Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Nov 21, 2022 41 tweets 37 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Universities secretly sold their students to online casinos; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2022/11/21/rah…

#Pluralistic 1/ A gaudy casino floor. In th...
My publisher @torbooks and @goodreads are drawing for a giveaway of advance copies of my next novel, "Red Team Blues," a Silicon Valley forensic accounting thriller about a cryptocurrency heist - If you're in the US or Canada, enter here to win a copy:

goodreads.com/giveaway/show/… 2/ Image
Tomorrow (11/22), I'm hosting a @CalBookClub event with Kim Stanley Robinson where we'll be discussing his 1998 novel "The Gold Coast":

altaonline.com/california-boo… 3/
Universities secretly sold their students to online casinos: It's varsity-level corruption.

4/ Image
Hey look at this

* Watch an @iFixit employee shoot a battery with a nailgun to teach us safety theverge.com/2022/11/18/234…

* Twitter Is Going Great twitterisgoinggreat.com (h/t @BoingBoing)

* "AOC" Handmade Moments/John Craigie (h/t Cindy Cohn) 5/ Image
#20yrsago BBC’s new site learns from you memex.craphound.com/2002/11/20/bbc…

#20yrsago Turducken: chicken-in-duck-in-turkey nytimes.com/2002/11/20/din…

#20yrsago The DMCA and the Mac web.archive.org/web/2002120419… 6/ Image
#20yrsago Ten Commandments judge Roy Moore overruled by Supreme Court salon.com/2005/06/28/ten…

#15yrsago Open Rights Groups – the first two years openrightsgroup.org/blog/open-righ…

#15yrsago Engraved Victorian tentacle-horrors from Dan Hillier danhillier.com 7/ Image
#15yrsago Disney lawyers enstupidize ride with dumb legal disclaimer flickr.com/photos/unsuper…

#15yrsago UK tax authorities repeatedly lose 25m peoples' tax records theguardian.com/politics/2007/… 8/ Image
#15yrsago Sardine in Outer Space: Cheerful anarchist comix for kids memex.craphound.com/2007/11/20/sar…

#15yrsago Time’s Joe Klein gets everything wrong in column about NSA domestic spying wired.com/2007/11/times-… 9/ Image
#10yrsago Five reasons to opt out of TSA pornoscanners this weekend huffpost.com/entry/5-reason…

#10yrsago Creationist fifth grade science textbook used in Louisiana public school buzzfeednews.com/article/andrew… 10/ Image
#10yrsago Toronto Mayor Rob Ford demonstrates his governance style memex.craphound.com/2012/11/21/tor…

#10yrsago Beyond the public debt: making a wider case for openness theguardian.com/technology/201… 11/ Image
#10yrsago US publishers sabotage treaty on the rights of people with print disabilities eff.org/deeplinks/2012…

#10yrsago Buyer beware: Nintendo nukes $400 worth of downloaded content during DRM-fail migration to Wii U arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11… 12/ Image
#10yrsago Bibliomat: a vending machine for random rare and antiquarian books (with satisfying clunk) vimeo.com/53679084

#10yrsago Cowardice: Gutless House Republicans retract copyright paper in less than 24 hours techdirt.com/2012/11/17/tha… 13/ Image
#10yrsago Artist arrested at Oakland airport for wearing ornate watch cbsnews.com/news/man-with-…

#10yrsago Absurd licensing terms imposed on public domain works by libraries and museums papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… 14/ Image
#10yrsago Solitaire.exe: a real deck of cards based on Windows 98 Solitaire evan-roth.com/work/solitaire…

#5yrsago After a Freedom of Information lawsuit, the White House visitor logs are now available online as a free searchable database projects.propublica.org/graphics/wh-co… 15/ Image
#5yrsago The stairs in a viral sensation public library in China run with blood, and its “books” are just sheets of aluminum screened with pictures of spines yahoo.com/news/chinas-fu… 16/ Image
#5yrsago The FCC will move to kill net neutrality over Thanksgiving and it thinks that we’ll all be too busy eating and shopping to notice techdirt.com/2017/11/21/fcc… 17/ Image
#5yrsago Paul Ryan imagines “Cindy,” a hypothetical beneficiary of his tax plan, doesn’t realize she and her child are starving to death shadowproof.com/2017/11/20/pau… 18/ Image
#5yrsago Trump’s Oklahoma campaign manager, who once introduced an anti-immigrant law to “stop sex trafficking of children,” admits to trafficking young boy for sex americanindependent.com/trump-campaign… 19/ Image
#5yrsago Wall Street and Trump are about to kill the CFPB, the only government agency that effectively polices bank scams, crimes and frauds theintercept.com/2017/11/18/wal… 20/ Image
#5yrsago Candid Wall Street barons worry that GOP tax plan will lead to literal euthanasia of the rentier vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/w… 21/
#5yrsago The Trump-funding, democracy-denying, Gawker-destroying Peter Thiel is finally no longer involved with Y Combinator buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma… 22/ Image
#5yrsago Scientist puts his dog on the editorial boards of seven predatory journals as proof of their negligence perthnow.com.au/news/wa/the-pe… 23/ Image
#5yrsago Puerto Rico, abandoned by Trump and facing disaster capitalism looting by big business, turns to socialist and anarchist collectives to rebuild nybooks.com/online/2017/11… 24/ Image
#5yrsago America’s private health-care is rationed, but socialized medicine is luxury medicine jacobin.com/2017/11/single…

#5yrsago How technology’s built in “engagement maximization” destroys mental health in the Trump age, and what to do about it memex.craphound.com/2017/11/20/how… 25/ Image
#5yrsago After Roy Moore threatens to sue AL.com, the publisher puts him on notice to preserve all documents for their countersuit

#1yrago Inflation or price-gouging?: Big business loves inflation talk pluralistic.net/2021/11/20/qui… 26/ Image
#1yrago Harvard is full of rich, white low-achievers pluralistic.net/2021/11/18/bip…

#1yrago This is your Congress on drugs: Corruption kills pluralistic.net/2021/11/18/bip…

#1yrago Teamsters transformed pluralistic.net/2021/11/19/hof… 27/ Image
Thursday's threads: Private equity health-care monopolies are on a profitable killing spree; and more!

28/  Image: Rae Allen (modified...
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… 29/
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… 30/
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/ 31/ Image
Upcoming appearances:

* Kim Stanley Robinson's Gold Coast (@CalBookClub), Nov 22
altaonline.com/california-boo…

* Conversation with @superwuster, #Informed22/@knightfdn (Miami), 11/30:
informed22.interkinnect.com 32/ Image
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* Library Learning Experience/@ALALibrary (New Orleans), 1/27-30
2023.alaliblearnx.org/cory-doctorow

* @Aus_Digital Copyright Forum (Canberra), 2/17:
digital.org.au/2022/11/08/doc… 33/ Image
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* Antitrust, Regulation and the Political Economy (Brussels), Mar 2:
brusselsconference.com/registration 34/ Image
Recent appearances:

* @teamhumanshow interview
teamhuman.fm/episodes/229-c…

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

* Copyright Waffle (@UKCopyrightLit)
soundcloud.com/user-243274189… 35/ 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/2022/11/21/rah… 36/
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. 37/
My latest @Medium column is "Anything That Can’t Go On Forever Will Eventually Stop: Ticketmaster and Ideas Lying Around"

doctorow.medium.com/anything-that-… 38/
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 39/
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… 40/
Today's top sources: @jstruan (superpunch.net). 41/ Image

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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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