[HN Gopher] Kickstarting a book to end enshittification, because...
___________________________________________________________________
 
Kickstarting a book to end enshittification, because Amazon will
not carry it
 
Author : CharlesW
Score  : 208 points
Date   : 2023-08-02 17:34 UTC (5 hours ago)
 
web link (pluralistic.net)
w3m dump (pluralistic.net)
 
| omgmajk wrote:
| Doctorow always has interesting stuff to read, I've been looking
| at most of his work for years now. The physical book will now be
| delivered to me when the Kickstarter ends as that's my preferred
| way of reading.
| 
| I kinda don't get audiobooks myself, I find it hard to
| concentrate on the book and often have to pause and go back and
| re-listen because I zoned out.
| 
| I guess this is semi-offtopic but I like Doctorow and he can have
| a slice of my money.
 
  | ghaff wrote:
  | Audiobooks are basically for the (mainstream, ie not hard of
  | hearing) case of having a long driving commute or otherwise
  | spending a lot of time in a car. Doesn't really work well for
  | books with a lot of detail or figures.
 
| [deleted]
 
| taeric wrote:
| I have a hard time getting behind some of these criticisms of
| audible and the like.
| 
| Its annoying, as I am against most DRM schemes out there. But to
| pretend those came from "big tech" is laughable, at best. A
| ridiculously large portion of "tech" is perfectly fine with
| sending copies everywhere. Is literally how many of us get our
| operating system. Music files and shareware copying were huge
| before the internet. Mod files and other demoscene music sharing
| was a ton of fun.
| 
| Specifically to audible, to complain about their margins without
| acknowledging that they have built a large part of the market
| feels dishonest. I remember audio books before audible. Usually
| ~50 bucks for book. As such, I owned maybe 1. So, congrats, the
| folks on them could get more of a percent of far far fewer
| purchases. Getting things for lower cost is exactly why I get
| more of them. Such that artists have gotten more from me, even
| with the lower margin to them, from audible than they ever got
| before. Wanting the same large cut of a smaller sell is
| entitlement on both ends.
 
  | wlesieutre wrote:
  | Audible reportedly only pays 25% to authors, bumping it up to
  | 40% if they agree to exclusivity on Audible.
  | 
  | Which of course a lot of authors do because they need the
  | money, and then no other audiobook marketplace can compete.
 
    | kmeisthax wrote:
    | The flip-side of this is that any author that doesn't agree
    | to exclusivity is just leaving money on the table, because
    | audiobook buyers will not touch alternative platforms unless
    | it's their only option.
    | 
    | This isn't because Audible is head-and-shoulders above the
    | competition either. They aren't. They just won the game of
    | Monopoly[0].
    | 
    | [0] Someone should turn on house rules. Or - oooh maybe we
    | could play the unused co-op mode
 
      | taeric wrote:
      | I am curious why you don't think they aren't better than
      | the alternatives? Are they amazing and beyond improvement?
      | Of course not. But most of the alternatives are crap.
      | 
      | This is basically the same as the sad affair of enterprise
      | software. The vast majority of that industry is actively
      | bad. Not just not good, but actively bad.
 
        | mtlynch wrote:
        | > _I am curious why you don 't think they aren't better
        | than the alternatives? Are they amazing and beyond
        | improvement? Of course not. But most of the alternatives
        | are crap._
        | 
        | Do you think the quality of the alternatives might be
        | related to the fact that Amazon/Audible is strangling all
        | competitors out of existence with their exclusivity
        | agreements?
        | 
        | Imagine if an audiobook competitor popped up that's a 10x
        | better experience for customers and authors. They'd
        | starve out of existence without major VC backing because
        | even though they're better, they can't bring the sales
        | volume that Audible can, so customers choose the worse
        | experience on Audible with the exclusivity agreement
        | because the total earnings are higher.
        | 
        | Long-term, that's a worse ecosystem for everyone _except_
        | for Audible.
 
        | taeric wrote:
        | No. I think the quality of the alternatives is largely
        | because it is expensive to make the publishing houses
        | happy with licensing fees to be able to offer their work.
        | 
        | This isn't even that controversial of a take. Netflix
        | doesn't offer a ton of the things I used to be able to
        | get in DVD from them, because the publishing houses have
        | very high demands on licensing fees.
 
    | taeric wrote:
    | Right, but that was my point on the numbers. As a customer
    | that has several hundred audio books due to Audible, yes, I
    | know that the authors get a smaller cut of the sell than they
    | do if I buy the audio book in a store. But their larger cut
    | of my store purchases is effectively 0. Audible has grown the
    | market to numbers that were basically pipe dreams of the
    | past. To ignore that in the calculation is really dishonest.
    | 
    | I don't know if they are the best numbers, but
    | https://wordsrated.com/audiobook-sales-statistics/ has some
    | break downs. The digital market has clearly seen a shift in
    | the last couple of decades. And it seems safe to say that it
    | has driven a lot of the growth in publishing and other
    | related metrics.
    | 
    | My assertion is that publishers used to give higher cuts to
    | the authors because they didn't care about such a small
    | portion of their sales. More, their long term investments in
    | printing made it such that they couldn't scale out audio
    | books nearly as effectively, so they had no incentive to
    | build out that market.
    | 
    | Even dumber in this debate, the fact that Audible puts their
    | files in DRM is almost certainly at the demands of the
    | publishers. You can click through most publishers to see they
    | still want to charge 25+ for audio books that you can get for
    | 1 "credit" on Audible. Credits being about 11 bucks, and I
    | get why publishers would want to keep those files restricted
    | to try and discourage people from using Audible.
 
      | wlesieutre wrote:
      | My problem isn't just with the royalty rates, it's making
      | the default rate so low and using it as leverage to push
      | authors into exclusivity contracts.
      | 
      | Imagine if Apple started telling companies "You have to pay
      | us a 60% cut, unless you agree to not have an Android app
      | in which case we'll do 30% instead."
      | 
      | You could argue that Apple is entitled to make that
      | arrangement because they essentially created the mobile app
      | software market, but I have a hard time imagining that
      | people would be OK with it.
 
        | taeric wrote:
        | But is your worry for the authors, for other platforms,
        | or for customers?
        | 
        | I'm very sympathetic to all of these concerns, at large.
        | However, as things are done, many authors will make the
        | most money by agreeing to this contract, and customers
        | get the cheapest option there. The only people actually
        | getting hurt, right now, are the other platforms. To
        | paint this in any other way is not at all honest. And
        | that is the part that is annoying me.
        | 
        | There is also a moral hazard "they will switch some day"
        | argument to be made, i suppose. But I don't like hinging
        | current practices on future hypotheticals. Making a
        | choice today should be possible with the understanding
        | that you can make a different choice in the future.
 
        | thfuran wrote:
        | >But is your worry for the authors, for other platforms,
        | or for customers?
        | 
        | Yes. Shitty practices from a market player with
        | significant monopoly power are bad for all of them.
 
        | taeric wrote:
        | So you can show that authors are getting less money in
        | this environment? And, despite me being able to trivially
        | show that I paid less per book than any offered
        | alternative on the table, with the exception of the
        | library, you claim I'm getting a raw deal now? We can
        | even add in performers and others doing the recording to
        | this question.
        | 
        | Obviously, I only have the numbers on what I paid out. If
        | you actually have the others, I'm game to hear what those
        | numbers are. And no, you can't just say, "they would have
        | gotten a larger cut in the other marketplaces," as I am
        | literally asserting that Audible is the largest
        | marketplace because they grew it. A smaller cut of the
        | much larger marketplace is the point. (And in real terms,
        | the cut is smaller for Audible, too.)
        | 
        | It is funny looking at the benefit of libraries to
        | customers, as guess who is also trying to kill library's
        | ability to loan out audio books? (They already have to do
        | some silly license purchase shenanigans.)
        | 
        | Again, if you are worried that they will "turn bad in the
        | future," realize that I can change my mind in the future
        | and agree they are bad. Right now, most evidence is that
        | they are instrumental in growing the market.
 
        | thfuran wrote:
        | >And no, you can't just say, "they would have gotten a
        | larger cut in the other marketplaces," as I am literally
        | asserting that Audible is the largest marketplace because
        | they grew it
        | 
        | Ma Bell was the largest telecom because they grew the
        | industry. That doesn't mean their actions once they had
        | monopoly power in a large market were particularly
        | beneficial to anyone but themselves.
        | 
        | >Again, if you are worried that they will "turn bad in
        | the future,"
        | 
        | No, they already did. Their actions now are bad.
        | Exclusivity deals are bad. Their enormous cut is bad.
 
        | taeric wrote:
        | So you can't show that customers pay more, or that
        | authors and performers get less? Got it.
        | 
        | Appeals to "Ma Bell" are basically my point? If it is
        | shown that they are using their advantages in audio books
        | to compete in other markets, or that they are causing
        | active harm to customers/creators, then I will be far
        | more sympathetic to the whining of rich creators.
        | 
        | It is frustrating, as I mostly agree with the idea that
        | exclusive deals are bad. But this is a very nuanced take
        | where they aren't forcing you to be exclusive, unless
        | they literally funded and produced it. (See Sandman on
        | Audible. I'd expect that to be exclusive for at least a
        | time?) If you can show coercion that they are forcing
        | people into this deal, and not honestly saying "if you
        | agree to this, you will sell about the same total amount,
        | and get more of the cut," I will be more than willing to
        | change my mind on that.
 
        | cmeacham98 wrote:
        | Bias disclaimer: AWS is my current employer
        | 
        | The meaningful difference between these two examples is
        | that Apple is a gatekeeper to the iOS market.
        | 
        | Anybody can spin up a website hosting .mp3s like Audible
        | does. Nobody can publish an app to the iOS App Store
        | without going through Apple (and Apple doesn't allow
        | alternative app stores or sideloading for consumers).
 
  | pixelatedindex wrote:
  | I actually think Audible is pretty good. I would feel better
  | about buying from them if it wasn't fully owned by Amazon. Are
  | there any good alternatives out there?
 
    | cobbzilla wrote:
    | try librivox.org, decent public domain coverage.
 
    | wlesieutre wrote:
    | Speechify is trying, though the catalog isn't nearly as wide
    | 
    | https://speechify.com/audiobooks/
 
    | UtopiaPunk wrote:
    | libro.fm is an option for buying books. You can purchase a
    | subscription or buy individual books. Some of the money goes
    | to support local bookstores, so that's kind of neat. They're
    | also not Amazon, so that's kind of neat, too.
    | 
    | I'm a big fan of the Libby app, which you can acccess through
    | your local library. If your library subscribes to the service
    | (and it's likely they do if you live in the USA), then you
    | just need to log in with your library card.
    | https://libbyapp.com
    | 
    | There's also LibriVox, which is mostly a volunteer project.
    | As its volunteers, the quality of the reading can vary
    | widely, but you can sometimes find audio versions of older
    | literature here that can't be found anywhere else. It's also
    | free.
    | 
    | https://librivox.org/
 
      | TylerE wrote:
      | Just because a library subscribes to libby doesn't mean you
      | nessesarily get it. My local system does, but they went for
      | cheapest plan that only includes children's books.
 
    | entropicdrifter wrote:
    | libro.fm is the website I use for audiobooks. The library is
    | signficantly smaller but it's 100% DRM free, you can support
    | a local bookstore with your purchases [1], and they have a
    | subscription that gives you credits you can spend on
    | audiobooks, very similar to Audible.
    | 
    | [1] https://libro.fm/indies
 
    | howardabrams wrote:
    | Gutenberg has some. Perhaps I need to help by reading the
    | classics out loud... into a microphone... and uploading them.
 
    | layer8 wrote:
    | I use https://audiobookstore.com/.
 
  | CharlesW wrote:
  | > _But to pretend those came from "big tech" is laughable, at
  | best._
  | 
  | I'm curious about how old you are. Tech's obsession with DRM
  | (then called "copy protection") started in 19751, and IIRC as
  | of the late 70s/early 80s basically all software of note had
  | DRM.
  | 
  | 1 https://archive.is/b8rK9
 
    | taeric wrote:
    | I'm old enough to remember it has almost always been
    | publishers pushing drm.
    | 
    | And yes, I remember serial port keys that tried to lock cad
    | software. Some were keyed to physical sectors on hard drives.
 
      | TylerE wrote:
      | Anyone who works with music software, to this day, deals
      | with the pain of physical hardware keys. A few of the
      | software players are moving from that to cloud based drm...
      | which is at least less annoying since it doesn't tie up a
      | previous USB port.
      | 
      | It's called iLok.
 
        | omgmajk wrote:
        | >Anyone who works with music software, to this day, deals
        | with the pain of physical hardware keys.
        | 
        | And anyone who works in the automotive industry, sadly.
 
      | bitwize wrote:
      | Creators as well. Talk to anyone who works in a creative
      | field that isn't programming. They _want_ DRM. They love
      | it. And the reason why is simple: DRM works. It does the
      | job. It doesn 't stop all piracy, but it greatly attenuates
      | it allowing the creators to make a buck. I remember
      | discussing this with a writing group in the 90s, when the
      | first e-readers came out. They vastly preferred the DRM-
      | encumbered platforms because they could make money with
      | lower risk of piracy.
      | 
      | And this is why DRM will never go away. Take DRM away, and
      | creators will just stop releasing things digitally.
      | Programmers in general need to learn to suck it up when it
      | comes to things like this. Without DRM, pirates win,
      | creators lose, legitimate audiences lose.
 
    | msla wrote:
    | Non-shortened link:
    | 
    | https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/18/business/technology-a-
    | tal...
 
    | mikewarot wrote:
    | We tech people are only obsessed with routing around DRM...
    | it's _management that is obsessed with DRM_.
 
      | maxbond wrote:
      | It is vitally important not to conflate _technologists_
      | with _the tech industry_ and not to confuse a criticism of
      | the industry as a criticism of ourselves personally.
 
      | lesuorac wrote:
      | Work at a place that made expensive physical objects.
      | Customers calling in because they could use the objects
      | because they plugged the hardware key into a different
      | machine was all the time ...
      | 
      | Like the hardware had to be wired to the computer running
      | the software. An extra hardware key that needs to be
      | plugged into the computer as well doesn't do anything!
 
      | Muromec wrote:
      | That's why the "big" qualifier is important.
 
  | slowmovintarget wrote:
  | How about Brandon Sanderson's criticism of Audible? [1]
  | 
  | > If you want details, the current industry standard for a
  | digital product is to pay the creator 70% on a sale. It's what
  | Steam pays your average creator for a game sale, it's what
  | Amazon pays on ebooks, it's what Apple pays for apps
  | downloaded. (And they're getting heat for taking as much as
  | they are. Rightly so.)
  | 
  | > Audible pays 40%. Almost half. For a frame of reference, most
  | brick-and-mortar stores take around 50% on a retail product.
  | Audible pays indie authors less than a bookstore does, when a
  | bookstore has storefronts, sales staff, and warehousing to deal
  | with.
  | 
  | > I knew things were bad, which is why I wanted to explore
  | other options with the Kickstarter. But I didn't know HOW bad.
  | Indeed, if indie authors don't agree to be exclusive to
  | Audible, they get dropped from 40% to a measly 25%. Buying an
  | audiobook through Audible instead of from another site
  | literally costs the author money.
  | 
  | What's worse is if the audio book goes into their subscription
  | service, the author gets paid an even smaller fraction, as it
  | is 25% or 40% of the _fractional time on the subscription fee._
  | 
  | Amazon built the system to dominate the market, then used the
  | dominant position to bully creators into a teeny tiny fraction
  | of the profits Amazon makes on the work.
  | 
  | [1] https://www.brandonsanderson.com/state-of-the-
  | sanderson-2022...
 
  | asdfman123 wrote:
  | > A ridiculously large portion of "tech" is perfectly fine with
  | sending copies everywhere
  | 
  | Not the part that controls the market share.
 
  | artichokeheart wrote:
  | Did you actually read the article linked? There was no mention
  | of margins. I question the motives of your comment. It reads
  | like big tech bootlicking.
 
    | taeric wrote:
    | I read it. I confess I'm largely remembering previous
    | articles that loved highlighting the amount of margin that
    | Audible demands.
    | 
    | For the DRM complaint, I'm mostly sympathetic, but I have a
    | really hard time believing it is not at the insistence of the
    | publishing companies. They literally force library lending to
    | go through similar DRM schemes. And it is largely in their
    | interests to make sure you can't purchase the cheaper Audible
    | version of a book and take it out of their ecosystem.
    | 
    | That last point is ultimately my main gripe here. Audible has
    | incentives for you to buy more from them. Which they largely
    | pursue not by locking your current purchases to them, but by
    | offering better prices and funding better books. To try and
    | "stick it to the man" by bitching about DRM schemes is a hell
    | of a non-sequitur that smacks more of virtue signalling than
    | it does actual concerns.
 
      | belorn wrote:
      | What other previous articles?
      | 
      | As for the last point, that one is not about Audible, so...
      | what are we even discussing here? The article last
      | argument, which is after discussing DRM and monopolies
      | where users are captured into a locked market, is that
      | google and apple has a 30% tax. They don't go into any
      | depth over why a general 30% tax in a third-party market is
      | bad in a duopoly situation, presumably because they don't
      | feel it is necessary.
 
        | taeric wrote:
        | I've seen complaints on Audible for a few years, at this
        | point? Surprised if this is news to you. Though, I also
        | wouldn't be too shocked if folks skip past audio book
        | news that don't listen to audio books.
        | 
        | What do you mean the point wasn't on Audible, btw? The
        | article is literally about how he is proud he isn't
        | putting his book with Audible because of DRM? This is
        | painted as if it is a choice of Amazon's, but it is hard
        | not to read this as a choice of the Doctorow's. Perhaps
        | you thought I was referencing someone else's last point?
        | I meant that as a reference to my last point in the
        | previous paragraph.
 
      | incongruity wrote:
      | I find it really hard to deny that platform lock-in is a
      | powerful anti-competitive and anti-consumer force - I think
      | you're off base in denying its impacts and the merits of
      | addressing it.
 
        | taeric wrote:
        | I largely agree with this take. But I also largely feel
        | I'm being asked to support, who, exactly?
        | 
        | Note that we aren't pushing for removing the DRM. This is
        | largely about someone wanting you to buy from another
        | place. I can almost believe the DRM angle, but publishing
        | houses have shown they are the far larger driver of that
        | than Audible is. This is why libraries have to have a
        | special license to loan out audio books. They are largely
        | looking to force that in ebooks, even.
 
  | aedocw wrote:
  | Depending on what you are looking for from an audio book, there
  | are options. If you expect essentially a professionally made
  | radio production of the book (multiple voice actors, effects,
  | etc) then a real audio book is hard to beat.
  | 
  | On the other hand if you just want to listen to the book being
  | read, check out https://github.com/aedocw/epub2tts ... It does
  | not sound as good as a pro human, but it's not far off in my
  | opinion. I've used that to listen to 30+ books that I owned the
  | digital version of.
 
    | taeric wrote:
    | I actually have a few narrators that I prefer now. I think
    | they get less of a cut than the authors do, but are still
    | doing quite well for themselves, now.
 
      | TylerE wrote:
      | I'm just glad we're past the point of 80% of fiction being
      | narrated by Scott Brick, the most boring and monotone
      | narrator ever.
 
| I_am_tiberius wrote:
| I find it awesome that Cory writes you personally when you pay
| for the book.
 
  | diatribist wrote:
  | How would he manage to do that for thousands of people?
 
    | xhkkffbf wrote:
    | Maybe his sales aren't so big?
    | 
    | He's constantly giving away his books. One theory is that he
    | makes much more from "consulting" and political work around
    | Silicon Valley. So the books are just loss leaders.
 
      | I_am_tiberius wrote:
      | More reason to support his work.
 
    | boomboomsubban wrote:
    | I am not sure what they're referring to with that post. The
    | kickstarter sells a personalized signed copy of this boom at
    | about twice the price.
 
| squarefoot wrote:
| A better link: https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/31/seize-the-
| means-of-comput...
| 
| Unfortunately BoingBoing has slowly become enshittified itself;
| they also deleted my account for no reason while I was
| hospitalized for nearly 2 months, then when I came back home
| noticed that the ad-rticles where they sell overpriced low
| quality products (seriously, get better suppliers!) don't permit
| user comments anymore, presumably because some inevitably pointed
| to better and cheaper products. I recall thinking "ok, they went
| the IMDB way". IMDB once had a very active user comments
| sections, but when fake movie ratings, mostly by shills, became a
| thing, users started to expose them in comments, so what was IMDB
| response? Remove user comments, naturally.
 
  | brookst wrote:
  | BoingBoing is the worst of the worst enshittification. All of
  | the problems that the theory predicts, _plus_ a sanctimonious
  | tone like they 're somehow above all that.
  | 
  | They've become the annoying religious proselytizers who show up
  | unsolicited, and are drunk to boot.
 
    | flir wrote:
    | A few years back they were one of the big voices sounding the
    | alarm about electronic voting. Now, according to them, that's
    | an alt-right conspiracy theory.
    | 
    | Not gonna lie, that annoyed me.
 
      | bitwize wrote:
      | Electronic voting was a problem when George W. Bush was
      | winning elections.
      | 
      | After Trump lost, electronic voting was no longer a
      | problem.
      | 
      | It's kinda like how socialm edia was savior of the world
      | during the Arab Spring when a communist Egypt seemed like a
      | possibility. Then Trump and Brexit happened, and social
      | media became a danger to democracy.
 
      | kam wrote:
      | They stopped sounding the alarm because they largely won
      | that battle: The previous electronic voting machines
      | everyone objected to had no paper trail and there was no
      | way to verify that they were trustworthy. Modern electronic
      | voting systems count paper ballots, and a recount can
      | verify them by hand.
 
    | leashless wrote:
    | Perhaps this Boing Boing situation is part of what inspired
    | Doctorow to the enshittification insight!
 
      | inhumantsar wrote:
      | Except he was one of the key people behind it until a
      | couple of years ago
 
        | boomboomsubban wrote:
        | Presumably he left for a reason.
 
  | dang wrote:
  | Ok, we changed to that from
  | https://boingboing.net/2023/08/02/cory-doctorows-new-book-
  | on.... Thanks!
 
  | SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
  | And you'll find some of it as audio read by the author on his
  | podcast.
  | 
  | On various feeds:
  | 
  | https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_447
  | 
  | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-con-how-t...
  | 
  | https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/podcast-cory-doctorows-cr...
  | 
  | https://play.pocketcasts.com/podcasts/88849f30-39ce-012e-11b...
 
| golemotron wrote:
| It's like Richard Stallman passed his baton to Cory.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | CharlesW wrote:
  | Only Cory seems 1,000 more pragmatic. And although he's often a
  | hypocrite1 and I'll roll my eyes very hard every time I read
  | the word "enshittification", I admire that his goal was to
  | create a "shovel-ready" book with actionable advice and look
  | forward to reading it.
  | 
  | 1 https://imgur.com/a/TAltXUf
 
    | hgomersall wrote:
    | A paywall is not DRM.
 
      | danem wrote:
      | How is it meaningfully different? Both exist to ensure that
      | each person consuming the media has paid for it. Sure, in
      | practice pay-walled articles can be easily copied to non-
      | drmed formats, but no one does this and the motivation is
      | the same.
 
      | maxbond wrote:
      | Additionally, it's not really paywalled at all, it's just
      | crossposted to a paywalled platform (presumably for the
      | convenience of people who prefer Medium, for reasons I
      | can't fathom but to each their own):
      | 
      | https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/31/seize-the-means-of-
      | comput...
 
    | msla wrote:
    | There's a difference between DRM and selling your stuff.
    | 
    | There's a difference between DRM and using copyright law to
    | the fullest.
    | 
    | Thinking the line is between loading your stuff with user-
    | hostile malware and giving it away is precisely the kind of
    | thing the user-hostile malware camp would want people to
    | believe: "We have to spy on users and destroy their machines
    | because the alternative is not compensating artists! We stand
    | with SAG-AFTRA so install Denuvo on every system you own!"
 
    | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
    | > and I'll roll my eyes very hard every time I read the word
    | "enshittification"
    | 
    | Why? It seems like a good description that accurately
    | describes the behavior and is reasonably obvious on first
    | reading.
 
      | Jiro wrote:
      | It's a horrible name. It obviously implies that something
      | is being made shitty, but it fails to say what or how.
      | "Enshittification" could just as easily mean "the process
      | by which your computer fan gets clogged with dust" or "the
      | process by which rice loses vitamins when you cook it too
      | much". It's like calling it "bad stuff" except with more
      | profanity.
 
        | Daishiman wrote:
        | As a web user of 26 years, it describes precisely what
        | happens.
 
  | Mindwipe wrote:
  | The ineffective gobshite who makes more money from the cult of
  | believers than actually coming up with any workable
  | alternatives baton?
 
| mark_l_watson wrote:
| I bought donated for this book yesterday - I am looking forward
| to getting the book.
| 
| My comment yesterday on Mastodon:
| 
| @pluralistic I just listened to the 8 minute audio teaser, signed
| up for libro.fm, and joined your kickstarter. I feel like I am
| trapped in Apple's walled garden, but I am at least looking for a
| window to open!
 
| warkdarrior wrote:
| Looking forward to download the book from LibGen.
 
  | freedomben wrote:
  | Care to explain why you want to steal from the author? Has he
  | offended you with his high level of consideration and respect?
 
| jt2190 wrote:
| > [I]t's a Big Tech disassembly manual that explains how to
| disenshittify the web and bring back the old good internet.
| 
| As someone who also loves to "surf" the web and who misses the
| good old days, I do wonder if it's really in humanity's best
| interests to have everyone starting at screens all day. There was
| a time before the web when we thought computers would do all the
| grunt work, but the last few decades seem like we humans are
| still needed to push buttons, Copy/Paste, etc. for _everything_.
 
| stblack wrote:
| Related to this, Cory Doctorow's appearance on Future Tense
| podcast (Australia) is truly excellent.
| 
| After being introduced, he goes on an 8-minute disquisition. We
| should all aspire to rap tech like Cory Doctorow can.
| 
| https://pca.st/yr3hd7f9
 
  | diatribist wrote:
  | The issue with most folks selling books about how to avoid the
  | excesses of DRM and other exploitative practices is that most
  | people are happy to pay a premium for the convenience of having
  | a digital library managed by Amazon, Google, Facebook, &etc.
  | 
  | Big tech companies must pay the bills for their servers in one
  | way or another and charging people money to keep the data in
  | their digital vaults is a tradeoff most consumers and producers
  | are more than happy with. Consider the alternative to this. It
  | would require every creative to manage their own payment
  | gateway and digital delivery infrastructure and they would more
  | than likely end up either even or in the negative as far as
  | their own profits were concerned.
  | 
  | Maybe Doctorow has a big enough audience to manage his own
  | digital delivery infrastructure but most authors I'm certain
  | don't have the same luxury.
 
  | blueridge wrote:
  | Thanks for posting this, great episode.
 
| sundarurfriend wrote:
| The kickstarter page is much more informative than this article:
| https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-internet-c...
 
  | CharlesW wrote:
  | That video is well worth the 3m watch, thank you!
 
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