So-called "artists" in favor of monopoly rights and endless rent extraction. What else is new?

"Every invention has brought predictions of copyright’s demise: the daguerreotype, the phonograph, radio, cassettes, home video and the internet. All those predictions were premature, and Britain’s soft power flourished as a result.

A belief has taken hold that progress can’t happen without the abolition of some of our oldest rights. That it’s only theft when individuals steal. That corporations don’t steal, they innovate. If you believe all this, you might as well stock your bookshelves with fantasy."

https://www.ft.com/content/48532284-9244-4ee6-be46-f3bde22b7232

#AI #GenerativeAI #AITraining #Copyrght #Monopolies #Rentism #RentExtraction

Check out the programme for our Joint International Workshop with the University of Bologna: this year, the subject is "Infrastructures of Rent Extraction".

It will take place in Bologna on 27 November.

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/en/events/global-infrastructures-2025/

#Histodons #Capitalism #TechnoCapitalism #Technology #GlobalInfraestructures #Infraestructures #Extractivism #GlobalEconomy #TransnationalCorporations #BigTech #LabourHistory #RentierCapitalism #TechnoFeudalism #RentExtraction #Bologna

🗣 We've opened the call for papers for this year's edition of our Joint International Workshop with the University of Bologna, under the subject "Infrastructures of Rent Extraction".

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/en/events/global-infrastructures-2025/

@histodons
@histodon

#Histodons #Capitalism #TechnoCapitalism #Technology #GlobalInfraestructures #Infraestructures #Extractivism #GlobalEconomy #TransnationalCorporations #BigTech #LabourHistory #RentierCapitalism #TechnoFeudalism #RentExtraction

"Canada’s major news organizations have sued tech firm OpenAI for potentially billions of dollars, alleging the company is “strip-mining journalism” and unjustly enriching itself by using news articles to train its popular ChatGPT software.

The suit, filed on Friday in Ontario’s superior court of justice, calls for punitive damages, a share of profits made by OpenAI from using the news organizations’ articles, and an injunction barring the San Francisco-based company from using any of the news articles in the future.

“These artificial intelligence companies cannibalize proprietary content and are free-riding on the backs of news publishers who invest real money to employ real journalists who produce real stories for real people,” said Paul Deegan, president of News Media Canada.

“They are strip-mining journalism while substantially, unjustly and unlawfully enriching themselves to the detriment of publishers.”

The litigants include the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Press, the CBC, the Toronto Star, Metroland Media and Postmedia. They want up to C$20,000 in damages for each article used by OpenAI, suggesting a victory in court could be worth billions."

#AI #GenerativeAI #AITraining #RentExtraction #Rentism #Feudalism #Copyright #IP

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/29/canada-media-companies-sue-openai-chatgpt

#EVs #SoftwareBasedCars #RentExtraction #DRM #IP: "Investors love the sound of a "software-based car" because they understand that a gadget that is connected to the cloud is ripe for rent-extraction, because with software comes a bundle of "IP rights" that let the company control its customers, critics and competitors:
(...)
A "software-based car" gets to mobilize the state to enforce its "IP," which allows it to force its customers to use authorized mechanics (who can, in turn, be price-gouged for licensing and diagnostic tools). "IP" can be used to shut down manufacturers of third party parts. "IP" allows manufacturers to revoke features that came with your car and charge you a monthly subscription fee for them. All sorts of features can be sold as downloadable content, and clawed back when title to the car changes hands, so that the new owners have to buy them again. "Software based cars" are easier to repo, making them perfect for the subprime auto-lending industry. And of course, "software-based cars" can gather much more surveillance data on drivers, which can be sold to sleazy, unregulated data-brokers:"

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/10/software-based-car/

"Car companies are on the forefront of postcapitalism, and they understand that digital is the key to rent-extraction."

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

#enshittification #autoenshittification #rentextraction #latestagecapitalism #endstagecapitalism

#Netflix decided to enshittify its service by chopping down family trees.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/02/nonbinary-families/

The company decided that gross profits of more than $12 billion in 2022 are not enough, therefore they need to extract a few more millions from our collective pockets.

#enshittification #ChokeholdCapitalism #RentExtraction

I enjoyed this thoughtful piece by Cory Doctorow @pluralistic reflecting on the long history of conflict between those who want the web to be a commons for all to enjoy and contribute to, and the corporations who want to enclose the commons so that they can extract rent.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/23/semipermeable-membranes/#free-as-in-puppies

#web #RentExtraction #commons #fediverse