For all the moaning and complaining from both the Left and the Right about how bad Big Tech is and how has too much control over our lifes, there is precious little understanding (let alone clear explanations that a lay audience can understand) about just how big tech got that way and the laws and regulations the perpetuate that system. Enter Cory Doctorow. I have not encountered another journalist / commentator in mainstream media or otherwise who lays out such a clear and cogent case of for how Big Tech companies achieved hegemony by using the same practices that their corporate lawyers and lobbyists will sue or legislate out of existence. Far from going off on some diffuse anti-capitalist screed (you know the kind that manage to throw out the terms racism, colonialism, and capitalism in the same sentence with a kind of “case closed” attitude), Cory utilizes specific concrete examples of the practices, laws, and regulations that he is criticizing along with equally specific policy recommendations. This guy is a gem, and his work deserves much wider distribution, given how the subject matter he discusses impacts us all.
