The Internet Con

laundry0099@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow

Review of 'The Internet Con' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

I consider myself pretty well versed in the shortcomings of capitalism, but this book still managed to shock me time and time again with tales of the brazen greed of tech companies over time. It was an easy read, which I appreciated, and I greatly enjoyed the conversational and sometimes colorful tone of writing.

Yet even though the author said multiple times that he would explain how we go about fixing the problems of Big Tech, he never really did. That is, unless I somehow figure out how to suddenly make Congress listen to me instead of a huge corporation, or learn how to reverse-engineer my own social media company. Nevertheless, it’s a great read, and one that more people probably should.

pacmondo reviewed The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow

Important reading

5 stars

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.

Bernie the Wordsmith reviewed The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow

Lectura fundamental para una revolución tecnológica

4 stars

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.

abekonge reviewed The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow

Misleading title

3 stars

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.

Bastian Greshake Tzovaras reviewed The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow

Sibling work to Chokepoint Capitalism

5 stars

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.

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.

Apollo reviewed The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow

Doctorow's Best Explanation of Enshittification

4 stars

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.