Thread by @doctorow

"Innovation" is in very bad odor these days. "Disruption" is even more disreputable. 1/

But as tech and the global south researcher @qadrida writes in @wired, "innovation" isn't limited to inventing unregulated banks and calling them "fintech" and "disruption" is more than just misclassifying employees as contractors.

wired.com/story/disrupti… 2/

Qadri studies workers who are seizing the means of computation, reverse-engineering and repurposing the apps that are meant to keep them in bondage and setting themselves free. Her research on gig drivers in Jakarta is essential reading:

pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuy… 3/

Indonesian drivers have banded together to build clubhouses that serve as break-rooms, union halls, tech workshops and scooter maintenance depots. 4/

These centers are the birthplace of #tuyul apps, which allow workers to resist algorithmic "optimization" and adapt their working conditions to improve their pay and safety. 5/

In her new piece, Qadri cites other "tech workers" - low-waged, casualized workers, dispatched and managed by apps - who use technology to take back control, from "farmers who strike against a smart city plan" to riders who band together to get back their stolen scooters. 6/

This is mutual aid, with code. It is every bit as innovative and disruptive as Uber or Amazon, but because it is done *by* workers, rather than *to* workers, it is not recognized as such. 7/

Indeed, when workers modify the apps that script their movements, they're called "criminals," not "innovators." 8/

Take @Doordash's smear campaign against Para, an app that let delivery drivers find out how much a job paid before they took it (Doordash hides compensation from drivers in hopes of tricking them into taking unprofitable runs):

eff.org/deeplinks/2021… 9/

Doordash called Para a criminal app, baselessly accused it of identity theft, and insisted that drivers had no right to know how much they were going to get paid before they committed to a job. 10/

But as Para shows, seizing the means of computation is an important strategy for workers seeking a better life. The tactics of #AdversarialInteroperability (AKA #CompetitiveCompatibility or #Comcom) can transfer power from Goliaths to Davids:

eff.org/deeplinks/2019… 11/

But the *soi-disant* disruptors of the business world will not tolerate being disrupted themselves. 12/

Uber is content to skirt labor, safety and transportation policy, but would scream bloody murder if drivers and riders hacked the app to make it obsolete:

locusmag.com/2019/01/cory-d… 13/

Image:
Hugh D’Andrade/EFF (modified)
eff.org/about/staff/hu…

Cryteria (modified)
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9…

CC BY 3.0:
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.… 14/

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:

pluralistic.net/2022/02/21/con…