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Cory Doctorow: The Internet Con (Hardcover, 2023, Verso) 4 stars

When the tech platforms promised a future of "connection," they were lying. They said their …

The problems that blockchain technologies say they will fix are inevitably not the problems that I’m worried about.

For example, there are various proposals for blockchain-based social media, with posts, or identities, or both, hosted on immutable ledgers. I’m skeptical of these overall. These ledgers’ immutability is inextricably bound to a speculative market in some kind of token that incentivizes third parties to either “stake” or “mine” crypto assets. The speculative value of these assets is tied to a volatile and entirely mutable belief that they will continue to appreciate, and if that belief collapses, it takes the tokens with it, and the immutable ledger ceases to be a reliable source of ground truth.

The Internet Con by