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rachel bergmann

@rachbgm.bsky.social
24 followers 29 following 0 posts

phd-ing @ stanford; thinking about histories and cultures of computing, labor, aesthetics, etc.

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Tomás G. @tomasgna.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
eBay's story shows how the cyberlibertarian dream died: founder Pierre Omidyar’s (left) vision of a self-governing community was supplanted by ex-Bain Meg Whitman’s (right) idea of a well-lit marketplace. an emerging discipline called “Trust and Safety” would come to synthesize both.
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Reposted by rachel bergmann
Tomás G. @tomasgna.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
my (first!) article, “From the virtual community to ‘Trust and Safety’: eBay (1995–2007) and the rise of platform governance” is out on Big Data & Society! it is a history of content moderation at eBay, where they coined the term Trust and Safety 🌐 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Article abstract: Early enthusiasts imagined a cyberspace free from centralized control. Today, Internet platforms surveil and regulate user activity through systematic governance mechanisms, including content moderation. This article examines how centralized control became the taken-for-granted solution to platform challenges, a shift that abandoned the dream of self-governance. By analyzing the rise of “Trust and Safety” at eBay between 1995 and 2007, I show that platform governance emerged to align eBay with corporate pressures as it transitioned from a startup to a public, multinational corporation. Trust and Safety at eBay came to designate a department, a discipline, and a philosophical approach to questions concerning the governance of users, synthesizing two competing visions: Pierre Omidyar's cyberlibertarian ideal of community self-governance through mutual surveillance, and Meg Whitman's corporate vision of a centrally regulated “well-lit marketplace.” Drawing on internal and external company documents, I demonstrate how Trust and Safety provided a moral justification for centralized governance by framing corporate vigilance as user protection, making control of users compatible with the “community” ethos of early Internet culture. As an early commercial platform, eBay acted as a laboratory for platform governance, where the visions and practices of Trust and Safety were developed and then exported to other major platforms.Screenshot of eBay's homepage in 2009.
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Cassidy Percoco @mimicofmodes.com · 16/11/2024
Still trying to recreate my threads here so I can deactivate my twitter account! Tonight's is on the old myth that women's buttons were put on the left for the convenience of women's maids. 🗃️🪡
A closeup of a bodice made of blue satin and a copper and blue figured silk (copper brocade on a ribbed blue silk ground); the bodice buttons down the front.
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In Bed with the Right @inbedwiththeright.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
New episode! The wonderful @beccalew.bsky.social tells us all about the man who brought reactionary gender politics to Silicon Valley. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
podcasts.apple.com
Episode 41: George Gilder and the Birth of Right-Wing Silicon Valley
Podcast Episode · In Bed With The Right · 11/12/2024 · 57m
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