#luddites

The underlying pathology of that enshittification wasn't the UI, or whether it involved an app store. As the #Luddites knew, the important thing about a technology isn't what it *does*, but who it does it *for* and who it does it *to*:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

The problem wasn't which technology we used. There is nothing inherent about touchscreens that makes them into prisons that trap users, rather than walled gardens that protect them.

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Hey look at this

* What neo-#Luddites get right — and wrong — about Big Tech https://www.ft.com/content/f312c9ff-633d-480e-8887-4b5ad3f0ae5e (h/t Naked Capitalism)

* 'Catastrophe Exposure' Pushes State Farm to Stop Selling Insurance in California https://gizmodo.com/climate-change-state-farm-insurance-halts-california-1850487503

* Federal Judge Makes History in Holding That #BorderSearches of Cell Phones Require a Warrant https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/federal-judge-makes-history-holding-border-searches-cell-phones-require-warrant

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As with so much of my work these days, the column opens with a reference to the #Luddites, and to @brianmerchant's superb, forthcoming history of the Luddite uprisings, "Blood in the Machine":

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

As Merchant explains, the Luddites were anything but technophobes: they were skilled high-tech workers whose seven-year apprenticeships were the equivalent to getting a Master's in Engineering from MIT.

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