8) Discrimination.

In an elaborate study by the Harvard Business School, it was found that pictures of black hosts for Airbnb sites resulted in 12% less for rents for similar properties listed on Airbnb for non-black hosts. The findings were termed “digital discrimination.”

The Uber and Lyft rating system for customers and drivers is literally overflowing with opportunity to discriminate. Drivers and customers can be banned or terminated based solely on “bad” reviews. Bad reviews can hurt brick-and-mortar businesses as well, but in my opinion they're not currently as large a factor as within the “sharing economy.”

7) Workers' Rights.

While these jobs become less and less regulated, will workers' conditions and compensation become better or worse? Uber and Lyft drivers have already filed class action suits against the companies. The drivers claim the companies are wrongly taking a part of tips meant for the drivers, and that since drivers are considered independent contractors, they're forced to carry too much of the burden of expense. A class action suit has been filed regarding the classification of Uber drivers as independent contractors.

6) Liability.

Eviction notices have already flown, regarding Airbnb.

The liability issues surrounding VRBO, Airbnb, Lyft, and Uber are horribly complex. When a horrific loss occurs, it will be interesting how the courts deal with the hold-harmless clauses that are part of these online apps terms of service.

Recently the State of California passed an “App on/App off” bill regarding Uber and Lyft. The law seems unenforceable in that no underwriter with any appreciation for his accountable loss ratio would accept the risk of writing an insurance policy that would have such an ill-defined parameter.

5) Zoning Laws/Violation of Local Ordinances.

Airbnb has been described by some as the rezoning of residential areas into hotel/motel space. Things are coming to a head over this issue, with tax laws rubbing up against strained budgets in large cities.

The Airbnb site states, “Ensure you look up any permitting, zoning, safety, and health regulations that may apply. The governing authorities that regulate the use and development of property in your area may have useful information on such regulations” — good advice that probably is rarely followed.

4) Loss of Privacy/Data Sharing.

The sharing economy is invading every aspect of our lives. Such things as sharedesk.net, which allows you to timeshare office space, offer advantages to almost virtual businesses.

Those using a “sharing economy” app should review the terms of service, data privacy memo, and cookies policy. The user could be disclosing information, with no recourse if the usage of that information becomes detrimental.

3) Unregulated Pricing.

While the various industries realign, only the large entities will have the economic strength to prevail, and with such power is the opportunity for corruption in an unregulated environment. History lessons abound with warnings when monopolies and trusts got out of hand.

2) Higher Insurance Rates.

As the sharing economy becomes more mainstream, it will look and act much like the current economy; the insurance issues will become part of “normal” policies for individuals. The exposure for the individual's risks regarding rental sharing might be covered eventually under a homeowner's policy and the exposure for using a privately owned auto as a taxi probably will be covered under a private passenger auto policy. This coverage may or may not be add-on endorsements, depending how prevalent sharing becomes. Or, the change might result in an across the board rate increase if state regulators mandate coverage.

1) The End of Capitalism?

The sharing economy seems to be based on a mindset that capitalism is inherently wrong. Capitalism encouraged the individual to collect as much wealth and goods as possible, and then find imaginative ways to exploit that advantage. Those who espouse a change to a “sharing economy” suggest that capitalism is dog-eat-dog while the “sharing economy” is all about altruism.

Rest easy: Capitalism is in no danger. A few individuals are becoming immensely wealthy from the sharing economy. If the current valuations are accurate, what is passing for socialistic sharing is really extremely exploitive capitalism.

Many people consider the use of these applications to be about saving money and meeting new people—sort of the bed & breakfast industry on steroids. Those users seemingly don't realize how mainstream the bed and breakfast industry has become, with adequate insurance protecting the stakeholders.

Until the insurance industry gets a handle on the “sharing economy” I'm afraid all the “savings” are nothing but false economy based on inadequate asset protection.

Jim Holm is the CEO of Enhancedinsurance.com. He is a five-decade insurance industry veteran. His first blog on this topic appeared nearly a year ago.