iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 25/07/2026

When the owner misses a payment, the phone starts disabling the user's favorite apps, working its way up the list to the most indispensable ones: pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/i... 40/

pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: 02 Apr 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 25/07/2026

It's tech's version of a mob loan-shark who breaks a finger, then a hand, then an arm. The more graduated the threat matrix, the more payments it captures. A borrower with a broken finger can go to a pawn-broker to sell their wedding-ring; a borrower with two broken legs has a harder time. 41/

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 25/07/2026

Digital arm-breakers aren't an epiphenomenon of digitization alone. Usury tech only works if the device's owner can't disable it. Remember: a computer is *flexible*. 42/

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