Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Jun 14, 2023 18 tweets 18 min read Read on X
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: How Amazon transformed the EU into a planned economy; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2023/06/14/fly…

#Pluralistic

1/ A desert ruin. In the foreg...
How Amazon transformed the EU into a planned economy: Monopsony, junk fees and market power.



2/  Image: Rama (modified) htt...
Hey look at this

* What #Reddit Got Wrong eff.org/deeplinks/2023…

* @signalapp’s @mer__edith: ‘These people could actually pause #AI if they wanted’ theguardian.com/technology/202… (h/t @kottke)

* Humans Are Biased. #GenerativeAI Is Worse bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-… (h/t @metafilter)

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#15yrsago Virgin Media cable says that the record industry is in charge of your router configuration web.archive.org/web/2008090321…

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#10yrsago @SenWarren to US Trade Rep: release the #TransPacificPartnership docs — if they piss the people off, then we shouldn’t be part of it web.archive.org/web/2013061514…

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#10yrsago Lawsuit: “#HappyBirthday” is not in copyright, and Warner owes the world hundreds of millions for improperly collected royalties techdirt.com/2013/06/13/fil…

#5yrsago SON OF COCKY: a writer is trying to trademark “DRAGON SLAYER” for fantasy novels memex.craphound.com/2018/06/14/son…
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#5yrsago China mandates radio-tracking beacons in all cars wsj.com/articles/a-chi…

#5yrsago Which American cities have lowest herd immunity due to #AntiVaxxers? washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-h…

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#5yrsago Full time minimum wage workers can’t afford the rent on a 2-bedroom apartment anywhere in the USA washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…

#1yrago Adventure Capitalism: A history of “#LibertarianExit” movements pluralistic.net/2022/06/14/thi…

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Yesterday's threads: Saving the news from Big Tech with end-to-end social media; and more!



9/  Image: EFF https://www.eff...
My latest novel is Red Team Blues, available wherever books are sold!

Signed copies at @DarkDel (US):

darkdel.com/store/p2873/We…

and @ForbiddenPlanet (UK):

forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-tea…

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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…

11/
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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Recent appearances:

* How To Save News Media From Our Tech Overlords (@CANADALAND)
canadaland.com/podcast/888-ho…

* Most AI is not artificial or intelligent (with @jamesbridle)


* @machinekillspod
soundcloud.com/thismachinekil…

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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/2023/06/14/fly…

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

My latest Medium column is "The Shitty Tech Adoption Curve Has a Business Model"

doctorow.medium.com/the-shitty-tec…

15/
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).

17/
Today's top sources: @margaridasilva1 (somo.nl).

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More from @doctorow

Jan 15
Five years ago, Trump touted his "big, beautiful" replacement for NAFTA, the "free trade agreement" between the US, Mexico and Canada. Trump's NAFTA-2 was called the USMCA (US-Mexico-Canada Agreement) and it was pretty similar to NAFTA, to be honest.

1/ A 19th century painting depicting the burning of the White House during the War of 1812. The white Xes on the soldiers' uniforms have been replaced with white Canadian maple leaves.
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/2025/01/15/bea…

2/
That tells you a couple things: first, NAFTA was, broadly speaking a good thing for Trump and the ultra-wealthy donors who backed him (and got far richer as a result). That's why he kept it intact.

3/
Read 57 tweets
Jan 14
During the Napster wars, the record labels *seriously* pissed off millions of internet users when they sued over 19,000 music fans, mostly kids, but also grannies, old people, and dead people.

1/ A multiton bank vault door set in a red room. Within the vault, we see a 'code waterfall' effect as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies. In front of the fault is a ghoulish, skull-faced figure in a tailcoat and a red sash, holding a tube that is vomiting out a poorly differentiated stream of rubbish and slop.
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/2025/01/14/con…

2/
It's hard to overstate how badly the labels behaved. Like, there was the Swarthmore student who was the maintainer of a free/open source search engine that indexed files available in public sharepoints on the LAN.

3/
Read 59 tweets
Jan 11
The social function of the economics profession is to explain, over and over again, that your boss is actually right and that you don't really want the things you want, and you're secretly happy to be abused by the system.

1/  A Soviet propaganda poster depicting two workers holding flags in front of a locomotive. The flags have been replaced with US flags. The locomotive's face has been replaced with the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The maxim below has been replaced with the lettering from a Walmart 'everyday low prices' sign. The background has been replaced with a posterized grocery aisle.  Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg  CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en  --  Ser Amantio di Nicolao (modified) ht...
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/2025/01/11/soc…

2/
If that wasn't true, why would your "choose" commercial surveillance, abusive workplaces and other depredations?

In other words, economics is the "look what you made me do" stick that capitalism uses to beat us with.

3/
Read 61 tweets
Jan 9
My next novel is *Picks and Shovels*, out next month. It's tells the origin story of Martin Hench, my hard-charging, scambusting, high-tech forensic accountant, in a 1980s battle over the soul of a PC company:



1/ us.macmillan.com/books/97812508…A remix of the cover of the Tor Books edition of 'Picks and Shovels,' depicting a vector art vintage PC, whose blue screen includes a male figure stepping out of the picture to the right. Superimposed on the art is the book's title in a custom, modernist font.
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/2025/01/09/the…

2/
I'm currently running a Kickstarter to pre-sell the book in every format: hardcover, DRM-free ebook, and an independently produced, fabulous DRM-free audiobook read by Wil Wheaton, who just *nailed* the delivery:



3/kickstarter.com/projects/docto…
Read 95 tweets
Jan 8
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

NOTE: I DID NOT BUY A BLUE TICK. IT WAS NONCONSENSUALLY ADDED TO MY ACCOUNT.

Inside: The Brave Little Toaster; and more!

Archived at:

#Pluralistic

1/ pluralistic.net/2025/01/08/sir…A deluxe mid-century fridge, its double-doors swung wide to reveal many groceries. Before it stands a demon, suspending a screaming man by the hair from one taloned hand. One of the fridge's panels has been replaced with the hostile red eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' In the background is a 'code waterfall' effect as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies.  Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg  CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
*Picks and Shovels* is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton:



2/martinhench.comImage
The Brave Little Toaster: Gen AI in your appliances was a warning, not a pitch deck.



3/  Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg  CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
Read 24 tweets
Dec 20, 2024
There was never any question as to whether Trump would implement Project 2025, the 900-page brick of terrifying, unhinged policy prescriptions edited by the Heritage Foundation. He would *not* implement it, because he *could* not implement it. No one could. It's impossible.

1/ A WWII-era infirmary with two ranks of beds. Behind a bed on each side stands an outraged Tweedledee/Tweedledum figure from Tenniel's Alice Through the Looking Glass engravings, pulling their hair; they face one another. One is tinted green; the other, blue. Between them in the aisle stands an elephant in GOP livery, wearing a Trump wig. A spatter of blood climbs the wall on the right.
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/2024/12/20/cli…

2/
This isn't a statement about constitutional limits on executive authority or the realpolitik of getting bizarre and stupid policies past judges or through a hair-thin Congressional majority. This is a statement about the incoherence of Project 2025 itself.

3/
Read 30 tweets

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