Vol. II · No. 156
Established 2025

smallweb

Friday, June 5, 2026
160 writers in the library
Tech · 2 shelves
TechCulture

Pluralistic.

Cory Doctorow on digital rights, enshittification, and tech criticism.

Recent essays

30 of 94

Pluralistic: Delusion as a service (04 Jun 2026)

Today's links Delusion as a service: Destructive diagnostics. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Gay Days at Disney World; Parametric 3D printable key; Fine against sculpture for "storing bike on public property"; TPP is a wash; Reagan…

Pluralistic: The tedious power of storytelling (02 Jun 2026) must-we-pretend

Today's links The tedious power of storytelling: "Excitement" is to art as "falsifiablilty" is to science. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Lost Marx Bros musical; USPTO v Drumpf trademark; 3D scans v copyright; Giving worse internet…

Pluralistic: Molly Crabapple's 'Here Where We Live Is Our Country' (01 Jun 2026)

Today's links Molly Crabapple's 'Here Where We Live Is Our Country': An essential book for this moment and for the moments that led to it. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Home chemistry sets in danger; Every pirate wants to be an ad…

Pluralistic: Carneyism without Carney (30 May 2026)

Today's links Carneyism without Carney: Eh? Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Replacing pharma patents with bounties; USTR v cheap leukemia meds; Plutocrats x wealth segregation; Anonymous Analytics; Scott Walker sells off donors; Ano…

Pluralistic: Hold on for dear life (28 May 2026)

Today's links Hold on for dear life: Not your keys, not your wallet, entirely your problem. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Who owns "Web 2.0"; EFF saves bloggers' sources; Non-porn porn; Redaction fails; Canadian Tories say markets…

Pluralistic: AI and a world without migrants (27 May 2026)

Today's links AI and a world without migrants: It's solipsism all the way down. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Manuscript rabbits; "What Will Come After"; Pastejacking; Terrorism phrenology; Vaccine waivers were promised 20 years a…

Pluralistic: The AI bubble isn't like the internet bubble (26 May 2026)

Today's links The AI bubble isn't like the internet bubble: No one had to force-feed the web to workers. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Website graveyard; Anti-librarian witch-hunt; Denmark v Marmite; The unnecessariat. Upcoming ap…

Pluralistic: No honor among (ad-tech) thieves (25 May 2026)

Today's links No honor among (ad-tech) thieves: Including "and" and "the." Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Budweiser nunchuks; GOP vote-suppressor voted illegally; Airbnb enshittifies; Oculus enshittifies; Nintendo copyfrauds its fa…

Pluralistic: Shopping isn't politics (21 May 2026)

Today's links Shopping isn't politics: The personal isn't political. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Neither arphid nor RFID; Gor novel sex slave cult; Violent economist sex criminals; Vade et caca in pilleum et ipse traheatur super…

Pluralistic: There's no such thing as "age verification" (19 May 2026)

Today's links There's no such thing as "age verification": The foreseeable and foreseen consequences of "something must be done"/"there, I've done something." Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Apple Stores exist; Responsible spam; Aus…

Pluralistic: Making sense of Trump's unscheduled sudden midair disassembly of the American empire (16 May 2026)

Today's links Making sense of Trump's unscheduled sudden midair disassembly of the American empire: Don't mistake "powerful" for "durable." Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Copyrighted law; Viral videos v cops; Crooked banker v tiny…

Pluralistic: No one wants a permanent gerontocracy (15 May 2026)

Today's links No one wants a permanent gerontocracy: The one policy everyone agrees on. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Wolfengitmo; Facebook condemns Google privacy invasion; Michael Moore on bin Laden; TSA v babies; Tendril perver…

Pluralistic: Kickstarting "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI" (14 May 2026)

Today's links Kickstarting "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI": How to be a better AI critic. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: RIP Douglas Adams; R2-trashcan; EFF v W3C; RIP shonky Disneyland; Stolen oligarch forks; Anal f…

Pluralistic: Billionaire solipsism, dictator solipsism, AI, and the fascist paradigm (13 May 2026)

Today's links Billionaire solipsism, dictator solipsism, AI, and the fascist paradigm: AGI works best in a K-hole. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Woz's remotes; Furbeowulf; Vinge on AR; Oligarch buys FSU; DNC x GOP megadonors; John…

Pluralistic: A fascist paradigm (12 May 2026)

Today's links A fascist paradigm: The change that changed everything. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Openstreetmap x Isle of Wight; Found grocery lists; Mayor wants to pray away potholes; Designing a D120; "Too Like the Lightning."…

Pluralistic: 2024 (apart from the obvious) (11 May 2026)

Today's links 2024 (apart from the obvious): Some unforced errors. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Denmark legalizing music trading; Babysuit; Patent Office invites "peer review"; DRM protest at the Bastille; Scientology's "super po…

Pluralistic: Trump's fruitless search for a goreable ox (09 May 2026)

Today's links Trump's fruitless search for a goreable ox: You can keep billionaires happy, or you can fight the cost of living crisis, but not both. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Typewriter bust; Phrack's new issue; Panama Papers…

Pluralistic: Lee Lai's "Cannon" (08 May 2026)

Today's links Lee Lai's "Cannon": A beautiful, subtle, long-lingering tale of duty, sex, and working for a shitty restaurant boss. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Ebay paying to run newspaper classifieds; Chuck Tingle v Sad Puppies;…

Pluralistic: Bubbles are REALLY evil (07 May 2026)

Today's links Bubbles are REALLY evil: Bernie Ebbers got what was coming to him. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Mozilla v DHS wiretaps; Judge v FCC's internet wiretaps; Foxconn workers must promise not to kill themselves; "Shannon'…

Pluralistic: In praise of vultures (06 May 2026)

Today's links In praise of vultures: They screw you because they can. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Linus v MSFT; Argentina v MSFT; Danny Hillis on theme parks v games; Smartfilter v Distributed Boing Boing; Rental laptops filled…

Pluralistic: The three armies fighting for the post-American world (05 May 2026)

Today's links The three armies fighting for the post-American world: Hippies, investors and hawks. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: NK dictator's son v Tokyo Disneyland; Mainstream press and Bushies v Colbert; Taliban v Pakistan's fi…

Pluralistic: Demand destruction vs fuel-superseding infrastructure (04 May 2026)

Today's links Demand destruction vs fuel-superceding infrastructure: Will Trump hormuz us into the full Gretacene? Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Beck, Scientologist; Citizen journalism; Podcast-killing treaty; US x Kiwi copyright;…

Pluralistic: The prehistory of the Democratic Nuremberg Caucus (02 May 2026)

Today's links The prehistory of the Democratic Nuremberg Caucus: Do bounties for ICE whistleblowers next! Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Colbert v GWB; Wallaby milk; Jay Rosen's journalism precepts; Radical Media(TM); What is carri…

Pluralistic: How not to ban surveillance pricing (30 Apr 2026)

Today's links How not to ban surveillance pricing: Maryland's new consumer protection law is all loophole. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Google's 8,000 Linux servers; Battleshoe; Knitted potholes; Unpack the court; "Robot Artists…

Pluralistic: Vicky Osterweil's "The Extended Universe" (28 Apr 2026)

Today's links Vicky Osterweil's "The Extended Universe": How Disney killed the movies and took over the world. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Zappa v censorship; Chemistry set with no chemicals; Short cons; Mitsubishi's Dieselgate;…

Pluralistic: The enshittification multiverse (27 Apr 2026)

Today's links The enshittification multiverse: It's a useful analogy. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Every complex ecosystem has parasites; Prison for "attempted infringement"; When We Were Robots in Egypt; Golfing in The Blitz; Co…

Pluralistic: Ada Palmer's "Inventing the Renaissance" (25 Apr 2026)

Today's links Ada Palmer's "Inventing the Renaissance": A tour-de-force, a magnum opus, a work of utter brilliance. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Gloating about the dot-bomb; RIAA sues PC-less family; John Deere v infosec; Foxconn…

Pluralistic: A free, open visual identity for enshittification (24 Apr 2026)

Today's links A free, open visual identity for enshittification: No mere poop emoji! Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: RIAA v little girl; Portal turret Easter egg; Atari v indie games; Chabon's Phantom Tollbooth intro; The 0.1%; Well…

Pluralistic: The (other) problem with automatic conversion of free software to proprietary software (23 Apr 2026)

Today's links The (other) problem with automatic conversion of free software to proprietary software: You can't add ANY license to a public domain work. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Pimp My Snack; Abandoned Soviet missile silo fu…

Pluralistic: It's not a crime if we do it (to nurses) with an app (22 Apr 2026)

Today's links It's not a crime if we do it (to nurses) with an app: It's not a bald spot, it's a solar panel for a sex machine. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: PKD named names; Weird Al v Lada Gaga; South Korean Olympic torture camp…