Semantic drift versus ethical drift: Locking things open vs locking in freedom.

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11485173…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-07-14 13:06:12

More than a quarter-century ago, a group of hackers decided that, as a label, "free software" was a liability, and they set out to replace it with a different label, "open source," on the basis that "open source" was easier to understand and using it instead of "free software" would speed up adoption.

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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/2025/07/14/pol…

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Pluralistic: Semantic drift versus ethical drift (14 Jul 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

^{pluralistic.net}

Hey look at this

* Who Goes MAGA? techdirt.com/2025/07/08/who-go…

* Using Signal groups for activism micahflee.com/using-signal-gro… (h/t Bruce Schneier)

* What To Do When You See ICE in Your Neighborhood theintercept.com/2025/07/12/ic…

* Fintech Dystopia fintechdystopia.com/

* Wet Leg: Moisturizer wetleg.bandcamp.com/album/mois…

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#15yrsago New York Times and other papers use deceptive death-notice company idlewords.com/2010/07/the_grea…

#15yrsago Riepl’s Law: how future media compost the past en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riepl's_…

#15yrsago Online video patents: an impassable thicket? web.archive.org/web/2010070601…

#15yrsago Canadian copyright astroturfers own up: front for US labels web.archive.org/web/2010070513…

#10yrsago Fracketeering: Life in a capitalist sci-fi horror story theguardian.com/money/2015/jun…

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#10yrsago How the NSA searches the world’s intercepted private communications theintercept.com/2015/07/01/ns…

#10yrsago Judge hires lawyer to threaten court over jury summons loweringthebar.net/2015/07/som…

#10yrsago The next Librarian of Congress: a Librarian of Progress? librarianofprogress.com/

#10yrsago 1930s ice-cream parlour hidden in Cincinnati’s art deco railway station thoughtandsight.com/the-1930s-…

#5yrsago 1000+ accidental trigger-phrases for smart speakers pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big…

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#5yrsago Hong Kong law threatens people all over the world pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big…

#5yrsago A grifter's border wall is about to fall into the Rio Grande pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big…

#5yrsago Roller derby's brilliant re-opening plan pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big…

#5yrsago Don't Believe Proven Liars pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big…

#5yrsago Unauthorized seat pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big…

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July 3's threads: Trump's not gonna protect workers from forced labor; and more!

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11478865…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-07-03 09:45:17

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Trump's not gonna protect workers from forced labor; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2025/07/03/sta…

#Pluralistic

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My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:

us.macmillan.com/books/9781250…

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My next nonfiction book is "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," out from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux on October 7:

us.macmillan.com/books/9780374…

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My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) 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:

* Virtual: ORG at 20: in conversation with Maria Farrell, Jul 16
openrightsgroup.org/events/org…

* #DC: Enshittification at Politics and Prose, Oct 8
politics-prose.com/cory-doctor…

* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
app.gopassage.com/events/docto…

* #NewOrleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12, 2025
contraflowscifi.org/

* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
app.gopassage.com/events/docto…

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Recent appearances:

* Why aren't we controlling our own tech? (Co-Op Congress)
youtube.com/live/GLrDwHgeCy4?s…

* If We Had a Choice, Would We Invent Social Media Again? (The Agenda/TVO)
youtube.com/watch?v=KJw38uIcmE…

* Forward Kentucky
youtube.com/watch?v=LpMxBBMBkZ…

12/

You can follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

Here's today's edition: pluralistic.net/2025/07/14/pol…

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Support me this summer in the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop! This summer, I'm writing "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux that explains how to be an effective AI critic:

clarionwriteathon.com/members/…

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Clarion Write-a-Thon | Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently RADICALIZED and WALKAWAY, science fiction for adults; HOW TO DESTROY SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM, nonfiction about monopoly …

^{clarionwriteathon.com}

How to be an effective AI critic.

Step one, stop learning about #AI !

Freeze you knowledge around February 2024.