Cory Doctorow's Blog, page 9

Against Cozy Catastrophies

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, Against Cozy Catastrophies, about the how the changeover from universal, state- or employer-provided pensions to market-based pensions like the 401(k) have created an inescapable, slow motion catastrophe, where the only thing worse than being one of the lucky few with retirement savings is being part of the vast majority who do not.

(Image: Djuradj Vujcic, CC BY 2.0; Gerald England, CC BY-SA 2.0; modified)

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Apple’s Cement Overshoes

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, Apple’s Cement Overshoes, about the malicious compliance in Apple’s “home repair kits.”

(Image: Conall, CC BY 2.0, modified)

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About Those Killswitched Ukrainian Tractors

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, About those kill-switched Ukrainian tractors, suggesting that what John Deere did to Russian looters, anyone can do to farmers, anywhere.

(Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

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Revenge Of The Chickenized Reverse Centaurs

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, Revenge of the Chickenized Reverse-Centaurs, about the relationship between algorithms, interoperability and worker power.

(Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

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Big Tech Isn’t Stealing News Publishers’ Content

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, Big Tech Isn’t Stealing News Publishers’ Content, about the calls from the news industry for tech companies to pay licensing fees for quoted news-snippets, and why this both ignores and worsens the real problem: ad-fraud.

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When Automation Becomes Enforcement

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, When Automation Becomes Enforcement, about the debate of interoperability and end-to-end encryption in the EU’s Digital Markets Act, and how that relates to the long-running battle over who’s in charge: you, or your computer?

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The Best Defense Against Rubber-Hose Cryptanalysis

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, The Best Defense Against Rubber-Hose Cryptanalysis, which explores the contradiction at the heart of Bitcoin advocacy.

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The Byzantine Premium

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, The Byzantine Premium, which explores the contradiction at the heart of Bitcoin advocacy.

(Image: Jakub-gdPL and FAMartin, CC BY-SA 4.0; Delwar Hossain, BD, CC BY 4.0; Jernej Furman, CC BY 2.0; modified)

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What is “Peak Indifference?”

This week on my podcast, I read a recent Medium column, What is “Peak Indifference?” in which I explain my theory of how we change – or fail to change – in the face of wicked problems.

(Image: Cameron Strandberg/CC BY 2.0, modified)

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Vertically Challenged

This week on my podcast, I read my latest Locus column, Vertically Challenged, about “how and why to break up Big Tech.”

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