[Plura-list] How Big Tech distorts discourse; Talking Job Guarantee with Pavlina Tcherneva; Walkaway, Chicago-style; 759 Trump atrocities

[Cory Doctorow]

Today's links

* How Big Tech distorts discourse: My free Oxford Internet Institute
webinar.

* Talking Job Guarantee with Pavlina Tcherneva: My latest for the LA Times.

* Walkaway, Chicago-style: Protesters re-enact the climax of my 2017
novel (and it worked!)

* 759 Trump atrocities: McSweeney's saved the receipts.

* Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act: $80B for universal fiber
rollout.

* Canada Reads is back: The debates will happen July 20-23.

* This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019

* Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing
projects, current reading

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👊🏿 How Big Tech distorts discourse

On Jul 1, I'm  giving a seminar on how Big Tech distorts our discourse
for the Oxford Internet Institute. It's free to attend, but you need to
RSVP:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6015930181073/WN_MnlH5x2XTRqiKKmhU0QPAg

This is a really urgent question, since it's pretty clear that our
discourse is a mess, from fake news to conspiracism to the rise of
authoritarian, genocidal movements.

The dominant explanation for this is that Big Tech accidentally created
a mind-control ray.

They wanted to sell us fidget spinners, but in perfecting the tools to
bypass our critical faculties in order to sell us stuff, they
inadvertently created a superweapon that the worst people on Earth are
using to turn us into eugenicist end-time preppers.

I think we should be skeptical of this claim. Everyone (until now) who's
claimed to have invented a form of mind-control was a charlatan or a
deluded fool (or both). Big Tech's claims to having perfected the tools
of persuasion are self-serving and unreliable.

Big Tech wants its advertisers to believe that machine learning and mass
surveillance can sell fidget spinners to anyone, so they repeatedly make
claims to having perfected mind-control. These claims are marketing
puffery, not peer-reviewed science.

I think there's a simpler explanation for our distorted discourse: Big
Tech has used lax anti-monopoly enforcement to create an environment
where a handful of companies dominate what information we see and how we
can discuss it.

This means that anyone who hijacks the system - evil SEO scum, etc - can
inject false claims into our discourse in ways that seem true (if you
ask Google for the age of a celeb or a pol, you'll probably accept the
answer, even if it turns out wrong).

It also means that people with disfavored views - some of which I
support (Black Lives Matter), others I despise (white nationalism) - can
find each other without risking social sanction by publicly proclaiming
their views.

And it means that people who have lost trust in the system - for good
reasons, such as the skepticism of pharma regulation on the part of
survivors of the opioid epidemic - can be easily located by those whose
core message is that experts are corrupt.

If our discourse is poisoned by monopolism and corrupt institutions,
it's both bad and good news: good news because we have no idea what to
do to fight mind-control rays, while in theory it's simple (but hard) to
fix monopolies and bad institutions.

The bad news is that both of those can be VERY hard, but on the other
hand, there's rising political will to make institutions accountable and
break up oligarchic markets from all sides, and not just for tech -
these problems plague every sector.

The coalition possibilities are dazzling.

I wrote up a preliminary essay about this for EFF Deeplinks, and I've
got a 37,000-word pamphlet on the subject coming soon.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/05/how-big-tech-monopolies-distort-our-public-discourse

I hope to see you on the first of July!

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6015930181073/WN_MnlH5x2XTRqiKKmhU0QPAg

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👊🏿 Talking Job Guarantee with Pavlina Tcherneva

This week marks publication of The Case for a Job Guarantee, Pavlina
Tcherneva's brilliant, lucid pamphlet laying out the case for a radical
rethinking of work and the creation of a true minimum wage: the wage
you'll earn if you want a job but no one will give one to you.

I published my review of Tcherneva's book yesterday:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/22/jobs-guarantee/#job-guarantee

Today, the LA Times books section published my interview with Tcherneva,
in which she explains and expands upon her argument:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-06-24/forget-ubi-says-an-economist-its-time-for-universal-basic-jobs

As she points out, governments guarantee all kinds of things: contracts,
loans, even the price of cheese. But the one area of uncertainty that
each of us has to face on our own, without any kind of price-floor, is
our own ability to find meaningful, well-compensated work.

Such a program would be federally funded - the feds alone have the power
to spend money into existence - but it would be locally administered by
states and localities, who would solicit proposals for work from
community groups and bank them against future downturns.

When you need a job, the employment office would just...employ you. Give
you a choice of jobs, with training if necessary, from among things your
own community has decided needs doing, especially environmental
rehabilitation and care work.

Today, we are facing down years - maybe decades - of structural
unemployment at unmanageably high levels, 25% or more, far higher even
than the absurd "natural rate of unemployment" that economists insist we
must maintain.

Unemployment is supposed to fight inflation, and perhaps it does, but so
too can employment. Rather than maintaining a buffer stock of
immiserated, traumatized, job-seeking workers, we can maintain a stock
of good jobs with socially inclusive wages and good benefits.

We already fund unemployment - the huge costs that structural
unemployment exacts on our society and our productive economy - so why
not switch to funding EMPLOYMENT instead?

As we head into this period of long term, high unemployment, SOMETHING
will give. Possibly we'll do nothing, and our society will be so
destabilized by poverty and unemployment that it will face collapse.

Or if the right gets its way, we'll create workfare - that is, forced
labor: "Don't want to starve? Fine - build the border wall and we'll
feed you."

The alternative is a Job Guarantee: an add-on beyond benefits for people
who can't work, that buys the labor of people whom the private sector
refuses to employ and puts it to work doing things their own communities
need.

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👊🏿 Walkaway, Chicago-style

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MY 2017 NOVEL WALKAWAY

At Walkaway's climax, prisoners who've taken over their prison face off
against an army of militarized police who lay siege to the occupied
prison complex.

Just as the prisoners' defenses are about to fail, their network of
supporters watching from a livestream all over the world leap into the
fray, doxing the cops on the line and waking their relatives and talking
them into broadcasting pleas on the prison's PA system.

As the cops hear their loved ones' pleas, their morale breaks. One at a
time, then in bunches, they set down their weapons, shuck body armor,
and walk away down the highway. As they trickle away, their commanders
are enraged, then terrified, sensing the turn. They retreat.

Yesterday, visual journalist Tyler LaRiviere posted a stunning series of
images and clips from a protest in Chicago where protesters faced a
standoff with the CPD at a barricade near Mayor Lori Lightfoot's home.

https://twitter.com/TylerLaRiviere/status/1275615330442842112

LaRiviere: "The person on the megaphone is searching up officers
information on a web database and announcing how many complaints they have."

https://twitter.com/TylerLaRiviere/status/1275615330442842112

"To clarify these aren't random officers they are getting information on
but the officers blocking off the intersection on Kimball and
Wrightwood. Two of the officers who had their infomation publicized left
the line and walked away."

https://twitter.com/TylerLaRiviere/status/1275616072809488389

The protest ends peacefully as the cops - numbers depleted - wait out
the protest's natural wind-down.

I've been sent this dozens of times since Tuesday. I am elated every time.


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👊🏿 759 Trump atrocities

The Trump administration commenced amid a flood of scandals, lies and
controversies, coming so fast that crises that would have tainted a
"normal" administration were forgotten in days, drowned out by new scandals.

"Flood the zone with shit." -S. Bannon.

Early in those days, a group of writers at McSweeneys set to cataloging
each of these "atrocities." Today, they've released the first 759 of
these, in chronological order and broken down by category:

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-so-far-atrocities-1-759

– Sexual Misconduct, Harassment, & Bullying
– White Supremacy, Racism, & Xenophobia
– Public Statements / Tweets
– Collusion with Russia & Obstruction of Justice
– Trump Staff & Administration
– Trump Family Business Dealings
– Policy
– Environment

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👊🏿 Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act

HR 7302, the "Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act," allocates
$80B for nationwide fiber rollouts and creates a new Office of Internet
Connectivity and Growth to coordinate fiber investment between the
federal and state governments.

https://www.majoritywhip.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Accessible-Affordable-Internet-for-All-Act-Bill-Text.pdf

If the bill passes, the US will complete its fiber transition just a few
years after China, and will finally cease to have some of the slowest,
most expensive, patchiest internet coverage of any OECD nation.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/06/house-introduces-universal-fiber-broadband-plan

The bill emphasizes open access fiber networks - government owned,
privately provisioned by competing firms, including co-ops - a model
that's been hugely successful in Utah, where even rural subscribers get
competitors bidding to sell them 10GB internet.

The bill also nullifies the state-level laws banning municipal broadband
provision that telcoms operators have made their number one lobbying
priority, dooming the poorest Americans to aging, copper-wire internet
from the last millennium.

It also intervenes in disconnections during the covid emergency, with
the government guaranteeing the bills of any family that falls so far
behind that it risks being cut off.

It's basically fucking *amazing*.

The next step: getting it through Congress. Telcoms has some of the most
ruthless, best-connected lobbyists on the hill, men and women who've
made it their business to starve Americans of decent internet to line
the pockets of financialized, monopolistic telcoms behemoths.

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👊🏿 Canada Reads is back

The CBC Books Canada Reads competition is an annual literary event that
pits five books by Canadian authors against each other, each represented
by a "champion" from the Canadian arts scene in a series of televised
debates.

After each debate, one book is voted off by viewers, until the final
book is chosen.

This year, I was over-the-moon ecstatic to learn that my collection of
novellas Radicalized was among the contenders for the prize, with the
incomparable Akil Augustine defending it.

But the debates were one of the casualties of the pandemic, delayed
indefinitely...

....Until now! The CBC has announced that the debates will be back Jul
20-23:

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/canada-reads-2020-to-take-place-july-20-23-1.5623761

This is very exciting news! And while the pandemic has heaped tragedy
upon misery, I do believe that when life gives you SARS you should make
sarsaparilla, and in that spirit, I can't help but observe that the
passage of time has only boosted my book's chances.

After all, this is a book whose four tales deal with:

1. The racial and economic politics of technological control
(Unauthorized Bread, read it here:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/)

2. Racialized police violence, allyship, and predictive policing (Model
Minority)

3. How the inevitable outcome of a for-profit health-care system is
desperation and murderous violence, spread through toxic online forums
(Radicalized)

4. The ghastly comeuppance awaiting wealthy preppers who cower in luxury
bunkers while we all deal with the crisis - the absurdity of hoping
finance bros can reboot civilisation (listen here
https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/13/the-masque-of-the-red-death/)

I mean, it's all a little on-the-nose at this point.

Before the crisis, CBC recorded and wrote a wealth of material about all
five of the finalists and their champions: podcasts, video interviews,
Q&As;, essays, and more. They've collected all that material here for
your review:

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/canada-reads-2020-to-take-place-july-20-23-1.5623761

And as much as I can't help but notice the convergence of current events
with my own contender in the race, all five of the books are outstanding
and worthy of your attention.

* Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan G Coles
(defended by Alayna Fender).

"A cast of flawed characters; over the course of a snowy Feb day,
they're implicated in each other's hopes, dreams and pains amid harsh
economic times."

https://www.cbc.ca/books/alayna-fender-1.5433793

* We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib, (defended by Amanda Brugel)

"An exploration of the ways we disguise and minimize ourselves for the
sake of survival."

https://www.cbc.ca/books/we-have-always-been-here-by-samra-habib-1.4990355

* Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson (defended by Kaniehtiio Horn)

"A novel about Jared, a compassionate 16-year-old, maker of famous weed
cookies, son of an unreliable father and unhinged, though loving in her
way, mother."

https://www.cbc.ca/books/son-of-a-trickster-by-eden-robinson-1.3975938

* From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle (defended by George Canyon)

"His memoir, From the Ashes, details how his issues with abandonment and
addiction led to homelessness, incarceration and his eventual redemption
through higher education."

https://www.cbc.ca/books/from-the-ashes-by-jesse-thistle-1.5222288

One of my favourite Canada Reads resources is the Canada Reads American
Style podcast, created by a pair of canlit-obsessed Michigan librarians.
I did a long interview with them after the initial debates were canceled.

https://canadareadsamericanstyle.podbean.com/e/doctorow-interview/

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👊🏿 This day in history

#15yrsago NYT endorses Bugmenot
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/technology/a-broadband-beatdown.html

#10yrsago Toronto's secret ID law used to arrest G20 protestor
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/g20/2010/06/25/man_arrested_and_left_in_wire_cage_under_new_g20_law.html

#5yrsago Stephen Harper ready to sign TPP and throw Tory rural base
under the bus#5yrsago Wil Wheaton on depression
https://news.avclub.com/exclusive-hear-wil-wheaton-discuss-his-mental-illness-1798281130

#5yrsago How the UK Prime Minister's office gets around Freedom of
Information requests
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/downing-st-accused-of-deliberate-attempts-to-avoid-freedom-of-information-requests-as-ex-staff-10325231.html

#5yrsago They're tearing down the Adventurer's Club
https://twitter.com/davecobb/status/613747291229257728

#1yrago Cult of the Dead Cow: the untold story of the hacktivist group
that presaged everything great and terrible about the internet
https://boingboing.net/2019/06/25/hacker-zelig.html

#1yrago Microsoft employees want to starve its PAC, which keeps giving
money to homophobic, racist, climate-denying Republicans
https://onezero.medium.com/a-group-of-microsoft-employees-is-fighting-the-companys-political-action-committee-7dae732290e3https://www.zdnet.com/article/new-silex-malware-is-bricking-iot-devices-has-scary-plans/

#1yrago How Metabrainz stood up to a predatory copyright lawsuit and won
https://blog.metabrainz.org/2019/06/25/we-were-sued-by-a-copyright-troll-and-we-prevailed/

#1yrago "Massive scale" intrusion into mobile carriers' networks exposed
customers' location, call data for years
https://www.cybereason.com/blog/operation-soft-cell-a-worldwide-campaign-against-telecommunications-providers

#1yrago Independent evaluation of "aggression detection" microphones
used in schools and hospitals finds them to be worse than useless
https://features.propublica.org/aggression-detector/the-unproven-invasive-surveillance-technology-schools-are-using-to-monitor-students/#163614

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👊🏿 Colophon

Today's top sources: Waxy (https://waxy.org/).

Currently writing:

* My next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and
reconciliation. Yesterday's progress: 503 words (31298 total).

* A short story, "Making Hay," for MIT Tech Review. Yesterday's
progress: 318 words (3250 total)

Currently reading: Goliath, Matt Stoller.

Latest podcast: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (part 07)
https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/06/22/someone-comes-to-town-someone-leaves-town-part-07-2/

Upcoming appearances:

* 'What Big Tech does to discourse, and the forgotten tech tool that can
make tech less big', Jul 1, Oxford Internet Institute
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6015930181073/WN_MnlH5x2XTRqiKKmhU0QPAg

* In Conversation with Hank Green, Jul 10,
https://www.magersandquinn.com/product_info?isbn_id=26578312&products;_id=163359157

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book
about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed
copy here:
https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1562/_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer.html.

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new
introduction by Edward Snowden:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies
here:
https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html

This work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
That means you can use it any way you like, including commerically,
provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link
to pluralistic.net.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are
included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the
basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.

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*When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla* -Joey "Accordion Guy"
DeVilla

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