It's inevitable: whenever I talk about the need to curb concentrated power in the tech sector, someone comes along to ask why I only care about tech - why not do something about concentration in telecoms or entertainment?

1/
That's not wrong, but it's not right either. Yes, telecoms and entertainment are grotesquely concentrated and abuse their monopoly power to the great detriment of the rest of us.

2/
But no, gunning for Big Tech does NOT mean that we're not gunning for Big Content and Big Telco, too.

Bust 'em all!

eff.org/deeplinks/2020…

3/
The idea that these monopolized industries are somehow keeping each other in check - rather than colluding to screw the rest of us - is wrong. Google did an anti-Net Neutrality deal with Verizon. And all the tech and content companies illegally fixed wages between 'em.

4/
I fully believe that some of the money and energy for breaking up tech is coming from astroturf campaigns run by ISPs and movie studios and record labels - but they're betting that if we break up Big Tech, that'll be the end of it.

5/
Like trustbusting is Thanksgiving dinner, something that leaves you so satiated that you can't even think about going back for second.

That is so wrong. If history teaches us anything, it's that trustbusting is like potato chips, and once you start, you can't stop.

6/
"If we're gonna make it through this monopolistic era of evidence-free policy that benefits a tiny, monied minority at the expense of the rest of us, we need to demand democratic accountability for market abuses...

7/
"Demand a pluralistic market where dominant firms are subjected to controls and penalties, where you finally realize birthright of technological self-determination."

eof/

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More from @doctorow

Sep 9
Broadly speaking, the role of an establishment economist is to come up with new ways of saying, "actually, your boss is right."

1/ Two suited business-men sit knee-to-knee in a luxuriously paneled boardroom, smiling broadly at one another. They are tinted green and limned with green. Behind them stands a rank of child laborers in 19th century workwear, looking miserable. Behind the laborer, a sack of gold coins looms into the frame, spilling a cascade of gold coins. On the coffee table before the men is a tiny guillotine with a tiny aristocrat about to lose his head while two tiny Jacobins look on.
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2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/09/09/low…
In other words, the world we're living in is the best possible world, and the fact that you got contact burns from collapsing on the scorching sidewalk outside of the grocery store where you couldn't afford your weekly shopping is unfortunate, but unavoidable.

3/
Read 46 tweets
Aug 19
*Corporate Bullshit: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America* is @NickHanauer, @joanwalsh and @donaldrcohen12's 2023 book on the history of corporate apologetics; it's great:



1/ thenewpress.com/books/corporat…
The New Press cover for 'Corporate Bullshit,' by Nick Hanaeur, Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen.
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2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/08/19/apo…
I found out about this book last fall when @ddayen reviewed it for the @TheProspect; Dayen did a great job of breaking down its thesis, and I picked it up for my newsletter.

3/
Read 37 tweets
Aug 17
Last weekend, I was at @Defcon 32, where I had the privilege of giving a talk: "Disenshittify or die! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification."

1/ A photo of me at a podium at Defcon 32, giving my speech.   Image: https://twitter.com/igama/status/1822347578094043435/ (cropped)  CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.pt
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on , my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/08/17/hac…
This was a followup to last year's talk, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification," a talk that kicked off a lot of international interest in my analysis of platform decay ("enshittification"):



3/
Read 204 tweets
Aug 16
Once you learn about the "collective action problem," you see it everywhere. Democrats - including elected officials - wanted Biden to step down, but no one wanted to be the first one to take a firm stand, so for months, his campaign limped on: a collective action problem.

1/ A shelf of thick scientific tomes, protected by a gridwork of foreboding, rusting bars.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on , my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:



2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/08/16/the…
Patent trolls use bullshit patents to shake down small businesses, demanding "license fees" that are high, but much lower than the cost of challenging the patent and getting it revoked.

3/
Read 68 tweets
Aug 15
Every performer and creator on Patreon is about to get screwed out of 30% of their gross earnings, which will be diverted to Apple, the most valuable company on Earth. Apple contributes nothing to their work, but it can steal a third of their wages:



1/ news.patreon.com/articles/under…
A Vaudeville dancer on an old-fashioned stage, caught mid-dance-step, standing in front of a Patreon logo.. His pockets bulge with cash. He has been decapitated and blood fountains from the stump of his neck. His decapitated, bloody head lies in a pool of blood on the stage next to him. Over the stump of his neck is an original six-color Apple logo, modified so that the 'bite' is actually a bloody, fang-filled mouth. The scene is surmounted by the Apple 'Think different' wordmark.
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2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/08/15/pri…
How is this possible? Enshittification:



Enshittification starts with companies being good to end users. In this case, Apple made a quality product - Iphones - and carefully tended its App Store.

3/pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-…
Read 65 tweets
Aug 14
Walmart didn't just *happen*. The rise of Walmart - and Amazon, its online successor - was the result of a specific policy choice, the decision by the Reagan administration not to enforce a key antitrust law.

1/ An early 20th century grocery counter before tall shelves stacked with dry-goods. A woman grocer turns to pluck an item off the shelves. Attached to the shelves in three places are binder clips supporting small notes; each note is emblazoned with a dark red guillotine blade. To the left of the image stands a shouting millionaire with a top hat and a money-bag.
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2/pluralistic.net
pluralistic.net/2024/08/14/the…
Walmart may have been founded by Sam Walton, but its success (and the demise of the American Main Street) are down to Reaganomics.

3/
Read 53 tweets

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