Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Controversy shrouds sharing economy platforms. It stems partially from the platforms' economic impact, which is felt most acutely in certain sectors: Uber drivers compete with taxi drivers; Airbnb hosts compete with hotels. Other consequences lie elsewhere: Uber is associated with a trend toward low-paying, precarious work, whereas Airbnb is accused of exacerbating real estate speculation and raising the cost of long-term rental housing. While governments in some jurisdictions have attempted to rein in the platforms, technology has enabled such companies to bypass conventional regulatory categories, generating accusations of "unfair competition" as well as debates about the merits of existing regulatory regimes. Indeed, the platforms blur a number of familiar distinctions, including personal versus commercial activity; infrastructure versus content; contractual autonomy versus hierarchical control. These ambiguities can stymie legal regimes that rely on these distinctions as organizing principles, including those relating to labour, competition, tax, insurance, information, the prohibition of discrimination, as well as specialized sectoral regulation. This book is organized around five themes: technologies of regulation; regulating technology; the sites of regulation (local to global); regulating markets; and regulating labour. Together, the chapters offer a rich variety of insights on the regulation of the sharing economy, both in terms of the traditional areas of law they bring to bear, and the theoretical perspectives that inform their analysis." (Publisher's Website)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: The “Sharing Economy” through the Lens of Law
/ Finn Makela, Derek McKee, and Teresa Scassa

Part I: Technologies of Regulation 1. Peer Platform Markets and Licensing Regimes / Derek McKee 2. The False Promise of the Sharing Economy / Harry Arthurs 3. The Fast to the Furious / Nofar Sheffi

Part II: Regulating Technology 4. The Normative Ecology of Disruptive Technology / Vincent Gautrais 5. Information Law in the Platform Economy: Ownership, Control, and Reuse of Platform Data / Teresa Scassa

Part III: The Space Of Regulation—Local To Global 6. Urban Cowboy E-Capitalism Meets Dysfunctional Municipal Policy-Making: What the Uber Story Tells Us about Canadian Local Governance / Mariana Valverde 7. The Sharing Economy and Trade Agreements: The Challenge to Domestic Regulation / Michael Geist

Part IV: Regulating Markets 8. Should Licence Plate Owners Be Compensated when Uber Comes to Town? / Eran Kaplinsky 9. Competition Law and Policy Issues in the Sharing Economy / Francesco Ducci

Part V: Regulating Labour 10. The Legal Framework for Digital Platform Work: The French Experience / Marie-Cécile Escande-Varniol 11. Uber and the Unmaking and Remaking of Taxi Capitalisms: Technology, Law, and Resistance in Historical Perspective / Eric Tucker 12. Making Sense of the Public Discourse on Airbnb and Labour: What about Labour Rights? Sabrina Tremblay-Huet

About the Contributors