Cory DoctorowToday's threads (a thread)
Inside: End of the line for video essays; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/07/aimsters-revenge/
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End of the line for video essays: America's worst copyright law keeps getting even worse.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116028347012422974
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Hey look at this
* 10 Reasons This Is the Worst Crypto Winter Ever https://archive.is/U5ede#selection-1246.0-1246.1
* The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinion/capitalism-industry-financialization.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KFA.Vslp.8Xqe7KWGEwRu&smid=nytcore-ios-share
* Ron Wyden Only Talks Like This When The Spies Do Something *Real* Bad https://www.forever-wars.com/ron-wyden-only-talks-like-this-when-the-spies-do-something-real-bad/
* Hollywood Is Losing Audiences to AI Fatigue https://www.wired.com/story/hollywood-is-losing-audiences-to-ai-fatigue/
* Waymo Exec Admits Remote Operators in Philippines Help Guide US Robotaxis https://eletric-vehicles.com/waymo/waymo-exec-admits-remote-operators-in-philippines-help-guide-us-robotaxis/
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#25yrsago Bellsouth phases out pay-phones https://web.archive.org/web/20010211165636/http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010202/bs/bellsouth_pay_phones_1.html
#20yrsago Man who shattered museum vases asked not to come back http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-02/07/content_517885.htm
#20yrsago Dozens of Web 2.0 companies’ logos https://flickr.com/photos/torrez/95124293/
#20yrsago Did Nvidia hire an army of message-board sock-puppets? https://web.archive.org/web/20060208045150/https://www.consumerist.com/consumer/evil/did-nvidia-hire-online-actors-to-promote-their-products-152874.php
#15yrsago Sarah Palin Circle-R wants a trademark on her name https://www.loweringthebar.net/2011/02/sarah-palin-tm-having-trouble-with-registration.html
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#10yrsago Love Picking: Locksport meets love locks https://toool.us/love-locks/
#10yrsago Superb investigative report on the fake locksmith scam https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/business/fake-online-locksmiths-may-be-out-to-pick-your-pocket-too.html?_r=1
#5yrsago Klobuchar wants to bust her some fuckin' trusts https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/06/calera/#fuck-bork
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My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels
--
My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
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My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso 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:
* #SaltLakeCity: Enshittification at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Tanner Humanities Center), Feb 18
https://tanner.utah.edu/center-events/cory-doctorow/
* #Montreal (remote): Fedimtl, Feb 24
https://fedimtl.ca/
* #Victoria: 28th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit, Mar 3-5
https://www.rebootcommunications.com/event/vipss2026/
* #Berkeley: Bioneers keynote, Mar 27
https://conference.bioneers.org/
* #Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20
https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow
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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19
https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html
* #HayOnWye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25
https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2
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Recent appearances:
* Everything Wrong With the Internet and How to Fix It, with Tim Wu (Ezra Klein)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-doctorow-wu.html
* How the Internet Got Worse (Masters in Business)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXlkuVhxMo
* Enshittification (Jon Favreau/Offline):
https://crooked.com/podcast/the-enshittification-of-the-internet-with-cory-doctorow/
* Why Big Tech is a Trap for Independent Creators (Stripper News)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmYDyz8AMZ0
* Enshittification (Creative Nonfiction podcast)
https://brendanomeara.com/episode-507-enshittification-author-cory-doctorow-believes-in-a-new-good-internet/
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Loren Kohnfelder@pluralistic Not nearly as good (and IANAL) but I wonder if projecting a video in the background (IRL, not digital mixing) would be considered circumvention since no digital tampering is involved. Of course "fair use" still applies for copyright, but to evade DMCA. It might be a loophole though lower quality and more effort. Any thoughts?