📑 Inaction is a Form of Action

Bookmarked Cory Doctorow: Inaction is a Form of Action (Locus Online)

When the state allows the online world to become the near-exclusive domain of a small coterie of tech execs, with the power to decide on matters of speech – to say nothing of all the other ways in which our rights are impacted by the policies on their platforms, everything from employment to education to romance to (obviously) privacy – for all the rest of us, they are making policy.

Because inaction in the face of danger is a form of action.

Cory Doctorow argues that depending on the social media platforms to clean up the problem of moderation simply continues down the path of political inaction. Instead he argues that we need to demand a better internet

A restored internet is one that values pluralism (power diffused into many hands) and self-determination (you get choose which tech you use and how you use it). Achieving a pluralistic internet of technological self-determination will be a long process.

This is a part of Doctorow’s wider discussion of adversarial interoperability. It is also interesting to consider this alongside John Harris’ investigation of the punk rock internet.

Doctorow also recorded an audio version of the essay.

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