The Internet Con

The book starts with a short history of monopolies, and how we end up with the current Big Tech monopolies. Then he continues explaining what the issues are with this. For the last part of the book, Doctorow goes over what can be done to get to a healthier society. If you already read or listen to Cory Doctorow, nothing here will be a surprise, but it’s still a good summary of some of the issues he cares more about. He makes a very good case for how monopolies affect us, and in particular how Big Tech maintains theirs (and not only Big Tech, by the way Another great example is John Deere with tractors and agricultural equipment ). He is also spot on explaining how monopolies defend themselves and, if things continue as they do, make it almost impossible to untangle from them. Long story short (although highly recommended to read the long story ☻ ), we have to recover real interoperability between systems and mandate it or change conditions so that it’s the standard. He does not do a bad job here, although it remains to be seen whether that could be enough in a better world that listened a bit more closely to his advice. The book does talk mostly about the US, although given the topic and the influence the US exerts on other countries, that’s understandable. Doctorow does also comment on the effects on other countries and gives some specific examples. The audiobook was narrated by him. I find that I really like it when authors narrate their books, and Doctorow in particular has lots of experience doing similar work, so the narration itself is great. Big recommendation, especially for anyone interested in how current society is affected by technology… or even current applications of law. The book is short, so there’s not much against giving it a try.