The internet was made for privacy: And unmade by regulators.

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11546976…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-10-31 16:40:39

"Tech exceptionalism" can be a sin (as with "move fast and break things" wrecking so much, especially labor markets), there *are* ways in which tech is *truly* exceptional, in the sense of bringing forth capabilities and affordances that have never existed before, in all of human history.

--

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/2025/10/31/los…

1/

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

^{pluralistic.net}

Hey look at this

* Animal Costumes from the 1862 Fairytale Ball of the Jung-München Artist’s Association publicdomainreview.org/collect…

* New physical attacks are quickly diluting secure enclave defenses from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel arstechnica.com/security/2025/…

* If Musk was broke, he’d just be another asshole with bad ideas smh.com.au/culture/books/if-mu…

* FCC Republicans force prisoners and families to pay more for phone calls arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

* norecognition github.com/hevnsnt/norecogniti…

5/

#20yrsago Baen Books to launch online sf mag edited by Eric Flint web.archive.org/web/2006070207…

#15yrsago Dirty debt collectors frightened victims with fake “sheriffs,” “courtroom,” “judges” web.archive.org/web/2010110600…

#15yrsago TSA demands testicular fondling as an alternative to naked scanners theatlantic.com/national/archi…

#15yrsago Brain-imaging and neurorealism: what does it mean to “feel something” in your brain? badscience.net/2010/10/neuro-r…

5/

#15yrsago Animaniacs vs Newt Gingrich — the lost episode www2.cruzio.com/~keeper/UAdear…

#15yrsago Canada’s telcoms regulator gives bloated, throttling incumbent the keys to the kingdom web.archive.org/web/2010103109…

#15yrsago Rent-seeking in the 21st century: where eBay, free software, Foxconn and the MPAA come from web.archive.org/web/2010110215…

#10yrsago Patent trolls: The Eastern District of Texas must die so that we all may live eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/its-…

6/

#10yrsago Anonymous threatens to dump real names of 1,000 KKK members nbcnews.com/news/us-news/anony…

#10yrsago UK govt: no crypto back doors, just repeal the laws of mathematics betanews.com/2015/10/28/uk-gov…

#10yrsago David Cameron promises law to force ISPs to censor a secret blacklist web.archive.org/web/2015102915…

#10yrsago EU Parliament votes to drop criminal charges and grant asylum to Snowden theguardian.com/us-news/2015/o…

7/

#10yrsago Thanks to the meth wars, cold medicine’s effective ingredient isn’t forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/…

#10yrsago UK police & spies will have warrantless access to your browsing history telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/cr…

#10yrsago NM judge believes daily prison rape is a fit punishment for nearly all defendants web.archive.org/web/2015103000…

#10yrsago Charity with US Characteristics: how our oligarchs buy their way out of criticism csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-…

8/

#10yrsago Christ, what an asshole. memex.craphound.com/2015/10/30…

#5yrsago Facebook loses users, makes more money pluralistic.net/2020/10/30/rig…

#5yrsago Sue your medical bully pluralistic.net/2020/10/29/vic…

#5yrsago Violent cops' deadly victim complex pluralistic.net/2020/10/29/vic…

#5yrsago Amazon says only corporations own property pluralistic.net/2020/10/29/vic…

9/

#1yrago Conspiratorialism as a material phenomenon pluralistic.net/2024/10/29/hob…

#1yrago AI's "human in the loop" isn't pluralistic.net/2024/10/30/a-n…

10/

Wednesday's threads: When AI prophecy fails; and more!

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11545789…

11/

Cory Doctorow

2025-10-29 14:21:10

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: When AI prophecy fails; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2025/10/29/wor…

#Pluralistic

1/

Pluralistic: When AI prophecy fails (29 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 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…

12/

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/

13.

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…

14/

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/…

15/

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…

16/

Recent appearances:

* CA Enshittification and the Rot Economy with Ed Zitron (Clarion West)
youtube.com/watch?v=Tz71pIWbFy…

* Amanpour & Co (New Yorker Radio Hour)
youtube.com/watch?v=I8l1uSb0LZ…

* Enshittification is Not Inevitable (Team Human)
teamhuman.fm/episodes/339-cory…

* The Great Enshittening (The Gray Area)
reddit.com/r/philosophypodcast…

* Enshittification (Smart Cookies)
youtube.com/watch?v=-BoORwEPlQ…

17/

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18/

I'm on a tour with my new book, the international bestseller *Enshittification*!

Catch me next in #Miami, #Burbank and #Lisbon!

Full schedule with dates and links at:

pluralistic.net/tour

efo/