Pluralistic: The (open) web is good, actually (13 Nov 2023)


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Pluralistic: Yanis Varoufakis's "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism?" (28 Sep 2023)


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Pluralistic: Autoenshittification (24 July 2023)


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Pluralistic: This is your brain on fraud apologetics (24 Feb 2023)


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Pluralistic: Freedom of reach IS freedom of speech (10 Dec 2022)


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How to Fix Cars* By Breaking “Felony Contempt of Business Model”

(*Also Wheeelchairs, Tractors, iPhones, Toasters and Printers)

A hackeneyed “hacker in a hoodie” image; in place of a face is a BMW steering wheel. Behind the figure is a three-tier stack of crushed cars.

On the origin of anti-features

They’re called “anti-features”: artificial limitations built onto the products we buy. These are limitations no customer asked for — and indeed, they’re limitations customers would pay to remove — if only they could.

The first anti-features were “DRM” (Digital Rights Management), like the “region-locks” on DVD players that stopped you from using a player you bought in one country to play back a disc you bought somewhere else.

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Pluralistic: 22 Mar 2021


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Pluralistic: 15 Mar 2021


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  • Making Hay: My new "Lost Cause" story in MIT Tech Review's "Make Shift."
  • Free markets: My latest Locus column on rent-seeking and audiobooks.
  • STREAMLINER: Vantablack noir French hotrod comics for the win.
  • This day in history: 2001, 2006, 2016, 2020
  • Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 10 Feb 2021


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Pluralistic: 02 Feb 2021


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