By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/09/2026These are not the horse-ponderers' "efficient" monopolists. Once a company has its customers locked in, it innovates less - as measured by the number of patents a company is awarded, and by how often those patents are cited in other patents. 1475
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/09/2026This second measure helps distinguish companies that file mountains of bullshit patents from companies that actually invent useful things. Naturally, R&D spending also declines in companies with more lock-in. 1351
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/09/2026All of this is entirely compatible with the theory of enshittification. Once a company knows its customers can't leave, it can switch from treating them well to abusing them in order to extract money from them. 27316
