As Cory Doctorow points out, merely putting something on a blockchain doesn’t make the data itself ‘trusted’ (or useful!) In passing, it’s interesting that he cites Vinay Gupta in the piece, as Vinay is someone I’ve historically had a lot of time for. However, Mattereum (NFTs for physical assets) just… seems like a distraction from more important work he’s previously done? In other words: if: problem + blockchain = problem – blockchain then: blockchain = 0 The blockchain hasn’t added anything to the situation, except considerable cost (which could just as easily be spent on direct transfers to poor farmers, assuming you could find someone you trust to hand out the money) and complexity (which creates lots of opportunities for cheating). Source: The Inevitability of Trusted Third Parties | Cory Doctorow

https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2022/02/08/blockchain-and-trusted-third-parties/

Il capitalismo della sorveglianza è ovunque. Ma non è il risultato di una svolta sbagliata o di un abuso canaglia del potere aziendale: è il sistema che funziona come previsto. Questo è l'argomento del nuovo libro di Cory #Doctorow, che siamo entusiasti di pubblicare per intero su #OneZero.
Ecco come distruggere il capitalismo della sorveglianza.

https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59

https://mastodon.social/@privacyguides/107718713595498588

An eclectic mix of articles in today’s microcast, covering everything from teens and tech to Fediverse functionality.

https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2021/09/04/microcast-091/

Quick question: have you read much other than coronavirus news this week? I’ve tried to include some links here to other things here, but just like all roads read to Rome, all links eventually point to the pandemic.

https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2020/03/27/friday-flickerings/

Behold! The usual link round-up of interesting things I’ve read in the last week.

https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2020/01/31/friday-featherings/