this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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Enshittification

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What is enshittification?

The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source

The lifecycle of Big Internet

We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.

Embrace, extend and extinguish

We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Universities were already locking down their PCs in the 90's, at least those with competent IT departments - BIOS password, locked boot menu, Windows 2000 with restricted user accounts. If you don't do that, your every PC will have 15 copies of Counter Strike and a bunch of viruses in one week.

Chromebooks (and laptops in general) are way cheaper now than PCs were back then, so again, you need to buy your own and install a proper OS, the situation did not really change.