Cory Doctorow's Blog, page 59

Free talk on surveillance, copyright and DRM tomorrow in Berlin: “PINEAPPLE!”

I’m in Berlin to speak at OEB, a conference on technology and education. It costs a hefty sum to attend the whole event, but my talk tomorrow at 1200h, “No Matter who’s Winning the War on General Purpose Computing, You’re Losing
” is free. Just show up at the Hotel Intercontinental on Budapester Strasse and check in at the OEB desk with the password “PINEAPPLE” for a voucher that will get you into my talk.

I Can’t Let You Do That, Dave: why computer scientists should care about DRM

I have an editorial in the current issue of Communications of the Association of Computing Machinery, a scholarly journal for computer scientists, in which I describe the way that laws that protect digital locks (like America’s DMCA) compromise the fundamentals of computer security.

At the Electronic Frontier Foundation, we’re anxious to talk with computer scientists whose research is impeded by DMCA and laws like it, and to discuss how they can improve their odds of coming out on top in...

Wide-ranging interview (surveillance, DRM, copyfight, climate, class war) in the Sydney Morning Herald

Chris Zappone’s published a long, wide-ranging interview with me in the Sydney Morning Herald where I try to connect the dots between digital rights, surveillance, climate change, and wealth disparity.

Doctorow points to the internet itself and inequality – two things that have a surprising link.

“I think wealth inequality is related to the internet in lots of ways, partly because globalisation is an internet phenomenon.”

Global corporations relied on globalised supply chains enabled by...

Outstanding critical review of Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free in the LA Review of Books

McKenzie Wark, author of the classic Hacker Manifesto, has written a long, smart review of my book Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free (now in paperback) for the Los Angeles Review of Books. It’s a genuinely excellent piece of critical writing — I think it’s my favorite review of this book so far.

A number of writers — including Douglas Rushkoff and Astra Taylor — have published useful books on similar issues recently, but Doctorow comes closest among these authors to understanding the in...

Authors Alliance guide to Open Access

The Authors Alliance, a nonprofit writers’ organization, conducted a wide-ranging piece of research on the experience of authors with open access publishing, including my own experiences with Creative Commons and commercial publishing.

That said, most of the essay focuses on academic and scientific authors, who may be institutionally bound to publish under open access, or who may wish to open their work as part of their ethical commitment to peer review and access in scholarship.

THIS GU...

I won the Comment Awards prize for Technology and Digital Commentator of the Year!

I woke this morning to the delightful news that I won Editorial Intelligence’s 2015 prize for Technology and Digital Commentator of the Year for my work on the Guardian. I’m honoured and delighted — thank you to the jury and the organisation, and to Martha Lane Fox for her presentation of the award!

Turns out that “unsubscribing” from spam actually works

After my spam hit a point where I couldn’t actually download my email faster than it was arrivingI spent a month clicking the unsubscribe links in all the spams in my inbox. Weirdly, it worked.

What’s weirder is that I discovered that most of that spam was coming from organizations I knew, even ones I supported and had worked with, but whose mailing lists I’d never asked to join. The growth of proprietary platforms — cough Facebook cough — that charge businesses to reach customers who’ve a...

The Internet will always suck

Have you ever wondered why the Internet is always just a little bit too slow to support the kind of activity you’re trying to undertake? My latest Locus column, The Internet Will Always Suck, hypothesizes that whenever the Internet gets a little faster or cheaper, that unlocks a bunch of applications that couldn’t gain purchase at the old levels, and they rush in to fill in the new space that’s been opened up. The good news is that new ways of connecting with one another are always being ope...

Scholarly article on activism and technology in my YA novels

Anika Ullmann, a graduate student in Cultural Studies Leuphana University in Luneberg, Germany, has published a paper on the relationship of my young adult novels to political radicalism, the hacker ethic and the “First Days of a Better Nation.” I found it a great and insightful read, and Annika kindly made a copy available for you to read, too!

Come see me at Santa Monica’s Diesel Books on Thursday

We’re launching the new paperback edition of “Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free, my book of practical advice and theory for artists trying to make sense of the net (it features intros by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer, too!) at Santa Monica’s Diesel Books.

I’ll be there (225 26th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90402), from 6:30 to 7:30, talking about the book’s subjects, taking questions and signing copies.

The paperback features several updates, including a new essay I wrote for this edition.