#chokepointcapitalism — Public Fediverse posts

Pluralistic: Raymond Biesinger's "9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off" (28 Oct 2025)

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/10/28/productive-seething/

"It's companies vs people"

Exactly! I wish, more people would realize that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1QvVnjiegE

https://piped.video/watch?v=M1QvVnjiegE

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=M1QvVnjiegE

#capitalism #HumansBeforeProfit #corporateGreed #predatoryCapitalism #chokepointCapitalism #Oligarchy #Corporatocracy #SocialInequality #CostOfLiving #CostOfLivingCrisis #QualityOfLife #EvanEdinger

Reacted like someone with zero critical faculty, #GitHub 👏🏻

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #noAI #genAI #generativeAI #promptEngineering #vibeCoding #LLM #ChatBots #aiChatBot #enshittification #ensh11n #gaslighting #DeceptivePatterns #darkPatterns #automaticOptIn #trainingLLMsIsTheft #HumansBeforeProfit #corporateGreed #predatoryCapitalism #chokepointCapitalism #intellectualProperty

I saw only part of the #ModernMedicalMafia documentary. When they described how PBMs (pharmacy benefits managers) worked, I could see it was an example of #ChokepointCapitalism. It’s been pulled from #Amazon and #Vimeo, but it’s still on #YouTube. #PBM

People have died because they could no longer afford their medications, or they have to choose between rent and food and medication.

https://modernmedicalmafia.com

I saw only part of the #ModernMedicalMafia documentary. When they described how PBMs (pharmacy benefits managers) worked, I could see it was an example of #ChokepointCapitalism. It’s been pulled from #Amazon and #Vimeo, but it’s still on #YouTube. #PBM

People have died because they could no longer afford their medications, or they have to choose between rent and food and medication.

https://modernmedicalmafia.com

I saw only part of the #ModernMedicalMafia documentary. When they described how PBMs (pharmacy benefits managers) worked, I could see it was an example of #ChokepointCapitalism. It’s been pulled from #Amazon and #Vimeo, but it’s still on #YouTube. #PBM

People have died because they could no longer afford their medications, or they have to choose between rent and food and medication.

https://modernmedicalmafia.com

I saw only part of the #ModernMedicalMafia documentary. When they described how PBMs (pharmacy benefits managers) worked, I could see it was an example of #ChokepointCapitalism. It’s been pulled from #Amazon and #Vimeo, but it’s still on #YouTube. #PBM

People have died because they could no longer afford their medications, or they have to choose between rent and food and medication.

https://modernmedicalmafia.com

I saw only part of the #ModernMedicalMafia documentary. When they described how PBMs (pharmacy benefits managers) worked, I could see it was an example of #ChokepointCapitalism. It’s been pulled from #Amazon and #Vimeo, but it’s still on #YouTube. #PBM

People have died because they could no longer afford their medications, or they have to choose between rent and food and medication.

https://modernmedicalmafia.com

Almost all of the online payment providers you interact with is backed by one of a handful of giant payment processors (eg PayPal and Stripe, or in China, AliPay and WeChatPay). That are essentially an API between you and the credit card company your card belongs to. That are, in turn. basically APIs between you and the company that hosts your bank accounts.

In other words, companies are squeezing on chokepoints between you and your bank.

(2/?)

#payments #OnlinePayments #ChokePointCapitalism

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/training

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip

I used one on my second attempt to get PIP (successful)!
ICR whether it was https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tool or any of

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2018/january/pip-and-dla-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tools
https://templatestoolkit.com/mandatory-reconsideration-pip-letter-template/
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/tools-templates/personal-independence-payment-tools-and-templates
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/59301/pip-mr-letter-tool

#UnitedKingdom #UK #England #GB #GreatBritain #Scotland #Wales #NorthernIreland #benefits #money #legal #law #RuleOfLaw #lawyer #support #help #information #options #ideas #PIP #UC #UniversalCredit #PersonalIndependencePayment #Unemployment #Income #apply #application #survive #survival #MutualAidSavesLives #MutualAid #education #learn #info #tutorial #HowTo #guide #disabled #disability #DisabilityRightsUK #DisabilityAwareness #capitalism #CapitalismIsKillingYou #ChokepointCapitalism

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/training

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip

I used one on my second attempt to get PIP (successful)!
ICR whether it was https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tool or any of

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2018/january/pip-and-dla-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tools
https://templatestoolkit.com/mandatory-reconsideration-pip-letter-template/
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/tools-templates/personal-independence-payment-tools-and-templates
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/59301/pip-mr-letter-tool

#UnitedKingdom #UK #England #GB #GreatBritain #Scotland #Wales #NorthernIreland #benefits #money #legal #law #RuleOfLaw #lawyer #support #help #information #options #ideas #PIP #UC #UniversalCredit #PersonalIndependencePayment #Unemployment #Income #apply #application #survive #survival #MutualAidSavesLives #MutualAid #education #learn #info #tutorial #HowTo #guide #disabled #disability #DisabilityRightsUK #DisabilityAwareness #capitalism #CapitalismIsKillingYou #ChokepointCapitalism

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/training

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip

I used one on my second attempt to get PIP (successful)!
ICR whether it was https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tool or any of

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2018/january/pip-and-dla-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tools
https://templatestoolkit.com/mandatory-reconsideration-pip-letter-template/
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/tools-templates/personal-independence-payment-tools-and-templates
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/59301/pip-mr-letter-tool

#UnitedKingdom #UK #England #GB #GreatBritain #Scotland #Wales #NorthernIreland #benefits #money #legal #law #RuleOfLaw #lawyer #support #help #information #options #ideas #PIP #UC #UniversalCredit #PersonalIndependencePayment #Unemployment #Income #apply #application #survive #survival #MutualAidSavesLives #MutualAid #education #learn #info #tutorial #HowTo #guide #disabled #disability #DisabilityRightsUK #DisabilityAwareness #capitalism #CapitalismIsKillingYou #ChokepointCapitalism

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/training

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip

I used one on my second attempt to get PIP (successful)!
ICR whether it was https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tool or any of

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2018/january/pip-and-dla-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tools
https://templatestoolkit.com/mandatory-reconsideration-pip-letter-template/
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/tools-templates/personal-independence-payment-tools-and-templates
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/59301/pip-mr-letter-tool

#UnitedKingdom #UK #England #GB #GreatBritain #Scotland #Wales #NorthernIreland #benefits #money #legal #law #RuleOfLaw #lawyer #support #help #information #options #ideas #PIP #UC #UniversalCredit #PersonalIndependencePayment #Unemployment #Income #apply #application #survive #survival #MutualAidSavesLives #MutualAid #education #learn #info #tutorial #HowTo #guide #disabled #disability #DisabilityRightsUK #DisabilityAwareness #capitalism #CapitalismIsKillingYou #ChokepointCapitalism

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/training

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip

I used one on my second attempt to get PIP (successful)!
ICR whether it was https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tool or any of

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2018/january/pip-and-dla-mandatory-reconsideration-letter-tools
https://templatestoolkit.com/mandatory-reconsideration-pip-letter-template/
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/tools-templates/personal-independence-payment-tools-and-templates
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/59301/pip-mr-letter-tool

#UnitedKingdom #UK #England #GB #GreatBritain #Scotland #Wales #NorthernIreland #benefits #money #legal #law #RuleOfLaw #lawyer #support #help #information #options #ideas #PIP #UC #UniversalCredit #PersonalIndependencePayment #Unemployment #Income #apply #application #survive #survival #MutualAidSavesLives #MutualAid #education #learn #info #tutorial #HowTo #guide #disabled #disability #DisabilityRightsUK #DisabilityAwareness #capitalism #CapitalismIsKillingYou #ChokepointCapitalism

The role of commercial policy in politics is to keep private companies under control not to do them favors. That's to ensure, that #capitalism is not unleashed. That's the duty of the state towards its citizens. Because capitalism, at its core, is an Ouroboros that would devour itself if given the chance.

#chokepointCapitalism #predatoryCapitalism #corporateGreed #HumansBeforeProfit #Corpocracy

Money is finite. The world is a closed system. In order do make huge amounts of money, you have to take it from somewhere. You do not generate this money out of nowhere.

#WealthDistribution #WealthRedistribution #Oligarchy #capitalism #chokepointCapitalism #predatoryCapitalism #corporateGreed #HumansBeforeProfit #oligarchy #Corporatocracy #SocialInequality

Let's say, there's a rich person who owns a company. Said person has the role "capitalist" and the goal "make profits". So, making profits here is neither good nor evil in itself (I don't like it and I dislike the person for being profit-driven, but that's not the point here), it is just what a person in that role does.

2/

#capitalism #chokepointCapitalism #predatoryCapitalism #corporateGreed #HumansBeforeProfit #oligarchy #Corporatocracy

@heiseonline Entschuldigung, aber ist es eine gute Idee, mehr Menschen in den Amazon-walled-Garden zu schicken, wo sie direkt in die Abhängigkeit kommen? Mag ja sein, dass es da ein hübsches Tool gibt, aber das alleoine ist kein Grund, sich von einem US-Unternehmen abhängig zu machen. Sagt den Menschen doch wenigstens, wie sie plattformübergreifend frei publizieren. #publishingwide #Selfpublishing #Amazon #ChokepointCapitalism #Enshittification

#capitalism #chokepointCapitalism #oligarchy #Corporatocracy #predatoryCapitalism #corporateGreed #technocracy #HumansBeforeProfit

Why specifically #TikTok is a problem?

– Because it's a Chinese app (#racism) and people like to suppress the fact how problematic big American tech companies are (#corpocracy)
– Because right-wing propaganda works and middle and left-wing politicians don't want to admit that they just didn't try to be equally present there

#Corporatocracy #platformCapitalism #predatoryCapitalism #chokepointCapitalism #corporateGreed #dataCapitalism #privacy #privacyMatters #MyPrivacyisNoneofYourBusiness

@jwz @timbray @codinghorror I was really hoping cryptocurrency would have freed us from having %age based middlemen siphoning off my earnings that I want to direct at creators. Instead, even the "best" cryptocurrency just completely fails at being a good way to transfer my resources to someone else digitally. :(

#ChokepointCapitalism (from Apple and Google, but ALSO Valve and Patreon) is driving everyone towards #enshittification and #TechnoFudalism and I hate it. :(

It somehow feels appropriate that this post is both a throwback to things I wrote about back in the much earlier days of my blog, and, a #NewMusicAlert. In other words, Happy Blaugust!

See also: Alex Cornish at the Troubadour (2008); Alex Cornish with a string section (2009)

All the way back in the early 2000s – when MySpace was still a thing, even!! – I came across a singer/songwriter who I’ve continued to follow and listen to1 for the past two decades: Alex Cornish.

We’ve seen Alex live a couple of times in the past 12 months with his regular collaborators Paul Gilbody and Bevis Hungate, most recently in January at an intimate gig close to home, at The Half Moon in Putney. We’ve met them many times – he’s just such an amazingly nice, humble, gentle mannered and great guy, as are the band.

Today, I’ve had an email announcing his latest album, the eighth, titled Henry Found the Time. In classic Alex manner, he writes an incredibly honest and humble assessment of the world of streaming services and how they particularly affect solo self-publishing artists2 – naturally, for me, this was an instant purchase as music to keep3, via Bandcamp.

What do I think of it? I haven’t listened to a single note of it so far, but I wanted to post about it anyway – it’s going to be great, and I can’t wait to hear the tracks live when Alex and the gang are on the road again! Going straight into my home music server and collection, and I’ll have it on repeat this week!

Oh, and also:

Support independent musicians. Buy their music, buy their merchandise, go to their shows. They deserve it.

1. According to Last.FM, Alex is my most-listened artist (closely followed by Cindy Alexander). ↩︎
2. For more on this, you need to read Chokepoint Capitalism, by the marvellous Cory Doctorow. ↩︎
3. Incidentally, I was intrigued by an article by Kelly Sims, Ownership in the Rental Age, which talks about whether or not we do still get to own our music. Interesting perspective. ↩︎

Like it? Share it -

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https://andypiper.co.uk/2024/08/10/henry-found-the-time/

#Blaugust2024 #100DaysToOffload #album #AlexCornish #bandcamp #chokepointCapitalism #gigs #liveMusic #Music #NewMusicAlert #recording

Wer vermutet, dass #Microsoft zu wenig Geld verdient und deswegen #Werbung innerhalb ihres Betriebssystems schalten "muss", irrt gewaltig. Microsoft betreibt mit #Xandr einen riesigen Datenmarktplatz und nutzt seine anderen Produkte als Anzeigenfläche. #Advertising #SurveillanceCapitalism #PeakCapitalism #AdvertisingIndustry #ChokepointCapitalism

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/24/24138949/microsoft-windows-11-start-menu-ads-recommendations-setting-disable

https://netzpolitik.org/2023/microsofts-datenmarktplatz-xandr-das-sind-650-000-kategorien-in-die-uns-die-online-werbeindustrie-einsortiert/

I'm only one chapter in to Chokepoint Capitalism and I'm already depressed and furious.

I mean, it's not what I didn't already know on some level, but seeing it spelled out...

🤬 🤬 🤬

#capitalism #capitalismIsEvil #ChokepointCapitalism #books #nowReading

I've been playing online Scrabble with a relative who uses an Amazon Fire. Although this is an Android device, Amazon has their own app store (which doesn't include the official Scrabble GO app), because chokepoint capitalism.

(I am aware that there is an elaborate workaround for this, but it would involve setting up a gmail account for them.)

So we're sticking with Wordvoyance.

#scrabble #wordvoyance #ScrabbleGo #amazon #AmazonFire #ChokepointCapitalism

With the news that Amazon/Audible is now offering an ai narrator conversion beta for books in KDP Select...but that the resulting audiobooks will be offered in an all-you-can-eat Audible Plus subscription model, means that author royalties will likely take another dive (just like musicians have experienced with streaming on Spotify). That's not even taking into account the effect on narrators. More in my blog.

https://annafeatherstone.com/author-earnings-the-publishing-industry-and-chokepoint-capitalism/

#chokepointcapitalism #corydoctorow #audiobooknarrators #audiobook #publishing #amwriting #writingcommunity #publishingindustry #Amazon #Audible #copyright #author #authorearnings #creatives #authors #publishers #literaryagents

I've listened to enough of @pluralistic's talks, podcast appearances, his own podcast, etc., etc., to be familiar with most of his pat phrases.

"Your copy of Atlas Shrugged with the pages stuck together" was however, new to me, and I lost it much as Adam does here:

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=vluAOGJPPoM&t=57m1s

(57:01 timestamp)

(There are other good bits here, including why excessively extended copyright periods are actually against the interests of authors and composers, though few of them seem to recognise this.)

#Copyright #ChokepointCapitalism #Monopoly #AdamConover #Factually #CoryDoctorow

#beandad #chokepoint-capitalism #corydoctorow #doctor-deathray #infomocracy #malka-older #nathan-lowell #new-ellijay-tv #podcast #rebecca-giblin #riga-tonys-murder-mystery-dinner-show #roderick-on-the-line #so-many-of-us #talking-on-my-morning-walk-podcast #warren-ellis

https://evilgeniuschronicles.org/b/2zd

In this episode, I play a song by Doctor Deathray; for once I had time to do the show and no mojo to do one; I always predicted that my golden years would be on fire; talking to people seems harder than it used to; we went to a murder mystery dinner; grampa is making life so much harder than it needs to be; it sure seems like publishers are bad at business including publishing; Nathan Lowell’s podcast is back; Nate only reads indie published books; can we agree that Bean Dad was the most harmless internet flareup?; I don’t care about the McElroys or Maximum Fun; the American left is great at policing the people who aren’t lefting the way they like; Warren Ellis seems to have crafted a second act.

Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, March 10 2023.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Support this show on Patreon
• Doctor Deathray
• Buy the album Live. by Doctor Deathray at Bandcamp
• Buy the song “Fight Like Hell” by Doctor Deathray at Bandcamp
• New Ellijay TV
• Riga Tony’s Murder Mystery Dinner Show
• Infomocracy
• Chokepoint Capitalism by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow
• Nathan Lowell’s Talking on my Morning Walk podcast
• Roderick on the Line podcast
• So Many of Us
• Follow this website on Mastodon at @dave@evilgeniuschroniclesorg
• Join the EGC Discord
• Follow me on Mastodon @[email protected]
• [email protected] is my Bookwyrm account
• My Keybase account
• Subscribe to the shared RSS from my own TTRSS install
• Auphonic podcast production tool is so good!
• Theme song provided by the Gentle Readers

You can subscribe to this podcast feed via RSS. To sponsor the show, contact BackBeat Media. Don’t forget, you can fly your EGC flag by buying the stuff package. This show as a whole is Creative Commons licensed Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. Bandwidth for this episode is provided by Cachefly.

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Freedom of reach IS freedom of speech

(10 Dec 22) by Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic)

‘there's another side to this playlistification of #feeds: playlists and other recommendation #algorithms are #chokepoints: they are a way to durably interpose a company between a creator and their audience. Where you have chokepoints, you get #chokepointcapitalism’

Read it. It’s informative, full of niftyficated neologisms, well-crafted

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/

Here's a great interview with one of my heroes Cory Doctorow @pluralistic speaking on #RadioNZ this afternoon. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018868898/making-sure-creatives-are-getting-the-money-they-re-owed Cory talked about #ChokepointCapitalism, artists' rights, copyright and monopolies from the book he's written with Rebecca Giblin https://law.unimelb.edu.au/about/staff/rebecca-giblin.

Patients are forced to beg gatekeepers through Epic's #MyChart portal for access to their physician, then charged $50 for the privilege.

Screw @ClevelandClinic.

#BOYCOTTMYCHART

#ClogThePhoneLines

END #DesperationCapitalism
END #ChokepointCapitalism