Virtual Imperialism: Easing the White Man’s Burden

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Foreign Policy‘s Prerna Mankad brings us up to speed on the latest merging of the Internet and cheap foreign labor: the rise of “virtual personal assistants” (VPAs) from India who perform various mundane tasks for a nominal-to-Americans price. This, apparently, has created an ethical dilemma for some:

Is employing a VPA in India to respond to your every whim a neo-imperial, exploitative phenomenon? (Jacobs did experience other pangs of guilt as he found himself making stranger demands simply because he could.) Or is it a genuine win-win transaction, where clients in the West make the most of their purchasing power while entrepreneurs in the East expand their markets?

The answer, quite obviously, is Yes.

One response to “Virtual Imperialism: Easing the White Man’s Burden”

  1. Was a web-cam involved in any of his “stranger demands”?