Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Nov 14, 2022 23 tweets 23 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Even if you're paying for the product, you're still the product; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/lux…

#Pluralistic 1/ An Apple 'Privacy. That's iPhone.' ad. The three rear-facing
Hey #DC! There's a *very special* invite-only book party for "Chokepoint Capitalism" on Thu (Nov 17) and while it's not a public event, there's a limited number of spaces I can distribute on a first come/first serve basis. If you'd like to come, email doctorow@craphound.com! 2/
Wed (11/16) I'm in #DC to receive the Arthur C Clarke Award:
clarkefoundation.org/2022-awards-ev…

11/17, I'm in a @library_futures webinar:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

11/18, I'm in #Baltimore at @thePeale:
thepeale.org/event/book-tal…

11/19, I'm at Sky Live in #London:
news.sky.com/bigideaslive 3/
Even if you're paying for the product, you're still the product: Incentives matter, but impunity matters more.

4/ Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wik
Hey look at this

* Universal Benefits Cost Less Than Means-Tested Ones peoplespolicyproject.org/2022/11/11/uni…

* Medieval Times workers in Buena Park vote 27:18 to unionize latimes.com/business/story…

* Sam Bankman-Fried, who just lost $16b, “would never read a book.” lithub.com/crypto-nerd-sa… 5/
#20yrsago HG Wells, ripoff artist salon.com/2002/11/07/mck…

#15yrsago Kremlin uses software piracy laws to shut down dissident media outlets washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content…

#15yrsago 1.8 million pages of US federal case law to go online for free public.resource.org/case_law_annou… 6/
#15yrsago Japanese “melody roads” play tunes as you drive over them theguardian.com/world/2007/nov…

#15yrsago Rewired: Post-Cyberpunk Anthology shows how sf has changed since the Mirroshades era memex.craphound.com/2007/11/14/rew… 7/
#15yrsago I Want Sandy – perfect productivity email bot is free and public web.archive.org/web/2007111404…

#10yrago Gerrymandering in North Carolina: win motherjones.com/politics/2012/… 8/
#10yrsago Campaign to opt out of pornoscanners & video TSA checkpoints at Thanksgiving web.archive.org/web/2012111701…

#10yrsago World’s oldest hacker radio show under threat web.archive.org/web/2012111606… 9/
#5yrsago Step-by-step guide to locking down your Facebook account wired.com/story/how-to-l…

#5yrsago What it takes to actually stop a determined, vengeful cyberstalker wired.com/story/how-one-…

#5yrsago Verizon is finally killing Compuserve Forums fastcompany.com/40495831/compu… 10/
#5yrsago Congressional Republican candor: everyone hates our tax plan except the CEOs we depend on for campaign millions nymag.com/intelligencer/…

#1yrago Vizio makes more money spying on people who buy TVs than it does on TVs themselves pluralistic.net/2021/11/14/sti… 11/
Yesterday's threads: The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've ever broken; and more!

12/
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… 13/
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… 14/
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/ 15/
Upcoming appearances:

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

* @library_futures Webinar, 11/17
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

* Chokepoint Capitalism at @ThePeale Museum (Baltimore), 11/18:
thepeale.org/event/book-tal… 16/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* Big Ideas Live (London), 11/19
news.sky.com/bigideaslive

* Conversation with @Superwuster, #Informed22/@knightfdn (Miami), 11/30:
informed22.interkinnect.com

* @Aus_Digital Copyright Forum (Canberra), 2/17:
digital.org.au/2022/11/08/doc… 17/
Recent appearances:

* How big tech traps consumers and shafts creators (@IrishTimes)
shows.acast.com/inside-politic…

* Copyright Waffle (@UKCopyrightLit)
soundcloud.com/user-243274189…

* Surviving Apocalyptic Economics (@teamhumanshow)
teamhuman.fm/episodes/survi… 18/
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/2022/11/14/lux… 19/
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 "They Want to Kill Libraries"

doctorow.medium.com/they-want-to-k… 20/
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 21/
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… 22/
Today's top sources: @Slashdot (slashdot.org). 23/

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More from @doctorow

Nov 1
"Switching costs" are one of the great underappreciated evils in our world: the more it costs you to change from one product or service to another, the worse the vendor, provider, or service you're using today can treat you without risking your business.

1/ A painting of Moses parting the Red Sea, with taerrified and grateful Israelites around his feet and an onrushing army of charioteers in pursuit. Moses has been replaced with a vintage editorial cartoon depicting Uncle Sam as a stern cop holding out a billyclub, on his breast is the crest of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. The roiling Red Sea has been overlaid with a US $100 bill.
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/2024/11/01/ban…

2/
Businesses set out to keep switching costs as high as possible. Literally. Mark Zuckerberg's capos send him memos chortling about how Facebook's new photos feature will punish anyone who leaves for a rival service with the loss of all their family photos.

3/
Read 43 tweets
Oct 29
I think it behooves us to be skeptical of stories about AI driving people to believe wrong things and commit ugly actions. Not that I like the AI slop that is filling up our social media, but when we look at the ways that AI is harming us, slop is pretty low on the list.

1/ A man lying in a hospital bed, wearing a sinister mind-control helmet. His hands are clenched into fists and he is grimacing. Through a hole in the wall we see a prancing vaudevallian, whose head has been replaced with the head of Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse avatar. Behind this figure is the giant red eye of HAL9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' At the end of the bed stand a trio - Mom, Dad and daughter - in Sunday best clothes, their backs to us, staring at the mind-controlled man's face.  Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg  CC ...
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/2024/10/29/hob…

2/
The real AI harms come from the actual things that AI companies sell AI to do. There's the AI gun-detector gadgets that the credulous Mayor Eric Adams put in NYC subways, which led to 2,749 invasive searches and turned up *zero* guns:



3/cbsnews.com/newyork/news/n…
Read 57 tweets
Oct 26
Two decades ago, I was part of a group of nerds who got really interested in how each other managed to do what we did. The effort was kicked off by @mala, who called it "Lifehacking" and I played a small role in getting that term popularized:



1/ craphound.com/lifehacksetcon…A 1930s-era suited male figure seated at a formal desk that is mounted high with papers. His head has been replaced with that of a grinning elephant. Reaching through the papers, parting them like the Red Sea, is a giant, friendly male hand, along with a bit of shirt and suit-cuff.
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/2024/10/26/one…

2/
While we were all devoted to sharing tips and tricks from our own lives, many of us converged on an outside expert, David Allen, and his bestselling book "Getting Things Done" (GTD, to those in the know):



3/gettingthingsdone.com
Read 53 tweets
Oct 24
A paradox: in 1970, most Americans found it relatively easy to afford a house, and the average US house cost 5.9x the average US income. In 2024, Americans find it nearly impossible to afford a house, and the average American house costs...5.9x the average American income.

1/ A cowboy-hatted, tuxedoed, cigar-smoking Ronald Reagan sits at a coffin/table with the angel of death, which is gesticulating wildly. Reagan holds a green Monopoly house; several more, and a hotel, rest on the coffin before him. The hazy edges of the scene give way to a sepia-tinted, vintage aerial photo of the Levittown suburbs
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/2024/10/24/i-d…

2/
Feels like a puzzler, right? Can it really be true that the average American house is as affordable to the average American earner as it was in 1970?

3/
Read 32 tweets
Oct 23
If Trump's norm-breaking is a threat to democracy (and it is), what should Democrats do? Will breaking norms to defeat norms only accelerate the collapse of norms, or do we fight fire with fire, breaking norms to resist the slide into tyranny?

1/ A rearing GOP elephant (with Trump's hair) facing off against bucking Democratic mule. Between them is a grimacing Statue of Liberty, leaning to one side. Behind the Trump elephant looms a clown with a MAGA clown-hat, brandishing a pistol. Behind the Democratic mule is a science worker using a set of tongs to add a glowing atom to a giant test-tube full of technological artifacts. Behind them roil dark purplish storm-clouds.
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/2024/10/23/eis…

2/
Writing for @TheProspect, @rickperlstein writes how "every time the forces of democracy broke a reactionary deadlock, they did it by breaking some norm that stood in the way":



3/prospect.org/politics/2024-…
Read 42 tweets
Oct 21
One of the most consequential series of investigative journalism of this decade was the @Propublica series that @eisingerj helmed, in which Eisinger and colleagues analyzed a trove of leaked IRS tax returns for the richest people in America:



1/ propublica.org/series/the-sec…A 19th century Puck editorial cartoon of Uncle Sam standing between two funhouse mirrors, one of which depicts him as an emaciated, terrified figure; the other depicts him as a fat and happy fellow. The background is a highly magnified US $100 bill. Over the 'fat' mirror the text from US banknotes: 'This note is legal tender for all debts private and public.'
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/2024/10/21/we-…

2/
The Secret IRS Files revealed the fact that many of America's oligarchs pay no tax at all. Some of them even get subsidies intended for poor families, like Jeff Bezos.

3/
Read 86 tweets

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