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Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
@doctorow
Oct 7, 2022 • 38 tweets • 40 min read • Read on X
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Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: "Don't spy on a privacy lab" (and other career advice for university provosts); and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2022/10/07/sen…

#Pluralistic 1/
I'm coming to #Miami!

Tues (Oct 12): event for "Chokepoint Capitalism" @BooksandBooks (@rgibli's and my new book about creative labor markets and monopoly power)

booksandbooks.com/event/in-perso…

Weds (Oct 13): @JoinLincoln's Reboot Conference:

eventbrite.com/e/reboot-2022-… 2/
"Don't spy on a privacy lab" (and other career advice for university provosts): Northeastern grad student vs surveillance-driven austerity.

3/
Hey look at this

* Contrepreneurs: The Mikkelsen Twins (h/t @Metafilter)

* The Onion's first Supreme Court amicus brief supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/2…

* Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew perform Remain in Light (h/t Xtrasilky) 4/
#20yrsago @neilhimself kicks McFarlane’s ass in court icv2.com/articles/comic…

#20yrsago Homeless Guy blog web.archive.org/web/2002092315…

#20yrsago 9/11, war in Iraq threaten Disney parks latimes.com/archives/la-xp…

#20yrsago 1Mb/s through mud web.archive.org/web/2002120511… 5/
#20yrsago @StevenLevy’s wireless neighbors newsweek.com/i-was-wi-fi-fr…

#15yrsago Modern phrenologists “predict” terrorism with biometrics sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/…

#15yrsago Great firewall of China blocks RSS arstechnica.com/uncategorized/… 6/
#15yrsago @cmdrtaco on 10 years of Slashdot web.archive.org/web/2007101011…

#15yrsago HMG orders Heathrow to fix its security queues theguardian.com/business/2007/…

#15yrsago Canadian mint: We own the words “one cent” and Toronto can’t use them tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/1… 7/
#15yrsago Revolution in Jesusland: building bridges between progressives and born-agains web.archive.org/web/2007101102…

#15yrsago Unlocking an iPhone is legal slate.com/technology/200… 8/
#10yrsago 68,000 Texans no longer have to prove they’re not dead in order to vote loweringthebar.net/2012/10/texas-…

#10yrsago Maine GOP attack-flier condemns Democratic candidate for playing an orc rogue in online game arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20… 9/
#10yrsago UN’s copyright agency won’t let the Pirate Party in web.archive.org/web/2012100704… (ha ha only serious)ppi-blocked-from-becoming-observer-members-of-wipo/

#10yrsago Sailor Twain: don’t fall in love with the mermaid of the Hudson valley memex.craphound.com/2012/10/04/sai… 10/
#10yrsago Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium: @JonStewart and @BillOReilly’s debate kicked ass theguardian.com/world/2012/oct…

#10yrsago Supreme Court case will decide whether you own your stuff marketwatch.com/story/your-rig… 11/
#5yrsago After massive breach Equifax gets $7.25m no-bid IRS contract to “prevent fraud” consumerist.com/2017/10/04/irs…

#5yrsago Analysis of 22 million FCC comments show that humans love Net Neutrality and bots really, really hate it gravwell.io/blog/discoveri… 12/
#5yrsago Average Fortune 500 CEO gets a pension of $253,088 every month until they die latimes.com/business/lazar…

#5yrsago Disgraced Equifax CEO blames 145.5 million-record breach on a single forgetful flunky engadget.com/2017-10-03-for… 13/
#5yrsago Hackers hack hackers to steal their hacking tools and deflect blame theintercept.com/2017/10/04/mas…

#5yrsago “Court guardians” kidnap old people, sell all their stuff, doom victims to pharmaceutical oblivion in institutions newyorker.com/magazine/2017/… 14/
#5yrsago Theresa May coughs through a catastrophic party conference speech plagued by pranks and a crumbling set cnn.com/2017/10/04/eur…

#5yrsago Lifelong Kindergarten: how to learn like a kid, by the co-creator of Scratch memex.craphound.com/2017/10/04/lif… 15/
#5yrsago @Slashdot is 20 meta.slashdot.org/story/17/10/03…

#5yrsago Canary claws back cloud features from its IoT camera, starts charging $10/month theverge.com/circuitbreaker… 16/
#5yrsago Prisoners sent to Christian “rehab” diversion programs find themselves in forced-labor camps revealnews.org/article/they-t…

#5yrsago Seattle’s Nazi tech-bros’ plan: infiltrate tech industry, hire white supremacists thestranger.com/news/2017/10/0… 17/
#5yrsago Equifax will make hundreds of millions in extra profits from its apocalyptic breach (forever) fortune.com/2017/10/04/equ…

#5yrsago Georgia Sheriff and deputies indicted for repeatedly touching the junk of 900 students at local high-school techdirt.com/2017/10/06/she… 18/
#5yrsago JP Morgan-Chase paid its billions in fines for mortgage fraud by committing billions in mortgage fraud web.archive.org/web/2017100513… 19/
#5yrsago Corporations form coalition to ask a court to ban coalitions (of people the corporations have screwed over) theintercept.com/2017/10/06/con…

#1yrago We paid to develop Merck's covid pill: And now they're charging us a 4,000% markup on it pluralistic.net/2021/10/06/mer… 20/
#1yrago Dave Eggers' "The Every": A tragicomic look at Big Tech, following from "The Circle" pluralistic.net/2021/10/05/mas…

#1yrago USPS pilots postal banking pluralistic.net/2021/10/04/avo…

#1yrago The Pandora Papers pluralistic.net/2021/10/04/avo… 21/
#1yrago Savage Love A-Z: A bestiary of good sex pluralistic.net/2021/10/04/avo…

#1yrago Scottish Limited Partnerships are still laundering criminal millions: Offshore is actually onshore pluralistic.net/2021/10/07/mar… 22/
#1yrago "Inclusive Access" allows textbook monopolists to permanently consolidate their gains: Universities are auto-billing students for high-priced, self-destructing textbooks they can't loan or sell pluralistic.net/2021/10/07/mar… 23/
#1yrago DoS a federal agency, then charge for access: Enq carries on a tradition of genuinely terrible startup ideas pluralistic.net/2021/10/07/mar… 24/
Monday's threads: An antitrust murder whodunnit; and more!

25/
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… 26/
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… 27/
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/ 28/
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-… 29/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* Chokepoint Capitalism Event, @ArgoBookshop (Montreal), Oct 23
eventbrite.ca/e/cory-doctoro…

* Surviving Apocalyptic Economics, with @Rushkoff and @rgibli, Ottawa @Writersfest, 10/24
writersfestival.org/events/fall-20… 30/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

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

* Arthur C Clarke Award (DC), 11/16
mailchi.mp/2e2b8a01e992/s… 31/
Recent appearances:

* Regulating the Online Public Sphere (@ColumbiaGFoE)


* Canadians Connected 2022 with @AmberMac:


* Amazon Billing Amazon for Amazon (@trashfuturepod)
trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/amazon-billi… 32/
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… 33/
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/2022/10/07/sen… 34/
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… 35/
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 36/
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… 37/
Today's top sources: Max von Hippel (@maxvonhippel). 38/

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More from @doctorow

Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
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
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
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
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
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
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
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
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
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
Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
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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