By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/09/2026That's the first half of the story: an empirical account of how the business world switched from "acquiring customers" to *taking hostages*. But the second half of the paper is even more interesting: an empirical investigation into the *effects* of this customer lock-in. 16514
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/09/2026For starters, increased customer retention is "associated with higher gross profit margins": that is, the companies whose customers can't leave squeeze those customers for more profit. 1405
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/09/2026What's more, once a company has its customers locked in, it starts to capture a larger share of *all the profits* in its *entire sector*: these hostage-takers become *so* profitable that their profits dwarf the profits of their competitors. 1356