There's one thing EVERY government can do to shrink Big Tech: The path to a post-American internet.

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11547621…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-11-01 19:59:05

As the punchline goes, "If you wanted to get there, I wouldn't start from here." It's particularly applicable to monopolies: once a company has a monopoly, it gains the power to block new companies from competing, and also the power to capture governments and thwart attempts to regulate or break it up.

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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/2025/11/01/red…

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Pluralistic: There’s one thing EVERY government can do to shrink Big Tech (01 Nov 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Pluralistic: There's one thing EVERY government can do to shrink Big Tech (01 Nov 2025)

^{Cory Doctorow (Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow)}

Hey look at this

* The Forgotten History of Socialism and the Occult jacobin.com/2025/10/socialism-…

* Study: AI Models Trained On Clickbait Slop Result In AI ‘Brain Rot,’ ‘Hostility’ techdirt.com/2025/10/31/study-…

* The Validation Machines theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

* The Department of Defense Wants Less Proof its Software Works eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/depa…

* Ireland: Adopt new, transparent process to appoint Data Protection Commissioner article19.org/resources/irelan…

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#20yrsago Sony DRM uses black-hat rootkits web.archive.org/web/2005110205…

#20yrsago Suncomm encourages people to break its DRM web.archive.org/web/2005111611…

#20yrsago Public Enemy’s Internet strategy web.archive.org/web/2005110305…

#10yrsago Petition: Rename Stephen Harper to “Calgary International Airport” change.org/p/rename-stephen-ha…

#10yrsago Hallowe’en with NYC’s super-rich nytimes.com/slideshow/2015/10/…

#5yrsago D2020 pluralistic.net/2020/10/31/wal…

#5yrsago The Americans pluralistic.net/2020/10/31/wal…

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Yesterday's threads: The internet was made for privacy; and more!

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11546986…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-10-31 17:06:17

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: The internet was made for privacy; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2025/10/31/los…

#Pluralistic

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Pluralistic: The internet was made for privacy (31 Oct 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Pluralistic: The internet was made for privacy (31 Oct 2025)

^{Cory Doctorow (Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow)}

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…

--

My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:

us.macmillan.com/books/9780374…

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Picks and Shovels

New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new...

^{SupaduDev (Macmillan Publishers)}

Upcoming appearances:

* Virtual: Peoples and Things with danah boyd and Lee Vinsel, Nov 3
youtube.com/live/WjFvGPLpskk

* #Miami: Enshittification at Books & Books, Nov 5
eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-wi…

* #Miami: Cloudfest, Nov 6
cloudfest.com/usa/

* #Burbank: Burbank Book Festival, Nov 8
burbankbookfestival.com/

* #Lisbon: A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet, with Rabble (Web Summit), Nov 12
websummit.com/sessions/lis25/9…

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Cardiff: Hay Festival After Hours, Nov 13
hayfestival.com/c-203-hay-fest…

* #Oxford: Enshittification and Extraction: The Internet Sucks Now with Tim Wu at Rawley House (Oxford Internet Institute), Nov 14
oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/event…

* #London: Enshittification with Sarah Wynn-Williams and Chris Morris, Nov 15
barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/…

* #London: Downstream IRL with Aaron Bastani (Novara Media), Nov 17
dice.fm/partner/tickets/event/…

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #London: Enshittification with Carole Cadwalladr (Frontline Club), Nov 18
eventbrite.co.uk/e/in-conversa…

* Virtual: Enshittification with Vass Bednar (Vancouver Public Library), Nov 21
crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-pres…

* #Seattle: Neuroscience, AI and Society (University of Washington), Dec 4
compneuro.washington.edu/news-…

* #Madison, CT: Enshittification at RJ Julia, Dec 8
rjjulia.com/event/2025-12-08/c…

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