Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
May 8, 2023 35 tweets 49 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: California to smash prison e-profiteers; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2023/05/08/cap…

#Pluralistic

1/ A prison cell. Behind the b...
This Weds (May 10), I'm in #Vancouver for a keynote at the #OSSummit:

events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-su…

And a book event at #HeritageHall:

eventbrite.ca/e/red-team-blu…

On Thu (May 11), I'm in #Calgary for @WordfestTweets:

wordfest.com/2023/event/wor…

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California to smash prison e-profiteers: The Public Utility Commission to the rescue!



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Hey look at this

* The Cult of the Founders crookedtimber.org/2023/05/06/the…

* #TurboTax to begin payouts after it ‘cheated’ customers, New York AG says msn.com/en-us/news/us/…

* Cory Doctorow Explains Why Big Tech Is Making the Internet Terrible jacobin.com/2023/05/cory-d…

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#20yrsago #LinkedIn: #Friendster without the gonad-centrism memex.craphound.com/2003/05/07/lin…

#20yrsago @future_of_music coalition open letter on media consolidation web.archive.org/web/2003050402…

#20yrsago The Web makes writing better web.archive.org/web/2003050922…

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#20yrsago A (dangerous) primer on #HardwareHacking hackingthexbox.com

#15yrsago House passes bill that will let the @RIAA take away your home for downloading music govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BI…

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#15yrsago Using a record-cutter to turn old CDs into 45RPM singles web.archive.org/web/2008050202…

#15yrsago @BBC sends legal threat over fan’s #DoctorWho knitting patterns openrightsgroup.org/blog/bbc-remov…

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#15yrsago Band “shoots” video by sending #DataProtectionAct requests to #CCTVs that caught them performing web.archive.org/web/2008051019…

#15yrsago RIAA says #DRM is coming back — in the future, you won’t own music arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

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#15yrsago UK blacklist of “suspicious” store clerks includes people never charged or convicted news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/m…

#15yrsago HOWTO detect hidden video cameras instructables.com/How-to-locate-…

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#10yrsago #PrendaLaw judge says porno #CopyrightTrolls are frauds, identity thieves; $80K in fines and disbarment pending arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

#10yrago @TheOnion gets hacked by Syrian propagandists, responds with funny article theonion.com/syrian-electro…

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#10yrsago @superwuster and I talk networks, policy and the future slate.com/articles/podca…

#10yrsago Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong: YA graphic novel about robots, romance and school elections memex.craphound.com/2013/05/07/not…

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#10yrsago Content barons are the richest CEOs nytimes.com/2013/05/06/bus…

#10yrsago Hedge fund managers suck at making money (for you) cnbc.com/id/100718881

#10yrsago HOWTO build a working digital computer out of paperclips (and stuff) memex.craphound.com/2013/05/08/how…

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#10yrsago #Disney files trademark application for “Dia de Los Muertos” web.archive.org/web/2013050821…

#10yrsago Faced with excommunication threat, Irish PM explains #SeparationOfChurchAndState to Cardinal irishtimes.com/news/politicia…

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#5yrsago Georgia’s governor has vetoed #SB315, the state’s catastrophically stupid cybersecurity law eff.org/deeplinks/2018…

#5yrsago @Equifax finally publishes a tally of what got breached when it left 146.6 million credit files unsecured arstechnica.com/information-te…

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#5yrsago Over 55,000 security camera DVRs are vulnerable to an exploit so simple it fits in a tweet bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/…

#5yrsago #JeffSessions tells border guards to separate children from their parents alternet.org/2018/05/jeff-s…

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#5yrsago An upcoming Supreme Court ruling could force all workers into #ForcedArbitration, deprived of the right to class lawsuits epi.org/blog/the-supre…

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#5yrsago Welsh police deployed #FacialRecognition tech with a 92% false positive rate, but they’re sure it’s fine arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

#5yrsago Should I use an algorithm here? @EFF’s 5-point checklist eff.org/deeplinks/2018…

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#5yrsago Google announces ad-ban for sleazy #BailBonds companies arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

#5yrsago AT&T to the Supreme Court: “Fuck the FTC” arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

#5yrsago Here’s why everyone in the world just emailed you a new privacy policy eff.org/deeplinks/2018…

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#5yrsago #DonaldTrump is a pathogen evolved to thrive in an attention-maximization ecosystem locusmag.com/2018/05/cory-d…

#5yrsago The BBC on #Afrofuturism bbc.com/news/newsbeat-…

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#5yrsago Torturer and coverup artist #GinaHaspel tried to bow out of CIA Directorship to avoid Senate questioning washingtonpost.com/politics/gina-…

#1yrago #Safegraph follows people into #abortion clinics and then sells the data: And then they lie about it pluralistic.net/2022/05/07/saf…

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Saturday's threads: Hollywood is the single best example of mature labor power in America; On the Media on the enshittification (pt 1); and more!



22/  Image: LA Times https://co...
My latest novel is Red Team Blues, available wherever books are sold!

Signed copies at @DarkDel:

darkdel.com/store/p2873/We…

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My latest nonfiction 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…

24/
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/

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* Red Team Blues event with @christreilly (#Nottingham), 5/30
waterstones.com/events/an-even…

* @uclcs Peter Kirstein Lecture, 6/1 (#London):
eventbrite.co.uk/e/peter-kirste…

* @CymeraF, 6/3 (#Edinburgh)
cymerafestival.co.uk/cymera23-event…

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* Red Team Blues with @Marthalanefox at the @bl, 6/5 (#London):
bl.uk/events/an-even…

* @republica keynote, 6/7 (#Berlin)
re-publica.com/de/news/rp23-k…

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Recent appearances:

* @MarkTLive


* Enshittification Part 1: Why Every Platform Goes Bad (@onthemedia)
wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/s…

* Author Talk: Cory Doctorow and @Annaleen in Conversation/@SFPublicLibrary


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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/2023/05/08/cap…

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If you're a @Medium subscriber, you can read these essays - and previews of upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.

My latest Medium column is "Don’t Curb Your Enthusiasm: Marcus Yallow + 50 Years = Marty Hench?"

doctorow.medium.com/dont-curb-your…

33/
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: mail.flarn.com/mailman/listin…

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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).

eof/

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More from @doctorow

Mar 13
My theory of the "shitty technology adoption curve" holds that you can predict the future impact of abusive technologies on you by observing the way these are deployed against people who have less social power than you:



1/ pluralistic.net/2023/06/11/the…A magnified image of the inside of an automated backup tape library, with gleaming racks of silver tape drives receding into the distance. In the foreground is a pile of dirt being shoveled by three figures in prisoner's stripes. Two of the figures' heads have been replaced with cliche hacker-in-hoodie heads, from which shine yellow, inverted Amazon 'smile' logos, such that the smile is a frown. The remaining figure's head has been replaced with a horse's head. Behind the figure is an impatiently poised man in a sharp business suit, glaring at his watch. His head has been replaced with the ...
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/2025/03/13/ele…

2/
When you have a new, abusive technology, you can't just aim it at rich, powerful people, because when *they* complain, they get results.

3/
Read 71 tweets
Mar 12
Let me tell you how I became a proud science denier, and how it saved my life.

1/ A cross-section of the head of a man who is wide-eyed and screaming. The head is elongated and is being sucked into a black hole.
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/2025/03/12/epi…

2/
It was about 15 years ago. I was living in London, and my wife's job came with a private health insurance buff that let us use private doctors instead of the NHS.

3/
Read 58 tweets
Mar 10
Inflation has many complex causes and dynamics, but this much should be obvious: when prices go up, and the *profits* go up, the price rise - the "inflation" is in part the result of greed - it's greedflation.

1/ A 'stonks' meme, featuring a 3d modeled head atop the body of a man in a business suit, arms folded, standing before a stylized stock-chart with an orange arrow pointing up and to the right. The word 'stonks' has been replaced with 'eggs.' A cartoon drawing of a shattered, crying Humpty Dumpty is in the bottom left corner.
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/2025/03/10/dem…

2/
Orthodox economists insist that greedflation is impossible. Sure, companies would *prefer* to jack up prices, but if they do, other companies would rush inn to sell more cheaply.

3/
Read 53 tweets
Mar 5
You guys, I don't want to bum you out or anything, but I think there's a good chance than some self-described capitalists *aren't really into capitalism*.

Sorry.

1/ A giant, complicated, mechanical printing press. Looming over it is an 18th-century demon from the Compendium Rarissimum Totius Artis Magicae; it is a eating severed human leg, and waving another leg in the air. In the background rise dark red flames. The printer has a Brother 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/2025/03/05/pri…

2/
Take incentives: Charlie Munger, capitalism's quippiest pitchman, famously said, "Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome."

3/
Read 50 tweets
Mar 3
I get a special pleasure from citing Milton Friedman. I like to imagine that as I do, he groans around the red-hot spit protruding from his jaws, prompting howls of laughter from the demons who pelt him with molten faeces for all eternity.

1/ Oil derricks superimposed against a 'code waterfall' as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. In the foreground is Trump's hair.
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/2025/03/03/fri…

2/
If you're lucky enough not to know about Friedman, here's the short version. Friedman was a kind of court sorcerer to Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Augusto Pinochet, and other assorted authoritarian, hard-right leaders who set us on the path to the hellscape we inhabit today.

3/
Read 56 tweets
Feb 20
The commercial surveillance industry is almost totally unregulated. Data brokers, ad-tech, and everyone in between - they harvest, store, analyze, sell and rent every intimate, sensitive, potentially compromising fact about your life.

1/   A towering figure with the head of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey,' surmounted by Trump's hair, wearing a tailcoat with a Google logo lapel pin. It peers through a magnifying glass at a distressed, tiny Uncle Sam figure perched in its monstrous palm.   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/2025/02/20/pri…

2/
Late last year, I testified at a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau hearing about a proposed new rule to kill off data brokers, who are the lynchpin of the industry:



3/pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the…
Read 41 tweets

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