Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Billionaires are a danger to themselves and (especially) us; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/09/autocrats-of-trade/
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The rich are just as subject to folly to any of us. Their wealth allow a them to inflict it on everyone
> Gates simply opposes open science and compulsory licenses on scientific patents, even when that kills millions of people (as it did in South Africa).
He opposes open science for vaccine patents. He enforces open science for the rest of us, to the extent to no longer allowing Gates Foundation grant funds to be used to cover open access article processing charges, instead preferring Gates-funded authors to post preprints on their in-house preprint server
https://openaccess.gatesfoundation.org/
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@nyhan @pluralistic my take on that is that he conveniently enforces open science when it's in the interest of capital, and fights it tooth and claw when it doesn't.
@pluralistic today’s write-up mentions billionaire Peter Singer, but a quick search showed a *Paul* Singer (and not Peter), if true, then I’m pleased to have helped ☺️ (your ardent reader, admirer to the point of an addict 😅).
P.S. Met Cindy Cohn at SCALE23x Friday, and equally inspired (EFF alums are the best).
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@k3shav Fixed! Thank you!
This collage also portrays perfectly the subject matter, Good One Doctorow!
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@oscarfalcon Thank you, Oscar! I love making these collages.
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Yours are fun, I like them.
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Billionaires are a danger to themselves and (especially) us: A billionaire is a machine for producing policy failures at scale.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116200392773231841
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Hey look at this
* How Live Nation allegedly terrorized the concert industry https://www.theverge.com/report/891241/live-nation-ticketmaster-week-one-jury-trial
* Canada's One-Man Air Force – and His Calculated Airline Crusade https://www.donotpassgo.ca/p/canadas-one-man-air-force-and-his
* Cloud Sovereignty Framework Self Assessment https://www.suse.com/cloud-sovereignty-framework-assessment/
* EFF, Ubuntu and Other Distros Discuss How to Respond to Age-Verification Laws https://linux.slashdot.org/story/26/03/09/0544224/eff-ubuntu-and-other-distros-discuss-how-to-respond-to-age-verification-laws
* Reading “The Ethnography of Infrastructure” https://www.not-so-obvious.net/reading-the-ethnography-of-infrastructure/
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#15yrsago Wondrous, detailed map of the history of science fiction https://web.archive.org/web/20110310152548/http://scimaps.org/submissions/7-digital_libraries/maps/thumbs/024_LG.jpg
#15yrsago American Library Association task forces to take on ebook lending https://web.archive.org/web/20110310085634/https://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=5749
#15yrsago Wisconsin capitol bans recording, flags, reading, balloons, chairs, bags, backpacks, photography, etc etc etc https://captimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/more-rules-released-for-state-capitol-visitors/article_f044044f-6183-5128-b718-d5dffbfdb573.html
#15yrsago Librarians Against DRM logo https://web.archive.org/web/20110308170030/https://readersbillofrights.info/librariansagainstDRM
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#20yrsago Indie label uses heartfelt note instead of copy-restriction http://blog.resonancefm.com/archives/48
#20yrsago Clay Shirky’s ETECH presentation on the politics of social software https://craphound.com/youshutupetech2006.txt
#20yrsago Judge quotes Adam Sandler movie in decision blasting defendant https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/motion-denied-because-youre-idiot
#15yrsago Video game in your browser’s location bar web.archive.org/web/20110309212313/http://probablyinteractive.com/url-hunter
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#15yrsago Extinct invertebrates caught in a 40 million year old sex act https://web.archive.org/web/20110303234001/http://news.discovery.com/animals/40-million-year-old-sex-act-captured-in-amber.html
#15yrsago Improvised toilets of earthquake-struck Christchurch https://web.archive.org/web/20110310044912/https://www.showusyourlongdrop.co.nz/
#15yrsago Canadian MP who shills for the record industry is an enthusiastic pirate https://web.archive.org/web/20110310163136/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5673/125/
#15yrsago The Monster: the fraud and depraved indifference that caused the subprime meltdown https://memex.craphound.com/2011/03/07/the-monster-the-fraud-and-depraved-indifference-that-caused-the-subprime-meltdown/
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#15yrsago Self-destructing ebooks: paper’s fragility is a bug, not a feature https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/08/ebooks-harpercollins-26-times
#10yrsago Senior U.S. immigration judge says 3 and 4 year old children can represent themselves in court https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201631/http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/03/04/us-judge-says-3-and-4-year-olds-can-represent-themselves-in-immigration-court.html
#10yrsago Crimefighting for fun and profit: data-mining Medicare fraud and likely whistleblowers https://www.wired.com/2016/03/john-mininno-medicare/
#10yrsago Extensive list of space opera cliches https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2016/03/towards-a-taxonomy-of-cliches-.html
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#10yrsago Verizon pays $1.35M FCC settlement for using “supercookies” https://web.archive.org/web/20160308111653/https://motherboard.vice.com/read/verizon-settles-over-supercookies
#10yrsago Group chat: “an all-day meeting with random participants and no agenda” https://signalvnoise.com/svn3/is-group-chat-making-you-sweat/#.1chnl7hf4
#10yrsago Less than a year on, America has all but forgotten the epic Jeep hack https://www.wired.com/2016/03/survey-finds-one-4-americans-remembers-jeep-hack/
#10yrsago Racial justice organizers to FBI vs Apple judge: crypto matters to #blacklivesmatter https://theintercept.com/2016/03/08/the-fbi-vs-apple-debate-just-got-less-white/
#1yrago Gandersauce https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/08/turnabout/#is-fair-play
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