Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It
This book should be required reading if you work in tech today. It discusses a common cycle in tech platforms where they first subsidize user growth with investor money, then lock in users and suppliers, before finally extracting all surplus value for themselves. There are so many historical and current examples of abuses of power, with references to the legal contexts that made them possible. Doctorow makes the case that ultimately the current situation is more technofeudalism (i.e., rent seeking) rather than technocapitalism. He also shares examples of where countries are making progress de-enshittifying things. The four forces that discipline technology firms are competition, regulation, interoperability, and tech worker power.