Doctrow argues that nascent tech unionization (which we’re closer to having now than ever before) combined with bipartisan fear (and consequent regulation) either directly or via agencies like the FTC and FCC can help to curb Big Tech’s power, and the enshittification that it has wrought.
where did it all go wrong?
Capitalism is where.
It’ll always fight to go there, because least offered most gained is the name of the business.
Sure you can split them up and regulate them, that’ll last for a few years or decades but money is power and they will wield that power to undo it all again, time after time to seek profit.
The only solution is a system that doesn’t value capital.
Continued vigilance is the price of lasting deenshittification
“Vigilance Mr. Worf. That is the price we have to continually pay.”
- Captain Picard explaining to Lt. Worf how to prevent things from getting shitty.
Continued vigilance is the price of lasting…
Sounds a lot like democracy.
Deenshittification: a term used by Fate fans to describe any adaptation before Zero
Or just not operating under a capitalist model.
Which has many other benefits as well. Who wants perpetual class war.
No human-led system can fully protect against complacency.
This is where unions can help. Increased labor compensation trims the share of profits available for regulatory capture, lobbying and so on.
It can do more than that. Unions aren’t solely about pay increases, they can enact all kinds of change in the unionized company. If the members of the union don’t like that Google is now shifting gears to making killbot drones (this is not something I just made up), a union could demand they stop doing that, and if the demand is loud enough, the company has to listen or go out of business.
Agreed. I was merely going for the most basic, least ambitious impact.
That’s cool and all, and maybe it will eliminate some of the worst bullshit, but it’s not going to stop enshitification. Certainly not with big tech because it’s driven by the profit motive in satisfying initial investors, going public, and then engaging in the quest to make the line always go up forever.
The only thing that’s going to stop enshitification is to stop depending on that model for the platforms we want.
I think there ARE other ways to combat this, and the main one is ending activist investors that empower the Jack Welch pump and dump doctrine.
If someone wants to invest in something because they like it, they should be able to do that. What they should NOT be able to do is overwhelm a company they may or may not even like with dollars and then tell the company how to run its own business. If you don’t like what a company is doing, you SELL YOUR STOCK.
It’s this incessant worshiping of the shareholder that is step # 1 of enshittifcation.
I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more of a push for B Corp style corporate governance in tech considering how many tech leaders claim to be working for the greater good. There are plenty of options for doing well and doing good at the same time.
The only thing that’s going to stop enshitification is to stop depending on that model for the platforms we want.
Did I misunderstand your comment because “stop depending on that model for the platforms we want” reads like exactly what Mr Doctorow is proposing?
Somewhat, my comment got truncated by real life interruption, sorry. But I think we need things that are more community driven than they are profit driven. Things like the Fediverse where the goal isn’t doing all these things to make bank but doing all these things because it’s something people want and how people want to engage with each other.
Doctorow wants regulations to help stave off “loss leading” style behavior and then hopes unions will also somehow help. I’m thinking ultimately that any platform run as a capitalist enterprise is eventually going to enshitify.
We need to get rid of the notion that corporations first have a responsibility to the shareholders. The shareholders should be last, after the employees, the customers, and the safety of the general public.
This buzzword has been beyond enshittified already
Doctorow is the one who coined the term, I think he’s allowed using it.
It’s an antibuzzword. It’s describing the culmination of all the buzzwords that get corrupted by marketing people and destroyed by bean counters. In order to destroy something you must be able to name it. He has revealed the name, now we can take action.
I love that thumbnail. Man in suit high up in the air yells into megaphone.
How about making bootstrapping businesses easier and providing preferable tax strategies floor small businesses? That would show down venture capital backed companies demanding a public offering and short term profit motives over sustainable businesses.
Or opening up platforms to drive increased competition?
Or providing sponsorship for open standards so users get more choice in the market instead of relying on entrenched large companies?
Hope he’s got about $30 trillion to buy them all then, because that’s the only way it will happen.
We need to wean ourselves off the tech giants. And it’s inconvenient, but the alternative is a series of greedy rug pulls until the end of time.
Given that Microsoft software runs the government, I don’t see this happening very soon. They might as well be another branch of the US government.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Opinion An apocryphal tale regarding the late, great footballer George Best being interviewed by a reporter just after getting suspended from Manchester United offers an apt description of today’s tech industry right now.
The Cambrian explosion of business ideas that the invention of internet produced a generation ago have ossified into rent seeking, buying out the competition, and funneling huge amounts of cash to shareholders.
Google won its place as the search champion on merit, but these days users must scroll past endless sponsored ads or SEO articles – something AI will likely make worse.
With a few small portals dominating the technology landscape and either buying out or crushing the competition, it’s looking like entrenched interests are ceasing to innovate themselves, and settling into just generating value for shareholders – customers and suppliers be damned.
Then that dream shrank to working for a few years, quitting and doing a fake startup to get hired back by your old boss in the world’s most inefficient way to get a raise," he told the Def Con crowd last August.
In the end it should be possible to reverse the current trend and reintroduce a more competitive technology industry environment that can spur innovation, spread the wealth, and grow more efficient for users, employers, and investors.
The original article contains 1,834 words, the summary contains 214 words. Saved 88%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
That was fuckin useless bot, fuckin hell
Here’s what Kagi gave me:
The passage discusses the concept of “enshittification” in the tech industry, where companies initially attract customers through innovation but then exploit them by increasing prices and fees. This phenomenon has occurred at companies like Facebook, Google, Uber and food delivery services. The term was coined by author Cory Doctorow to describe how these companies stop innovating and focus only on generating value for shareholders at the expense of customers. However, the passage notes that increased unionization among tech workers and more aggressive antitrust enforcement could help reverse these trends and encourage more competition in the industry. An interesting point highlighted is that while enshittification is not necessarily directly malicious, it can be a product of business environment pressures and lack of regulation that incentivize prioritizing profits over customers. This suggests policy changes may be needed to realign company incentives with serving users.
Oh, this was a good summary. Nice
Prime example of enshitification 🤣🤣
Pretty long article though, granted.
