California bans algorithmic price-fixing: Bye-bye, Realpage.

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11534398…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-10-09 11:33:24

As the Marxist pamphleteer Adam Smith wrote in his Leninist textbook *The Wealth of Nations*, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."

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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/2025/10/09/pri…

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Pluralistic: California bans algorithmic price-fixing (09 Oct 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

^{pluralistic.net}

Hey look at this

* Chat control in Europe, an open letter to the Irish Minister who wants to scan all our messages crookedtimber.org/2025/10/07/c…

* Canadaland’s Artificial Intelligence Policy canadaland.com/canadalands-art…

* A cartoonist's review of AI art theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

* Folk Tech folktechnology.org/

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#15yrsago Student finds GPS bug on car, uploads photo, FBI demands to have their warrantless bug back web.archive.org/web/2010100921…

#15yrsago THE UNIDENTIFIED: dystopian YA about education transformed into a giant, heavily sponsored game memex.craphound.com/2010/10/08…

#10yrsago Court tells millionaire yoga troll Bikram Choudhury that poses can’t be copyrighted cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore…

#10yrsago Jimmy Wales calls UK’s proposed crypto ban “moronic” web.archive.org/web/2015100901…

5/

#10yrsago Prisoners’ debate team trounces national champs from Harvard – Cory Doctorow's MEMEX theguardian.com/education/2015…

#5yrsago Good Intentions, Bad Inventions pluralistic.net/2020/10/08/hyp…

#1yrago Google's new phones can't stop phoning home pluralistic.net/2024/10/08/wat…

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Tuesday's threads: They're just trying to earn a buck; and more!

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11533360…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-10-07 15:32:21

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: They're just trying to earn a buck; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2025/10/07/tak…

#Pluralistic

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Pluralistic: They’re just trying to earn a buck (07 Oct 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

^{pluralistic.net}

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 "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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Book details - Macmillan Publishers

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...

^Macmillan

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."

craphound.com/shop/

9/

Upcoming appearances:

* #NYC: Enshittification at the Brooklyn Public Library, with Lina Khan, Oct 9
bklynlibrary.org/calendar/cory…

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

* #NewOrleans: Enshittification at Octavia Books, Oct 12
octaviabooks.com/event/enshitt…

* #Chicago: How Platforms Die with Rick Perlstein (University Club), Oct 14
eventbrite.com/e/how-platforms…

* #LosAngeles: Enshittification with David Dayen (Diesel), Oct 16
dieselbookstore.com/event/2025…

10/

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Calgary: Literary Death Match (Calgary Wordfest), Oct 17
wordfest.com/2025/imaginarium/…

* #Calgary: Big Tech’s Betrayal—and How to Break Free! (Calgary Wordfest), Oct 18
wordfest.com/2025/imaginarium/…

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

* #PDX: Enshittification at Powell's, Oct 21
powells.com/events/cory-doctor…

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Seattle: Enshittification and the Rot Economy, with Ed Zitron (Clarion West), Oct 22
clarionwest.org/event/2025-dee…

* #Vancouver: Enshittification with David Moscrop (Vancouver Writers Festival), Oct 23
showpass.com/2025-festival-39/

* #Montreal: Montreal Attention Forum keynote, Oct 24
attentionconferences.com/confe…

* #Montreal: Enshittification at Librarie Drawn and Quarterly, Oct 24
mtl.drawnandquarterly.com/even…

12/

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Ottawa: Enshittification (Ottawa Writers Festival), Oct 25
writersfestival.org/events/fal…

* #Toronto: Enshittification with Dan Werb (Type Books), Oct 27
instagram.com/p/DO81_1VDngu/?i…

* #Barcelona: Conferencia EUROPEA 4D (Virtual), Oct 28
4d.cat/es/conferencia/

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

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

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #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…

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

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

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

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

Recent appearances:

* Enshittification (Everyday Anarchism)
everydayanarchism.com/168-ensh…

* The Trouble with Tech Companies (and Their Strategies) (Ideadcast)
hbr.org/podcast/2025/10/the-tr…

* Enshittification (The Honest Broker)
honest-broker.com/p/the-honest…

* Enshittification (The.Ink)
the.ink/p/watch-cory-doctorow-…

16/

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17/

I'm on a tour with my new book *Enshittification*!

Catch me next in #Brooklyn, #NewOrleans and #Chicago!

Full schedule with dates and links at:

pluralistic.net/tour

Tune into tonight's event with former FTC chair Lina Khan at 19hET via the Brooklyn Public Library's livestream:

youtube.com/@Brooklyn-Public-L…

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