Cory Doctorow Advocates for Interoperability to Challenge Big Tech Dominance
By
janandonly
2mo ago· 9 min readenInsight
100/100
Golden Brown
Bagelometer↗
An everything bagel for the brain. Substantive, layered, well-seasoned.
Score100TypeanalysisSentimentpositive
Summary
Cory Doctorow argues in his book 'The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation' that Big Tech platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon maintain their dominance through legal structures rather than technical superiority. He advocates for enforced interoperability—requiring platforms to interact with each other—as a solution to break down these 'walled gardens' and create a more democratic, open internet. The article discusses Doctorow's perspective on how interoperability could free users from Big Tech's control and restore competition and innovation to the digital landscape.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledDoctorow argues that these walled gardens are fenced in by legal structures, not feats of engineering.
Doctorow proposes forcing interoperability—any given platform's ability to interact with another—as a way to break down those walls and to make the Internet freer and more democratic.
How to free users from Big Tech's walled gardens
How to free users from Big Tech’s walled gardens
