[Plura-list] Twitter is more redeemable than Facebook; Open law and the rule of law; RÄT; Attack Surface in the New York Times

Cory Doctorow doctorow at craphound.com
Mon Nov 30 14:59:59 EST 2020


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I'm speaking tomorrow in a mass Teach-In Against Surveillance that's
raising funds for Ian Linkletter, a UBC ed-tech specialist who's being
sued by Proctorio, a remote proctoring corporation, in a bid to silence
his criticism of their awful, immoral products.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/teach-in-against-surveillance-tickets-128926228821

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Today's links

* Twitter is more redeemable than Facebook: Guidelines for constructing
a productive anti-bubble.

* Open law and the rule of law: A copyrighted law can't be law.

* RÄT: An extraordinary musical interlude.

* Attack Surface in the New York Times: And Macleans!

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

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

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👓 Twitter is more redeemable than Facebook

Of all the articles I read on my weekend off, the one that has stuck
with me most is Natalie Ashton's account of the "epistemic superiority"
of Twitter relative to Facebook.

https://www.logically.ai/articles/why-twitter-is-epistemically-better-than-facebook

She's a university philosopher, and in her Logical.ly, she makes a
sharp, coherent case not just for why to use Twitter, but HOW.

What is "epistemic superiority?" It's the ability to learn new things,
to become better at discerning truth.

Ashton cites José Medina's theory of "epistemic friction" - the feeling
of heat you get when you rub differing viewpoints together - to "respond
to other viewpoints in the right way [to] produce understanding of the
viewpoints we encounter, and of our own in comparison."

And this is where Twitter is superior to Facebook: Facebook structures
your conversations around people you know, who are more likely to share
you viewpoints and will therefore produce less productive friction.

By contrast, Twitter's a place of viewpoint collisions, driven by
interests, where the currency of the retweet means that the people you
follow are constantly exposing you to the people THEY follow, and so on.

But it's not enough to encounter contrasting viewpoints (you can get
that on cable news). Ashton values Twitter because it can put you in
contact with "marginalized viewpoints" that you are unlikely to
encounter in daily life.

And here's where she gets into really interesting stuff, acknowledging
that Twitter "indiscriminately" promotes marginalized viewpoints - both
BLM and Nazis, for example.

What are we to do with this? Should we follow both kinds of accounts to
get that epistemic friction?

This is a common problem - the problem of a mind so open that your
brains fall out of your ears. You need *some* kind of criteria for which
out-of-mainstream ideas you engage with and which ones you ignore. Flat
Earth? Antivax? Qanon?

Ashton proposes a test: "elevate voices that are unacknowledged for
non-epistemic reasons, like historical (and current) oppression."

In other words, you can ignore marginalized ideas that have been pushed
out because we've argued about them and they lost (eugenics). But you
should investigate ideas whose marginalization is driven by social
factors (trans rights).

She's not saying you have to agree with these marginalized ideas - but
that you should engage with them, think about them, rub up against them
to generate that epistemic friction that helps improve your own ideas.

Secondarily, Ashton proposes zones of "epistemic respite" - spaces
reserved for thinking through your own stuff without having to argue
about it and defend it. She calls for "equilibrium" between "likeminded
community" and "friction."

She finishes it up by contrasting Facebook and Twitter and shows how the
system of mutual following on FB cuts against both friction and respite
- with tools like Twitter's "mute phrases" providing respite.

Out of all of this, I'm most interested in Ashton's test for which
out-of-the-mainstream ideas to pay attention to. It's not a bright line
test by any means, but it's so much crisper and more compact than any
other I've seen.

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👓 Open law and the rule of law

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud isn't a mere open-access advocate: he is a
highly specialized open-access ninja who is laser-focused on access to
the law, which is weird, because you'd assume that the law is public by
default.

And it has been, historically. But the neoliberal era, with its emphasis
on starving governments of the budgets needed to do their work, offset
by private-public partnerships that shift core government functions to
for-profit entities, has been a disaster for access to law.

Take public safety codes: these are developed by "nonprofit" consortia
and standards orgs, often will millions in revenue and six-figure execs,
and then "adopted by reference" into your city's safety code.

https://law.resource.org/pub/de/

If you want to know whether your contractor has complied with safety
codes, or what you should do to make your own lawful upgrades, it can
cost thousands of dollars - just to find out the laws you're expected to
follow.

Or jury instructions - how judges tell juries to deliberate. Without
access to these, lawyers can't determine if their clients are getting a
fair shake. But in WI, they're copyrighted, cost $500/year, and many
lawyers depend on outddated versions.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/22/the-robots-are-listening/#rogue-archivist

Or annotated law: the official annotations that judges rely upon to
interpret the law. States have partnered with outside orgs to create
these, which means if you live in that state and want to know what your
law means, you have to pay to see it.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/justices-debate-allowing-state-law-to-be-hidden-behind-a-pay-wall/

Carl Malamud has gone to court - even the Supreme Court - to defend your
right to read and utter the law. He's risked millions in personal
liability, even criminal prosecution, all because of his conviction that
you should face no barriers to reading and reproducing the law.

Malamud set out the case for making the law free to read and publish in
his 2013 essay, "The Twelve Tables of Code."

https://law.resource.org/pub/12tables.html

It's a powerful statement - and a whirlwind history - of the
relationship between the law's legitimacy and its public accessibility.
Now, he's recorded a new video edition:

https://archive.org/details/mcast02.RuleOfLaw.h264

Which you can also get as audio:

https://soundcloud.com/publicresource/multicast-02-the-rule-of-law

It's powerful, stirring stuff from a person who has selflessly and
tirelessly fought for one of your most foundational rights.


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👓 RÄT

When I learned I was going to be a dad, I asked dads I respected for
advice. Mostly, I asked cyberpunks (obviously). Bruce Sterling reminded
me that no matter how bohemian and outre I was, I would be the epitome
of contemptible bougie normalcy in my kid's eyes by the age of 15.

But then I asked Rudy Rucker, and he said, "My kids kept me cool" and
Rudy was like, the coolest adult I knew, so I was in (plus his kids are
super cool - Isabel made my cipher-wheel/wedding ring and Rudy Jr runs
San Francisco's amazing Monkeybrains ISP).

Both predictions have come true. My kid is 12 and ahead of schedule on
the "contemptible bougie normalcy" project, but she's also keeping me
cool. This weekend, she played Penelope Scott's viral Tiktok hit RÄT for
me. Holy shit is it amazing.

https://www.tiktok.com/@worsethanithot/video/6881853360467758342

It's a bouncy, upbeat chiptunes track about the disillusionment of Big
Tech billionaires who turn out to be sociopath self-dealers whose techno
uptopianism is a mask for extraction, exploitation, selfishness and
eugenics.

The lyrics are structured as a breakup letter with Elon Musk, but
Scott's said that he's a stand-in for every personality-cult tech grifter.

Those lyrics! A perfect bathetic mix of silliness, braininess, scathing
wit, self-examination and hope.

https://genius.com/Penelope-scott-rat-lyrics

It's a balance between damning tech's leaders and holding out hope for a
better future:

> God damn, I fell for you, your flamethrowers, your tunnels, & your tech

> I studied code because I wanted to do something great like you

> And the real tragedy is half of it was true

She's merciless on the venality behind the rhetoric:

> When I said take me to the moon, I never meant take me alone

> I thought if mankind toured the sky, it meant that all of us could go

> But I don't want to see the stars if they're just one more piece of land

> For us to colonize, for us to turn to sand

By the time she hits the third chorus, I was on my feet cheering:

> So fuck your tunnels, fuck your cars, fuck your rockets, fuck your
cars again

>  You promised you'd be Tesla, but you're just another Edison

> 'Cause Tesla broke a patent, all you ever broke were hearts

> I can't believe you tore humanity apart

> With the very same machines that could have been our brand new start

I mean.

Wow.

You can buy Scott's whole album Public Void on Bandcamp for $6, or just
this track for $1.

https://penelopescott.bandcamp.com/track/r-t-2

(I paid $10)

Meanwhile, if you're looking for something less acerbic but no less
brilliant on who gets to go to space in our imaginations and our future,
try Ada Palmer's "Somebody Will." It pairs beautifully with RÄT.

http://www.sassafrassmusic.com/songs/sci-fi-fantasy-fandom/somebody-will/

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👓 Attack Surface in the New York Times

I took the weekend off! Thursday was my first day off since March and
apart from two Zoom presentations (Canadians and Europeans don't take US
Thanksgiving off) and writing a speech for this morning, I didn't do any
work.

It was a heavenly interlude, seriously. But you know what made it even
sweeter? The one-two punch of having my latest novel, Attack Surface
(the third Little Brother novel) picked as a 2020 must-read by the New
York Times and Macleans.

For the Times's Book Review, Amal El-Mohtar wrote,

> Doctorow is vocal and unflinching in his activism on surveillance and
intellectual property, among other issues, it doesn’t arrive completely
naked on the page: He writes fascinating, interesting villains with
comprehensible motivation, and flawed, wounded protagonists caught in
complicated relationships with them. “Attack Surface” is ultimately
optimistic, and that optimism is rooted in a belief that humans will
choose meaningful connections over the numbing, narcotic effects of
instant, empty gratifications.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/25/books/gifts-for-book-lovers.html

Meanwhile, in Macleans,  Brian Bethune wrote: "the tension and sobering
revelations of how vulnerable we all are make this novel one of the
Canadian-born author’s finest."

https://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/the-20-books-you-need-to-read-this-winter/

It's always exciting to get a good review, doubly so in respected
national media, but the thing about these that put me in such good
spirits is that they liked the parts I cared about - the balance between
hope and warning, tech and humanity.

Attack Surface is available wherever you buy books. If you'd like a
personalized, signed copy, check out my local bookseller, Dark
Delicacies, whose shop is close enough for me to drop by and inscribe a
copy for you.

https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html

The ebook is DRM-free on all platforms. If you want to get an ebook
straight from me, I've got you covered:

https://craphound.com/shop

There's also a stunning indie audiobook, narrated by Amber Benson, which
smashed Kickstarter records with a crowdfunding campaign last month. You
can also get that direct from me, or via Libro.fm, Bandcamp,
Downpour.com and Google Play.

Alas, you can't get it at Audible or Itunes, since both platforms have
mandatory DRM, which is - to use a technical term - evil bullshit.

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👓 This day in history

#15yrsago Programmers on Sony’s spyware DRM asked for newsgroup help too
https://groups.google.com/g/microsoft.public.windowsmedia.drm/c/AqAx7lfUivU

#15yrsago Sony CD spyware installs and can run permanently, even if you
click “Decline”
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2005/11/28/mediamax-permanently-installs-and-runs-unwanted-software-even-if-user-declines-eula/

#15yrsago Sony knew about rootkits 28 days before the story broke
https://web.archive.org/web/20051202044828/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051129_938966.htm

#10yrsago Paolo Bacigalupi’s SHIP BREAKER: YA adventure story in a
post-peak-oil world
https://memex.craphound.com/2010/11/30/paolo-bacigalupis-ship-breaker-ya-adventure-story-in-a-post-peak-oil-world/

#5yrsago The Paradox: a secret history of magical London worthy of Tim
Powers
https://memex.craphound.com/2015/11/26/the-paradox-a-secret-history-of-magical-london-worthy-of-tim-powers/

#5yrsago The dystopian First Contact/alien abduction sf story hidden in
the Thanksgiving tale
https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/11/28/the-story-of-thanksgiving-is-a-science-fiction-story/

#1yrago Amazon secretly planned to use facial recognition and Ring
doorbells to create neighborhood “watch lists”
https://theintercept.com/2019/11/26/amazon-ring-home-security-facial-recognition/

#1yrago Talking Adversarial Interoperability with Y Combinator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RsI-Vh-KWI

#1yrago Profile of Mariana Mazzucato, the economist who’s swaying both
left and right politicians with talk of “the entrepreneurial state”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/business/mariana-mazzucato.html

#1yrago A layperson-friendly introduction to MMT, a heterodox school of
economics that could finance a Green New Deal
https://themacrotourist.com/2019-04-23-mmt1/

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Poesy Taylor Doctorow, Naked Capitalism
(https://nakedcapitalism.com/).

Currently writing: My next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel
about truth and reconciliation. Wednesday's progress: 520 words (88402
total).

Currently reading: The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson

Latest podcast: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (part 24)
https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/11/23/someone-comes-to-town-someone-leaves-town-part-24/

Upcoming appearances:

* Beaverbrook Lecture: How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, Nov 30,
https://www.mcgill.ca/maxbellschool/channels/event/2020-beaverbrook-annual-lecture-part-ii-cory-doctorow-325538

* Teach-In Against Surveillance, Dec 1,
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/teach-in-against-surveillance-tickets-128926228821

* After the storm: A post-election analysis of UK-US digital trade, Dec
4,
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/events/after-the-storm-a-post-election-analysis-of-uk-us-digital-trade/

*  Monopoly, Not Mind Control: What's Really Happening With
"Surveillance Capitalism," Dec 8
https://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20201208-doctorow/

* Keynote, NISO Plus, Feb 22-25,
https://niso.plus/cory-doctorow-to-keynote-at-niso-plus-2021/

Upcoming appearances:

* Keynote, Cybersummit 2020, Nov 26 https://www.cybera.ca/cyber-summit-2020/

* Keynote, Cologne Futures, Nov 27 http://medienpolitik.eu/

* Beaverbrook Lecture: How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, Nov 30,
https://www.mcgill.ca/maxbellschool/channels/event/2020-beaverbrook-annual-lecture-part-ii-cory-doctorow-325538

* Teach-In Against Surveillance, Dec 1,
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/teach-in-against-surveillance-tickets-128926228821

* After the storm: A post-election analysis of UK-US digital trade, Dec
4,
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/events/after-the-storm-a-post-election-analysis-of-uk-us-digital-trade/

*  Monopoly, Not Mind Control: What's Really Happening With
"Surveillance Capitalism," Dec 8,
https://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20201208-doctorow/

* Keynote, NISO Plus, Feb 22-25,
https://niso.plus/cory-doctorow-to-keynote-at-niso-plus-2021/

Recent appearances:

* Big Tech Podcast:
https://www.cigionline.org/big-tech/cory-doctorow-true-dangers-surveillance-capitalism

* Nerdcanon Podcast:
http://nerdcanon.com/episode-25-cory-doctorow-and-attack-surface/

* Plutopia Podcast:
https://plutopia.io/2020/11/23/cory-doctorow-attack-surface/

Latest book:

* "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone
technothriller for adults. The *Washington Post* called it "a political
cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution
and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies
https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html

* "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet
analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a
solution.
https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59

* "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

* "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime,
gender, and kicking ass. 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.

This work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially,
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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

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