How about one that makes fake reservations at restaurants and then sells them to the highest bidder?
The assumption in Mayer’s post — and, it seems, the assumption behind similar business models like ParkingMonkey or Sweetch — is that if something can be monetized, then it should be. It’s as though capitalism, or tech-startup life, was a game in which founders try to spot loopholes in the laws or social contracts that govern our behavior, and then figure out ways to get someone to pay to exploit them. This isn’t necessarily a recipe for disaster, but it avoids any question about whether such loopholes *should* be monetized. As Mayer puts it: “If someone does pay for it willingly, is it really unethical?” Well yes, maybe it is.
See the full story here: http://gigaom.com/2014/07/04/its-getting-harder-to-tell-whats-a-real-silicon-valley-startup-and-whats-a-parody/?curator=MediaREDEF