By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 30/07/2026You can just automatically jack up prices on them without knowing or caring that you're gouging parents of young children who are re-ordering essential supplies while trying to get their kids to school in the morning. 13/ 19110
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 30/07/2026I thought up that example. I don't know if it's really happening. But here's something that really *is* happening: ecommerce sites charge parents of newborns extra when they order thermometers in the middle of the night. 14/ 316355
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 30/07/2026I'm not saying that anyone ever sat down and said, "Parents with sick children will pay whatever we charge for a thermometer at 2AM." They didn't have to: this is the kind of thing an automated system can do without any human intervention: www.ftc.gov/system/files... 15/ftc.gov 414028
Sean Hayes @saltybiscuit.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Is it possible to set up a sandbox machine for online ordering? Something with an air gap between it and the rest of my digital life? 000
scanit.bsky.social @scanit.bsky.social · 31/07/2026This reminds me why we need health insurance that blocks charging more for pre-existing conditions, and the stupidity of pretending people should have to negotiate the price of their care when they have an emergency and end up in the Ambulance. 1469
