires sacrifices. I don't have a good framework for thinking about what point something becomes exploitative or unethical.
It comes up in personal relationships as well. "If you don't have sex with me, I will kill myself" is clearly abusive and manipulative. "If you don't have sex with me, I will break up with you" is slightly more removed. "If you don't quit using heroin, I will break up with you" is a little grey.
At what point is someone being coerced in a relationship vs two people acknowledging sacrifices they have to make to stay together? I don't have a good framework for thinking about this.
Further things to think about: at what point of mental illness can a person no longer ethically enter into an agreement? What about a normal person who suffers from the usual human psychological biases? At what point is it exploitative to use psychological biases when negotiating with someone? This can go all the way from the benign (ending a price in ".99") to the damaging (designing casino games with flashing lights and buzzers, etc.)
I don't expect someone to be able to give me a pat answer to this. If you think you can give me a 1-line "Exploitation is ...", I think you're probably missing something. But I am curious how other people think about these things, and what examples or what books you've found that have been helpful to you sorting things out.
13 votes -
'Bonded like a slave': Workplace watchdog investigation into labour exploitation reveals poor conditions
3 votes -
The Lil Tay saga reaches its logical conclusion
11 votes