Skip Navigation
Technology @lemmy.world
Jure Repinc @lemmy.ml

DEF CON 31 - An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification - Cory Doctorow

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/5431344

The enshittification of the internet follows a predictable trajectory: first, platforms are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. It doesn't have to be this way. Enshittification occurs when companies gobble each other up in an orgy of mergers and acquisitions, reducing the internet to "five giant websites filled with screenshots of text from the other four" (credit to Tom Eastman!), which lets them endlessly tweak their back-ends to continue to shift value from users and business-customers to themselves. The government gets in on the act by banning tweaking by users - reverse-engineering, scraping, bots and other user-side self-help measures - leaving users helpless before the march of enshittification. We don't have to accept this! Disenshittifying the internet will require antitrust, limits on corporate tweaking - through privacy laws and other protections - and aggressive self-help measures from alternative app stores to ad blockers and beyond!

96 comments

  • The internet will always have many niche places, but overall it can’t escape late stage capitalism.

  • Anybody got a TLDW;? Or did all of you just comment on the title and the snippet?

    • Reposting from PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com in Technology@beehaw.org

      Here’s an AI outline because this was actually a good talk: 

       undefined
              How Platforms Die
        The speaker introduces the concept of platform decay or “enshittification” and how it leads to the death of internet platforms.
            He defines platforms as firms like Uber, Amazon, and Facebook that connect users and business customers.
        He outlines a 3-stage process called enshittification where platforms:
            Are initially good to users
            Abuse users to benefit business customers
            Eventually abuse business customers to only benefit shareholders
        This results in the platform becoming a “pile of shit” that dies.

    Facebook Case Study
        He uses Facebook as a case study of enshittification’s 3 stages:
            Initially attracted users by promising privacy protections and custom feeds
            Then broke promises and sold user data to advertisers and flooded feeds with publisher content
            Finally, reduced value to users and fees for publishers to extract all value for shareholders
                This led to an angry user base and brittle equilibrium

    Causes of Enshittification
        Lack of Competition
            Weak antitrust enforcement has allowed consolidation across industries
            Companies can use predatory pricing to undercut competitors
            Mergers eliminate competition
                Example: Google relying on acquisitions rather than in-house innovation
        Unrestricted “Backend Tweaking”
            Tech platforms control the algorithms and systems behind their products
            They can arbitrarily change these to alter user experiences
                e.g. Facebook reducing visibility of publisher content in feeds
            Done without transparency, oversight or accountability
        Bans on Reverse Engineering
            Laws like DMCA 1201 and CFAA criminalize circumventing DRM and terms of service
            Makes it illegal to reverse engineer platforms to enable interoperability
            Tech companies use IP laws to prevent modding and adversarial interoperability
                e.g. Apple using IP laws to prevent iOS modding

    Solutions
        Strengthen Antitrust Enforcement
            Block anti-competitive mergers
            Break up existing tech giants
        Pass Privacy, Labor and Consumer Protection Laws
            Comprehensive federal privacy laws with private right of action
            End worker misclassification through gig economy
            Apply consumer protection standards to platforms
        Allow Adversarial Interoperability
            Roll back laws criminalizing modding, reverse engineering
            Use government procurement to incentivize open ecosystems
            Appoint special masters to oversee platform legal threats
        Keep Interoperators in Check
            Bind interoperators to the same privacy, fair trading and labor laws
            Determined through democratic process vs corporate policy

    Conclusion
        We need to prepare and spread these policy ideas to capitalize on the next crisis
        Efforts are underway to enable a better internet through this approach

      • The steps to fix this might as well say have Jesus come to life and fix it all... It's depressing, but there is zero chance of any of that happening... Nevermind all of it.

        Our best bet is for consumers to fight back with their wallets, but people are on average too stupid to even understand how they are being fleeced. We're fucked.

      • Thanks. Here's a slightly easier to read on mobile non-monospace paste:

        How Platforms Die The speaker introduces the concept of platform decay or “enshittification” and how it leads to the death of internet platforms. He defines platforms as firms like Uber, Amazon, and Facebook that connect users and business customers. He outlines a 3-stage process called enshittification where platforms: Are initially good to users Abuse users to benefit business customers Eventually abuse business customers to only benefit shareholders This results in the platform becoming a “pile of shit” that dies. 

         undefined
                Facebook Case Study
        He uses Facebook as a case study of enshittification’s 3 stages:
            Initially attracted users by promising privacy protections and custom feeds
            Then broke promises and sold user data to advertisers and flooded feeds with publisher content
            Finally, reduced value to users and fees for publishers to extract all value for shareholders
                This led to an angry user base and brittle equilibrium

    Causes of Enshittification
        Lack of Competition
            Weak antitrust enforcement has allowed consolidation across industries
            Companies can use predatory pricing to undercut competitors
            Mergers eliminate competition
                Example: Google relying on acquisitions rather than in-house innovation
        Unrestricted “Backend Tweaking”
            Tech platforms control the algorithms and systems behind their products
            They can arbitrarily change these to alter user experiences
                e.g. Facebook reducing visibility of publisher content in feeds
            Done without transparency, oversight or accountability
        Bans on Reverse Engineering
            Laws like DMCA 1201 and CFAA criminalize circumventing DRM and terms of service
            Makes it illegal to reverse engineer platforms to enable interoperability
            Tech companies use IP laws to prevent modding and adversarial interoperability
                e.g. Apple using IP laws to prevent iOS modding

    Solutions
        Strengthen Antitrust Enforcement
            Block anti-competitive mergers
            Break up existing tech giants
        Pass Privacy, Labor and Consumer Protection Laws
            Comprehensive federal privacy laws with private right of action
            End worker misclassification through gig economy
            Apply consumer protection standards to platforms
        Allow Adversarial Interoperability
            Roll back laws criminalizing modding, reverse engineering
            Use government procurement to incentivize open ecosystems
            Appoint special masters to oversee platform legal threats
        Keep Interoperators in Check
            Bind interoperators to the same privacy, fair trading and labor laws
            Determined through democratic process vs corporate policy

    Conclusion
        We need to prepare and spread these policy ideas to capitalize on the next crisis
        Efforts are underway to enable a better internet through this approach

    • Just listen to the video itself?

96 comments