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Cory Doctorow #BLM

25 Oct, 18 tweets, 13 min read

Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Facebook threatens ad-transparency group; The madness of elite varsity sports; Bob Dylan sings a EULA; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2020/10/25/mus…

#Pluralistic

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This weekend's events:

Milehicon (Fri/Sat/Sun): milehicon.org

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https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320130598074105856

Facebook threatens ad-transparency group: Ad Observatory gets the Power Ventures treatment.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320130598074105856

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320385582678224896

The madness of elite varsity sports: WWI by another means.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320385582678224896

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320399417979985920

Bob Dylan sings a EULA: You've already made a legally binding commitment to watch this.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320399417979985920

#10yrsago Rand Paul supporters pin down and curb-stomp MoveOn activist – video web.archive.org/web/2010102902…

#5yrsago NSA spying: judge tosses out case because Wikipedia isn’t widely read enough aclu.org/blog/national-…

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#1yrago How an usher at (and would-be star of) Hamilton organizes the women’s bathrooms during intermission inquirer.com/arts/theater/h…

#1yrago Zuck claims he chows down with politicos from “across the spectrum” but they all seem to be far-right creeps theintercept.com/2019/10/25/mar…

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https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320012097913155585

Yesterday's threads: Davis Haunters rise from the grave; RIAA kills youtube-dl; and more!

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1320012097913155585

@washingtonpost

My latest novel is Attack Surface, a sequel to my bestselling Little Brother books. @washingtonpost called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance."

Get signed books from @darkdel: darkdel.com/store/p1840/Av…

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I have a (free) new book out! "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism" is an anti-monopolist critique of Big Tech that connects the rise of conspiratorial thinking to the rise of tech monopolies and proposes a way to deal with both:

onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy…

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@torbooks

My ebooks and audiobooks (from @torbooks, @HoZ_Books, @mcsweeneys, and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

craphound.com/shop/

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Upcoming appearances:

* Milehicon (Guest of Honor!), Oct 23-5, milehicon.org

* Keynote, Privacyweek, Oct 27 cfp.privacyweek.at/pw20/speaker/L…

* How to Fix the Internet/Reboot 2020, Nov 9, rebootconference.org/day-two

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Recent appearances:

* TWiT: The J to J Protocol
twit.tv/shows/this-wee…

* Writing Excuses: Researching the FCK out of Things
writingexcuses.com/2020/10/11/15-…

* SRSLY WRONG: Stop Techno Dystopia!
srslywrong.com/podcast/220-st…

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My first picture book is out! It's called Poesy the Monster Slayer and it's an epic tale of bedtime-refusal, toy-hacking and monster-hunting, illustrated by Matt Rockefeller. It's the monster book I dreamt of reading to my own daughter.

pluralistic.net/2020/07/14/poe…

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You can also follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

Here's today's edition: pluralistic.net/2020/10/25/mus…

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If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is also ad- and tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "🎃". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

Subscribe here: pluralistic.net/plura-list

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Are you trying to wean yourself off Big Tech? Follow these threads on the #fediverse at @pluralistic@mamot.fr.

Here's today's edition: mamot.fr/@pluralistic/1…

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twitter.com/ridetheory/

Today's top sources: Super Punch (superpunch.net), Jeremy B Merrill, Dan Howland (twitter.com/ridetheory/).

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More from @doctorow

Cory Doctorow #BLM

@doctorow

27 Oct

Surveillance companies assure us that they employ safeguards to ensure that their customers aren't abusing their products to engage in unlawful or unethical surveillance. And yet, inevitably, these companies abuse their tools THEMSELVES.

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It's almost as though being the kind of person who dreams of achieving incredible wealthy by spying on people makes you kind of an asshole.

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@VerkadaHQ

Like the people at @VerkadaHQ, "a fast-growing Silicon Valley surveillance startup" whose male employees used its own products to sexually harass their female colleagues and received the barest wrist-slaps for it.

vice.com/en/article/pkd…

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Cory Doctorow #BLM

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27 Oct

One of the arguments for permitting monopolies is that they are "efficient." That's the logic under which Universal was allowed to acquire Comcast and NBC - the "vertical integration" would make all three companies better and we'd all reap the benefit.

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It turns out that there are DISeconomies of scale, what Brandeis called "the curse of bigness" and really, the Universal-NBC-Comcast octopus is a poster child for that curse.

thedesk.matthewkeys.net/2020/10/comcas…

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Comcast has just informed its subscribers that they are at risk of losing access to "Bravo, CNBC, E!, Golf Channel, MSNBC, Olympic Channel, Oxygen, Syfy, Telemundo, Universal Kids, NBC Universo, USA Network and NBC Sports Network."

my.xfinity.com/contractrenewa…

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Cory Doctorow #BLM

@doctorow

27 Oct

When a new president is sworn in, they gets told a lot of secret stuff - launch codes, backup plans, etc. But one of the best-kept presidential secrets is the "Enemies Briefcase," a collection of "presidential emergency action documents" (PEADs).

harpers.org/archive/2020/1…

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These aren't just revelations about the fallback plans for things like a nuclear strike - they are a meticulously maintained collection of emergency authorities that the administrative branch claims it is entitled to.

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These authorities are analyzed in legal memos that give the president to unilaterally declare an emergency "imposing martial law, suspending habeas corpus, seizing control of the internet, imposing censorship, and incarcerating so-called subversives."

3/

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Cory Doctorow #BLM

@doctorow

27 Oct

Creepshow (1982) wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/633141553…

Read 9 tweets

Cory Doctorow #BLM

@doctorow

26 Oct

@Sally_Hubbard

MONOPOLIES SUCK is a title I wish I'd thought of - talk about "does what it says on the tin!"

It's by @Sally_Hubbard, Director of Enforcement Strategy at @openmarkets and retired antitrust enforcer for the NY Attorney General.

It's great.

simonandschuster.com/books/Monopoli…

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Hubbard's got deep experience, and she brings the same kind of verve to this book that Zephyr Teachout delivered in her (also excellent) (and also brilliantly titled) BREAK 'EM UP:

pluralistic.net/2020/07/29/bre…

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But Hubbard's got another thing going for her: institutional support. The Open Markets Institute operates a range of advocacy programs for angry members of the public (e.g. you), and each of Hubbard's chapters ends on ways you can engage in the policy questions she raises.

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Read 6 tweets