Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Feb 1, 2023 27 tweets 28 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Johnson and Johnson's bankruptcy gambit fails; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2023/02/01/j-a…

#Pluralistic 1/ A picture of a white-out dust storm at Burning Man. A giant
From Feb 8-17, I'll be in #Australia, touring my book #ChokepointCapitalism with my co-author, @rgibli. We'll be in #Brisbane, #Melbourne, #Sydney and #Canberra, and I hope to see you!

pluralistic.net/2023/01/30/i-c… 2/
Johnson and Johnson's bankruptcy gambit fails: A key defeat in J&J's War On Vulvas.

3/  Image: James Wagstaff (modified) https://www.flickr.com/pho
Hey look at this

* Setting the Record Straight: @EFF Statement in Support of FCC Nominee @GigiNSohn eff.org/deeplinks/2023… 4/
#20yrsago #DVDs rot over time smh.com.au/national/a-bad…

#20yrsago Record exec argues for file-sharing salon.com/2003/02/01/fil…

#15yrsago Sony kills #DRM stores — your DRM music will only last until your next upgrade memex.craphound.com/2008/02/01/son… 5/
#15yrsago Amazon’s anti-DRM tee memex.craphound.com/2008/02/01/ama…

#15yrsago Chinese dissident’s “Rear Window” video of the cops keeping him under house arrest theguardian.com/news/video/200…

#10yrsago Dial-up handshaking illustrated windytan.com/2012/11/the-so… 6/
#10yrsago #RIAA bigwig who architected anti-technology lawsuits is now #2 at the #CopyrightOffice techdirt.com/2013/01/31/for… 7/
#10yrsago #Magic, #copyright, and internal enforcement mechanisms web.archive.org/web/2013020708… S Moorad Sports Law Journal/~/media/academics/journals/sportsandentertainmentlawjournal/docs/191/VLS_191_103.ashx 8/
#10yrsago Why can’t Americans look up their own case-law for free? sunlightfoundation.com/2013/02/01/ope…

#5yrsago LA’s soaring #homelessness is distorting the national statistics latimes.com/local/lanow/la… 9/
#5yrsago Teen Bo$$: a magazine advising tweens on how to get rich by being “social media brands” fashionista.com/2017/06/teen-b…

#5yrsago America’s school systems serve unencrypted web resources that are riddled with ad-tech trackers edtechstrategies.com/tracking-edu/ 10/
#5yrsago The latest #IoT #botnet displays evidence of a halfway clever botmaster technologyreview.com/2018/01/31/145…

#5yrsago The Germans have a word for all your hard-to-process Trump emotions web.archive.org/web/2018013109… 11/
#5yrsago An incredibly important paper on whether data can ever be “anonymized” and how we should handle release of large data-sets cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/publi… 12/
#5yrsago GOP candidate Rick Saccone hates government waste, bills the public purse indiscriminately for his own personal expenses, which totalled $435,172 theintercept.com/2018/02/01/ric… 13/
#5yrsago Australia put an algorithm in charge of its benefits fraud detection and plunged the nation into chaos logicmag.io/justice/auster…

#1yrago The Mafia hires good accountants pluralistic.net/2022/02/01/col… 14/
Yesterday's threads: Canada's privatised shadow civil service; and more!

15/  Image: Sam (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi
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… 16/
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… 17/
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/ 18/
Upcoming appearances:

* Chokepoint Capitalism: Can It Be Defeated? (@UCLLaws), 2/1
ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/20…

* Avid Reader (#Brisbane), 2/8
avidreader.com.au/pages/6834-Cho…

* Future of Arts/Culture/Tech, @ACMI, (#Melbourne), 2/14
acmi.net.au/whats-on/in-co… 19/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* @statelibrarynsw (#Sydney), 2/15
sl.nsw.gov.au/events/chokepo…

* ANU/@canberratimes Meet The Author (#Canberra), 2/16
anu.edu.au/events/in-conv…

* @Aus_Digital Copyright Forum (#Canberra), 2/17:
digital.org.au/2022/11/08/doc… 20/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Antitrust, Regulation & Political Economy (#Brussels), 3/2:
brusselsconference.com/registration 21/
Recent appearances:

* @davidpakmanshow


* TikTok Isn’t For Creators Anymore (@Slate ICMY)
slate.com/podcasts/icymi…

* Lunch on Laotian food (Eating the Fantastic)
scottedelman.com/2023/01/27/cor… 22/
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/2023/02/01/j-a… 23/
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 "'Conversational' AI Is Really Bad At Conversations"

doctorow.medium.com/conversational… 24/
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 25/
Are you trying to wean yourself off Big Tech? You can read my work elsewhere, but it is now a #TwitterCrime to tell you how. Please visit my site, pluralistic.net, for links to find me on less-unhinged places (I can only imagine that my days here are numbered). 26/
Today's top sources: @jstruan (superpunch.net). 27/

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Keep Current with Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK

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More from @doctorow

Apr 15
A lawsuit filed in February accuses Tesla of remotely altering odometer values on failure-prone cars, in a bid to push these lemons beyond the 50,000 mile warranty limit:



1/ thestreet.com/automotive/tes…A scene out of an 11th century tome on demon-summoning called 'Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros. Anno 1057. Noli me tangere.' It depicts a demon tormenting two unlucky would-be demon-summoners who have dug up a grave in a graveyard. One summoner is held aloft by his hair, screaming; the other screams from inside the grave he is digging up. The scene has been altered to remove the demon's prominent, urinating penis, to add in a Tesla supercharger, and a red Tesla Model S nosing into the scene.   Image: Steve Jurvetson (modified)...
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/2025/04/15/mus…

2/
The suit was filed by a California driver who bought a used Tesla with 36,772 miles on it. The car's suspension kept failing, necessitating multiple servicings.

3/
Read 62 tweets
Apr 12
A jury has ordered Blue Cross of Louisiana to pay $421m to a hospital specializing in a much sought-after type of breast reconstruction, primarily for cancer survivors.

1/ A 19th century medical illustration of a topless woman whose left breast has been consumed by a tumor. She is being menaced by an engraved illustration of a looming skeleton, who raises one hand as if to strike her. Behind them is a faded and distressed Blue Cross logo.
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/2025/04/12/pre…

2/
The insurer "preapproved" surgeries for thousands of patients, but then held back 92% of the payments it owed, with CEO Steven Udvarhelyi insisting that "authorization never says we’re going to pay you":



3/documentcloud.org/documents/2588…
Read 34 tweets
Apr 11
It's been more than a decade in the making, but Facebook - or, if you prefer, Meta - is going on trial for antitrust violations, with the highest possible stakes and the worst possible evidence (for Facebook).

1/ A Gilded Age courtroom scene depicting a judge high atop the bench wagging a disapproving finger at an expensively dressed figure in the foreground. The foreground character has lost his top hat, which sits on the floor, as he roots through a breifcase on the defendant's table. The foreground figure's head has been replaced with the head of Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse avatar. The figure's right hand has been replaced with a Facebook 'thumbs up' icon. Hanging from the judge's bench like an unfurled scroll is a sheet of paper; the contents of this sheet have been replaced with the first page ...
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/2025/04/11/it-…

2/
The Big Tech On Trial blog was started to follow the Google antitrust case, the biggest antitrust case of the century, which was barely noticed by most of the press.

3/
Read 80 tweets
Apr 10
It's hard to remember now, but for more than three years under Biden, it was possible to read the headlines and feel your government was taking big, decisive action to tame the corporate behemoths that rip you off, maim you on the job, and undermine our democracy.

1/ A massive Earth Day demonstration in 1970, with a speaker in the foreground, his back to the camera, standing at a podium. The image has been modified: the speaker has been tinted green, the audience has been tinted red. Between the speaker and the audience marches a gleeful skeleton, pounding on a snare drum with drumsticks made of human femur-bones. The skeleton wears a top-hat. It is haloed in flaring light.  Image: umseas (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/snre/34605145761/  CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/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/2025/04/10/sol…

2/
Antitrust surge under Biden was remarkable: a sustained, organized, effective policy to support the interests of the majority of people against the interests of a cohort of ultra-wealthy wreckers and looters. According to political science, that surge is impossible.

3/
Read 66 tweets
Apr 2
It's not that the Republicans and the Democrats are the same...obviously. But for decades - since Clinton - the Dems have sided with neoliberal economics, just like their Republican counterparts.

1/ The ruins of the Temple of Jupiter, taken in the late 18th century, overlooking a stretch Lebanon. It has been emblazoned with the 1970s-era logo for the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Before it stands a figure taken from an early 1900s illustrated bible, depicting a Hebrew priest making an offering to the golden calf at the foot of Mt Sinai. The priest's head has been replaced with the head of Milton Friedman. The calf has been adorned with a golden top-hat and a radiating halo of white light.
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/2025/04/02/me-…

2/
So the major differences between the two related to overt discrimination, to the exclusion of the economic policies that immiserated working people, with the worst effects landing on racial minorities, women, and gender minorities.

3/
Read 78 tweets
Mar 31
Trumpism is a mixture of grievance, surveillance, and pettiness: "I will never forgive your mockery, I have records of you doing it, and I will punish you and everyone who associates with you for it."

1/ The Las Vegas Sphere as seen by night, with the lights of Vegas behind it. The Sphere itself has been replaced with the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey,' and centered on it is a Madison Square Garden logo. The Sphere has been topped with Trump's hair.   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/2025/03/31/mad…

2/
Think of how he's going after the (cowardly) BigLaw firms:



3/abovethelaw.com/2025/03/skadde…
Read 66 tweets

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