9781836742227
As a result, online public squares have become places of torment, and online retailers are hellish dumpster fires. The virtual gathering places where we once imagined the world's problems might be resolved are now a sewer of hatred and abuse - thoroughly enshittified.
Doctorow enumerates the symptoms, lays out the diagnosis, and identifies the best responses to these diseased platforms: the monopolies online must be shattered. Companies too big to fail or to jail - and much too big to care - must be cut down to size. Only an attack on corporate power will permit effective regulation and real privacy. Tech unions must protect the workers who should, in turn, defend us against their bosses' sadism and greed.
Praise for The Internet Con:'One of the Internet's most interesting writers.' -- Edward Snowden'This book fills me with hope that a radical yet plausible alternative to computational tyranny can be developed and deployed.' -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Survival of the Fittest'This book is the instruction manual Big Tech doesn't want you to read. It deconstructs their crummy products, undemocratic business models, rigged legal regimes, and lies. Crack this book and help build something better.' -- Astra Taylor'A brilliant barn burner of a book. Cory is one of the sharpest tech critics, and he shows with fierce clarity how our computational future could be otherwise.' -- Kate Crawford, author of The Atlas of AI
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