It all sounds great, and in many ways it is. The Internet has created new markets for human labor potentially gleaned anywhere in the world—indeed, a company called CrowdFlower has set up a special program to channel tasks to refugees working at a data center in Kenya. What's to worry about? For one thing, online contracting circumvents a range of labor laws and practices, found in most developed countries, that govern worker protections, minimum wage, health and retirement benefits, child labor, and so forth. Any jurisdiction that imposes restrictions on how crowdsourcing services operate might find itself bypassed—a firm like LiveOps could simply disconnect all its contractors in, say, New York, and make more work for people in Arizona. Workers may have to accept near-constant monitoring of every mouse click and conversation. Many of these services ask workers not to disclose even that they've worked for a firm. Your reputation is just another trade secret.