Masters in Business

BONUS: How the Internet Got Worse with Cory Doctorow

January 21, 2026

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  • Cory Doctorow defines "inshittification" as a three-phase process where digital platforms initially attract users, then degrade the user experience while locking them in, and finally extract surplus from both users and business customers. 
  • The decay of digital platforms is attributed to the dismantling of competitive and regulatory disciplines, such as interoperability and the right to reverse engineer, which previously constrained corporate greed. 
  • Legal frameworks like Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act criminalize modifications to software, preventing users and developers from creating counter-measures (like third-party apps or modification tools) that would otherwise challenge platform monopolies. 

Segments

Cory Doctorow’s Multifaceted Career
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(00:02:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Cory Doctorow identifies his primary roles as a writer, activist for digital rights with the EFF, science fiction author, and blogger.
  • Summary: Doctorow has worked with the Electronic Frontier Foundation for nearly 25 years, focusing on ensuring human rights apply online and offline. He has authored dozens of science fiction novels and previously edited Boing Boing for 19 years. His current blog is pluralistic.net, covering tech policy and culture.
Early Digital Rights Activism: Encryption
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(00:04:06)
  • Key Takeaway: The Bernstein case established that source code for encryption is protected as expressive speech under the First Amendment, securing the ability to have secure communications.
  • Summary: Doctorow’s early involvement stemmed from the NSA classifying encryption as a munition, restricting civilian access to strong encryption standards like DES50. The EFF successfully argued that publishing stronger encryption software was a First Amendment right, leading the NSA to drop its challenge after appellate court losses.
Tech Culture and User Modification
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(00:06:42)
  • Key Takeaway: Science fiction informs Doctorow’s focus on who technology serves, leading him to advocate for users seizing the means of computation to make technology work for them.
  • Summary: He questions why users must accept the bad aspects of products alongside the good, citing examples like printers restricting ink use or phones limiting app stores. The widespread use of ad blockers (the largest consumer boycott in history) demonstrates users correcting obnoxious product design.
Anti-Circumvention Laws Impact
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(00:08:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Anti-circumvention laws, like those in the DMCA, prohibit modifying paid products even for lawful purposes, effectively preventing users from exercising control over their own devices.
  • Summary: These laws make it a felony to change code that a programmer has technically protected, even if the user owns the device and the modification is legal. This legal barrier is why companies prefer users utilize locked-down apps over open websites.
US vs. European Digital Policy
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(00:09:45)
  • Key Takeaway: Europe’s ability to enact user-friendly digital regulation is hampered by the dominance of American tech firms, but recent geopolitical shifts may accelerate regulatory independence.
  • Summary: Initially, Europe focused on regulating how tech giants wielded power, but the EU is shifting to regulate the power itself, imposing requirements like interoperability to reduce platform lock-in. The threat of US trade retaliation previously stifled European policy, but potential US foreign policy shifts are now fueling initiatives like ‘Eurostack’ to replicate necessary tech stacks domestically.
The Economics of Platform Extraction
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(00:16:25)
  • Key Takeaway: Platform lock-in creates massive economic extraction opportunities, exemplified by inkjet ink costing more than rare biological fluids due to anti-modification laws.
  • Summary: HP’s malicious update that disabled generic ink after parents bought back-to-school supplies illustrates maximizing pain to enforce proprietary consumables. The high cost of inkjet ink is directly linked to laws prohibiting firmware modification.
Defining Inshittification and Decay
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(00:17:54)
  • Key Takeaway: Inshittification describes the predictable decay pattern where platforms first lock in users, then degrade service for users, then lock in and extract from business customers.
  • Summary: The theory interrogates why this decay is happening now, positing that the erosion of competitive disciplines (like interoperability and worker power) created an ’enshittogenic policy environment.’ This environment rewards the impulses of CEOs tempted to extract maximum surplus.
Platform Decay Examples: Microsoft and Apple
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(00:21:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Apple’s success in the early 2000s was secured by reverse-engineering Microsoft Office formats to create iWork, effectively eliminating switching costs for users moving to Mac.
  • Summary: Microsoft Office for Mac was notoriously unreliable, forcing businesses to adopt Windows for compatibility, which Steve Jobs countered by enabling perfect file interchangeability with iWork. Today, attempting the reverse—creating an iPhone emulator—would invite severe legal retaliation from Apple under multiple statutes, including DMCA Section 1201.
Platform Decay Examples: Facebook and OG App
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(00:27:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Facebook initially lured users from MySpace by providing a bot to migrate content, but modern platforms like Instagram use platform choke points (Apple/Google app stores) to crush superior third-party alternatives like the OG App.
  • Summary: The OG App, which reverse-engineered Instagram to show chronological feeds without ads or recommendations, rapidly topped app charts before being shut down by Apple and Google at Meta’s request. This demonstrates that monopolies now enlist state power (via app store control) to defend their market structure against competitors.
Platform Decay Examples: Amazon’s Rent Extraction
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(00:29:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Amazon’s profitability is increasingly driven by rent extraction (advertising and mandatory fees) rather than product sales, leading to higher prices and lower quality search results for consumers.
  • Summary: Amazon’s advertising business has grown significantly, resulting in the first search result being, on average, 29% more expensive than the best match. Merchants face junk fees (Fulfillment by Amazon, Prime fees, advertising) that now constitute 50% to 60% of their revenue, forcing them to allocate less surplus to product quality.
Platform Decay Examples: Uber and Algorithmic Control
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(00:34:24)
  • Key Takeaway: Uber uses algorithmic wage discrimination, where drivers who accept low-ball offers have their future wages nudged downward, effectively turning them into subsidized ‘ants’ for the company.
  • Summary: Uber spent heavily on political efforts like California’s Prop 22 to formalize worker misclassification, allowing them to raise passenger prices while lowering driver wages. Drivers in other countries use co-op software to bypass technical controls and force the algorithm to raise wages, but this is unlawful in the US due to the DMCA.
Generative AI and Worker Rights
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(00:41:32)
  • Key Takeaway: The most effective remedy for creative workers facing AI replacement is not new copyright law, but sectoral bargaining rights to negotiate terms with all employers in their sector.
  • Summary: The US Copyright Office correctly states that AI-generated works are ineligible for copyright, which disincentivizes bosses who hate paying for unprotectable content. However, existing market concentration means licensing data to AI firms would still result in those firms buying back the resulting algorithm to displace the workers.