Get the latest tech news

Why the Internet Is Turning to Shit

Cory Doctorow’s new book is an insightful diagnosis of how Big Tech is making every app and website worse—even if his solutions leave something to be desired.

Around the time I hoisted the jolly Roget, a series of viral screenshots showed that when people Googled the question “how many rocks should I eat each day?,” the search engine told them to consume “at least one small rock.” Its AI had apparently scanned a parody article from the Onion and treated it as a real information source. To solve the lack of competition that allows companies like Google and Amazon to operate as monopolies, he wants a return to the muscular antitrust enforcement of the early 20th century, and praises Biden-era Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan for her efforts to break up Big Tech. In Britain, Jeremy Corbyn’s incarnation of the Labour Party had a detailed proposal for a publicly-owned internet provider, which drove his critics berserk (the BBC called it “broadband communism.”) That would undoubtedly be better than for-profit monopolies like Comcast, which are common across the United States and often charge people absurd prices for sub-par service.

Get the Android app