Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Predistribution vs redistribution (Big Tech edition); and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/10/markets-are-regulations/
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Discussion
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@pluralistic The article seems to imply that people are getting their news from social media. I am not sure it is true and, anyway, it is not possible to tell as FB and others will not hand out correct statistics. The industry value is dependent on the idea that they have many users, but even these figures are doubtful. FB, for example, seems to have shrunk lately.
People get *local* news and news from the friends on social media. But that was never much of a market for newspapers.
Differently! Differently! This is adverb abuse!
@pluralistic When Canada makes an adversarial app for big tech products, they should call it Sorri.
I'm coming to Colorado! Catch me in #Denver on Jan 22 at The Tattered Cover:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
And in #ColoradoSprings from Jan 23-25, where I'm the Guest of Honor at COSine:
https://www.firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
Then I'll be in #Ottawa on Jan 28 at Perfect Books:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
And in #Toronto with Tim Wu on Jan 30:
https://nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doctorow-and-tim-wu-enshittification-and-extraction/
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Predistribution vs redistribution (Big Tech edition): A thing that governments can do with 100% reliability.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115871427381296594
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Hey look at this
* Barrel of Suck: A bot to surface relevant old Suck.com articles https://www.bricoleur.org/2026/01/finally-finished-up-bot-for-posting.html
* My first Boing Boing post, 25 years ago tomorrow https://web.archive.org/web/20010124080600/http://boingboing.net/2001_01_01_bloggerarchive.html
* Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-end-enshittification-make-tech-good-again
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#20yrsago HOWTO convert an Oral B flosser into a vibrating lockpick https://web.archive.org/web/20060113090614/http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/lockpick/lockpick.aspx
#20yrsago Levi’s to ship iPod jeans https://web.archive.org/web/20060113045708/https://www.popgadget.net/2006/01/levis_ipod_jean.php
#20yrsago Chumbawamba: Why we don’t use DRM on our CDs https://web.archive.org/web/20060112044019/http://www.chumba.com/Chumbawambacopyprotect1.html
#20yrsago UK Parliamentarians demand WiFi https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/british-parliament-members-demand-wi-fi-access/
#15yrsago Sue Townsend talks Adrian Mole with the Guardian book-club https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2011/jan/10/sue-townsend-adrian-mole-book-club
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#15yrsago Major record labels forced to pay CAD$45M to ripped-off musicians https://web.archive.org/web/20110112055510/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5563/125/
#10yrsago Why Americans can’t stop working: the poor can’t afford to, and the rich are enjoying themselves https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/inequality-work-hours/422775/
#10yrsago Juniper blinks: firewall will nuke the NSA’s favorite random number generator https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spying-juniper-idUSKBN0UN07520160109/
#5yrsago Impeachment and realignment https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/10/realignments/#realign
ments
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#5yrsago Busting myths about the Night of the Short Fingers https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/10/realignments/#mythbusting
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~8 more replies (not shown)
Yesterday's threads: bunnie's piggyback hack; and more!
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115865826413271634
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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:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels
--
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:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
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My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, 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."
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Upcoming appearances:
* #Denver: Enshittification at Tattered Cover Colfax, Jan 22
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
* #ColoradoSprings: Guest of Honor at COSine, Jan 23-25
https://www.firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
* #Ottawa: Enshittification at Perfect Books, Jan 28
https://www.instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
* #Toronto: Enshittification and the Age of Extraction with Tim Wu, Jan 30
https://nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doctorow-and-tim-wu-enshittification-and-extraction/
* #Victoria: 28th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit, Mar 3-5
https://www.rebootcommunications.com/event/vipss2026/
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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #Berlin: Re:publical, May 18-20
https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow
* #HayOnWye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25
https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2
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Recent appearances:
* Enshittification (Creative Nonfiction podcast)
https://brendanomeara.com/episode-507-enshittification-author-cory-doctorow-believes-in-a-new-good-internet/
* A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet (39c3)
https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-a-post-american-enshittification-resistant-internet
* Enshittification with Plutopia
https://plutopia.io/cory-doctorow-enshittification/
* "can't make Big Tech better; make them less powerful" (Get Subversive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1EzM9_6eLE
* The Enshitification Life Cycle with David Dayen (Organized Money)
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412334/episodes/18399894
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The Enshitification Life Cycle With Cory Doctorow - Organized Money
Buzzsprout
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