Today's threads (a thread)

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Trump and the unmighty dollar; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/26/i-dont-want/

#Pluralistic

1/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

I'll be in #Ottawa on WEDNESDAY (Jan 28) at Perfect Books:

Perfect Books on Instagram: "EDIT: SOLD OUT ❗BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME❗ We are SO excited to present author and activist Cory Doctorow as part of what we are now calling The Perfect Books Lecture Series. This event is presented in partnership with The Other Hill. We hope you'll us on January 28th 2026 at allsaints as Toronto-born Cory Doctorow gives one of his truly iconic lectures on his most recent book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It, followed by an audience Q&A session and book signing. Until midnight on December 31st, you can get early bird ticket prices, only $10 — the link is on our bio and on our website 👀 🕝 January 28, 2026. Doors 7:00pm, Event 7:30-8:30pm 📍allsaints event space, 317 Chapel St, Ottawa 🎫 EARLY BIRD TICKETS: $10 — Available until midnight on December 31st! 🎫 General Tickets: $15 Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of dozens of books, most recently ENSHITTIFICATION: WHY EVERYTHING SUDDENLY GOT WORSE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT (nonfiction); and the novels PICKS AND SHOVELS and THE BEZZLE (followups to RED TEAM BLUES). Other notable books include the solarpunk novels WALKAWAY and THE LOST CAUSE; the tech policy books THE INTERNET CON and CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM; and the internationally bestselling YA LITTLE BROTHER series; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame."

84 likes, 3 comments - perfectbooksottawa on December 29, 2025: "EDIT: SOLD OUT ❗BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME❗ We are SO excited to present author and activist Cory Doctorow as part of what we are now calling The Perfect Books Lecture Series. This event is presented in partnership with The Other Hill. We hope you'll us on January 28th 2026 at allsaints as Toronto-born Cory Doctorow gives one of his truly iconic lectures on his most recent book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It, followed by an audience Q&A session and book signing. Until midnight on December 31st, you can get early bird ticket prices, only $10 — the link is on our bio and on our website 👀 🕝 January 28, 2026. Doors 7:00pm, Event 7:30-8:30pm 📍allsaints event space, 317 Chapel St, Ottawa 🎫 EARLY BIRD TICKETS: $10 — Available until midnight on December 31st! 🎫 General Tickets: $15 Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of dozens of books, most recently ENSHITTIFICATION: WHY EVERYTHING SUDDENLY GOT WORSE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT (nonfiction); and the novels PICKS AND SHOVELS and THE BEZZLE (followups to RED TEAM BLUES). Other notable books include the solarpunk novels WALKAWAY and THE LOST CAUSE; the tech policy books THE INTERNET CON and CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM; and the internationally bestselling YA LITTLE BROTHER series; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.".

Instagram (www.instagram.com)

And in #Toronto with Tim Wu on FRIDAY (Jan 30):

Cory Doctorow and Tim Wu: Enshittification and Extraction - NOW Toronto

Back by popular demand, Tim Wu (The Age of Extraction) returns to Hot Docs Cinema for a further exploration of the failed promise of the...

NOW Toronto (nowtoronto.com)

2/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

Trump and the unmighty dollar: "Flipping the table over in a poker game rigged in your favor because you resent having to pretend to play the game at all."

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115961934493687173

3/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

Hey look at this

* Kyle Crutcher pottery http://www.brandbeorn.com/Sci-Fi.html

* Avi Lewis endorsed by authors Maté, Doctorow, Martel, Taylor, Aguirre, and Douglas https://bsky.app/profile/avilewis.ca/post/3mcxh2jmd622x

* AI hasn't delivered the profits it was hyped for, says Deloitte https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/21/deloitte_enterprises_adopting_ai_revenue_lift/

* Zack Polanski to hand in NHS contract termination notice to Palantir https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2026/01/22/zack-polanski-to-hand-in-nhs-contract-termination-notice-to-palantir/

* MPLS church has delivered more than 12K boxes of groceries to families in hiding https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2026/01/15/minneapolis-church-has-delivered-more-than-12000-boxes-of-groceries-to-families-in-hiding

4/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#20yrsago Universal DRM dystopia https://tarmle.livejournal.com/80182.html

#20yrsago Library’s one-year anniversary of lending video-games https://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=4941

#20yrsago UK music industry execs can’t talk straight about DRM https://web.archive.org/web/20060203090643/http://rock.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/01/25/digital-music-the-industry-answers/

#20yrsago BBC report on UK gamers from 6-65 https://web.archive.org/web/20060207060943/http://crystaltips.typepad.com/wonderland/files/bbc_uk_games_research_2005.pdf

#20yrsago Norwegian ombudsman to review iTunes terms of service https://web.archive.org/web/20070208163427/http://forbrukerportalen.no/Artikler/2006/1138119849.71

#20yrsago Google Cache is legal https://web.archive.org/web/20060130212935/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004344.php

5/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#20yrsago NSA’s licensable patent portfolio https://web.archive.org/web/20060116103440/https://www.nsa.gov/techtrans/techt00002.cfm

#20yrsago Senators figure out the Broadcast Flag, curse it as an abomination! https://web.archive.org/web/20060130212403/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004343.php

#20yrsago HOWTO turn a disposable camera into an RFID-killer https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/wiki/RFID-Zapper(EN)

#20yrsago World of Warcraft: Don’t tell anyone you’re queer https://web.archive.org/web/20060131191638/http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ga&article_code=1172

#15yrsago PirateBox: anonymous, stand-alone wireless filesharing node https://web.archive.org/web/20110129205033/http://wiki.daviddarts.com/PirateBox

6/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#15yrsago Where antibiotic resistant superbugs come from: biology explained at a “3d grade reading level” https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/development-of-resistant-staphylococcus-aureus-over-time-v8-web/6712973

#15yrsago Provocative metaphor for the Irish bailout https://memex.naughtons.org/how-a-bail-out-works/12877/

#15yrsago Douglas Adams’ online encylopedia tries to buy itself back from the BBC https://web.archive.org/web/20110127104628/https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A80173361

#15yrsago Ebert: 3D movies suck https://web.archive.org/web/20110131232913/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/01/post_4.html

#15yrsago Anti-capitalist rumba rave in a Spanish bank https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv5dh8v7mDs

7/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#15yrsago Meet Obama’s new Solicitor General: the copyright industry’s Donald Verrilli Jr https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/01/obama-nominates-former-riaa-lawyer-for-solicitor-general-spot/

#10yrsago The story of magic: how narrative destroys conjurers’ effects, or elevates them to transcendence https://www.thejerx.com/blog/2016/1/23/dqwn4rocxdovl0dqcqymdhekzmuzq4

#10yrsago Majority of UK booze-industry revenues come from problem drinkers https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/22/problem-drinkers-alcohol-industry-most-sales-figures-reveal

#10yrsago Oklahoma’s repeat-offender Republican Creationist lawmakers take another run at science education https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/this-years-first-batch-of-anti-science-education-bills-surface-in-oklahoma/

8/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#10yrsago You can’t “boost” your immune system with “health food,” nor would you want to https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/24/health-foods-immune-system-colds-vitamins

#10yrsago Stop taking “probiotics” https://www.statnews.com/2016/01/21/probiotics-shaky-science/

#10yrsago Swiss pro-privacy email provider forces a referendum on mass surveillance https://web.archive.org/web/20160125153009/https://theintercept.com/2016/01/25/how-a-small-company-in-switzerland-is-fighting-a-surveillance-law-and-winning/

#10yrsago Howto social-engineer someone’s address and other sensitive info from Amazon https://medium.com/@espringe/amazon-s-customer-service-backdoor-be375b3428c4#.jkx7fwbqv

9/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#10yrsago Uptown Funk as a mashup of 66 classic movie dance routines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE

#10yrsago Starve: the best, meanest new graphic novel debut since Transmetropolitan https://memex.craphound.com/2016/01/25/starve-the-best-meanest-new-graphic-novel-debut-since-transmetropolitan/

#10yrsago Fury Road is still comprehensible at 12x speed https://vashivisuals.com/the-fastest_cut/

#10yrsago Police sergeant: 16 year old girl probably saw penises before I showed her mine, NBD https://www.wcvb.com/article/bpd-sergeant-may-plead-guilty-job-on-the-line/8230846

10/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#10yrsago Chinese snatch-squads roam the globe, kidnapping dissidents and critics https://web.archive.org/web/20160416214222/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pursuing-critics-china-reaches-across-borders-and-nobody-is-stopping-it/2016/01/26/cd4959dc-6793-473f-8b74-6cbac3f46422_story.html?postshare=7221453857631693&tid=ss_tw

#10yrsago Shootout in Oregon: one terrorist killed, eight arrested https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/us/oregon-wildlife-refuge-siege-arrests/index.html

#10yrsago Health insurer loses 1m customers’ health records https://web.archive.org/web/20170224042328/http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=130443&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=2132066

#10yrsago All your booze comes from a handful of titanic global corporations https://www.eater.com/drinks/2016/1/26/10830410/liquor-brands-hierarchy-diageo-beam-suntory-pernod-ricard

11/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#10yrsago Man gasps dying words into officer’s bodycam: “They’re killing me right now… I can’t breathe.” https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/body-cam-captures-mans-final-words-begging-the-cops-to-get-off-of-him/

#10yrsago Help wanted: Burning Man’s Chief Fed https://web.archive.org/web/20160205123132/https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/426715200

#5yrsago Goldman CEO gets $17.5m reward for $4.5b fraud https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/27/viral-colonialism/#failing-up

#5yrsago Facebook champions (its own) privacy https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/27/viral-colonialism/#ico-schtum

#5yrsago Casino mogul steals First Nation's vaccine https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/27/viral-colonialism/#seriously-fuck-that-guy

12/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#5yrsago Plute buys mayor's house and serves eviction papers https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/25/money-is-power/#money-is-power

#5yrsago Trump's swamp gators find corporate refuge https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/24/1a/#gator-park

#5yrsago Stop saying "it's not censorship if it's not the government" https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/24/1a/#talk-hard

#1yrago The first days of Boss Politics Antitrust https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/24/enforcement-priorities/#enemies-lists

#1yrago It's not a crime if we do it with an app pluralistic.net/2025/01/25/potatotrac/#carbo-loading

12/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#1yrago It's pretty easy to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, actually https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/27/beltway-bandits/#henhouse-foxes

#20yrsago Danny O’Brien’s Open Source con presentation on Evil https://www.spesh.com/danny/talks/evil/

#20yrsago Can DRM be future-proof? https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2006/01/28/cd-drm-compatibility-and-software-updates/

#15yrsago Francis Ford Coppola, copyfighter https://web.archive.org/web/20110125035605/http://the99percent.com/articles/6973/Francis-Ford-Coppola-On-Risk-Money-Craft-Collaboration

#15yrsago HOWTO make health-care cheaper by spending more on patients who need it https://web.archive.org/web/20140727223819/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/24/the-hot-spotters?currentPage=all

14/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#15yrsago William Gibson on Stuxnet https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/opinion/27Gibson.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1296233597-MyRiudJI0Nso7Tm/YIw4yw

#10yrsago Guess who donated all the money to Black Americans for a Better Future Super PAC? Rich white men. https://web.archive.org/web/20160129001243/https://theintercept.com/2016/01/28/black-americans-for-a-better-future-super-pac-100-funded-by-rich-white-guys/

#10yrsago Bill Gates sold rights to the Tiananmen 1989 pictures to a Chinese company https://qz.com/601830/bill-gates-has-sold-a-set-of-iconic-images-to-a-beijing-firm-including-of-tiananmen-in-1989

#10yrsago Michael Moore: Flint needs a revolution, not bottled water https://web.archive.org/web/20160128161328/https://michaelmoore.com/DontSendBottledWater

15/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#10yrsago The surveillance business model goes to war against the FTC https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/267070-businesses-are-invading-your-privacy/

#10yrsago Florida mayors write to GOP presidential hopefuls demanding action on climate change https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/florida-mayors-to-rubio-were-going-under-take-climate-change-seriously/

#10yrsago The Onion’s new owner is Hillary Clinton’s most lavish financial backer https://web.archive.org/web/20160126213016/https://theintercept.com/2016/01/26/ha-ha-hillary-clintons-top-financial-supporter-now-controls-the-onion/

#10yrsago Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen wipes out coral reef with his superyacht https://caymannewsservice.com/2016/01/billionaire-boater-destroys-wb-reef/

16/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#10yrsago Head of NSA’s hacker squad explains how to armor networks against the likes of him https://www.wired.com/2016/01/nsa-hacker-chief-explains-how-to-keep-him-out-of-your-system/

#10yrsago Anaheim: the happiest surveillance state on earth https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/city-cops-in-disneylands-backyard-have-had-stingray-on-steriods-for-years/

#5yrsago Knowledge is why you build your own apps https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/28/payment-for-order-flow/#knowledge-is-power

#5yrsago Understanding /r/wallstreetbets https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/28/payment-for-order-flow/#wallstreetbets

#5yrsago How apps steal your location https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/28/payment-for-order-flow/#trackers-tracked

17/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

#5yrsago Mexican indigenous telco wins spectrum fight https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/28/payment-for-order-flow/#tic-victory

18/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

Thursday's threads: The petty (but undeniable) delights of cultivating ungovernability as a habit; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115940275239492341

19/

[pluralistic@mamot.fr]

My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:

Just a moment...

(us.macmillan.com)

--

My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:

Just a moment...

(us.macmillan.com)

20