Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: A perfect distillation of the social uselessness of finance; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/12/18/self-licking-ice-cream-cone/
(This is the last edition of Pluralistic for the year - see you in 2026!)
1/
I'm at the end of my tour for my new book, the international bestseller *Enshittification*!
My last two events are CCC in #Hamburg, Dec 27-30:
https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/infos/index.html
and the Tattered Cover in #Denver, Jan 22:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
I hope you can make it!
2/
A perfect distillation of the social uselessness of finance: A final thought for the yule.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115741099664426312
3/
Hey look at this
* Meta ICharging Businesses To Post Links https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-considering-charging-business-pages-to-post-links/808099/
* Original Mozilla "Dinosaur" logo https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/the-original-mozilla-dinosaur-logo-artwork/
* Local Self-Reliance Agenda for NYC https://ilsr.org/articles/memo-mamdani/
* Apple loses: scathing contempt ruling on iOS payments https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/epic-celebrates-the-end-of-the-apple-tax-after-appeals-court-win-in-ios-payments-case/
* The Net'’s Tollbooth Operators https://prospect.org/2025/12/10/internets-tollbooth-operators-wu-review/
* Barnum's Law of CEOs https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2025/12/barnums-law-of-ceos.html
* Google Shares All Your Text Messages With Your Employer https://archive.ph/wE2U7#selection-3936.0-3936.1
4/
#15yrsago Star Wars droidflake https://twitpic.com/3guwfq
#15yrsago TSA misses enormous, loaded .40 calibre handgun in carry-on bag https://web.archive.org/web/20101217223617/https://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7848683
#15yrsago Brazilian TV clown elected to high office, passes literacy test https://web.archive.org/web/20111217233812/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jmbXSjCjZBZ4z8VUcAZFCyY_n6dA?docId=CNG.b7f4655178d3435c9a54db2e30817efb.381
#15yrsago My Internet problem: an abundance of choice https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/dec/17/internet-problem-choice-self-publishing
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#10yrsago LEAKED: The secret catalog American law enforcement orders cellphone-spying gear from https://theintercept.com/2015/12/16/a-secret-catalogue-of-government-gear-for-spying-on-your-cellphone/#10yrsago Bernie Sanders was more popular than Trump, but the press ignores him https://theintercept.com/2015/12/17/wheres-bernie-media-ignores-sanders-though-hes-more-popular-than-trump/
#10yrsago Putin: Give Sepp Blatter the Nobel; Trump should be president https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/17/sepp-blatter-fifa-putin-nobel-peace-prize
#10yrsago Star Wars medical merch from Scarfolk, the horror-town stuck in the 1970s https://scarfolk.blogspot.com/2015/12/unreleased-star-wars-merchandise.html
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#10yrsago Some countries learned from America’s copyright mistakes: TPP will undo that https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/how-tpp-perpetuates-mistakes-dmca
#10yrsago No evidence that San Bernardino shooters posted about jihad on Facebook https://web.archive.org/web/20151217003406/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/12/16/fbi-san-bernardino-attackers-didnt-show-public-support-for-jihad-on-social-media/
#10yrsago Exponential population growth and other unkillable science myths https://web.archive.org/web/20151217205215/http://www.nature.com/news/the-science-myths-that-will-not-die-1.19022
#10yrsago UK’s unaccountable crowdsourced blacklist to be crosslinked to facial recognition system https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/pre-crime-arrives-in-the-uk-better-make-sure-your-face-stays-off-the-crowdsourced-watch-list/
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#1yrago Happy Public Domain Day 2025 to all who celebrate https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/17/dastar-dly-deeds/#roast-in-piss-sonny-bono
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Yesterday's threads: Happy Public Domain Day 2026! and more!
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115736078073726432
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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:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels
--
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:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
10/
My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
11/
Upcoming appearances:
* #Hamburg: Chaos Communications Congress, Dec 27-30
https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/infos/index.html
* #Denver: Enshittification at Tattered Cover Colfax, Jan 22
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
* #ColoradoSprings: Guest of Honor at COSine, Jan 23-25
https://www.firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
12/
Recent appearances:
* Enshittification on The Last Show With David Cooper:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-the-last-show-with-david-c-31145360/episode/cory-doctorow-enshttification-december-16-2025-313385767
* (Digital) Elbows Up (OCADU)
https://vimeo.com/1146281673
* How to Stop “Ensh*ttification” Before It Kills the Internet (Capitalisn't)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34gkIvYiHxU
* Enshittification on The Daily Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2e-c9SF5nE
* Enshittification with Four Ways to Change the World (Channel 4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZQaEeuuI3Q
13/
iHeart
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14/
I'm at the end of my tour for my new book, the international bestseller *Enshittification*!
My last two events are CCC in #Hamburg, Dec 27-30:
https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/infos/index.html
and the Tattered Cover in #Denver, Jan 22:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
I hope you can make it!
eof/
