By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/07/2026I've used this comparison many times over the years. I included it in my 2023 book *The Internet Con*, along with the joke that Tiktok's position on the grid was so far up and to the right (maximum surveillance and control) that we'd had to put its logo on the back cover. 8/ 1232
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/07/2026Enough people took this joke seriously and wrote in to complain that they'd gotten a misprint without the logo that we added it to the paperback: www.versobooks.com/products/303... 9/versobooks.comThe Internet ConWhen the tech platforms promised a future of "connection," they were lying. They said their "walled gardens" would keep us safe, but those were prison walls.The platforms locked us into their systems ... 1162
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/07/2026The grid was useful, until technocarcinization started to push *all* the tech companies into that top right quadrant. 10/ 1200