Who broke the internet?: My new podcast series from the CBC.

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11447349…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-05-08 17:55:38

"Who Broke the Internet?" is a new podcast from CBC Understood that I host and co-wrote - it's a four-part series that explains how the enshitternet came about, and, more importantly, what we can do about it. Episode one is out this week:

cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/135…

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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/2025/05/08/who…

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Pluralistic: Who broke the internet? (08 May 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

^{pluralistic.net}

Hey look at this

* Sneakers 4K Blu-ray blu-ray.com/movies/Sneakers-4K… (h/t Hacker News)

* Billionaire Blasts Private Equity's Continued Grifting as Performance Falls Further nakedcapitalism.com/2025/05/bi…

* A new bill would force Apple to allow third-party app stores theverge.com/news/662180/app-s…

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#20yrsago Self-referential multiple-choice test web.archive.org/web/2005012608…

#15yrsago Big Content’s depraved indifference memex.craphound.com/2010/05/08…

#15yrsago Use rust particles to reveal the data on your credit-card’s magstripe tetherdcow.com/another-science…

#15yrsago FCC hands Hollywood the keys to your PC, home theater and future memex.craphound.com/2010/05/07…

#15yrsago Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion: stupendous essay passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2…

5/

#15yrsago Eating IHOP’s cheesecake-stuffed pancakes salon.com/2010/05/07/ihop_panc…

#10yrsago Drug pump is “most insecure” devices ever seen by researcher securityledger.com/2015/05/res…

#10yrsago Appeals Court rejects NSA’s bulk phone-record collection program eff.org/press/releases/eff-hai…

#10yrsago Keurig CEO blames disastrous financials on DRM money.cnn.com/2015/05/06/inves…

#5yrsago Volcano gods demand workers pluralistic.net/2020/05/08/vol…

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Researcher: Drug Pump the 'Least Secure IP Device I've Ever Seen'

A researcher studying the workings of a wireless-enabled drug infusion pump by the firm Hospira said the device utterly lacked security controls, making it "the least secure IP enabled device" he had ever worked with.

^{Paul Roberts (The Security Ledger)}

#5yrsago US public health officials on apps: "Meh" pluralistic.net/2020/05/08/vol…

#5yrsago Wechat spies on non-Chinese users for in-China censorship pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#5yrsago Sidewalk Labs pulls out of Toronto pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#5yrsago Unix and Adversarial Interoperability pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#5yrsago EU: "Cookie walls violate the GDPR" pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#5yrsago Helicopter flyover of deserted Disneyland pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

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#5yrsago Wink will brick your smart home if you don't pay a monthly fee pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#5yrsago EFF's Guide to Digital Rights During the Pandemic pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#5yrsago America is united pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#5yrsago The TSA is hoarding N95s pluralistic.net/2020/05/07/jus…

#1yrago The disenshittified internet starts with loyal "user agents" pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/tre…

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Yesterday's threads: Mark Zuckerberg announces mind-control ray (again); and more!

mamot.fr/@pluralistic/11446669…

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Cory Doctorow

2025-05-07 13:05:47

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Mark Zuckerberg announces mind-control ray (again); and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2025/05/07/rah…

#Pluralistic

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Pluralistic: Mark Zuckerberg announces mind-control ray (again) (07 May 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

^{pluralistic.net}

My last nationally bestselling novel was "The Bezzle," an ice-cold revenge story of high-tech finance crime starring the forensic accountant Martin Hench.

us.macmillan.com/books/9781250…

Signed copies from Chevalier's Books:

chevaliersbooks.com/product-pa…

--

My latest nonfiction book is "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" from Verso Books:

seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Signed copies available from Book Soup:

booksoup.com/book/978180429124…

Both are national bestsellers!

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Book details - Macmillan Publishers

New York Times bestseller Cory Doctorow's The Bezzle is a high stakes thriller where the lives of the hundreds of thousands of inmates in California’s pris...

^Macmillan

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:

* #Pittsburgh: Picks and Shovels at White Whale Books, May 15
whitewhalebookstore.com/events…

* #Pittsburgh: PyCon, May 16
us.pycon.org/2025/schedule/

* Virtual: Writing to Resist (California Writers Club Berkeley):
cwc-berkeley.org/writing-to-re…

* #PDX: Teardown 2025, Jun 20-22
crowdsupply.com/teardown/portl…

* #PDX: Picks and Shovels with BUNNIE HUANG at Barnes and Noble, Jun 20
stores.barnesandnoble.com/even…

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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #London: How To Academy with Riley Quinn, Jul 1
howtoacademy.com/events/cory-d…

* #Manchester: Picks and Shovels at Blackwell's Bookshop, Jul 2
eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-…

* #Manchester: Co-operatives UK Co-op Congress keynote, Jul 3
uk.coop/events-and-training/ev…

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

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Recent appearances:

* Don't Be Evil (Who Killed the Internet?)
cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.674…

* How Enshittification Conquered the 21st Century and How We Can Overthrow It (Cloudfest)
youtube.com/watch?v=_Ai-fC-2Bp…

* Move Fast and Break Kings
flipboard.video/w/2aH2AFNTPjcd…

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Flipboard Video

2025-04-24 21:42:39

Move Fast and Break Kings, with Cory Doctorow

Blogger, journalist, author and activist Cory Doctorow can embark on a 10-minute monologue about what’s wrong with tech and still leave you hungering for more of his rapid-fire analysis and biting humor. It’s stunning to be presented with the big picture of the mess we’re in — and how to potentially get out of it.

In this episode of Dot Social, recorded live at the Fediverse House at SXSW 2025, Doctorow unpacks the concept of “enshittification.” It’s a term he coined to show how we got to this place where platforms prioritize business interests over user experience, leading to tragic declines in quality and trust. He talks about how to challenge platform monopolies and the importance of true federation.

Highlights include:

01:52 The path to enshittification
12:50 Is there a way out of this?
17:18 How Cory uses RSS
22:20 Advice for people building the social web
28:07 Take on Bluesky and Mastodon
33:44 On being a “sharecropper in Musk’s farm”
36:05 EFF’s biggest mandate this year
39:04 What bad regulations are going away?
40:16 Is enshittification inevitable?
46:27 What happened to change the way that we enforce antitrust?
53:14 “Radicalized” and take on political violence
59:27 Cory’s book, “Picks and Shovels”

🔎 You can find Cory at @pluralistic@mamot.fr

✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mike@flipboard.social

🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. about.surf.social/

Surf – Join the Surf Beta Waitlist

^Surf

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I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel *Picks and Shovels*.

Catch me in #PITTSBURGH at White Whale Books on May 15:

whitewhalebookstore.com/events…

and then in #PDX with BUNNIE HUANG at Barnes and Noble on Jun 20:

More tour dates (#London, #Manchester) here:

martinhench.com

eof/