Nolan LawsonJan 1, 2019

"Big Tech's problem is Big, not Tech" by Cory Doctorow (video) https://archive.org/details/decentralizedwebsummitmedia-2018-courtyard-2?start=509

I missed this when it came out a few months ago, but this is a great talk. I'm becoming more and more convinced that the problems of technology centralization can't be solved without antitrust. Tim Wu's recent book "The Curse of Bigness" also comes to mind here.

Decentralized Web Summit 2018-Courtyard 2 : Internet Archive : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Keynote: Cory Doctorow—Big Tech's problem is Big, not Tech starts here.Puzzling PaintingsThursday August 2nd, 4:45pm-5:00pm@ Middle Out CourtyardHanging on...

Show threadNolan Lawson
As technologists I think it's tempting to believe that decentralization can be achieved if we just had the right tech – better interfaces, more options, the right algorithms, whatever. I've been guilty of this myself; Pinafore is my attempt to make Mastodon's UI more accessible. But Doctorow makes a good case that these are just band-aids on what is fundamentally a policy problem. And unfortunately the policy solutions being floated right now would entrench monopolies rather than break them up.
Jan 1, 2019 at 4:57amWeb
Show threadNolan LawsonJan 1, 2019

Then again, I'm a software developer, not a lobbyist or a politician, so I'm just doing what I can. 😊 Also I'm trying to remain optimistic, and as part of that optimism I'm trying to "be the change I want to see in the world," i.e. build the alternatives I want to exist.

So let's hear it for the fediverse in 2019! And hopefully by building up a viable alternative, we can make a case to policymakers that it's worth reviving antitrust rather than handing the reigns of power to the monopolists.

Show threadjasonzhouuJan 2, 2019
@nolan
Show threadMark Shane HaydenJan 1, 2019

@nolan it's good to remember things like email being distributed and Google has done its best to ruin that. DNS is vulnerable too...Google or cloudflare would love if everyone just used 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 so they can own the 'net.

It is also not just big tech. It is big business, big media, big industry, big government, big ANYTHING. It is worse than lack of antitrust. Policies actually ENCOURAGE monopolies!

Too big to fail? If anything has gotten to that point we've already failed.

Show threadjasonzhouuJan 2, 2019
@nolan