Pluralistic: 19 Aug 2020

Today's links

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

EU v FB (vg!): Facebook must stop tracking users around the web.
AOC wins: Her opponent was a villain out of central casting.
Vegas casino workers beg for their lives: "The market has decided."
You are wrong about CDA 230: A comprehensive and complete FAQ about the internet's worst-understood, most-maligned law.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Hackers on Planet Earth, in the cloud: HOPE will not be cancelled.
Climate and machine learning: Machine learning is roasting the planet.
Seeking Fitbit owners' stories: Help EFF explain why the Google takeover is wrong.
Software secrecy: Code is (bad) law.
Grocer won't show employees results from mandatory temp-checks: Coronavirus theater, class war edition.
Bill Clinton sings "Baby Got Back": Speech synthesis is just sublimely weird.
Webinar on Controlled Digital Lending and the pandemic: Talking about the Internet Archive, this Friday.
Google vows no custom AI for oil and gas: Reversing its 2018 position, which was garbage.
Re-positive coronavirus cases are not infectious: Finally, we catch a break.
Ifixit's medtech repair manual trove is full to bursting: Right to Repair, pandemic edition.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Lax antitrust killed ventilator stockpiles : The USG procured <$3k ventilators from a startup, so an incumbent bought them and shuttered them.
Koch network demands an end to lockdown: While sending its staff home for their safety.
Private equity firms scooping up pandemic bargains: It's not the wound that gets ya, it's the opportunistic parasitic infections.
Digital rights are human rights: Why broadband should be a public utility.
ACLU vanquishes the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: Terms of Service violations are not felonies.
Munching Squares and Munching Tunes: The music and visuals of slow-decay phosphors.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading