Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Oct 3, 2022 31 tweets 31 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: An antitrust murder whodunnit; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2022/10/03/pow…

#Pluralistic 1/ A modified version of a Soviet propaganda cartoon called 'Ca
Tomorrow (Oct 4), I'm appearing remotely in a @BKCHarvard seminar about "Chokepoint Capitalism," the book Rebecca Giblin and I just published about monopoly and unfairness in creative labor markets.

cyber.harvard.edu/events/chokepo… 2/
An antitrust murder whodunnit: I accuse Judge Bork with the Powell Memo in the smoke-filled room.

3/
Hey look at this

* Disability Inclusion Fund RFP docs.google.com/document/d/1RB…

* RIP, Chandler Davis: political prisoner, sf writer, mathematician caseazatmiftakhov.org/2022/09/28/cha…

* The seer and the seen: Surveying Palantir’s surveillance platform tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10… 4/
#20yrsago Why is it so hard to get a cab in San Francisco? web.archive.org/web/2002100304…

#20yrsago Notes from OSXCon’s DRM and Digital Hub panel web.archive.org/web/2002101823…

#20yrsago Sidekick, your mobile blogging pal web.archive.org/web/2002101712… 5/
#15yrsago RIAA: Our anti-fan lawsuits are costing us millions arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

#15yrsago Can “girl games” transcend shopping, fashion and babies? wonderlandblog.com/wonderland/200…

#15yrsago Charlie Stross’s Halting State: Heist novel about an MMORPG memex.craphound.com/2007/10/02/cha… 6/
#15yrsago The Future of Ignoring Things https://web.archive.org/web/20071011000250/https://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=479&doc_id=134703&

#10yrsago Congress: The DHS’s “fusion centers” full of bad intelligence, lies, and imaginary buildings nytimes.com/2012/10/03/us/… 7/
#10yrsago A Wrinkle in Time, worthy graphic novel adaptation memex.craphound.com/2012/10/03/a-w…

#10yrsago Costumes that integrate wheelchairs buzzfeed.com/babymantis/20-…

#10yrsago Japan competes with Panama to pass the world’s worst copyright law torrentfreak.com/anti-downloadi… 8/
#10yrsago The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There memex.craphound.com/2012/10/02/the…

#5yrsago The same Equifax exec who greenlit suspicious stock-sales was also in charge of cybersecurity consumerist.com/2017/10/02/the… 9/
#5yrsago Thanks to the EU, the UK’s privacy law may solve the mystery of Facebook and the last US election theguardian.com/technology/201…

#5yrsago Latest Federal Reserve figures show widening wealth inequality, and it’s much worse if you’re not white jacobin.com/2017/10/wealth… 10/
#5yrsago Spanish tech activists publish a “how-to guide for preserving fundamental rights on the Internet” xnet-x.net/en/how-to-guid…

#5yrsago @TimOReilly explains how self-driving cars will bankrupt Uber 11/
#5yrsago Taser says its weapons don’t kill people, so Reuters built a massive database of 1000+ Taser deaths reuters.com/investigates/s…

#5yrsago The London Underground thinks it can sell travelers’ attention and wifi data for £322m news.sky.com/story/tfl-may-… 12/
#5yrsago Yahoo revises number of hacked accounts from 500,000,000 to 3,000,000,000 arstechnica.com/information-te…

#5yrsago Trump’s ICE snitch-line is full of people secretly trying to deport their in-laws splinternews.com/this-is-what-i… 13/
#5yrsago Bluetooth sex toys are trivial to compromise just by walking around neighborhoods arstechnica.com/information-te…

#5yrsago /r/TheDonald on the Vegas shooting, before and after they learned it was a rich old white man reddit.com/r/sadcringe/co… 14/
#5yrsago Equifax: we missed 2.5 million people when we counted the size of our breach marketwatch.com/story/equifax-…

#5yrsago Trump’s pick for EPA pollution czar says kids are less sensitive to pollution than adults theintercept.com/2017/10/03/epa… 15/
#5yrsago Either we don’t live in a simulation, or computing works differently outside the Matrix web.archive.org/web/2017100216…

#5yrsago San Juan mayor barred from speaking on Trump’s Puerto Rico relief conference call independent.co.uk/news/world/ame… 16/
#5yrsago Supreme Court will rule on whether immigrants have constitutional rights abovethelaw.com/2017/10/does-t…

#5yrsago @greatdismal’s Archangel: a graphic story of the unfolding jackpot apocalypse memex.craphound.com/2017/10/03/wil… 17/
#1yrago How the IMF loan-sharks the global south pluralistic.net/2021/10/02/deb… 18/
Saturday's threads: How Palantir will steal the NHS; and more!

19/
My latest book is Chokepoint Capitalism (with @rgibli), nonfiction about monopoly and fairness in creative labor markets.

chokepointcapitalism.com

Signed copies available from @BookSoup:

booksoup.com/book/978080700… 20/
My latest novel is Attack Surface, a sequel to my bestselling Little Brother books, now in paperback, wherever books are sold.

Signed copies at @darkdel:

darkdel.com/store/p1840/Co… 21/
My ebooks and audiobooks (from @torbooks, @HoZ_Books, @mcsweeneys, @beaconPressBks et al) 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/ 22/
Upcoming appearances:

* Chokepoint Capitalism event, @BooksandBooks (Miami), 10/12
booksandbooks.com/event/in-perso…

* Reboot Conference, @JoinLincoln (Miami), 10/13
eventbrite.com/e/reboot-2022-…

* @LibraryJournal Day of Dialog (Zoom), 10/20
libraryjournal.com/event/library-… 23/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* Surviving Apocalyptic Economics, with @Rushkoff and @rgibli, Ottawa @Writersfest, 10/24
writersfestival.org/events/fall-20…

* @WEDF_forum, 10/26-28
worldethicaldataforum.org/registration

* Arthur C Clarke Award (DC), 11/16
mailchi.mp/2e2b8a01e992/s… 24/
Recent appearances:

* Eastern Blocks (@TWIT)
twit.tv/shows/this-wee…

* Triangulation: Chokepoint Capitalism
twit.tv/shows/twit-eve…

* Cultural Capture by Chokepoint Capitalism (@MachineKillsPod)
soundcloud.com/thismachinekil… 25/
Happy #SpookySeason! My picture book "Poesy the Monster Slayer" is the perfect read for your little monsters: it's an epic tale of bedtime-refusal, toy-hacking and monster-hunting, illustrated by @McRockefeller.

pluralistic.net/2020/07/14/poe… 26/
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/2022/10/03/pow… 27/
If you're a @Medium subscriber, you can read these essays - as well as previews of upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.

My latest @Medium column is "The True Genius of Tech Leaders"

doctorow.medium.com/the-true-geniu… 28/
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 29/
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… 30/
Today's top sources: Linda Holliday. 31/

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More from @doctorow

Feb 9
It's hard to talk about the Epstein class without thinking about "The Economy" (in the sense of a mystical, free-floating entity whose health or sickness determines the outcomes for all of us, whom we must make sacrifices to if we are to prosper).

1/ A detail of a US $100 bill. Jeffrey Epstein's mugshot has been overlaid over Benjamin Franklin's portrait. Peter Theil's portrait has been swapped for the US Dept of Treasury seal. Trump's signature has been swapped for the US Treasurer's signature. The line of zeroes after the 100, top and bottom, has been extended to the edge of the image. The image has been roughed up and recolored in a hellish mix of reds and yellows.  Image: Gage Skidmore (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Thiel_(51876609719).jpg  CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/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/2026/02/09/slo…

2/
As nebulous as "The Economy" is as an entity, there's an economic priesthood that claims it can measure and even alter the course of the economy using complex mathematics. We probably won't ever understand their methods, but we can at least follow an indicator or two.

3/
Read 31 tweets
Jan 26
The best summary of Trump's trade "philosophy" comes from Trashfuture's November Kelly, who said that Trump is flipping over the table in a poker game that's rigged in his favor because he resents having to pretend to play the game at all.

1/ A detail from a US $100 bill. The bill has been tinted orange. Ben Franklin's face has been replaced with an indistinct blur surmounted by Trump's hair. The lettering in the scrollwork beneath the portrait reads 'TRUMP.' The '100's have been turned into '000's. The writing 'ONE HUNDRED' now reads 'NONE HUNDRED.' The series issue has been changed to '47.' The Secretary of the Treasury's signature has been replaced with Trump's.
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/2026/01/26/i-d…

2/
After all, the global system of trade was designed and enforced by American officials, especially the US Trade Representative.

3/
Read 84 tweets
Jan 17
Ireland is a tax haven. In the 1970s and 1980s, life in the civil-war wracked country was hard - between poverty, scarce employment and civil unrest, the country hemorrhaged its best and brightest. As the saying went, "Ireland's top export is the Irish."

1/ A green Irish pillarbox, standing before a verdant, rolling Irish countryside. The pillarbox is emblazoned with the poop emoji from the cover of 'Enshittification,' with angry eyebrows and a grawlix-scrawled black bar over its mouth.  Image: Stuart Caie (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Double_aperture_Irish_pillar_box_in_Dublin_2008.jpg  CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en  --  Sourabh.biswas003 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PXL_20231216_105219694-Ballygalley_Larne_UK-_Irish_Countryside-Northern_Ireland_06.jpg  CC BY-SA 3.0 ht...
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/2026/01/17/eri…

2/
In desperation, Ireland's political class hit on a wild gambit: they would weaponize Ireland's sovereignty in service to corporate tax evasion.

3/
Read 35 tweets
Jan 6
Code is a liability (not an asset). Tech bosses don't understand this. They think AI is great because it produces 10,000 times more code than a programmer, but that just means it's producing 10,000 times more liabilities.

1/ A shredder, shredding a giant US$100 bill. Benjamin Franklin's head has been replaced with a cliched 'hacker in a hoodie' illustration. The machine's faceplate bears the Claude Code wordmark. The background is 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/2026/01/06/100…

2/
AI is the asbestos we're shoveling into the walls of our high-tech society:



Code is a liability. Code's *capabilities* are assets.

3/pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/eco…
Read 48 tweets
Dec 16, 2025
We are about to get a "post-American internet," because we are entering a post-American *era* and a post-American *world*. Some of that is Trump's doing, and some of that is down to his predecessors.

1/ Uncle Sam staring into a funhouse mirror that has made him painfully thin. The reflection is wearing a Trump wig and has orange skin. He stands atop a map of the world that stretches to infinity. In the background is a shantytown with the TRUMP logomark rising in the sky over it.
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/2025/12/16/k-s…

2/
When we think about the American century, we rightly focus on America's hard power - the invasions, military bases, arms exports, and CIA coups.

3/
Read 86 tweets
Dec 13, 2025
Look, I'm not trying to say that new technologies *never* raise gnarly new legal questions. But what I *am* saying is that a lot of the time, the "new legal challenges" raised by technology are somewhere between 95-100% bullshit.

1/ A modified FBI badge. It now reads 'Federal Wallet Investigators.' It is made out to 'Timothy J Shotspotter.' It is held in the three-fingered, gloved grip of a cartoon character. Around its edges, we see a cartoon room from a public domain Betty Boop cartoon.
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/2025/12/13/unc…

2/
It's ginned up by none-too-bright tech bros and their investors, and then swallowed by regulators and lawmakers who are either so credulous they'd lose a game of peek-a-boo, or (likely) in on the scam.

3/
Read 68 tweets

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