The Internet's Decline

• ⚠️ Many people feel the internet of 2026 is worse than 10-15 years ago, characterized by ragebait, AI slop, and manipulation.
• 🧠 The core issue is a shift from a decentralized, user-controlled internet to one dominated by a few powerful corporations.
• 💡 This decline impacts politics, small businesses, creators, privacy, and the dehumanization of work.

Enshittification & Extraction Frameworks

• 🔑 Enshittification (Cory Doctorow) describes platforms becoming worse for users after lock-in, then worse for business customers, with benefits flowing to executives and shareholders.
• 🎯 This process is enabled by a lack of competitors, regulatory oversight, worker power, and new market entry due to expanded IP law.
• 💰 Extraction (Tim Wu) refers to firms with market power taking wealth in excess of the value provided, focusing on "pain points" where customers have no choice.
• 📈 Both frameworks highlight how platforms like Facebook and Amazon have evolved to prioritize profit over user or seller well-being.

Impact on Users and Labor

• 🚫 The concept of "revealed preferences" is challenged; users often lack genuine choice due to lock-in and legal restrictions on alternatives.
• 🛠️ "Bossware" and algorithmic wage discrimination exemplify how technology is used to surveil and exploit workers, paying less to those in desperate situations.
• 📉 This leads to a degradation of human dignity and relationships in the workplace, as seen with Amazon drivers and automated checkout.

The Problem with Algorithmic Pricing

• 📊 Algorithmic pricing, like Instacart charging different prices, aims for "market clearing" prices by charging the maximum a person is willing to pay.
• ❌ This approach, while "efficient" in economic models, creates an unpleasant and exploitative society where individuals are constantly paying top dollar.
• ⚖️ There's a need to balance efficiency with human values and social well-being, recognizing that too much efficiency can be "inhuman."

Policy Solutions for a Better Internet

• ✅ Cory Doctorow's solutions: Repeal anti-circumvention laws (DMCA 1201), establish a muscular federal privacy right with private right of action, and mandate interoperability for social media.
• 💡 Tim Wu's solutions: Ban toxic business models, treat essential tech platforms as utilities (non-discriminatory, fair pricing), and maintain constant antitrust pressure to prevent monopolies.
• 🚀 The goal is to foster healthy competition (e.g., great content) and discourage toxic competition (e.g., manipulation and addiction) by making deliberate societal choices.