Pluralistic: End of the line for video essays (07 Feb 2026)
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/07/aimsters-revenge/
Pluralistic: End of the line for video essays (07 Feb 2026)
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/07/aimsters-revenge/
Pluralistic: Threads' margin is the Eurostack's opportunity (30 Jan 2026)
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/30/zucksauce/
Pluralistic: It's not normal (14 Jan 2026)
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/14/sole-and-despotic/
Has a sieve been named after Cory Doctorow? I propose:
Doctorow's Sieve
Given two otherwise equivalent computers: the lesser device is the one which has Felony Contempt of Business Model in place to criminalize using it as a general purpose computer.
Beyond that, modifying an app creates liability under copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, noncompete, nondisclosure and so on. It's what @saurik calls "#FelonyContemptOfBusinessModel":
https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/
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Apple has many tools at its disposal that Microsoft lacked in the early 2000s. Radical new interpretations of existing copyright, contract, patent and trademark law allows Apple - and other tech giants - to threaten rivals who engage in comcom with both criminal and civil penalties. That's right, you can go to *prison* for comcom these days. No wonder calls this #FelonyContemptOfBusinessModel:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain
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This gives rise to #JayFreeman's perfectly named doctrine of "#FelonyContemptOfBusinessModel," in which it is illegal to use your own property in ways that anger the shareholders of the company that sold it to you:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain
Undisciplined by the threat of competition, regulation, or unilateral modification by users, companies are free to enshittify their products. But what does that actually *look like*?
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The US government thumbs the scales against you, creating a regime that #JayFreeman aptly dubbed #FelonyContemptOfBusinessModel:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/how-to-fix-cars-by-breaking-felony-contempt-of-business-model/
All kinds of companies have availed themselves of this government-backed superpower. There's #DRM - digital locks, covered by #DMCA1201 - in powered #wheelchairs:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/when-drm-comes-your-wheelchair
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The pirates became admirals, and set about creating a "#FelonyContemptOfBusinessModel":
https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/03/painful-burning-dribble/#law-of-intended-consequences
They changed the rules to ensure that they could "disrupt" anyone they chose, but could themselves mobilize the full might of the US government to prevent anyone from disrupting *them*:
https://locusmag.com/2019/01/cory-doctorow-disruption-for-thee-but-not-for-me/
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