The telegraph and the telephone have a special place in the history and future of competition and Big Tech. After all, they were the original tech monopolists. Every discussion of tech and monopoly takes place in their shadow.
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/18/the-bell-system/#were-the-phone-company-we-dont-have-to-care
1/
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/18/the-bell-system/#were-the-phone-company-we-dont-have-to-care
1/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/2
https://memex.craphound.com/2010/11/01/the-master-switch-tim-net-neutrality-wu-explains-whats-at-stake-in-the-battle-for-net-freedom/
Wu is a brilliant writer and theoretician. Best known for coining the term "Net Neutrality," Wu went on to serve in both the Obama and Biden administrations as a tech trustbuster.
2/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/3
https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby
3/
Party Like It’s 1979: The OG Antitrust Is Back, Baby!
Electronic Frontier FoundationCory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/4
A decade and a half after its initial publication, Wu's *Master Switch* is still considered a canonical account of how the phone monopoly was built - and dismantled.
4/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/5
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674088139
*Network Nation* flew under my radar until earlier this year, when I found myself speaking at an antitrust conference where both John and Wu were also on the bill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VNivXjrU3A
5/
Antitrust Case Studies: AT&T & IBM
YouTubeCory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/6
6/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/7
7/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/8
https://newrepublic.com/article/88640/review-network-nation-richard-john-tim-wu
8/
The Love of Monopoly
The New RepublicCory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/9
9/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/10
10/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/11
11/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/12
12/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/13
13/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/14
14/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/15
15/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/16
16/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/17
17/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/18
18/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/19
The telegraph system and the telephone system were *very* different, but both tended to monopoly, often from opposite directions.
19/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/20
20/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/21
21/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/22
As the Toronto/Chicago story illustrates, the fact that there were so many different approaches to phone service tried in the US and Canada gives John more opportunities to contrast different business-strategies and regulations.
22/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/23
23/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/24
24/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/25
25/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/26
26/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/27
27/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/28
28/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/29
29/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/30
30/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/31
31/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/32
Most striking about this book were the parallels to contemporary fights over Big Tech trustbusting, in our new Gilded Age.
32/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/33
Wu isn't wrong to say that John is engaging with a lot of minutae, and that this makes *Network Nation* a far less breezy read than *Master Switch*.
33/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/34
34/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/eof
https://exileinbookville.com/events/39808
--
Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!
https://clarionwriteathon.com/members/profile.php?writerid=293388
eof/
Authors on Tap: Cory Doctorow
exileinbookville.combk
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/4