Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Jul 12, 2021 21 tweets 17 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Podcasting "Tech Monopolies and the Insufficient Necessity of Interoperability"; The Sacklers will get to keep billions; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2021/07/12/mon…

#Pluralistic

1/
Tomorrow, July 13, I'm doing a benefit appearance at the Project Abraham Book Club to help raise funds for Yazidi refugees in Canada. We'll be talking about my book RADICALIZED.

d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/truthmustbetol…

2/
Podcasting "Tech Monopolies and the Insufficient Necessity of Interoperability": Corporate rivalries vs public power.



3/
The Sacklers will get to keep billions: What's a little mass-murder between friends?



4/
#15yrsago Alanya to Alanya: feminist science fiction adventure memex.craphound.com/2006/07/12/ala…

#20yrsago Muslim cleric okays divorce-over-SMS news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-paci…

#15yrsago Techno remix of Sen. Steven’s “The Internet is Tubes” lunacy web.archive.org/web/2006071501…

4/
#15yrsago Felten’s paper on the complexities of Network Neutrality web.archive.org/web/2006071909…

#10yrsago 3D printed hairclips inspired by Bruce Sterling’s “Kiosk” myriadwhimsies.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/jov…

#5yrsago To see the future, visit the most remote areas of the GBAO medium.com/studio-d/6-1-g…

5/
#5yrsago Empirical proof that Terms of Service are “the biggest lie on the Internet” papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

#5yrsago Flawed police drug-test kits, railroading prosecutors and racism: the police-stop-to-prison pipeline propublica.org/article/common…

6/
#5yrsago Negative Swiss 50-year bond yields just shattered the global insecurity barometer slate.com/news-and-polit…

#5yrsago Teen comes out to her family on Disneyland’s Splash Mountain buzzfeednews.com/article/stepha…

7/
#1yrago Wirecard's vanished COO wanted 15,000 Libyan militiamen pluralistic.net/2020/07/11/pla…

8/
Yesterday's threads: Biden's Right to Repair will include electronics, too; and more!



9/
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…

10/
My book "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism" is a critique of Big Tech connecting conspiratorial thinking to the rise of tech monopolies (proposing a way to deal with both) is now out in paperback:

onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy…

Signed copies here:
darkdel.com/store/p2024/Av…

11/
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/

12/
Upcoming appearances:

* Project Abraham book club (to benefit Yezidi refugees), July 13,
d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/truthmustbetol…

* Privacy Without Monopoly, @Defcon 29, Aug 7
defcon.org/html/defcon-29…

13/
Recent appearances:

* Launch for @unshavedmouse's When the Sparrow Falls (@MystGalaxyBooks):
crowdcast.io/e/virtual-even…

* The Bitcoin Podcast:
thebitcoinpodcast.com/the-bitcoin-po…

* The Rent's Too Damned High, @MacroCheese:
realprogressives.org/podcast_episod…

14/
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…

15/
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/2021/07/12/mon…

16/
If you're a @Medium subscriber, you can read these - and upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.

17/
My latest @Medium column is "Are We Having Fun Yet?" part one of a series on themepark design, queing theory, immersive entertainment, and load-balancing.

doctorow.medium.com/b-are-we-havin…

18/
If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is ad- and tracker-free, and utterly unadorned save a daily emoji. Today's is "🏌️". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

Subscribe here: pluralistic.net/plura-list

Thanks to Protonmail411 for today's emoji!

19/
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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More from @doctorow

Nov 8
A blockbuster Reuters report by Jeff Horwitz analyzes leaked internal documents that reveal that: 10% of Meta's gross revenue comes from ads for fraudulent goods and scams, and; the company knows it, and; they decided not to do anything about it, because...

1/ A tuxedoed figure dramatically shoveing greenish pigs into a tube, from whose other end vomits forth a torrent of packaged goods. He has the head of Mark Zuckerberg's 'metaverse' avatar. He stands upon an endless field of gold coins. The background is the intaglioed upper face of the engraving of Benjamin Franklin on a US$100 bill, roughed up to a dark and sinister hue.
If you'd like an essay-formatted 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:

pluralistic.net/2025/11/08/fae…

2/
...The fines for facilitating this life-destroying fraud are far less than the expected revenue from helping to destroy its users' lives:



3/reuters.com/investigations…
Read 59 tweets
Nov 7
While I formulated the idea of enshittification to refer to digital platforms and their specific technical characteristics, economics and history, I am very excited to see other theorists extend the idea of enshittification beyond tech and into wider policy realms.

1/ A Gilded Age editorial cartoon depicting a muscular worker and a corpulent millionaire squaring off for a fight; the millionaire's head has been replaced with the poop emoji from the cover of 'Enshittification,' its mouth covered in a grawlix-scrawled black bar.
If you'd like an essay-formatted 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:

pluralistic.net/2025/11/07/pos…

2/
There's an easy, loose way to do this, which is using "enshittification" to refer to "things generally getting worse." To be clear, I am *fine* with this:



3/pluralistic.net/2024/10/14/pea…
Read 89 tweets
Oct 29
Amazon made $35b profit last year. They're celebrating by firing 14k workers (a number they say will rise to 30k). It's the kind of thing Wall St loves. It comes after a string of pronouncements from Andy Jassy about how AI is going to let him fire *tons* of workers.

1/ A black and white image of an armed overseer supervising several chain-gang prisoners in stripes doing forced labor. The overseer's head has been replaced with the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The prisoners' heads have been replaced with hackers' hoodies.   Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg  CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
If you'd like an essay-formatted 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:

pluralistic.net/2025/10/29/wor…

2/
That's the AI story, after all. It's not about making workers more productive or creative.

3/
Read 45 tweets
Oct 11
I am an environmentalist, but I'm not a climate activist. I used to be - I even used to ring strangers' doorbells on behalf of Greenpeace.

1/ A field of utility scale solar. Behind the mountains on the horizon line loom two logos: the original EFF 'clenched fist and lightning bolt' logo and the first Earth Day logo. They are reflected in the solar panels. Behind them roils hellish red-shot smoke.
If you'd like an essay-formatted 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:

pluralistic.net/2025/10/11/cyb…

2/
But a quarter of a century ago, I fell in with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and became a lifelong digital rights activist, and switched to cheering on environmental activists from the sidelines of their fight:



3/eff.org
Read 53 tweets
Sep 27
Like you, I'm sick to the back teeth of talking about AI. Like you, I keep getting dragged into AI discussions. Unlike you‡, I spent the summer writing a book on why I'm sick of AI⹋, which @fsgbooks will publish in 2026.

‡probably

⹋"The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI"

1/ A Zimbabwean one hundred trillion dollar bill; the bill's iconography have been replaced with the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' and a stylized, engraving-style portrait of Sam Altman.  Image: TechCrunch https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sam_Altman_-_TechCrunch_Disrupt_SF_2017_(36522988343).jpg  CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en  --  Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg  CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
If you'd like an essay-formatted 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:

pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/eco…

2/
A week ago, I turned that book into a speech, which I delivered as the annual Nordlander Memorial Lecture at Cornell, where I'm an AD White Professor-at-Large.

3/
Read 52 tweets
Sep 24
Billionaires don't think we're real. How could they? How could you inflict the vast misery that generates billions while still feeling even a twinge of empathy for the sufferer in your extractive enterprise. No wonder Elon Musk calls us "NPCs":



1/ pluralistic.net/2025/08/18/see…  An oil painting of a French king atop a throne, draped in sumptuous robes. His head has been replaced with a screaming, toothless man wearing a top-hat. Over his shoulder looms the hostile red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.'  Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg  CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
If you'd like an essay-formatted 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:

pluralistic.net/2025/09/24/rob…

2/
Ever notice how people get palpably stupider as they gain riches and power? Musk went from a cringe doofus to a world-class credulous dolt, and it seems like he loses five IQ points for every $10b that's added to his net worth.

3/
Read 26 tweets

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