Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Paying consumer debts is basically optional in the United States; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/

#Pluralistic

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Pluralistic: Paying consumer debts is basically optional in the United States (12 August 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Going to #Defcon this weekend? I'm giving a keynote, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification and Throw it Into Reverse," today (Aug 12) at 12:30pm, followed by a book signing at the No Starch Press booth at 2:30pm!

https://info.defcon.org/event/?id=50826

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Paying consumer debts is basically optional in the United States: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects the people who need it least.

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/110876807189638595

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Cory Doctorow's linkblog (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image The vast majority of America's debt collection targets $500-2,000 credit card debts. It is a filthy business, operated by lawless firms who hire unskilled workers drawn from the same economic background as their targets, who routinely and grotesquely flout the law, but only when it comes to the people with the *least* ability to pay. 1/

La Quadrature du Net - Mastodon - Media Fédéré

Hey look at this

* How #Fanatics Is Building a Weird #Monopoly Over Sports #TradingCards https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/how-fanatics-is-building-a-weird

* How to Move Your Instagram Feed to #Pixelfed, the Photo App That Doesn't Track Your Every Move https://www.wired.com/story/migrate-move-instagram-to-pixelfed-no-tracking-fediverse/

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How Fanatics Is Building a Weird Monopoly Over Sports Trading Cards

Fanatics has rolled up power in all areas of sports merchandising. And now it's coming for baseball, football, and basketball trading cards.

BIG by Matt Stoller
JULIAN DIBBELL

Judge Rejects New York’s Stop-and-Frisk Policy

The federal judge planned to designate a monitor for the New York Police Department after she found that police officers routinely stopped people without any objective reason to suspect them of wrongdoing.

The New York Times

Yesterday's threads: The Sacklers woulda gotten away with it if it wasn't for those darned meddling feds; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/110871883425734524

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Cory Doctorow's linkblog (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Today's threads (a thread) Inside: The Sacklers woulda gotten away with it if it wasn't for those darned meddling feds; and more! Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/ #Pluralistic 1/

La Quadrature du Net - Mastodon - Media Fédéré

My latest book is Red Team Blues, available wherever books are sold!

Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US):

https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2873/Wed%2C_Apr_26th_6pm%3A_Red_Team_Blues%3A_A_Martin_Hench_Novel_HB.html#/

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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Red Team Blues: A Martin Hench Novel HB

Signed by Cory Doctorow

Dark Delicacies

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."

https://craphound.com/shop/

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Shop | Cory Doctorow's craphound.com

Upcoming appearances:

* #SanDiego Union Tribune Festival of Books, Aug 19
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/festivalofbooks

* #BurningMan Center Camp, 1430h, Aug 29
https://playaevents.burningman.org/2023/playa_events/03/

* @eff Awards (#SanFrancisco), Sept 14
https://www.eff.org/awards/effawards/2023

* An Evening with #VESchwab (#DesMoines), Oct 2
https://www.thecabinidaho.org/all-events/ve-schwab

* 26th #ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing keynote (#Minneapolis), Oct 16
https://cscw.acm.org/2023/index.php/keynotes/

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Festival of Books 2023

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s 7th Annual Festival of Books will be held on August 19 presented by the University of San Diego. The Festival of Books, hosted on the University of San Diego campus, is an event for book lovers of all ages. Attendees will enjoy workshops, activities, photo booths, live entertainment, discussions with award-winning authors and more.

San Diego Union-Tribune
Podcast | Cory Doctorow, "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of…

Cory Doctorow, "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" (Verso, 2023)

New Books Network

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/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/

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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 "Fool Me Twice We Don't Get Fooled Again: There's a crucial difference between federatable and federated"

https://doctorow.medium.com/fool-me-twice-we-dont-get-fooled-again-20074e311f1f

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Pluralistic: Paying consumer debts is basically optional in the United States (12 August 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

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!

Subscribe here: https://mail.flarn.com/mailman/listinfo/plura-list/

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Plura-list Info Page

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To #SeizeTheMeansOfComputation," a #BigTech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It's a #DRMFree book, which means #Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

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