Pluralistic: 08 Jan 2021

Today's links

Competition is Killing Us: Consumer harm considered harmful.
Predatory lender seeks national bank charter: Oportun led America in suing latinx borrowers during the pandemic.
Militarizing cops was a failure: Water still wet.
This day in history: 2006, 2016, 2020
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

How Big Oil lied about "recyclable" plastics: Who killed the world?
Levels of Interoperability: More clarity from Ian Brown.
Podcasting "IP": My latest and most substantial Locus column.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Podcasting chapter one of Attack Surface: A three hour preview of the audio, currently up on Kickstarter!
Crad Kilodney documentary: Kickstarting "Putrid Scum."
DRM versus human rights: Helping Mexico learn from 22 years of bitter US experience.
Germany's amazing new competition proposal: Putting interop front and center.
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Amazon's Monopoly Tollbooth: Quantifying the market-power abuses of Amazon's platform.
Thomas Hawk's Talking Heads: Judy's in the bedroom inventing situations.
Orwell prize winner trapped in orwellian nightmare: Jessica Johnson's predicament puts the "kafkaesque" in "orwellian."
Spikey: Infering key geometry from the sound of lock-entry.
Hedge fund won't return Citi's accidental $175m deposit: No backsies.
Yale admin: "Prepare for death": It's not quite "boola boola."
Austerity breeds Nazis: Analyzing Weimar election data.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Warren Buffet, monopolist: Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power.
Uber lost $4b in H1/2020: They're not even making it up in volume anymore.
Dragon's Lair skeleton Dirk pin: Come for Dirk, stay for Leia.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Peter Thiel was right: Capitalism is incompatible with democracy.
Google bans anticompetitive vocabularies: But not anticompetitive conduct.
Free the law: The PACER rent is too damned high.
Jailed for pen-testing: Kafka in Iowa.
This day in history: 2010, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Break 'Em Up: Zephyr Teachout's trustbusting program for the 21st century.
Unauthorized Meat: Mellow Sous Vide journeys to the Internet of Shit.
Let's force Big Tech to interoperate: Here's why…and how.
No consequences for police violence at BLM actions: Propublica followed up on viral videos showing gross misconduct and found…crickets.
The Internet Archive defends online libraries: First filings from the Hachette lawsuit.
Bitcoin is not a socialist's ally: Yanis Varoufakis responds to Ben Arc.
Where "software" comes from: "In October, 1953, I coined the word 'software.'"
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

New podcast: Part nine of my reading of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town.
Europe's interop coalition: DSA + Interop = Competition.
Scarfolk beermats: Ministers' Stout Hubris and more.
Miami cop owns illegal mansion nightclub: For some reason, the cops didn't prevent the nightly Lamborghini races.
Video and transcript of my OII talk: If you missed last week's "What Big Tech does to discourse, and the forgotten tech tool that can make tech less big."
Shower temperature vs handle position: You're not imagining it.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

A grifter's border wall is about to fall into the Rio Grande: Who knew the Rio Grande was such a big river?
Hong Kong law threatens people all over the world: China claims the right to kidnap anyone, anywhere.
1000+ accidental trigger-phrases for smart speakers: You bugged yourself.
Roller derby's brilliant re-opening plan: A template for global sport.
Unauthorized seat: BMW drives you straight to the Internet of Shit.
Don't Believe Proven Liars: The absolute minimum standard of prudence in merger scrutiny.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading