Hate the player AND the game (permalink) 🔗 **Source:** [Hate the player AND the game (permalink)](https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/10/say-their-names/#object-permanence) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [enshittification, antitrust, tech policy] > author: Cory Doctorow > source: pluralistic.net > reference: [https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/10/say-their-names/#object-permanence] > date created: 2025-11-08 14:00 > > # 🏷️ Title: Hate the player AND the game (permalink) > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - Include links cited in or relevant to the article. ## 📝 Summary - What happened: The author argues that “enshittification” stems primarily from policy choices by regulators and lawmakers (“crooked umps”), not just bad corporate actors (“players”) or market dynamics (“the game”). - Why it matters: Naming policymakers behind antitrust erosion, DRM expansion, and net neutrality rollbacks is key to reversing harms. - Key stakeholders: Consumers, workers, creators, regulators, lawmakers, Big Tech/ISPs. - Risks and tradeoffs: Policy capture, regulatory fraud, speech/culture constraints via filters/DRM, concentrated market power. - Bottom line: Hate the players and the game—but fix the umpires through policy reform and accountability. ## 📖 Main Content - Core arguments: - Individual consumer choices can’t fix systemic enshittification; policy created the incentives. - Name and hold accountable policymakers who enabled monopolies and lock-in. - Examples: Robert Bork (consumer welfare antitrust), Bruce Lehman (DMCA §1201/DRM), Ajit Pai (net neutrality repeal), Axel Voss (EU copyright filters), Canadian ministers Moore/Clement (C-11). - Context/terms: - Consumer welfare standard: narrows antitrust to price/output, enabling monopoly. - DRM/§1201: bans circumvention, blocking repair/interoperability/preservation. - Net neutrality: bars ISPs from throttling/blocking/paid prioritization. - “Enshittogenic environment”: policy ecosystem that rewards predation. - Uncertainties/contested: - Extent of welfare gains from bigness vs harms. - Effect sizes of specific laws across sectors. ### 🗒️ Notes - “Hate the player AND the game…above all, hate the crooked ump.” - Rot Economy (Ed Zitron): financialized, short-termist executive incentives. - Author’s extension: policy umpires enabled the rot. - No “shop your way out”: individual consumption ≠ systemic fix. - Bork → monopoly-friendly antitrust. - Lehman → DMCA §1201 → no repair/interop/preservation, app tax lock-ins. - Pai → fraudulent docket, net neutrality repeal → ISP rent extraction. - Moore/Clement → Canadian C-11 → interop/repair chilled. - Voss → EU filters → AI upload filtering; later admitted not understanding vote. - Call to action: say their names; reform policy to remove “monster-shaped holes.” ## 📚 References - Enshittification audiobook (DRM-free) Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/enshittification-the-drm-free-audiobook/ - Ed Zitron’s Rot Economy: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-rot-economy/ - Anil Dash on Apple leadership: https://www.anildash.com/2025/09/09/how-tim-cook-sold-out-steve-jobs/ - Microincentives and enshittification: https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/ - Against Bork’s antitrust: https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/ - Monopoly by the numbers: https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers - Lehman/DMCA background: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1353-the-naked-emperor/episode/16145640-ctrl-ctrl-ctrl - Unsafe at any speed (medical/repair DRM): https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/12/unsafe-at-any-speed/ - App store rent extraction: https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/01/its-not-the-crime/#its-the-coverup - Rutledge pandemic conduct: https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/22/filternet/#thomas-rutledge-murderer - Pai’s docket fraud: https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/10/digital-redlining/#stop-confusing-the-issue-with-relevant-facts - Canada C-11 critique: https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/15/radical-extremists/#sex-pest - EU Article 13/17 filters: https://memex.craphound.com/2019/03/26/article-13-will-wreck-the-internet-because-swedish-meps-accidentally-pushed-the-wrong-voting-button/ - Voss admission: https://memex.craphound.com/2018/09/14/father-of-the-catastrophic-copyright-directive-reveals-he-didnt-know-what-he-was-voting-for/ ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - A: Corporate abuse persists because policymakers rewrote rules to reward it; accountability must target those rulemakers. - B: Market power, DRM, and ISP misconduct are symptoms of policy design, not consumer failings; name the architects and reverse their work. ## 📰 Newsletter - This week: a sharp look at how policy “umpires” enabled Big Tech’s enshittification. Dive into antitrust beyond consumer welfare, right-to-repair vs DRM, and the fallout from net neutrality rollbacks. For WordPress folks: track interoperability fights affecting plugins, storefront fees, and distribution. See also: Open Markets’ monopoly stats and EU upload filter debates. Links above. ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Publish docs and demos enabling interoperability and data export. - Offer workshops on open standards and portability APIs. - Ship example repos for decentralized identity, payments, and webhooks. #### OSPO - Adopt contribution policies favoring open standards. - Compliance: audit for GPL/AGPL and third-party SDK license traps. - Security: SBOMs, provenance signing, disclosure policy; maintain embargo playbooks. #### Community - Maintainers: governance templates; release and security hygiene. - Contributors: first-issue rotations; pairing; mentorship cohorts. - Sponsors: milestone-based funding and transparent reporting. #### WordPress - Core: prioritize interop/Portability APIs; performance budgets. - Core AI: evaluation sets; red-team prompts; opt-out signals. - Plugins/Themes: provenance checks; review throughput; security liaisons. - Documentation: examples-first guides; style and glossary alignment. - Accessibility: WCAG audits; issue heatmaps; tooling integrated. #### The WPOCC - Fund maintainers; microgrants; governance clinics; transparent ledgers. ### FAIR - Verify artifact signatures; local mirrors; anti-capture covenants; sunset clauses. ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Narrow “consumer welfare” antitrust correlates with higher concentration and lower quality. - DRM anti-circumvention reduces independent repair and increases TCO. - Net neutrality repeal leads to higher prices and degraded service for competitors. - Mandatory upload filters increase Type I/II errors and suppress lawful speech. ### 📊 Methodology - Difference-in-differences on sectors pre/post policy shifts. - Event studies on §1201 exemptions vs repair market growth. - ISP performance/price panel data pre/post NN repeal. - Content moderation error-rate audits on filter deployments. ### ❓ Questions - Which policy reversals yield the largest consumer/creator surplus? - How to operationalize interoperability mandates without privacy regressions? - What institutional designs reduce regulatory capture? ### 🔮 Future Research - Longitudinal studies linking policy eras to innovation rates. - Comparative analyses across jurisdictions with divergent DRM/antitrust regimes. ### 💡 Implications - Practice: design for portability/interop by default. - Policy: restore structural antitrust; narrow §1201; codify NN. - Security: authentication without lock-in; repair-safe firmware. - Funding: public-interest tech and standards bodies. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - Reading level: Flesch-Kincaid ≈ Grade 10–11. #### 👀 Visual learners - Improve: policy timelines; market concentration charts. #### 🔊 Aural learners - Improve: 3–5 minute audio synopsis. #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: strong rhetoric; examples. Improve: glossary. #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Improve: interop labs; API exercises. #### 🧠 Logical learners - Improve: causal diagrams linking policy → outcomes. #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Improve: moderated debates; cohort study guides. #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Improve: reflection prompts; self-check quizzes. #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Improve: analogies to ecosystem health/regulation. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment - Screen readers: ensure semantic headings and landmarks. - Keyboard: visible focus; skip links. - Contrast: maintain ≥4.5:1; adequate line-height. - Reflow: responsive at 200%; respect reduced-motion. - Media: captions/transcripts; avoid autoplay. - Forms: labels; inline validation; large targets. - Map to WCAG 2.2 AA. ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment - Improve: multilingual access; plain-language summaries; global case studies. - Inclusive language: define jargon; avoid idioms. - Neurodiversity: chunk content; consistent structure. - Representation: balanced citations and imagery. - Safety: clear community guidelines and escalation paths. ### ✅ Logical Validity - Strong reasoning: causal chain policy → incentives → outcomes; supported by named cases. - Fallacies: risk of hasty generalization across sectors—mitigate with data segmentation. - Tone: urgent, adversarial, accountability-focused. ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: policymakers historically minimized harms (e.g., “no filters” claims). - Attack: critics painted as hysterical until post-hoc admissions. - Reverse victim/offender: corporations as victims of “overregulation” while benefiting from capture. ## 🎯 Conclusion - Bottom line: Systemic enshittification is a policy failure; name and replace the “crooked umps,” restore competition/interop/neutrality, and design incentives for public benefit. - Next steps: pursue antitrust reform beyond consumer welfare, narrow §1201, codify NN, and fund interoperability enforcement. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix (append after 🎯 Conclusion) ### 📚 Literature Split Pad - Purpose: Stage Konik CEE units that become per-source Literature notes. - Split level: H3. - Include verbatim quotes under 25 words and a [view highlight] link. ### [H1] Policy creates an enshittogenic environment > [!quote] Hate the player AND the game (permalink) by [[Cory Doctorow]] via [[pluralistic.net]]. Published 2025-09-10. Accessed 2025-11-08. > “Corporate monsters thrive in an enshittogenic environment.” Two lines: ties policy incentives to degraded products/services; use in antitrust/DRM seminars. [view highlight](https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/10/say-their-names/#object-permanence) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_[MISSING] ### [H2] Naming policymakers is essential for reform > [!quote] Hate the player AND the game (permalink) > “We’ve got to remember the crooked umps who rigged the match.” Two lines: accountability framing; use in governance workshops. [view highlight](https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/10/say-their-names/#object-permanence) #xref ID:rw_[MISSING] --- ### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates) #### [Z1] Antitrust limited to consumer welfare increases concentration - Applies in jurisdictions adopting Borkian standards. - Pointer: Open Markets “monopoly by the numbers.” - Links: [[Antitrust]] [[Market-Concentration]] #### [Z2] DRM anti-circumvention suppresses repair and interoperability - When §1201-like laws lack broad exemptions. - Pointer: DMCA/Lehman history; repair case studies. - Links: [[Right-to-Repair]] [[Interoperability]] --- ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue (Extract by Selection) - [F1] Map policy-to-harm causal chain across sectors — context/https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/10/say-their-names/#object-permanence #fleeting #inbox - [F2] Build interop demo bypassing gatekeeper rents — context/above #fleeting #inbox - [F3] Draft briefing on post-consumer-welfare antitrust — context/above #fleeting #inbox --- <!-- deep-read:sections end -->