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.
This book is published in English.
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La controverse entoure les plateformes d'economie de partage, partiellement en raison de leur impact economique. Certains secteurs subissent des contrecoups de maniere plus aigue : les chauffeurs d'Uber font concurrence aux chauffeurs de taxi, ou les hotes Airbnb rivalisent avec les hotels. Par ailleurs, Uber exacerberait l'emploi precaire et mal remunere tandis qu'Airbnb amplifierait la speculation immobiliere et entrainerait, a terme, une hausse du cout de location.
On a tente de reglementer ce type de plateformes, mais la technologie est telle qu'elle permet aux entreprises d'aisement contourner la reglementation conventionnelle, si bien que les accusations de " concurrence deloyale " fusent de toutes parts, provoquant une remise en question du cadre reglementaire. En effet, de telles plateformes viennent brouiller les cartes, confondant les distinctions convenues entre personnel et commercial, infrastructure et contenu, autonomie contractuelle et controle hierarchique. Cette ambiguite peut avoir d'importantes repercussions sur le bon fonctionnement de l'appareil reglementaire qui encadre les principes organisateurs du travail, de la concurrence, de l'impot, de l'assurance, de l'information et de de l'interdiction de la discrimination, sans parler de la reglementation sectorielle specialisee.
Cinq thematiques sont abordees dans cet ouvrage : les technologies de la reglementation; la reglementation
de la technologie; les lieux de la reglementation (du local au mondial); la reglementation des marches; et la reglementation du travail. Les chapitres se conjuguent pour offrir une reflexion d'une gamme d'experts sur la jurisprudence traditionnelle que sur les approches theoriques qui informent et faconnent la reglementation de l'economie du partage.
Ce livre est publie en anglais.
Author Biography:
Derek McKee, A.B., B.C.L./LL.B., S.J.D., has been Professor of Law at the Université de Sherbrooke since 2012. His teaching and research focus on administrative law, tort law, and transnational law, including the relationship between domestic and international law in Canada. He is now professor at the Université de Montréal. Finn Makela, B.A., M.A., LL.B/B.C.L., LL.D is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, Université de Sherbrooke. His primary areas of teaching and research are labour and employment law, legal theory and legal methodology. Teresa Scassa is the Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. She is a member of the GEOTHINK research partnership, and has written widely in the areas of intellectual property law, law and technology, and privacy. Harry Arthurs is University Professor Emeritus and President Emeritus at York University. He has served as Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School (1972–77) and President of York University (1985–92). He is a former associate of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. Francesco Ducci is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He specializes in competition law as well as economic analysis of law. Marie-Cécile Escande-Varniol is a senior lecturer at the Institut d’Études du Travail de Lyon (IETL), Université Lumière Lyon 2 (France). She is director of the Master Droit social, mobilité internationale des travailleurs. She is a member of the CERCRID (Centre de Recherche Critique sur le Droit. Vincent Gautrais is Full Professor and L. R. Wilson Chair in Information Technology and E-commerce Law at the Faculty of Law, Université de Montréal. He is also the director of the Centre de recherche en droit public. He previously held the Université de Montréal Excellence Chair in Security and Internet Law. Michael Geist is Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law. He is a former member of Canada’s National Task Force on Spam. Eran Kaplinsky is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Alberta. His research and teaching interests include land use planning and regulation, municipal law, property law, expropriation and compensation, and economic analysis of law. Nofar Sheffi is a lecturer at the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law. She specializes in contract theory, law and technology, as well as critical and social legal theories. Sabrina Tremblay-Huet. is a doctoral candidate and lecturer at the Université de Sherbrooke Faculty of Law. She specializes in tourism law, international human rights law, and critical legal theory. Eric Tucker is Professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, as well as a Distinguished Visiting Researcher, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University. He has written widely on labour and employment law issues including books on the history of occupational health and safety regulation and collective bargaining law in Canada. Mariana Valverde is Professor at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto, as well as its former Director from 2007 to 2013. She also holds a courtesy cross-appointment to the Department of Geography and Planning as well as the Faculty of Law. She has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 2006.
