Pluralistic: Ad-tech is a bezzle; Google's unionizing; The Data Detective; Damon Knight's Why Do Birds is back; Endorsing the Forward 43 slate (04 Jan 2021)

Today's links

Ad-tech is a bezzle: The subprime attention crisis is upon us.
Google's unionizing: Solidarity vs worker misclassification.
The Data Detective: How to truth with statistics.
Damon Knight's Why Do Birds is back: Reviving a grand master's comic masterpiece.
Endorsing the Forward 43 slate: For my California comrades.
This day in history: 2016
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Email sabbaticals: I'm going offline until next year.
Chaos Communications Congress: Finally a way to do CCC without making your family furious.
Landmark US financial transparency law: Beginning of the end for the US onshore-offshore industry.
Rogues' Galleries and facial recognition: Self-fulfilling prophecies at the core of white supremacist policing.
Jan 1 is Public Domain Day for 1925: Gatsby, Dalloway, Buster Keaton, Ma Rainey, et al.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Pornhub and payment processors: No one elected Visa and Mastercard.
Asset forfeiture is just theft: Cops steal more than robbers.
EU competition rules have real teeth: The DSA and DMA are unveiled.
Blockchain voting is bullshit: Yet another problem blockchain doesn't, can't and won't solve.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Situation Normal: The long-overdue second Leonard Richardson novel
China's best investigative stories of 2020: A glimpse into some very brave and dedicated reporters' work.
Where money comes from: And what tax is for.
Raising money for Chelsea Manning: The whistleblower and torture survivor needs our help.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town part 26: My last podcast of 2020.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Share Festival 2020: All online, all month.
Well-Armed Peasants: "Bring a pitchfork and a torch, with some well-armed peasants."
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Youtube, fair use, competition, and the death of the artist: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Carbon offsets are bullshit: And the "Nature" "Conservancy" is neither.
Outgoing Facebookers blast the company: "Embarrassing to work here."
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Antitrust and Facebook's paid disinformation: By all means, look at the mergers, but don't forget the outsourcing!
Daddy Daughter Xmas Podcast 2020: An annual tradition.
A lethally boring story: How pharma monopolists escape liability.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Facebook vs Robert Bork: The FTC finally found a casus belli for killing off borkism.
Why we can't have nice things: "Lobbying Expenditures and Campaign Contributions by the Pharmaceutical and Health Product Industry in the United States, 1999-2018."
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2109
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Ford patents plutocratic lane-changes: That part of Walkaway wasn't a suggestion, seriously.
All the books I reviewed in 2020: A year in books.
Armed cops terrorize Florida covid whistleblower: They pointed a gun at a two-year-old.
Uber pays to get rid of its self-driving cars: Every Big Store has to close eventually.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

China’s war on big data backstabbing: China's antimonopoly, grounded in price discrimination.
Someone Comes to Town Part 25: This week on my podcast.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading