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Amazon's Mechanical Turk
rscoggin writes "Amazon.com has a new program that wants you to 'Complete simple tasks that people do better than computers. And, get paid for it.' (example: 'Is there a pizza parlour in this photograph?'). For each task you complete you get a small payment, usually ranging from a few cents to a little under a dollar. It's named the Amazon Mechanical Turk after a famous hoax from the 19th century. Kill time and get paid in tiny increments to boot!" Similar to Google Answers, there seems to be a reliability ratings system and some incentives.
Since this is all web-services driven, it seems to me you could create an interesting cycle with a simple program:
1) Use the API to find a HIT, and sign up to complete it.
2) Create a new HIT that basically asks someone to complete the first HIT,
only for $0.01 less than the original HIT was offering.
3) Do this for every existing HIT.
4) Profit?
Keep your friends close.
Keep your enemies in a little jar on your desk.
The reminds me of the Philip K. Dick novel in which the main character thinks he lives an ordinary life, and who solves the daily puzzle in the newspaper every day for cheap entertainment. In reality, though, the whole town he lives in is a front, and the fun puzzles he's solving in the newspaper are actually cleverly disguised military strategy problems of some sort.
Quick -- someone patent that storyline and sue Amazon for infringement!
Guys, let me tell.
0 &p=irol-news
It's registered through Godaddy.com, one of the companies spammers/phishers love to use.
It has hotmail contact addresses in whois. Impossible for a company like Amazon
No clue of such thing on official Amazon press room
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=17606
So if it looks like,acts like,runs like (amazon gigantic server farm slashdotted?) a regular phishing site, it is. Even if it made to Slashdot. I'd say pull the story until Amazon comes up with an explanation. Before any harm done.
It could be even a more "elite" hack including subdomain/DNS hacking. I am a spamcop mail customer and I see amazing things everyday.
In risk of looking very funny if it is not anything above, happily posting it.
For the image ones, couldn't you create 5 bots each with a different account and each one picks a different image and one picks None of these? One of them would be approved and you'd get paid, right?
Also if they are having humans approve your image selection before you get paid, isn't that as much effort as you making your original choice?