Pushing back on unconstrained capitalism (Changelog Interviews #565)

Changelog Master Feed

This week we’re talking with Cory Doctorow (this episode contains explicit language) about how we can get back to that “new good internet.” Cory’s new book The Internet Con offers a lens to this conversation about disenshittifying the internet through anti-trust laws, limits on corporate tweaking, regulating unconstrained capitalism, and all the ways enshittification is enabled. Cory also shares his experience recording his own audio book under the direction of Gabrielle de Cuir at Skyboat Media, and what’s to come from his next Science Fiction book The Lost Cause.

Leave us a comment

Changelog++ members get a bonus 9 minutes at the end of this episode and zero ads. Join today!

Sponsors:

• Socket – Secure your supply chain and ship with confidence. Install the GitHub app, book a demo or learn more
• Statsig – Build faster with confidence. Startups to Fortune 500s rely on Statsig to make data-driven decisions. Ship smarter and faster with the unified platform for feature flags, experimentation, and analytics. Our listeners get free white-glove onboarding, migration support, and 5 million free events per month.
• Changelog News – A podcast+newsletter combo that’s brief, entertaining & always on-point. Subscribe today.
• Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps and databases close to your users. In minutes you can run your Ruby, Go, Node, Deno, Python, or Elixir app (and databases!) all over the world. No ops required. Learn more at fly.io/changelog and check out the speedrun in their docs.

Featuring:

• Cory Doctorow – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, Website
• Adam Stacoviak – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Website
• Jerod Santo – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn

Show Notes:

• The Internet Con
• libro.fm
• The Lost Cause
• Cory’s talk at DEF CON 31
• Changelog Interviews #535: Examining capitalism’s chokepoints
• Skyboat Media
• The History of the Standard Oil Company by Ida M. Tarbell

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Capitole

1. This week on The Changelog (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: Socket (00:01:20)

https://socket.dev/?utm_source=changelog&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=changelog-interviews

3. Start the show! (00:04:44)

4. Bypassing DRM will cost you (00:06:30)

5. Amazon has TONS of power (00:07:54)

6. I won't allow my work to have DRM (00:09:20)

7. So...I Kickstarter my audiobooks (00:11:17)

8. Fighting the monopolies (00:12:37)

9. Pumping out books (00:13:48)

10. The Lost Cause (00:14:28)

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/thelostcause

11. Is this a blueprint or a dream? (00:18:14)

12. Sponsor: Statsig (00:25:55)

https://statsig.com/changelog

13. Ads as notifications (00:29:20)

14. The Internet Con (00:31:31)

https://craphound.com/internetcon/

15. Unconstrained capitalistic needs (00:47:58)

16. Let's talk anti-trust (00:51:03)

17. Taking aim at monopolies (00:58:50)

18. Sponsor: Changelog News (01:05:33)

https://changelog.com/news

19. Capitalism and free markets (01:06:46)

20. Was Jeff Bezos born lucky? (01:17:26)

21. Isn't this the dream though? (01:22:23)

22. The forces that constrain firms (01:27:01)

23. Wrapping up (01:31:59)

24. What we've been up to (01:32:46)