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*** Longlist for the FT and Schroder Business Book of the Year 2025 ***** Named word of the year in US, UK and Australia ***'Enshittification' will be the most talked about tech book of the year.* "Enshittification" is Doctorow's word to describe the decay of online platforms. It captures the feeling of a world that is ever worsening. Enshittification is not a technical glitch.It is a technique that every platform - from X to TikTok, Amazon to Apple, has adopted. First they lure users onto their platforms, then attract businesses who might profit from this newly formed public, and then finally squeeze both for their own profit. Tech giants lure users in with convenience and then degrade their services over time, draining profit at the cost of user experience.In the meantime our public squares have turned somewhere between the mall and a dumpster fire, that is unfit to deal with the problems of our times. What is to be done? Like a surgeon, Doctorow sets out the symptoms, the diagnosis

在《The Internet Con》中，Cory Doctorow以通俗易懂的方式討論當代網路生態的變化。書中追溯社群平台與大型科技公司發展的軌跡，說明從免費服務到商業化經營的必然轉折，以及這些改變對使用者與社會的影響。作者提出重新思考數位生活的觀點，提醒我們在便利與控制之間尋找新的平衡，是一本兼具觀察與省思的科技文化讀物。It’s not your imagination. Life online really does get worse by the day, and that is by intent*** Longlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year 2025 ***Misogyny, conspiratorialism, surveillance, manipulation, fraud, and AI slop are drowning the internet. For the monopolists who dominate online – X, TikTok, Amazon, Meta, Apple – this is all part of the playbook. The process is what leading tech critic Cory Doctorow has dubbed ‘enshittification’. First, the platform attracts users with some bait, such as free access; then the activity is monetized, bringing in the business customers and degrading the user experience; then, once everyone is trapped and competitors eradicated, the platform wrings out all the value and transfers it to their executives and shareholders.As a result, online public square