Cory Doctorow is a celebrated science fiction author whose works frequently explore the intricate connections between technology, society, and freedom. His writing is distinguished by its prescient insights into the future and its critical examination of contemporary societal trends. Doctorow fearlessly delves into the ethical quandaries presented by the digital age, all while maintaining a remarkably accessible and engaging style. His narratives serve as a compelling invitation to contemplate the evolving world we are constantly shaping.
"People are feeling squeezed because of chokepoint capitalism: exploitative businesses creating barriers to competition that let them take over markets and extract an unfair share of value. This book teaches how to spot those chokepoints, and what we can do to blow them up"-- Provided by publisher
This isn't a book for people who want to fix Big Tech. It's a detailed disassembly manual for people who want to dismantle it.
In this high-stakes thriller, the lives of California’s prison inmates are treated like stock shares. Set in 2006, Martin Hench, a self-employed forensic accountant, excels in the ongoing battle between those hiding money and those seeking it. While enjoying downtime on Catalina Island, where bison roam and overpriced fast food abounds, Martin inadvertently disrupts a scheme that sets off a decade-long chain of events. His misstep leads him into the realm of the ultra-wealthy, who view money as a mere game. They target California’s Department of Corrections, confident that their complex web of shell companies will shield them from scrutiny. Their focus is solely on the profits they can extract from the government and the vast number of prisoners under their control. This narrative serves as a powerful critique of the privatized prison system, exploring the intricate financial manipulations that contributed to the 2008 financial crash. It is a gripping follow-up to the author’s previous work, blending thrilling storytelling with a sharp social commentary.
This manual offers a comprehensive guide for individuals aiming to understand and dismantle the structures of Big Tech. It delves into the intricacies of technology, power dynamics, and the societal implications of corporate practices. Through step-by-step instructions, it empowers readers to critically analyze and challenge the dominance of major tech companies, fostering a deeper awareness of their impact on privacy, economy, and culture.
From New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow, Radicalized is four urgent SF novellas of America's present and future within one book Told through one of the most on-pulse genre voices of our generation, Radicalized is a timely collection consisting of four SF novellas connected by social, technological, and economic visions of today and what America could be in the near, near future. Unauthorized Bread is a tale of immigration, the toxicity of economic and technological stratification, and the young and downtrodden fighting against all odds to survive and prosper. In Model Minority, a Superman-like figure attempts to rectifiy the corruption of the police forces he long erroneously thought protected the defenseless...only to find his efforts adversely affecting their victims. Radicalized is a story of a darkweb-enforced violent uprising against insurance companies told from the perspective of a man desperate to secure funding for an experimental drug that could cure his wife's terminal cancer. The fourth story, Masque of the Red Death, harkens back to Doctorow's Walkaway, taking on issues of survivalism versus community.
A call to action for the creative class and labor movement to confront the dominance of Big Tech and Big Media. Corporate concentration and profits have reached unprecedented levels, leading to monopolies and monopsonies that disrupt fair competition. In this new era of "chokepoint capitalism," Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow highlight how exploitative businesses create barriers that prevent others from accessing value that rightfully belongs to them. While all workers feel the impact, creative workers face particularly harsh consequences. Examples include Amazon's digital rights management affecting book publishing, Google and Facebook diverting ad revenue from news media, and the Big Three record labels imposing lengthy contracts that diminish artists' earnings. Giblin and Doctorow analyze various industries, illustrating how corporations build "anti-competitive flywheels" that lock in users and suppliers, create hostile market conditions for newcomers, and force unfair pricing on workers. In the latter half, they propose strategies to dismantle these chokepoints, including transparency rights, collective action, radical interoperability, and minimum wages for creative work. This work urges all workers to unite and reclaim the power and profits being unjustly taken from them.
Marcus Yallow is no longer a student. California's economy has collapsed, taking his parents' jobs and his university tuition with it. Thanks to his activist past, Marcus lands a job as webmaster for a muckraking politician who promises reform. Things are never simple, though: soon Marcus finds himself embroiled in lethal political intrigue and the sharp end of class warfare, American style.
In sharply argued, fast-moving chapters, Cory Doctorow’s Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free takes on the state of copyright and creative success in the digital age. Can small artists still thrive in the Internet era? Can giant record labels avoid alienating their audiences? This is a book about the pitfalls and the opportunities that creative industries (and individuals) are confronting today — about how the old models have failed or found new footing, and about what might soon replace them. An essential read for anyone with a stake in the future of the arts, Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free offers a vivid guide to the ways creativity and the Internet interact today, and to what might be coming next.
After being interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security after a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, Marcus is released into what is now a police state and uses his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.
Returning to the world of Little Brother and Homeland, Attack Surface takes us five minutes into the future, to a world where everything is connected and everyone is vulnerable.
