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Comment by jmduke | Hacker News Reader

(Disclaimer: I work for Amazon, but not on anything related to mTurk)

Is there reason to believe that people are using mTurk full-time as a significant source of income? I've Turked a bunch -- and know people who do it for a couple hours a day -- and my understanding is that its overwhelmingly used as a way to pick up a few extra bucks while catching up on TV, a slightly more civilized replacement for clipping coupons or filling out paid surveys.

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According to the same 2010 study I mentioned in another comment, about 7% use it 30 hours per week plus. That's not a huge number but I imagine that those of the 7% would consider it full time work. http://sites.uci.edu/andrewzaldivar/files/2012/05/SocialCode...

How do they check the workers' location? Some of that income could be considered decent lower-middle-class in certain parts of the world.

I was doubtful at first, because of the need for both a computer (and Internet connection) in a part of the world where 25 cents an hour would be a decent lower-middle-class income.

The World Bank has some information about countries with people living on $2 per day. (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.2DAY)

Maybe there's a use for a "Fair Trade Mechanical Turk" - someone sets up an Internet work space for people in developing nations and FTMT sets minimum wages?

Just block first-world nations from accessing *.mturk.com, and problem solved.

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