One of the great sf/comics/collectibles stores in America is Houston's @3rdPlanetOnline. One of the worst-managed hotels in America is the Crowne Plaza River Oaks, who happen to be Third Planet's next door neighbors.
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The Crowne Plaza River Oaks is home to routine "physical assault, sexual assault, public disturbances, criminal mischief, burgalry, theft and other criminal activities," which are "permitted to occur on hotel premises."
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Among the many downsides of owning the business next to this hotel? They permit guests and residents to congregate on the fire escape and hurl garbage ("ceramic mugs, plates, silverware, bottles...cinderblocks, luggage racks and ladders") into Third Planet's roof.
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This led to Third Planet replacing their roof, then paying for a series of repairs to the new roof. The hotel management ignored their pleas. In Mar 2019, hotel residents launched a volley of 14+ fire extinguishers at the store, which exploded on impact.
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The store's structure - and its merchandise, including one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable items - have suffered damage. The roof is a goner. The hotel guests and residents continue to pelt it with garbage. Enough is enough.
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Third Planet's lawsuit against the Crowne Plaza is a marvel of clear legal writing, but that's not all - it's ALSO A COMIC BOOK ILLUSTRATING THE STORE'S COMPLAINT, starting on P6.
I've read a lot of legal briefs, but this one is literally a work of art.
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ETA - If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Gojek is a $10B Indonesian "super app" that combines "Postmates, Apple Pay, Venmo, and Uber" serviced by an army of ojol - drivers - who are subjected to all the high-handed algorithmic horrors that gig workers everywhere suffer through.
But Indonesian ojol aren't helpless before their apps; a legion of toolsmiths produce, share, sell and support "#tuyul apps" named for "a child-like spirit in Indonesian folklore that helps his human master earn money by stealing," which modify the Gojek app.
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As part of her MIT PhD, @qadrida studied Gojek, ojol and tuyul apps, and her account of the grey-market Gojek ecosystem for @motherboard is riveting.
#RightToRepair is a no-brainer. You - not manufacturers - should have the right to decide whom you trust to fix your stuff, even (especially) when that stuff is "smart" and an unscrupulous repair could create unquantifiable "cyber-risk."
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And yet...DOZENS of state #R2R bills were defeated in 2018, thanks to an unholy coalition of Big Ag, Big Tech, and consumer electronics monopolists like @WahlGrooming. That supervillain gang reassembled to fight and kill still more bills in 2020/1.
It's part of the long trend in which all levels of government make policy based on what serves the interests of the rich and powerful, not the people they serve.
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My latest @locusmag column is "Tech Monopolies and the Insufficient Necessity of Interoperability," an essay about the goal of competition and its handmaiden, interoperability, namely, "technological self-determination."
I don't fight monopolies because they're "inefficient." I fight them because they deprive everyone - workers, users, suppliers - of the right to decide how to live our lives, both by eliminating competitors who might offer superior choices and by locking us into their silos.
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A monopolized world is one in which a tiny number of people get the final say over every aspect of your life: where and how you live, work, socialize, shop, politick, love, convalesce - even how you die.
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At its outset, American copyright provided for 14 years of exclusivity, renewable for another 14 years by the author, but - crucially - not by the publisher. This was a shrewd move by the US Framers, because it meant the publisher had to convince the author to file paperwork.
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If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Most authors have very little bargaining leverage at the outset of their publishing deals, and even when the author's prior accomplishments afford them some bargaining power, a new book is, by definition, an unknown quantity, and the fair price for it is debatable.
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