[Philip Lelyveld comment: the comments capture the heart of the debate: either this is a misuse of public assets by the technology elite (one poster asks, what's next, selling your metro seat?), or a blind service with no responsibility for its users' actions.]
It was inevitable. In a place where you could pay for almost anything to come to you via mobile, to have empty parking spots eventually come to you via mobile. That is the premise behind Italian app MonkeyParking, which allows you to “sell” your parking spot (or rather, the inside information about whether your parking spot will be available shortly) starting at $5.
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As far as I can see (Twitter) tech people are lauding MonkeyParking as the most novel form of “sharing economy” yield management yet, and SF veteransare arguing that it is yet another example of a tech corporation profiting off of public space. I guess the moderate view is that it’s some sort of Italian anarchist performance art.
See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/10/apesht/?ncid=tcdaily