Cory Doctorow on 'Inshittification' and the Decay of the Internet

The Multifaceted Career of Cory Doctorow

• ✍️ Cory Doctorow describes himself primarily as a writer, but also as an activist, a digital rights advocate with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for nearly 25 years, a science fiction author, and a blogger.
• 💡 His work often explores how technology impacts human rights and aims to ensure that online experiences do not erode offline rights.

Early Digital Rights Advocacy

• 🔒 Doctorow's involvement in digital rights began with cases like Bernstein v. US Department of Justice, where he argued for the right to publish strong encryption source code as a form of First Amendment-protected speech.
• 🛡️ This legal battle established that code is speech, enabling secure communications for civilians.
• 🚀 He also discusses his activism against Digital Rights Management (DRM) and the broadcast flag, which aimed to restrict digital media usage.

Understanding 'Inshittification'

• 📉 Inshittification is defined as a three-phase process where companies first lock in users, then degrade the user experience while improving for business customers, and finally lock in business customers, extracting all surplus and leaving a degraded product.
• ❓ The core question is why this decay happens now, when companies have always been greedy. Doctorow posits that the dismantling of competitive and regulatory disciplines, such as interoperability and anti-circumvention laws, has created an environment that rewards the worst practices.
• 🚫 Laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)'s anti-circumvention provisions make it illegal to modify software, even for lawful purposes, thereby preventing users from controlling their own devices and data.

Platform Decay Examples

• 🍎 Apple's early success with Mac Office compatibility is contrasted with modern practices where reverse-engineering would lead to severe legal penalties under laws like the DMCA.
• 🛒 Amazon's platform decay is exemplified by the rise of advertising revenue over product quality, leading to more expensive and often incorrect search results, alongside high