5.28 X 7.95 X 1.18 inches | 0.74 pounds, 192 pages
English language
Published Sept. 4, 2023 by Verso.
When the tech platforms promised a future of "connection," they were lying. They said their "walled gardens" would keep us safe, but those were prison walls.
The platforms locked us into their systems and made us easy pickings, ripe for extraction. Twitter, Facebook and other Big Tech platforms hard to leave by design. They hold hostage the people we love, the communities that matter to us, the audiences and customers we rely on. The impossibility of staying connected to these people after you delete your account has nothing to do with technological limitations: it's a business strategy in service to commodifying your personal life and relationships.
We can - we must - dismantle the tech platforms. In The Internet Con , Cory Doctorow explains how to seize the means of computation, by forcing Silicon Valley to do the thing it fears most: interoperate. Interoperability will tear down the walls between …
When the tech platforms promised a future of "connection," they were lying. They said their "walled gardens" would keep us safe, but those were prison walls.
The platforms locked us into their systems and made us easy pickings, ripe for extraction. Twitter, Facebook and other Big Tech platforms hard to leave by design. They hold hostage the people we love, the communities that matter to us, the audiences and customers we rely on. The impossibility of staying connected to these people after you delete your account has nothing to do with technological limitations: it's a business strategy in service to commodifying your personal life and relationships.
We can - we must - dismantle the tech platforms. In The Internet Con , Cory Doctorow explains how to seize the means of computation, by forcing Silicon Valley to do the thing it fears most: interoperate. Interoperability will tear down the walls between technologies, allowing users leave platforms, remix their media, and reconfigure their devices without corporate permission.
Interoperability is the only route to the rapid and enduring annihilation of the platforms. The Internet Con is the disassembly manual we need to take back our internet.
Breaks down many of the problems with the internet today into easily digestible layman-speak, and provides thoughtful solutions instead of senseless fearmongering. Important reading for anyone who uses any type of social media.
Un libro imprescindible para forjar una nueva revolución tecnológica. Una revolución que no llegará con descendientes de terratenientes del Apartheid o hijos de clase acomodada que, una vez multimillonarios, se dedican a perseguir a la clase obrera. No, la revolución la harán los usuarios de la mano de agencias reguladoras e instituciones gubernamentales. Como el libro demuestra, esto ya ha pasado y puede volver a pasar. Los estándares son la clave para salvarnos de los depredadores de la tecnología.
While being a very concise walk though of the systemic nature of the problems of big tech, I found the title: "How to seize the means of computation" and the blurb: "A Shovel-Ready Plan to Fight Enshittification" to lead me to expect some activist-first analysis. Instead it's "solutions" are very much recommendation to congress or government level policy-types. There is nothing in it that tells me what to do. I have nothing against this - the title and the blurb is just misleading. The analysis is very good though. So if you don't already know Doctorows analysis, it's great. Just don't expect any shovels to grab.
After explaining how chokepoint capitalism leads to us being locked in into enshittified walled gardens to extract our money from us, "The Internet Con" expands on this. Drawing on his years of internet & copyright/left related activism, Doctorow outlines how DRM and copyright are being used - i don't dare say misused, as it's been clearly been premediated - to keep switching costs high.
This book makes an amazing case for how interoperability can save us, and why we need to lobby both for proactive interoperability as well as for the right to engage in adversarial interoperability.
The Internet Con is the clearest expression of Doctorow's ongoing discussions around the ways monopolies have created significant harm to the Internet and how to fix it. The explanations of both the problems and solutions are accessible, and the book was a breeze to read.
