Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Oct 20, 2022 32 tweets 33 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: It was all downhill after the Cuecat; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/ben…

#Pluralistic 1/ A Cuecat scanner with a bun...
It was all downhill after the Cuecat: On the origins of "user manipulation and surveillance."

3/ Image: Jerry Whiting (modif...
Hey look at this

* Creepy Ant Face Close-Up Haunts Nikon Small World Photo Contest cnet.com/science/creepy…

* How Ticketmaster Destroyed Live Music

* Teddy Roosevelt's Application to the Explorers Club flickr.com/photos/jurvets… 4/ Image
#15yrsago @JesseBrown's radio show about gaming in China: propaganda, paranoia and gold-farming web.archive.org/web/2011092020…

#15yrsago Baseball players’ stats aren’t property espn.com/mlb/news/story… 5/ Image
#15yrsago @GreatDismal on futurism, terrorism and other isms thetyee.ca/Books/2007/10/…

#15yrsago The Counterfeiters: superb concentration camp movie about the prisoners’ dilemma memex.craphound.com/2007/10/20/the… 6/ Image
#15yrsago How the AP busted Comcast for blocking BitTorrent web.archive.org/web/2014042116…

#15yrsago Snitch-chips embedded in UK school’s uniforms archrights.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/chi…

#10yrsago Groucho meets Bradbury 7/ Image
#10yrsago Identity thief’s amazing disguise fails to fool bank, toddlers web.archive.org/web/2012102023…

#10yrsago Coming to America: Six copyright accusations, lose your Internet arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20… 8/ Image
#10yrsago Researcher claims feasibility of writing lethal wireless pacemaker viruses web.archive.org/web/2012101905…

#10yrsago Dutch government gives itself the right to break into your computer and destroy it bitsoffreedom.nl/2012/10/18/dut… 9/ Image
#10yrsago Why casual sexism in science matters web.archive.org/web/2012102102…

#10yrsago Corruption in Arizona National Guard, from “bum-hunts” to sexual harassment huffpost.com/entry/national… 10/ Image
#5yrsago NYPD has no backup for its seized property database, recording millions in annual seizures courthousenews.com/no-forfeiture-…

#5yrsago Leaked ICE forfeiture manual instructs agents to seize houses if they contain a phone implicated in crime theintercept.com/2017/10/13/ice… 11/ Image
#5yrsago Mobile ad technique allows stalkers to follow you around a city for less than $1000 adint.cs.washington.edu/ADINT.pdf

#5yrsago Troubles loom for patent trolls who rent sovereign immunity from Native American tribes arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20… 12/ Image
#5yrsago IRS to America: you were probably already doxed before the Equifaxpocalype, so don’t worry about it thehill.com/policy/cyberse… 13/ Image
#5yrsago Two of the Chicago airport cops who beat up Dr David Dao got fired for lying about it (but not for the beating) consumerist.com/2017/10/18/two…

#5yrsago The Tories replaced benefits with “universal credit” and left a town to starve theguardian.com/society/2017/o… 14/ Image
#5yrsago Viral Chinese mobile game requires players to “applaud” a speech by President Xi Jinping scmp.com/news/china/soc…

#5yrsago Quaker Apples & Cinnamon has “35% less sugar” because they’ve cut the portion size by 35%, while the price remains 100% reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuri… 15/ Image
#5yrsago Apple brought back Braun design, but Google is bringing back Olivetti medium.com/s/story/google…

#5yrsago Facebook’s security is like a “college campus,” but they face threats like a “defense contractor” zdnet.com/article/leaked… 16/ Image
#5yrsago @quinnnorton on sexual assault, community response, and restorative justice quinnnorton.medium.com/robert-scoble-…

#5yrsago Trump’s war on leakers has neutered the intelligence community’s whistleblower program, which diverts leakers foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/18/tur… 17/ Image
#5yrsago Detailed anatomy of Wisconsin’s election-rigging, racist voter suppression motherjones.com/politics/2017/…

#1yrago The monopoly strategy behind the Google/Microsoft mobile patent wars pluralistic.net/2021/10/20/viz… 18/ Image
#1yrago Copyleft lawsuit against Vizio will allow anyone to defend the commons pluralistic.net/2021/10/20/viz…

#1yrago The true, Terry Pratchett-esque origins of the trillion-dollar coin pluralistic.net/2021/10/19/moi… 19/ Image
Tuesday's threads: Being good at your job is praxis; and more!

20/  Image: Temple University L...
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… 21/
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… 22/
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/ 23/ Image
Upcoming appearances:

* @LibraryJournal Day of Dialog (Zoom), 10/20
libraryjournal.com/event/library-…

* Chokepoint Capitalism Event, @ArgoBookshop (Montreal), 10/23
eventbrite.ca/e/cory-doctoro… 24/ Image
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

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

* Launch for xychelsea's "Readme.txt: A Memoir" (Bookshop.org), 10/26:
xychelsea.tv/#event-booksho… 25/ Image
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

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

* #RadicalBookFair/@Lighthousebks (Edinburgh), 11/10
lighthousebookshop.com/events/chokepo…

* Arthur C Clarke Award (DC), 11/16
clarkefoundation.org/2022-awards-ev…

* Big Ideas Live (London), 11/19
news.sky.com/bigideaslive 26/ Image
Recent appearances:

* Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan (@lithub)
lithub.com/cory-doctorow-…

* Sex and Politics with @fakedansavage (use code "Doctorow" for a free month):
index.supportingcast.fm/subscription/t…

* Regulating the Online Public Sphere (@ColumbiaGFoE)
27/ Image
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… 28/ Image
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/2022/10/20/ben… 29/
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 "Unspeakable: Big-Tech-as-cop vs. abolishing Big Tech"

doctorow.medium.com/unspeakable-8c… 30/
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 31/
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… 32/

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More from @doctorow

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
Sep 23
I'm only a few chapters into Bill McKibben's stupendous new book *Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization* and I already know it's going to change my outlook forever:



1/ billmckibben.com/books/here-com…A rooftop solar installation. Behind the roof rages a blazing forest fire. Reflected in the solar panels is the poop emoji from the cover of my book 'Enshittification,' which has angry eyebrows and a black, grawlix-filled bar across its mouth."    Image: Bastique (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_Panels_on_Church_Roof_full.jpg  CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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/2025/09/23/our…

2/
McKibben is one of our preeminent climate writers and activists, noteworthy for his informed and brilliant explanations of the technical limits - and possibilities - of various climate interventions, and for his lifelong organizing work.

3/
Read 80 tweets
Sep 22
One of the dumbest, shrewdest tricks corporate America ever pulled was teaching us all to reflexively say, "If a corporation blocks your speech, that doesn't violate the First Amendment and therefore it's not censorship":



1/ pluralistic.net/2022/12/04/yes…Two figures in royal robes seated back to back atop a pile of gold bars. One wears a tophat, the other, a crown in the form of a gilded crown. A forest of angled broadcast towers sits behind them. The sky is overshadowed by thunderheads.
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/2025/09/22/one…

2/
Censorship isn't limited to government action: it's the act of preventing a message from a willing speaker from reaching a willing listener. The fact that it's censorship doesn't (necessarily) mean that it's illegitimate or bad.

3/
Read 62 tweets
Sep 17
Conspiratorialism is downstream of the trauma of institutional failures.

Insitutional failures are downstream of regulatory capture.

Regulatory capture is downstream of monopolization.

Monopolization is downstream of the failure to enforce antitrust law.

1/ A four-doll matrioshke, unpacked and arranged 2x2. In order, the dolls' faces have been replaced with: the Qanon logo; an Oxycontin pill, the face of Robert Bork, and Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse avatar.  Image: Vicent Ibáñez (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nina_Rusa._Mu%C3%B1eca_Rusa.JPG  CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en  --  RootOfAllLight (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:QAnon.png  CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/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/2025/09/17/cau…

2/
Start with conspiratorialism and trauma. I am staunchly pro-vaccine. I have had so many covid jabs that I glow in the dark and can get impeccable 5g reception at the bottom of a coal-mine.

Nevertheless.

3/
Read 57 tweets

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