iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Replies

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 26/08/2026

They disinvented the VCR. You might think that the reason we don't have VCRs anymore is because VCRs were supplanted by DVDs, PVRs and streaming, but that's not the case. They had it in for the VCR from the very start, and they never stopped trying to kill it. Eventually, they succeeded. 1/

A 1960s family living room in which a mom, dad and two kids are mesmerized by a cabinet-style TV. The image has been altered. The TV has an early 1990s VCR atop it. The TV screen is displaying a cross-sectioned human head with brains and spine on display. A huge fist has materialized in the room, with bloody spiked knuckle-dusters, smashing into the VCR. The oil painting over the sofa has been replaced with a pulp image of a male head, its cranium removed and replaced by a dome. Inside the dome is a red eight-segment VCR clock, displaying 12:00. The background in the painting is a tangle of cassette tape. The whole image's colors have been boosted, giving it an overexposed look.

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 26/08/2026

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: pluralistic.net/2026/08/25/g... 2/

pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period.

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Grumpy__Dev @grumpy-dev.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Some thoughts: 1) VHS had copy protection bolted on, called Macrovision. It was defeatable via an external filter box, but such things were not easily acquired. 2) DVD recorders were widely available, but Tivo killed them as most people were interested only in time shifting instead of archiving.

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CL (says protect trans kids and adults) @clc1905.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I vcr recorded the very first run of Mark Frost's (@markfrost.bsky.social) & David Lynch's Twin Peaks. I loaned that set out to so many people, and eventually traded the whole series for some crucial veterinary care that saved my cat's life. Of course they'd want to kill valuable tech people love

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Cassie Grace @cassiegrace.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Nothing has changed since you wrote that story about jailbreaking toasters, every day we creep closer and closer to corporate sponsored bread

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Matt Cooper @nordiko.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"...the reason we don't have VCRs anymore is..." You may not but I do!

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cdpositive @cdpositive.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

bsky.app/profile/cdpo...

cdpositive @cdpositive.bsky.social

Well, it's one way to look at it but that isn't the only way to look at the evolution of consumer demand; to pay less & still support creators. Point of fact; I have a storage box full of DVDs & (at least 2) working DVD players & I haven't listened to a DVD for at least 10yrs. Same for books.

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Cold Snacks @hautetamale.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

My neighbor had a high end early VCR, wood grained case, and crazy servo motors that raised the cage for the cassette upwards, like a steampunk portcullis

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andersripa.bsky.social @andersripa.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

And later the companies was surprised by the surge of file sharing applications by people feeling cheated by DRM and copy protection!

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Laura @lauraapollo.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"This year's admirals are always last year's pirates, and they insist that what they did to their predecessors was progress, while anyone who tries to do the same thing to them is a thief."

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Mekju Gaming @mekju.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This is awesome. I do sometimes feel like the cracks are forming in the walls of the establiashed bullshit and that the tide is about to break through.... is this... optimism?

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Maxwell @themaxwell.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Is there anything genuinely good that came from DMCA? I’ve only heard it in context of ways corporations abuse or exploit consumers and throttle competition.

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MN Goofy @mngx.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I love your writing and thinking, Cory.. a have told many to read you.. But, VCRs were tied to the NTSC broadcast standard, which has gone the way of the dodo. Computers have many capture tools that can grab streaming video.. at better resolution than NTSC VCRs. Maybe too tech for most..

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Fine. I’ll update with a word count when I start writing again. @legalminimum.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

When I teach the DMCA I reference your GDC keynote in which I first saw you make the observation “if there’s a lock on something and they don’t give you the key, that lock isn’t there for you”.

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Single Aspect @singleaspect.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Objectively speaking I think the picture was about 200 lines which was lo-res and the tapes were a bit clunky. Sometimes progress is just a good thing. Smaller units with better picture quality is a good thing.

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joecorey3rd.bsky.social @joecorey3rd.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The 80s Teen Flick Festival Revisited made a case for why Gen X was better off with a VCR

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RJ Nerd Dad @rjnerddad.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Big Media companies (Movie/tv studios, music studios, book publishers, video game companies, NFL, etc) spend so much time and effort locking down their content. They never seem to get that they'll make more money if we can access their stuff. Charge a reasonable price and we'll pay.

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John Robinson @gnosis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

And when optical discs began to have serious competition, the forum, presumably along with studios, quietly scraped region encoding when they introduced UHD 4K Blu-ray. Suddenly it was no longer a necessary security "protection," but instead a financial liability. 🙄

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azurevista.bsky.social @azurevista.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The world community is increasingly viewing Chinese media instead because US media is now so thoroughly enshittified. Unrestrained capitalism consumes itself. And on media as propaganda the last 25 years have been a revelation for the majority non-white world. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZzk...

m.youtube.com

that time TV normalized torture.

YouTube video by Skip Intro

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ljevans.bsky.social @ljevans.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Blu-Ray has entered the chat.

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Brian D @brianedaly.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

PVRs have also been killed off.

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Elizabeth Bennett @elizabethbennettjd.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I loved my VCRs! I had 2 on each TV—one to be recording and the other to be watching. I’d use them to re-record things I wanted to keep. I haven’t watched a commercial since 1988. I wore them out and got to the point where I couldn’t replace them. The last one died about 10 years ago. RIP.

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Kip Williams sort of @kipwilliams.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Among other things on my VHS tapes, there will be found a recording of an ad by HBO that includes the memorable line "HBO and your VCR --best friends!"

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The Occupier @mudwiggler.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I'll keep buying DVDs, Blurays, CDs and vinyl as long as I can. Right now, secondhand DVDs and CDs are cheap everywhere, which is great and as it should be.

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Eugene Hetzel @eugenehetzel.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Subgenius Stark Fist of Removal?

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Steven Toth @toths.info · 20/09/2026

Another way to frame this story is that it’s a great example of why voting with your wallet will never work. In the 70s when people did have more purchasing power than now they were able to show that it was a valuable tech with money alone.

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Andrew Crompton @andrewcrompton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Great, if long, thread on another aspect of America’s enshittificstion of the world for the benefit of its grasping oligarchs. Time to undo it all.

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Joe Schmidt @josephnschmidt.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Not if @oncinema.bsky.social and the VFA has anything to say about it!

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mister914.bsky.social @mister914.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Right after reading this, I started my laptop and heard my scanner motor start its self check. Weird that it's impossible to record video, but scanners are cheap and higher quality than ever, but almost no one owns one.

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Jared Navarre @navar.re · 26/08/2026

A particularly sinister development right now the NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) enablement of DRM. A number of my local stations are encrypting their broadcasts, which both prevents recording and the use of devices such as www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/ || Also, DRM often requires an internet connection!!

silicondust.com

HDHomeRun – Silicondust

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Barkeromo!!! @barkeromo.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

That's why VHS Tapes were 80 plus bucks (blanks being 30) and what saved the format was the Rental Store. What studios want, is the Disney model. Create movie, release, put in vault for 10 years, release, repeat as many times to reap in cash.

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