Last year I spoke with Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin about their new book, Chokepoint Capitalism. It’s a book about artists and technology and platforms, and how different kinds of distribution and creations tools create chokepoints for different companies to capture value that might otherwise go to artists and creators.. In other words, it’s a lot of Decoder stuff.As we were prepping this episode, the Decoder team realized it previews a lot of things we’re going to talk about in 2023: antitrust law. Ticketmaster. Spotify and the future of the music industry. Amazon and the book industry. And, of course, being a creator trying to make a living on all these platforms.This episode is longer than normal, but it was a really great conversation and I'm glad we are sharing it with you.Links:What is Mixer, Ninja’s new exclusive streaming home?Ninja returns to TwitchThis was Sony Music's contract with SpotifyTranscript:https://www.theverge.com/e/23311918Credits:Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cory Doctorow, a prominent writer and digital rights activist, joins forces with Brian Merchant, an insightful author on tech's societal implications. They delve into how monopolistic practices have stifled innovation in the tech industry today. The duo connects the historical Luddite fight for worker rights to modern tech critiques, discussing the ethical dilemmas of generative AI and its detrimental effects on artists. They advocate for grassroots movements and effective regulation to reclaim user agency and combat corporate dominance.

Nicholas De Leon, a senior electronics reporter for Consumer Reports, joins Fr. Robert Ballecer, a Digital Jesuit, and technology activist Cory Doctorow. They dive into intriguing topics from CES 2025, discussing concerns over AI and smart home tech, and the controversial Newag DRM disclosure. They dissect Meta's changing content moderation policies and the implications for users, touching on privacy laws amidst surveillance threats. With humorous anecdotes, they highlight the bizarre trends observed at CES and emphasize the importance of community in the evolving tech landscape.

Cory Doctorow discusses the decline of the internet, antitrust practices, and solutions for a better web. They explore privacy laws, interoperability, and the 'right-to-exit.' The episode also touches on industries immune to 'enshittification.'

Award-winning author and EFF Special Advisor Cory Doctorow discusses 'enshittification,' where platforms treat users like commodities. Topics include the misuse of intellectual property laws, tech sector consolidation, recent antitrust actions, tech workers' rights, and the importance of activism in advocating for a better internet.

Journalist and author of Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back , Cory Doctorow shares his latest thoughts on the ways the economy and creativity are being hacked by the perpetrators of chokepoint capitalism.🎙 In his monologue, Rushkoff discusses how Elon Musk may have undermined both authoritarianism and his hopes for a techno-monarchy.📰 You can read Rushkoff’s monologue, How Elon Upstaged Trump, on Medium.📖 Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back is now available.🌍 Team Human is made possible thanks to the generous support of our listeners on Patreon. Your support will unlock access to our Discord community and exclusive bonus content from the Rushkoff archive on our Team Human Team Feed. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer-activist Cory Doctorow discusses the rise of Rentier and Monopoly Capitalism in the tech sector. Topics include disassembling Big Tech, creative labor markets and monopolies, and destroying surveillance capitalism. They explore the concept of 'enshitification' and the need for collective action through unionization to address big tech's problems.

Cory Doctorow, a Canadian writer and tech critic, dives into Elon Musk's impact on digital governance and the looming threat of 'enshittification.' He explores the significance of public engagement in tech policy and the erosion of digital public space due to automated censorship. Doctorow also discusses his upcoming historical techno thriller about empowered women in the 1980s and critiques the polarized ideologies surrounding public health measures. The conversation balances hope and activism in the face of a chaotic political landscape.

This week we’re talking with Cory Doctorow (this episode contains explicit language) about his newest book Chokepoint Capitalism, which he co-autored with Rebecca Giblin. Chokepoint Capitalism is about how big tech and big content have captured creative labor markets and the ways we can win them back. We talk about chokepoints creating chickenized reverse-centaurs, paying for your robot boss (think Uber, Doordash, Amazon Drivers), the chickenization that’s climbing the priviledge gradient from the most blue collar workers to the middle-class. There are chokepoints in open source, AI generative art, interoperability, music, film, and media. To quote Cory, “We’re all fighting the same fight.” Join the discussionChangelog++ members save 8 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!Sponsors:DevCycle – Build better software with DevCycle. Feature flags, without the tech debt. DevCycle is a Feature Flag Management platform designed to help you build maintainable code at scale. Postman – Build APIs together — More than 20 million developers use Postman for building and using APIs. Postman simplifies each step of the API lifecycle and streamlines collaboration so you can create better APIs—faster. Square – Develop on the platform that sellers trust. There is a massive opportunity for developers to support Square sellers by building apps for today’s business needs. Learn more at developer.squareup.com to dive into the docs, APIs, SDKs and to create your Square Developer account — tell them Changelog sent you. Typesense – Lightning fast, globally distributed Search-as-a-Service that runs in memory. You literally can’t get any faster! Featuring:Cory Doctorow – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, XAdam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, XJerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, XShow Notes: Buy Cory’s books Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk TikTok’s Enshittification Rural towns and poor urban neighborhoods are being devoured by dollar stores What is Chokepoint Capitalism? Revenge of the Chickenized Reverse-Centaurs Cory on Twitter explaining “chickenization “ Red Team Blues: Another audiobook that Amazon won’t sell The Memex Method Changelog Interviews #221: How we got here with Cory Doctorow Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Cory Doctorow, a prominent science fiction author and activist, joins Yanis Varoufakis to discuss the troubling rise of billionaire influence in politics, highlighted by Elon Musk’s actions on X and his political affiliations. They delve into the intersection of tech and political power, questioning the moral implications of billionaires in governance. The conversation critiques regulatory loopholes, the failures of tech regulation in the UK and Europe, and advocates for grassroots movements to combat corporate dominance and protect democracy.