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Cory Doctorow

@doctorow

Feb 9

Early in the 19th century, philosophers like Bentham railed against #champerty, whereby "unscrupulous nobles and officials lent their names to bolster the credibility of doubtful and fraudulent claims in return for a share of the property recovered."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champerty… 1/

On its face, the practice of inviting investors to back litigation against deep-pocketed, corrupt parties sounds pretty good. 2/

Large corporations and wealthy individuals have enormous litigation warchests that allow them to abuse people with impunity, using their cash to draw out lawsuits until their victims run out of money for lawyers. 3/

Read 39 tweets

Cory Doctorow

@doctorow

Feb 9

@KyleKulinski

Hey @KyleKulinski! I'd love a chance to talk with you about a better alternative to turning platforms into regulated utilities (which will just give them more power - that's the strategy that led to AT&T surviving intact for 68 years after its initial antitrust investigation)

Rather than deputizing the wildly imperfect and unperfectable platforms as arms of the state - with powerful stakeholders in the national security blob who will defend their continued bad acts - we could make them weaker.

Key to this is increasing interoperability with Big Tech, so new platforms - co-ops, nonprofits, hobby projects AND startups - can offer their users more tailored moderation policies, better privacy guarantees, etc.

Read 12 tweets

Cory Doctorow

@doctorow

Feb 8

Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Pixels of You; Wall Street's landlord business is turning every rental into a slum; UK Tories want a national database of porn-viewing habits; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wal…

#Pluralistic 1/

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1490863270533779460

Pixels of You: A illustrated tale of love and photos.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1490863270533779460

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1491094864204812293

Wall Street's landlord business is turning every rental into a slum: And they're using public money to do it.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1491094864204812293

Read 19 tweets

Cory Doctorow

@doctorow

Feb 8

UK PM Boris Johnson has built a career out of running across rivers on the backs of alligators, always moving fast enough that he escapes their jaws. His career is a long string of outrageous scandals: lying, fraud, infidelity, abuse, all escaped with impunity. 1/

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:

pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wal… 2/

Like any self-respecting posh sociopath, Boris knows how to fail up. But eventually, even the nimblest of gator-racers loses a step and finds a set of jaws clamped around his leg. 3/

Read 15 tweets

Cory Doctorow

@doctorow

Feb 8

Shelter is a human right and a necessity for human thriving. The choice to turn speculation on our homes into a path to social mobility inevitably led to the crash of 2008 and 3.7 million US foreclosures.

gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-… 1/

In the Great Financial Crisis, Obama administration bailed out banks, not borrowers, giving banks capital to buy those foreclosed homes in bulk. This was only accelerated by the Trump covid bailot, which sent trillions into the finance industry.

pluralistic.net/2022/01/27/ext… 2/

Wall Street landlords are the worst. There's a Wall St landlord playbook: deep cuts to maintenance that leave homes all but uninhabitable; scorching rent-hikes; and mass evictions any time a tenant balks at either measure.

memex.craphound.com/2018/07/30/wal… 3/

Read 33 tweets