Cory DoctorowToday's threads (a thread)
Inside: Podcasting "Let the Platforms Burn"; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/18/urban-wildlife-interface/
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Tonight (Jul 18), I'm hosting the first #Clarion Summer Write-In Series, an hour-long, free drop-in group writing and discussion session. It's in support of the Clarion SF/F writing workshop's fundraiser to offer tuition support to students:
https://mailchi.mp/theclarionfoundation/clarion-write-ins
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Podcasting "Let the Platforms Burn": It's past time to evacuate the fire-zone.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/110736012077318698
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Cory Doctorow's linkblog (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image This week on my #podcast, I read "Let the Platforms Burn," a recent @[email protected] column making the case that we should focus more on making it easier for people to leave platforms, rather than making the platforms less terrible places to be: https://doctorow.medium.com/let-the-platforms-burn-6fb3e6c0d980 -- 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: https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/18/urban-wildlife-interface/#combustible-walled-gardens 1/
Hey look at this
* Alternative app that can unlock #VanMoof bikes more popular amid bankruptcy fears https://nltimes.nl/2023/07/15/alternative-app-can-unlock-vanmoof-bikes-popular-amid-bankruptcy-fears (h/t Gianfranco Cecconi)
* Talking about a ‘schism’ is ahistorical https://medium.com/@emilymenonbender/talking-about-a-schism-is-ahistorical-3c454a77220f (h/t @jjn1)
* Hollywood’s Future Belongs to People—Not Machines https://www.wired.com/story/hollywoods-future-belongs-to-people-not-machines/
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Alternative app that can unlock VanMoof bikes more popular amid bankruptcy fears
A new app to unlock bicycles produced by the financially troubled Amsterdam firm, VanMoof, has reached the top tier of most popular iPhone apps in the Netherlands within a day. VanMoof's Belgian competitor, Cowboy, launched an app called Bikey for iOS on Thursday, and less than a day later it was one of the top three free apps in the Dutch market. Once it became public knowledge that VanMoof needed protection from its creditors, the company's e-bike owners grew more concerned about whether the VanMoof app will still work. The app is capable of unlocking the bike for its rider.
#20yrsago Crows use tools https://web.archive.org/web/20030811085621/http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/crow/index.html
#20yrsago #AOL to renege on #AIM interop promises? https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jul-16-fi-aol16-story.html
#20yrsago MSFT #DRM infringes on Sony/Philips DRM https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jul-16-fi-patent16-story.html
#20yrsago A Brief History of Negative Space https://www.revolutionsf.com/fiction/negativespace/01.html
#20yrsago #MickeyMouse offs himself https://memex.craphound.com/2003/07/17/mickey-mouse-offs-himself/
#20yrsago How the Nerds Were Having A Perfectly Good Time Until The Businesspeople And Lawyers Showed Up And Ruined Everything http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/001529.php#001529
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#15yrsago I am the Very Model of a Modern SF Novelist https://jimhines.livejournal.com/382703.html
#15yrsago Cop busts guy for taking his pic: “It’s illegal to take a picture of a law enforcement officer… if you don’t give it to me, you’re going to jail” https://web.archive.org/web/20080717072712/http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/man_arrested_for_unlawful_photography/11576/
#15yrsago Progressive geek looking for 3,000 people to help him win #Kansas election against dinosauric anti-science/pro-surveillance dude http://seantevis.com/kansas/3000/running-for-office-xkcd-style/
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#10yrsago @eff files huge lawsuit against #NSA on behalf of broad coalition https://www.eff.org/press/releases/unitarian-church-gun-groups-join-eff-sue-nsa-over-illegal-surveillance
#10yrsago #LondonPolice sorry for stealing dead kids’ identities for 40 years https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/jul/16/met-chief-spies-dead-children-identities
#10yrsago Raising a reader: how comics can help kids learn to love reading https://cbldf.org/2013/07/cbldf-releases-raising-a-reader-a-resource-for-parents-and-educators/
#10yrsago @anildash’s 10 Rules of Internet https://web.archive.org/web/20130721034729/http://dashes.com/anil/2013/07/rules-of-internet.html
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Unitarian Church, Gun Groups Join EFF to Sue NSA Over Illegal Surveillance
San Francisco - Nineteen organizations including Unitarian church groups, gun ownership advocates, and a broad coalition of membership and political advocacy organizations filed suit against the National Security Agency (NSA) today for violating their First Amendment right of association by...
#10yrsago #Apple’s mobile devices have a secret list of “sensitive” words that don’t autocomplete https://web.archive.org/web/20130722005603/https://newsbeastlabs.tumblr.com/post/55590097779/today-we-published-a-data-story-looking-at-how-ios
#10yrsago Don’t worry, we only spy on terrorists (worry, because everyone we don’t like is a “terrorist”) https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/mission-creep-when-everything-is-terrorism/277844/
#10yrsago Death toll from the American #AntiVaccine movement https://web.archive.org/web/20130714203456/https://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Anti-Vaccine_Body_Count/Home.html
#10yrsago Why #librarians are needed more than ever in the 21st century https://web.archive.org/web/20130719020216/http://www.bookpage.com/the-book-case/2010/04/14/neil-gaiman-talks-about-his-love-of-libraries/
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#10yrsago #Toronto’s #HonestEd’s will go https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/07/16/honest_eds_is_up_for_sale.html
#5yrsago Hackers say they stole tens of thousands of health records of #Ontario home-care patients and they want to get paid https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/carepartners-data-breach-ransom-patients-medical-records-1.4749515
#5yrsago Leading #VotingMachine company admits it lied, reveals that its voting machines ship backdoored, with pre-installed remote access software https://www.vice.com/en/article/mb4ezy/top-voting-machine-vendor-admits-it-installed-remote-access-software-on-systems-sold-to-states
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#5yrsago UK #RailwayArches, the last bastion of publicly owned commercial space, engines of small business, about to be killed by privatization https://theconversation.com/britains-railway-arches-are-being-sold-off-and-small-businesses-could-be-forced-out-99907
#5yrsago They said #AOC’s message wouldn’t play in the midwest, now she and #Bernie are headed to #Kansas https://theintercept.com/2018/07/17/brent-welder-kansas-primary-3rd-district-ocasio-cortez-bernie-sanders/
#5yrsago China uses sewage surveillance to detect drugs in urine and feces https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05728-3
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#5yrsago #Venmo’s “public by default” transactions reveal drug deals, breakups, more https://22-8miles.com/public-by-default/
#5yrsago Pounded in the butt by my own #DarkSEO: the weird, true story of #Cockygate https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/16/17566276/cockygate-amazon-kindle-unlimited-algorithm-self-published-romance-novel-cabal
#5yrsago Portuguese translation of Zuck’s Empire of Oily Rags https://memex.craphound.com/2018/07/16/portuguese-translation-of-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/
#5yrsago The MEP behind Europe’s proposed #CopyrightCensorship proposal can’t explain all the copyrighted images in his social media https://www.techdirt.com/2018/07/16/guy-charge-pushing-draconian-eu-copyright-directive-evasive-about-his-own-use-copyright-protected-images/
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#5yrsago AOC moots a “progressive caucus” of bloc-voting Democratic congresspeople https://theintercept.com/2018/07/16/ocasio-cortez-floats-a-sub-caucus-of-progressives-willing-to-vote-together-as-a-bloc/
#5yrsago #McMansion meanings: why do America’s jumbo-sized status homes have useless “formal spaces?” https://archive.curbed.com/2018/7/11/17536876/great-room-house-size-design-square-footage
#5yrsago China’s super-rich get the lion’s share of British plutocrat visas https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2155390/chinas-super-rich-lead-way-applications-british-millionaire-visas
#5yrsago Podcast: Zuck’s Empire of Oily Rags https://ia802809.us.archive.org/7/items/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_296/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_296_-_Zucks_Empire_of_Oily_Rags.mp3
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#5yrsago More than a million Europeans spoke out to stop internet-destroying censorship rules, but the fight’s not over https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/07/key-victory-against-european-copyright-filters-and-link-taxes-whats-next
#5yrsago Record numbers of Americans believe #ClimateChange is real, and a majority understand that humans are to blame https://web.archive.org/web/20180711151351/https://closup.umich.edu/files/ieep-nsee-2018-spring-climate-belief.pdf
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A Key Victory Against European Copyright Filters and Link Taxes - But What's Next?
Against all the odds, but with the support of nearly a million Europeans, MEPs voted earlier this month to reject the EU's proposed copyright reform—including controversial proposals to create a new "snippet" right for news publishers, and mandatory copyright filters for sites that published user...
Cory Doctorow's linkblog (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image Today's threads (a thread) Inside: Linkty Dumpty; and more! Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/15/in-the-dumps/ #Pluralistic 1/
My latest book is Red Team Blues, available wherever books are sold!
Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US):
and Forbidden Planet (UK):
https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/
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My latest nonfiction book is Chokepoint Capitalism (with Rebecca Giblin), nonfiction about monopoly and fairness in creative labor markets.
https://chokepointcapitalism.com
Signed copies available from Book Soup:
https://www.booksoup.com/book/9780807007068
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My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon 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."
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Upcoming appearances:
* #Clarion Summer Write-In Series, Jul 18
https://mailchi.mp/theclarionfoundation/clarion-write-ins
* #ComicCon (#SanDiego), Jul 20-23
https://www.comic-con.org/cci/programming-schedule
* Decentralization of the Internet Research Group (#IETF-117)
https://dirk-kutscher.info/events/dinrg-ietf-117/
* @MidsummeerScream (Long Beach), Jul 30
https://midsummerscream.org/
* #Armadillocon (#Austin), Aug 4-6
https://armadillocon.org/d45/
* @defcon (#LasVegas), Aug 10-13
https://defcon.org/
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Recent appearances:
* UCL Peter Kirstein Lecture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn47ptAtVH0
* The Homeless Romantic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXn9wy5bHq0
* Why the internet is getting worse
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/209-front-burner/episode/15992083-why-the-internet-is-getting-worse
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Peter Kirstein Lecture 2023 with Cory Doctorow
You can also follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!
Here's today's edition: https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/18/urban-wildlife-interface/
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If you're a @medium subscriber, you can read these essays - as well as previews of upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.
My latest Medium column is "Let the Platforms Burn: The Opposite of Good Fires is Wildfires"
https://doctorow.medium.com/let-the-platforms-burn-6fb3e6c0d980
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If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is also ad- and tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "👩🏿🦱". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!
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Ben Ford 
@pluralistic I appreciate the content, but can you set thread replies to unlisted please!
@binford2k That's an urban legend. Please see: https://doctorow.medium.com/how-to-make-the-least-worst-mastodon-threads-daa33943ac31
Greg Hills@pluralistic
"But what if, instead of trying to force Zuck to be a better emperor-for-life, we passed rules requiring him to let his subjects flee his tyrannical reign?"
This is crucial.
Meta won't let people delete their Threads account unless they also delete their Instagram account. That's Meta's Berlin Wall around Threads, designed (though they will have lots of "technical" reasons why it isn't) to prevent Threads users leaching into the Fediverse.
The wall must fall.
Daisy Leigh Brenecki@winterknell @pluralistic This all assumes that Meta actually adds ActivityPub federation support to Threads, which I doubt will ever happen.
They’ve got the attention and mindshare they wanted by saying they were _going_ to, and they already have the immense userbase of Instagram to drive adoption, so they don’t need to actually do it.
Threads has already demonstrated that there is nothing magical that protects apps supporting ActivityPub from enshittification.
It can be argued that Meta doesn't "need" to take the extra step. And if we sit here, fat, happy and unprepared, and that step *is* taken, we can 🤷♂️ and all tell each other "Nobody could have foreseen this".
Because that's how we got here.
If Threads begins to flounder, many inconceivable things could happen.
https://www.similarweb.com/blog/insights/social-media-news/threads-week/
InfraredEyes@winterknell @pluralistic The other side of this is that you need an Instagram account to join Threads. I occasionally use Facebook, but I have never used Instagram and don't plan too. I can't be the only one.
VerschlimmbessererMe too. I eagerly embraced Facebook and Google in the late 2000s, but by the time Instagram was getting bigger in 2012-4 I thought it was just for narcissists. Losing trust in FAAMG happened about this time too.
@InfraredEyes @pluralistic That's me, too. I have a FB account that I use as rarely as possible. I'd delete it, but it is the most reliable way I have of keeping in touch with family.
Colin Davey@winterknell @pluralistic you can "deactivate" your Threads account, but that's just weasel.
@colin_davey @pluralistic Exactly. Until Threads users can transfer their accounts to non-Meta instances without having to delete their IG account and thus lose all their IG contacts, any proposed Threads integration with the Fediverse would be fake and one-sided.
Like "enshittification", the suggestion of replacing "moat" with "Berlin Wall" (https://backofmind.substack.com/p/stuck-in-the-moat) fills a real gap in discussion of social media.
