It's not that #conservatives aren't sometimes right - it's that even when they're right, they're *highly selective* about it. Take the hoary chestnut that "#IncentivesMatter," trotted out to deny humane benefits to poor people on the grounds that "free money" makes people "workshy."

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/05/any-metric-becomes-a-target/#hca

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If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is also ad- and tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "🥀". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

Subscribe here: https://mail.flarn.com/mailman/listinfo/plura-list/

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You can also follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

Here's today's edition: https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/

--

If you're a nostr:npub1u00djvjjpk6vm09z8vrrkjpnj0s9favacchm00w8qw4ae4ptussq8upzgc subscriber, you can read these essays - as well as previews of upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.

My latest Medium column is "Microincentives and Enshittification: How the Curse of Bigness wrecked Google Search"

https://doctorow.medium.com/microincentives-and-enshittification-574290ea196f

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Recent appearances:

* #HauntedMansion #GhostPost Panel Live From #MidsummerScream

https://dizneycoasttocoast.libsyn.com/haunted-mansion-ghost-post-panel-live-from-midsummer-scream-disney-podcast-episode-1027

* how big tech makes the internet worse (What's Gonna Happen)

https://www.stitcher.com/show/what-s-gonna-happen/episode/how-big-tech-makes-the-internet-worse-with-cory-doctorow-305645071

* Let The Platforms Burn: Bringing Back the Good Fire of the Old Internet (#IETF 117)

https://youtu.be/nK7JoGhF338?t=737

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Upcoming appearances:

* #Armadillocon (#Austin), Aug 4-6

https://armadillocon.org/d45/

* #MediumDay (online), Aug 12

https://medium.com/tag/medium-day

* nostr:npub14qsg3uuyk2qehlcamwlsjl4caxrf25h72w4mk0p5ty3vtwg2fnns75qwuh (#LasVegas), Aug 12

https://defcon.org/

* #BurningMan Center Camp, 1430h, Aug 29

https://playaevents.burningman.org/2023/playa_events/03/

* nostr:npub1sqfnxau480pnvm0t258kdrj5u2u72zwm2kh7tk3qf6lxtqkwvlmqgn5skr Awards (#SanFrancisco), Sept 14

https://www.eff.org/awards/effawards/2023

* An Evening with #VESchwab (#DesMoines), Oct 2

https://www.thecabinidaho.org/all-events/ve-schwab

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My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

https://craphound.com/shop/

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My latest book is Red Team Blues, available wherever books are sold!

Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US):

https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2873/Wed%2C_Apr_26th_6pm%3A_Red_Team_Blues%3A_A_Martin_Hench_Novel_HB.html#/

and Forbidden Planet (UK):

https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/

--

My latest nonfiction book is Chokepoint Capitalism (with Rebecca Giblin), nonfiction about monopoly and fairness in creative labor markets.

https://chokepointcapitalism.com

Signed copies available from Book Soup:

https://www.booksoup.com/book/9780807007068

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Yesterday's threads: Cloudburst; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/110827244223644278

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https://mamot.fr/system/media_attachments/files/110/832/908/577/544/110/original/00882bd685fa07c0.mp4

#5yrsago When #ZephyrTeachout is elected New York Attorney General, she’s gonna emolumentize Trump right out of the White House https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/nyregion/zephyr-teachout-is-running-for-attorney-general-but-her-real-target-is-trump.html

#5yrsago When should the press pay attention to trolls, lies and disinformation? https://datasociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/0-EXEC-SUMMARY_Oxygen_of_Amplification_DS.pdf

#5yrsago #WellsFargo: we stole houses and we’re being investigated for dirty low-income housing credits https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-03/wells-fargo-faces-u-s-probe-on-low-income-tax-credit-purchases

#1yrago A TRAP for workers: Oops, we re-invented #indenture https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/04/its-a-trap/#a-little-on-the-nose

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#15yrsago #DMCA does not apply to US government, which can crack #DRM with impunity https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/08/air-force-cracks-software-carpet-bombs-dmca/

#10yrsago Attacking the popular #Kwikset lock: open in 15 seconds with a screwdriver and a paper clip https://www.wired.com/2013/08/kwikset-smarkey-lock-vulns/

#10yrsago Six blatant lies about spying from the #NSA up to Obama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eptZuXkUGmI

#10yrsago Prosecutor #StephenHeymann told #MIT that #AaronSwartz was like a rapist who blames his victim https://web.archive.org/web/20130804190514/http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/08/01/prosecutor-stephen-heymann-compared-aaron-swartz-to-rapist/

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Hey look at this

* The Watch Pocket Project https://chrisbathgate.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-watch-pocket-project-wp1.html

* Internet providers that won FCC grants try to escape broadband commitments https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/internet-providers-that-won-fcc-grants-try-to-escape-broadband-commitments/

* How Corporate Medicine Destroys Doctors https://prospect.org/health/2023-08-02-qa-corporate-medicine-destroys-doctors/

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Fighting junk fees is "woke": Visa and Mastercard want you to pay credit card swipe fees to own the libs.

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/110832836335381238

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I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To #SeizeTheMeansOfComputation," a #BigTech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It's a #DRMFree book, which means #Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

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Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Fighting junk fees is "woke"; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/

#Pluralistic

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But that's small potatoes. *Millions* are being spent, *right now*, lobbying against CCCA - $5m from the #AmericanBankersAssociation, $2m from #CreditUnionNationalAssociation, another $400k from Mastercard.

For these rentiers, corrupting our government with millions is a *stellar* bargain if it lets them continue to collect rent *every time we spend money*.

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The dark money org pushing this line have placed op-eds in newspapers across red states, comparing transaction routing competition to your kids' data being snaffled up by Tiktok:

https://www.theflstandard.com/senators-rubio-and-scott-must-protect-the-personal-financial-data-of-floridians/

This nonsense was peddled by #LeagueOfSoutheasternCreditUnions president #SamanthaBeeler, whose org has spent $20,000 fighting the #CCCA, claiming that a "cheaper" system would be "less secure":

https://disclosurespreview.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2023/Q2/301493985.xml

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The fliers also warn that competition could result in "your financial data could be processed by partners of the Chinese Communist Party" (the bill bans foreign companies from routing transactions, and bans #ChinaUnionPay by name).

The fliers are anonymous. The only ghoul shameless enough to put his name on the campaign is #GroverNordquist, whose #AmericansForTaxReform tells its Christmas-voting-turkeys to "side with consumers, not woke retailers."

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And Target did a mean woke by selling #Pride merch, which makes them #groomers. So by fighting swipe fees, Congress is giving woke groomers a government bailout!

It's literally that stupid. It's being pushed by a dark money group based in Kansas, which is targeting Senator Marshalls constituents with mailers that warns voters they'll "lose their credit card points" because he's thrown his lot in with "liberal politicians":

https://punchbowl.news/caf-marshall-mailer-kansas/

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Writing in *#TheAmericanProspect*, #LukeGoldstein unpacks an #astroturf campaign to save the endangered swipe fee from woke competition advocates:

https://prospect.org/power/2023-08-04-wall-street-culture-war-swipe-fee-reform/

Now, this campaign isn't particularly sophisticated. It goes like this: #Target is a big business that runs a lot of transactions through Visa/Mastercard, so it stands to benefit from competition in payment routing.

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A bipartisan legislative coalition, led by Senator #DickDurbin (D-IL) and Senator #RogerMarshall (R-KS) have proposed the #CreditCardCompetitionAct (#CCCA), which will force competition into credit-card routing, putting pressure on the Visa/Mastercard duopoly:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1838/text?s=1&r=3

This should be a no-brainer, but plute spin-doctors have plenty of no-brains to fill up with culture war bullshit.

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