Life online is getting worse and worse? Leading tech critic, Cory Doctrow, author of The Internet Con, has the answer, and also wants to show how we can win it back.

Autorentext

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently THE INTERNET CON, CHOKEHOLD CAPITALISM, and HOW TO DESTROY SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM, nonfiction about monopoly and conspiracy; IN REAL LIFE, a graphic novel; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER. He is also the author of numerous novels and YA titles, most recently In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, is a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group.

Klappentext

*** Longlist for the FT and Schroder Business Book of the Year 2025 ***

** Named word of the year in US, UK and Australia **

'Enshittification' will be the most talked about tech book of the year.

"Enshittification" is Doctorow's word to describe the decay of online platforms. It captures the feeling of a world that is ever worsening.

Enshittification is not a technical glitch. It is a technique that every platform - from X to TikTok, Amazon to Apple, has adopted. First they lure users onto their platforms, then attract businesses who might profit from this newly formed public, and then finally squeeze both for their own profit. Tech giants lure users in with convenience and then degrade their services over time, draining profit at the cost of user experience. In the meantime our public squares have turned somewhere between the mall and a dumpster fire, that is unfit to deal with the problems of our times.

What is to be done? Like a surgeon, Doctorow sets out the symptoms, the diagnosis and the cure to these metastasizing platforms. We need to question the monopolies that dominate so much of our online lives, we must demand regulation and our privacy back, allow for interoperability, and win tech workers' rights.