Canada can become a nation of jailbreakers
12 days ago
- #Tech Policy
- #Digital Rights
- #Enshittification
- Cory Doctorow discusses the concept of 'enshittification,' where digital platforms decay by first locking in users, then businesses, and finally extracting all value for shareholders.
- Anti-circumvention laws, like the DMCA in the U.S. and Canada's Copyright Modernisation Act, criminalize modifying devices, effectively allowing corporations to dictate usage terms.
- These laws prevent users from repairing or improving their devices, exemplified by HP printers blocking third-party ink and Apple's control over app stores and payments.
- Doctorow argues that policymakers, not consumers or corporations, are to blame for creating an environment that enables enshittification through laws like anti-circumvention.
- He proposes forming a coalition to fight back, including digital rights advocates, technologists, and national security experts, leveraging the crisis created by Trump's policies.
- The idea is to make Canada a 'disenshittification nation' by legalizing jailbreaking, enabling local tech to compete globally, and reclaiming digital sovereignty.
- Doctorow highlights the potential economic benefits, such as creating businesses that bypass tech giants' fees, and the national security imperative of reducing reliance on foreign tech.