The enshittification of tech jobs (permalink)  ## Metadata - Author: [[Cory Doctorow]] - Full Title: The enshittification of tech jobs (permalink) - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [#tech-labor, #enshittification, #vocational-awe, #ai-ethics, #worker-rights] Author: Cory Doctorow Source: Pluralistic.net Reference: [Pluralistic: The enshittification of tech jobs (27 Apr 2025)](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#are-more-equal-than-others) date created: 2025-04-30 11:58 --- # Title: 🐷 The Enshittification of Tech Jobs ## 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) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ## 📝 Summary: Cory Doctorow's article discusses the decline in tech workers' labor power, attributing it to the strategic use of "vocational awe" and the rise of AI tools that weaken workers' bargaining positions. He argues that these tactics have led to the "enshittification" of tech jobs, where the quality of work and worker autonomy have deteriorated. ## 📖 Main Content: Doctorow outlines how tech workers, once enjoying high wages and perks due to their scarcity and productivity, are now facing diminishing returns. Employers have adopted "vocational awe" to instill a sense of mission, leading workers to accept poor conditions. The introduction of AI tools further undermines workers by making them more replaceable and less able to negotiate. ### 🗒️ Notes - **Tech Workers' Past Advantages**: - High wages and perks due to scarcity. - Low union density but high individual bargaining power. - **Vocational Awe**: - Borrowed from caring professions. - Used to justify overwork and poor conditions. - **AI and Worker Bargaining**: - AI tools make workers more replaceable. - Employers use AI to weaken negotiation positions. - **Enshittification**: - Decline in job quality and autonomy. - Workers are expected to accept deteriorating conditions. ## 📖 References: - Doctorow, C. (2025). [The enshittification of tech jobs](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#are-more-equal-than-others). Pluralistic.net. ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. **Original**: "Tech workers are a weird choice for 'princes of labor,' but for decades they've enjoyed unparalleled labor power..." **Paraphrased**: Despite being unconventional, tech workers have long held significant labor influence due to their skills and scarcity. 2. **Original**: "The point of AI isn't to make workers more productive, it's to make them weaker when they bargain with their bosses." **Paraphrased**: AI's primary function isn't enhancing productivity but diminishing workers' leverage in negotiations. ## 📰 Newsletter: **Subject**: 🛠️ The Decline of Tech Worker Autonomy **Body**: In his latest piece, Cory Doctorow examines the erosion of labor power among tech workers. He highlights how "vocational awe" and AI tools are being used to diminish worker autonomy and bargaining strength. As open-source advocates, it's crucial to recognize these trends and support initiatives that empower contributors and maintain equitable working conditions. ## ✅ Action Items: - **For Developer Advocates**: - Educate tech communities about the implications of "vocational awe." - Promote awareness of AI's impact on labor dynamics. - **For Open Source Communities**: - Encourage transparent discussions about working conditions. - Support tools and platforms that prioritize worker autonomy. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - The implementation of AI tools correlates with a decrease in tech workers' bargaining power. - "Vocational awe" leads to increased acceptance of poor working conditions among tech professionals. ### 📊 Methodology: - **Data Sources**: Surveys of tech workers, company HR policies, AI tool adoption rates. - **Research Design**: Mixed-methods approach combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. - **Analysis Techniques**: Regression analysis to identify correlations; thematic analysis for interview data. ### ❓ Questions: - How does "vocational awe" manifest differently across tech sectors? - What are the long-term effects of AI adoption on worker satisfaction and retention? ### 🔮 Future Research: - Comparative studies on labor dynamics in tech vs. other industries. - Longitudinal studies on the impact of AI on career progression in tech. ### 💡 Implications: Understanding these dynamics can inform policies that protect worker rights and promote sustainable labor practices in the tech industry. ## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: - **Visual Learners**: - **Present**: Minimal visual aids. - **Improve**: Incorporate infographics illustrating labor trends. - **Aural Learners**: - **Present**: None. - **Improve**: Provide audio versions or podcasts discussing the topic. - **Verbal Learners**: - **Present**: Rich language and analogies. - **Improve**: Include more storytelling elements. - **Physical Learners**: - **Present**: None. - **Improve**: Suggest interactive activities or workshops. - **Logical Learners**: - **Present**: Logical progression of arguments. - **Improve**: Add data charts and statistics. - **Social Learners**: - **Present**: Discussion of collective worker experiences. - **Improve**: Encourage community discussions or forums. - **Solitary Learners**: - **Present**: Reflective content. - **Improve**: Add journaling prompts. - **Naturalistic Learners**: - **Present**: None. - **Improve**: Use nature-based analogies to explain concepts. ## 📊 Accessibility Assessment: - **Screen Reader Compatibility**: - **Present**: Basic compatibility. - **Improve**: Ensure all images have descriptive alt-text. - **Keyboard Navigation**: - **Present**: Functional. - **Improve**: Optimize for seamless navigation. - **Contrast and Readability**: - **Present**: High contrast. - **Improve**: Maintain consistent font sizes and styles. - **Text Resizing**: - **Present**: Responsive design. - **Improve**: Test across various devices and settings. ## 🌍 DEIB Assessment: - **Cultural Relevance**: - **Present**: Focused on tech industry, primarily in Western contexts. - **Improve**: Include diverse global perspectives. - **Inclusive Language**: - **Present**: Generally inclusive. - **Improve**: Avoid jargon that may alienate readers. - **Neurodiversity Support**: - **Present**: Structured content. - **Improve**: Use bullet points and summaries for clarity. - **Representation**: - **Present**: Limited. - **Improve**: Highlight experiences from underrepresented groups. - **Psychological Safety**: - **Present**: Encourages critical thinking. - **Improve**: Provide content warnings for sensitive topics. ## ✅ Logical Validity: - **Sound Deductive Reasoning**: The article logically connects the rise of AI and vocational awe to the decline in worker autonomy. - **Strong Inductive Reasoning**: Uses specific examples to support broader claims. - **Valid Syllogisms**: Constructs arguments that follow logical structures. - **Causal Reasoning**: Clearly outlines cause-and-effect relationships. - **Consistent Analogies**: Employs relatable comparisons. - **Coherent Counterarguments**: Acknowledges potential objections and addresses them. - **Appeal to Facts/Evidence**: References real-world scenarios and studies. - **Balanced and Nuanced Views**: Presents a comprehensive perspective. - **Logical Flow**: Ideas progress naturally. - **Ethical Reasoning**: Highlights moral implications of labor practices. ## 🔍 DARVO Analysis: - **Deny**: The article does not exhibit denial; it acknowledges existing issues. - **Attack**: Critiques systemic practices rather than individuals. - **Reverse Victim and Offender**: Does not portray perpetrators as victims; maintains focus on affected workers. ## 🔍 SEO Evaluation: - **Keywords**: Effectively uses terms like "tech labor," "AI," and "vocational awe." - **Meta Description**: Concise and informative. - **Title Tag**: Clear and includes primary keywords. - **Headers**: Organized with relevant keywords. - **Content Length**: Comprehensive without being verbose. - **Internal and External Links**: Includes relevant references. - **URL Structure**: Clean and descriptive. - **Image Optimization**: Uses relevant images with alt-text. - **Mobile Optimization**: Responsive design. - **User Engagement**: Encourages reader reflection and discussion. - **Schema Markup**: Not - URL: https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#are-more-equal-than-others [](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/) ### Today's links * [The enshittification of tech jobs](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#are-more-equal-than-others): Our last line of defense has fallen. * [Hey look at this](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#linkdump): Delights to delectate. * [Object permanence](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#retro): 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2024 * [Upcoming appearances](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#upcoming): Where to find me. * [Recent appearances](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#recent): Where I've been. * [Latest books](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#latest): You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. * [Upcoming books](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#upcoming-books): Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. * [Colophon](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#bragsheet): All the rest.  Tech workers are a weird choice for "princes of labor," but for decades they've enjoyed unparalleled labor power, expressed in high wages, lavish stock grants, and whimsical campuses with free laundry and dry-cleaning, gourmet cafeterias, and kombucha on tap: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhUtdgVZ7MY> All of this, despite the fact that tech union density is so low it can barely be charted. Tech workers' power didn't come from solidarity, it came from scarcity. When you're getting five new recruiter emails every day, you don't need a shop steward to tell your boss to go fuck themselves at the morning scrum. You can do it yourself, secure in the knowledge that there's a company across the road who'll give you a better job by lunchtime. Tech bosses sucked up to their workers because tech workers are *insanely* productive. Even with sky-high salaries, every hour a tech worker puts in on the job translates into massive profits. Which created a conundrum for tech bosses: if tech workers produce incalculable value for the company every time they touch their keyboards, and if there aren't enough tech workers to go around, how do you get whichever tech workers you can hire to put in as many hours as possible? The answer is a tactic that Fobazi Ettarh called "vocational awe": <https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/> "Vocational awe" describes the feeling that your work matters so much that you should accept all manner of tradeoffs and calamities to get the job done. Ettarh uses the term to describe the pathology of librarians, teachers, nurses and other underpaid, easily exploited workers in "caring professions." Tech workers are weird candidates for vocational awe, given how well-paid they are, but never let it be said that tech bosses don't know how to innovate – they successfully transposed an exploitation tactic from the most precarious professionals to the *least* precarious. As farcical as all the engineer-pampering tech bosses got up to for the first couple decades of this century was, it certainly paid off. Tech workers stayed at the office for every hour that god sent, skipping their parents' funerals and their kids' graduations to ship on time. Snark all you like about empty platitudes like "organize the world's information and make it useful" or "bring the world closer together," but you can't argue with results: workers who could – and did – bargain for *anything* from their bosses…*except* a 40-hour work-week. But for tech bosses, this vocational awe wheeze had a fatal flaw: if you convince your workforce that they are monk-warriors engaged in the holy labor of bringing forth a new, better technological age, they aren't going to be very happy when you order them to enshittify the products they ruined their lives to ship. "I fight for the user" has been lurking in the hindbrains of so many tech workers since the *Tron* years, somehow nestling comfortably alongside of the idea that "I don't need a union, I'm a temporarily embarrassed founder." Tech bosses don't actually *like* workers. You can tell by the way they treat the workers they don't fear. Sure, Tim Cook's engineers get beer-fattened, chestnut finished and massaged like Kobe cows, but Cook's *factory* workers in China are so maltreated that Foxconn (the cutout Apple uses to run "iPhone City" where Apple's products are made) had to install suicide nets to reduce the amount of spatter from workers who would rather die than put in another hour at Tim Apple's funtime distraction rectangle factory: <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-life-death-forbidden-city-longhua-suicide-apple-iphone-brian-merchant-one-device-extract> Jeff Bezos's engineers get soft-play areas, one imported Australian barista for each mini-kitchen, and the kind of Japanese toilet that doesn't just wash you after but also offers you a trim and dye-job, but Amazon delivery drivers are monitored by AIs that narc them out for driving with their mouths open (singing is prohibited in Uncle Jeff's delivery pods!) and have to piss in bottles; meanwhile, Amazon warehouse workers are injured at *three times* the rate of other warehouse workers. This is how tech bosses would treat tech workers…if they could. And now? They can. Writing for the *Wall Street Journal*, Katherine Bindley describes the new labor dynamics at Big Tech: <https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/tech-workers-are-just-like-the-rest-of-us-miserable-at-work/ar-AA1DDKjh> It starts with Meta, who just announced a 5% across-the-board layoff – on the same day that it *doubled* executive bonuses. But it's not just the workers who get shown the door who suffer in this new tech reality – the workers on the job are having to do two or three jobs, for worse pay, and without all those lovely perks. Take Google, where founder Sergey Brin just told his workers that they should be aiming for a "sweet spot" of 60 hours/week. Brin returned to Google to oversee its sweaty and desperate "pivot to AI," and like so many tech execs, he's been trumpeting the increased productivity that chatbots will deliver for coders. But a coder who picks up their fired colleagues' work load by pulling 60-hour work-weeks isn't "more productive," they're more *exploited*. Amazon is another firm whose top exec, Andy Jassy, has boasted about the productivity gains of AI, but an Amazon Web Services manager who spoke to Bindley says that he's lost so many coders that he's now writing code for the first time in a decade. Then there's a Meta recruiter who got fired and then immediately re-hired, but as a "short term employee" with no merit pay, stock grants, or promotions. She has to continuously reapply for her job, and has picked up the workload of several fired colleagues who weren't re-hired. Meta managers (the ones whose bonuses were just doubled) call this initiative "agility." Amazon is famous for spying on its warehouse workers and drivers – and now its tech staff report getting popups warning them that their keystrokes are being monitored and analyzed, and their screens are being recorded. Bindley spoke to David Markley, an Amazon veteran turned executive coach, who attributed the worsening conditions (for example, managers being given 30 direct reports) to the "narrative" of AI. Not, you'll note, the *actual reality* of AI, but rather, the *story* that AI lets you "collapse the organization," slash headcount and salaries, and pauperize the (former) princes of labor. The point of AI isn't to make workers more productive, it's to make them weaker when they bargain with their bosses. Another of Bindley's sources went through *eight rounds* of interviews with a company, received an offer, countered with a request for 12% more than the offer, and had the job withdrawn, because "the company didn’t want to move ahead anymore based on the way the compensation conversation had gone." For decades, tech workers were able to flatter themselves that they were peers with their bosses – that "temporarily embarrassed founder" syndrome again. The Google founders and Zuck held regular "town hall" meetings where the rank-and-file engineers could ask impertinent questions. At Google, these have been replaced with "tightly scripted events." Zuckerberg has discontinued his participation in company-wide Q&As, because they are "no longer a good use of his time." Companies are scaling back perks in both meaningful ways (Netflix hacking away at parental leave), and petty ones (Netflix and Google cutting back on free branded swag for workers). Google's hacked back its "fun budget" for offsite team-building activities and replacement laptops for workers needing faster machines (so much for prioritizing "increasing worker productivity"). Trump's new gangster capitalism pits immiserated blue collar workers against the "professional and managerial class," attacking universities and other institutions that promised social mobility to the children of working families. Trump had a point when he lionized factory work as a source of excellent wages and benefits for working people without degrees, but he conspicuously fails to mention that factory work was deadly, low-waged and miserable – until factory workers formed *unions*: <https://www.laborpolitics.com/p/unions-not-just-factories-will-make> Re-shoring industrial jobs to the USA is a perfectly reasonable goal. Between uncertain geopolitics, climate chaos, monopolization and the lurking spectre of the next pandemic, we should assume that supply-chains will be repeatedly and cataclysmicly shocked over the next century or more. And yes, re-shoring product *could* provide good jobs to working people – but only if they're unionized. But Trump has gutted the National Labor Relations Board and stacked his administration with bloodsucking scabs like Elon Musk. Trump doesn't want to bring good jobs back to America – he wants to bring *bad* jobs back to America. He wants to reshore manufacturing jobs from territories with terrible wages, deadly labor conditions, and no environment controls by taking away Americans' wages, labor rights and environmental protections. He doesn't just want to bring home iPhone production, he wants to import the suicide nets of iPhone City, too. Tech workers *are* workers, and they once held the line against enshittification, refusing to break the things they'd built for their bosses in meaningless all-nighters motivated by vocational awe. Long after tech bosses were able to buy all their competitors, capture their regulators, and expand IP law to neutralize the threat of innovative, interoperable products like alternative app stores, ad-blockers and jailbreaking kits, tech workers held the line. There've been half a million US tech layoff since 2023. Tech workers' scarcity-derived power has been vaporized. Tech workers *can* avoid the fate of the factory, warehouse and delivery workers their bosses literally work to death – but only by unionizing. In other words, the workers in re-shored factories and tech workers need the same thing. They are class allies – and tech bosses are their class enemies. This is class war. ### Hey look at this ([permalink](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#linkdump))  * Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell 'hyper personalized' ads <https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads/> (h/t Slashdot) * Runaway Tren <https://prospect.org/justice/2025-04-24-runaway-tren-de-aragua-colorado-housing-gangs/> * How Monopolies Could Exploit the Tariff Shock <https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/how-monopolies-could-exploit-the>  ### Object permanence ([permalink](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#retro)) #20yrsago Architectures of Control: DRM in hardware <https://web.archive.org/web/20050425184527/http://www.danlockton.co.uk/research/architectures.html> #20yrsago Insect photos in naturalistic <http://macro-focus https://bugdreams.com> #20yrsago BBC: DRM makes music customers mad 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<https://www.unitybooks.co.nz/news-and-events/author-talk-picks-and-shovels-by-cory-doctorow> * Pittsburgh: Picks and Shovels at White Whale Books, May 15 <https://whitewhalebookstore.com/events/20250515> * Pittsburgh: PyCon, May 16 <https://us.pycon.org/2025/schedule/> * Virtual: Writing to Resist (California Writers Club Berkeley): <https://cwc-berkeley.org/writing-to-resist-5-18-25/> * PDX: Teardown 2025, Jun 20-22 <https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2025> * PDX: Picks and Shovels with bunnie Huang at Barnes and Noble, Jun 20 <https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062183697-0> * London: How To Academy with Riley Quinn, Jul 1 <https://howtoacademy.com/events/cory-doctorow-the-fight-against-the-big-tech-oligarchy/> * Manchester: Picks and Shovels at Blackwell's Bookshop, Jul 2 <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1308451968059> * Manchester: Co-operatives UK Co-op Congress keynote, Jul 3 <https://www.uk.coop/events-and-training/events-calendar/co-op-congress-2025-book-your-place> * New Orleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12, 2025 <http://www.contraflowscifi.org/>  ### Recent appearances ([permalink](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#recent)) * Move Fast and Break Kings <https://flipboard.video/w/2aH2AFNTPjcdWCMqjPB5N3?start=2s> * Beyond the Web (Ostrom Workshop) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WfO-9G4EgQ> * Can we use the Internet for Democracy? <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh_HON6iql8>  ### Latest books ([permalink](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#latest)) * + Picks and Shovels: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (<https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels>). * The Bezzle: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 ([the-bezzle.org](http://the-bezzle.org)). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (<https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3062/Available_Feb_20th%3A_The_Bezzle_HB.html#/>). * "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (<http://lost-cause.org>). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (<https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3007/Pre-Order_Signed_Copies%3A_The_Lost_Cause_HB.html#/>) * "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (<http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org>). Signed copies at Book Soup (<https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245>). * "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books <http://redteamblues.com>. Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US): [and Forbidden Planet (UK):](https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2873/Wed%2C_Apr_26th_6pm%3A_Red_Team_Blues%3A_A_Martin_Hench_Novel_HB.html#/) <https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/>. * "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 <https://chokepointcapitalism.com> * "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The *Washington Post* called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies <https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html> * "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. <https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59?sk=f6cd10e54e20a07d4c6d0f3ac011af6b>) (signed copies: <https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html>) * "Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583>; personalized/signed copies here: <https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html> * "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627>. Get a personalized, signed copy here: <https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/>.  ### Upcoming books ([permalink](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#upcoming-books)) * Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/> * Unauthorized Bread: a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2026 * Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 * The Memex Method, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2026  ### Colophon ([permalink](https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#bragsheet)) Today's top sources: Slashdot (<https://slashdot.org>). **Currently writing:** * Enshittification: a nonfiction book about platform decay for Farrar, Straus, Giroux. Status: second pass edit underway (readaloud) * A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING * Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS FEB 2025 **Latest podcast:** Nimby and the D-Hoppers CONCLUSION <https://craphound.com/stories/2025/04/13/nimby-and-the-d-hoppers-conclusion/>  This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/> Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. ### How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): [Pluralistic.net](http://pluralistic.net) Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): <https://pluralistic.net/plura-list> Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): <https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic> Medium (no ads, paywalled): <https://doctorow.medium.com/> Twitter (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): <https://twitter.com/doctorow> Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): <https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic> "*When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla*" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X Today's links The specific process by which Google enshittified its search: Ed Zitron has Prabhakar Raghavan bang to rights. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2009, 2014, 2019, 2024 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin'… In "antitrust" Today's links My McLuhan lecture on enshittification: Live from Berlin. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2014, 2019, 2023 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading My McLuhan lecture on enshittification (permalink) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nycso\_OQes0 Last night, I gave the annual Marshall McLuhan lecture… With 3 comments Today's links Dirty words are politically potent: Why "enshittification" took hold. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023. Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like… In "enshittification", The enshittification of tech jobs (permalink), Cory Doctorow, 01jt3ppaftg206jzsw5bcdx0yq.