#debt consolidation vancouver

[gurniksingh]

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Debt Relief Plans & Help Services: Lift Your Burden Now

Intensifying debt relief awaits! Dive into solutions & services for lifting the burden of debt. Discover relief plans & assistance now.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Hollywood is the single best example of mature labor power in America

This afternoon (May 6), I’ll be in Berkeley at the Bay Area Bookfest for a 3:30PM event with Glynn Washington for my book Red Team Blues; tomorrow (May 7), it’s an 11AM event with Wendy Liu for my book Chokepoint Capitalism.

Weds (May 10), I’m in Vancouver for a keynote at the Open Source Summit and a book event at Heritage Hall and Thu (May 11), I’m in Calgary for Wordfest.

The Writers Guild is on strike. Hollywood is closed for business. The union’s bargaining documents reveal a cartel of studios that refused to negotiate on a single position. This could go on for a long-ass time:

https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/members/member_info/contract-2023/WGA_proposals.pdf

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/06/people-are-not-disposable/#union-strong

The writers are up for it. A lot of people are saying this is the first writers’ strike since 2007/8, but that’s not quite right. That was the last time the writers went on strike against the studios, but in 2019, the writers struck against their own talent agents — within the space of a week, all 7,000 writers in Hollywood fired their agents. They struck against the agencies for 22 months.

https://deadline.com/2023/04/hollywood-strike-writers-guild-studios-talent-agencies-1235333516/

The agencies had consolidated down to four major firms, two backed by private equity who loaded them up with debt that could only be repaid if the agencies figured out how to vastly increase their profits. They did so, by unilaterally switching the way they did business with their clients. Instead of taking a 10% commission on the creative wages they bargained for, the agencies started to take “packaging fees” from the studios for putting together a writer, director, stars, etc. These fees came out of the same budget that the talent got paid from, so the higher the fee was, the less the talent made. Soon, some showrunners were discovering that they were getting 10% and their agents were getting 90%!

The agencies weren’t done, either: they were building their own studios, and planning to negotiate with themselves on behalf of their clients. The writers said fuck this shit. They issued a code of conduct ordering the agencies to knock all that shit off. The agencies swore they’d never do it. Why should they? Every job these writers had ever done came through an agency, and the agencies were staffed with the toughest, most obnoxious negotiators on the planet.

They were sure the writers would cave. After all, the top tier of writers had been handled with kid gloves by the agencies and not ripped off to the same extent as their jobbing, workaday peers. They’d break solidarity and the union would collapse, right?

Wrong. Twenty-two months later, every one of the agencies caved on every single point. Bam. Union strong.

(Want to learn more? Check out Chokepoint Capitalism, Rebecca Giblin’s and my book about creative labor markets:)

http://chokepointcapitalism.com

Now the writers are back on strike and it’s triggered a predictable torrent of anti-worker nonsense (“striking writers will lead to public indifference to torture!) (no, really) (ugh):

https://www.readtpa.com/p/on-the-tv-writers-strike-dont-fall

One common theme in these bad takes is that writers aren’t real workers, like, you know, coal miners or Starbucks baristas. They’re coddled intellectuals, and haven’t the intelligentsia been indifferent to proletarian struggle since, you know, time immemorial?

This is wrong in every conceivable way. For starters, it’s ahistorical. Lord Byron and innumerable other toffs and poets and such were right there with the Luddites, demanding labor justice during the Industrial Revolution, as Brian Merchant writes in his outstanding, forthcoming history of the Luddites, Blood in the Machine:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/20/love-the-machine/#hate-the-factory

But you don’t have to look back to the stocking frame to find this kind of solidarity. As Hamilton Nolan writes in his newsletter, “Hollywood is the single best example of mature labor power in America”:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-coral-reef-of-humanity-encircling

The entire Hollywood workforce, from grips to carpenters, costumers to plumbers, teamsters to medics, is unionized. That includes writers and actors (I’m a member of IATSE Local 839, AKA The Animation Guild). I live in Burbank, the entertainment industry’s company town (fun fact! The “Hollywood” studios are largely over the city line, in Burbank). Walk down Burbank Boulevard, Magnolia Boulevard, or any of the other major roads, and you’ll pass many union halls.

Burbank is a prosperous place. That’s thanks, in part, to the studios, whose entertainment products are very profitable. But working in a profitable industry is not, in and of itself, a guarantee that you will get a share of those profits. Some of the most profitable industries in the world — e-commerce, fast food, logistics — have the lowest paid workforces.

Burbank is prosperous because the unions made sure that everyone — the grips, the costumers, the animators, the actors, the writers, the teamsters and the pipefitters — gets a decent wage, decent health care and a decent retirement. My pal the set-dresser who worked crazy hours shlepping furniture around sitcom sets for decades? All that work did bad stuff to his joints, which meant that he needed a hip replacement in his forties — which was 100% covered, including his sick leave while he recovered. He was able to take early retirement in his late fifties, with a solid pension, with his health in excellent shape and many years of happiness with his partner stretching before him.

That’s what unions get you: a good job that might be hard at times, and the costs of your work are borne by the employer who profits from your labor. As Nolan writes, the point of unions is to “make sure that people! Are! Not! Disposable!”

Unions deliver the American dream. As Pete Seeger sang in “Talking Union Blues”:

Now, if you want higher wages let me tell you what to do You got to talk to the workers in the shop with you You got to build you a union, got to make it strong But if you all stick together, boys, it won’t be long You get shorter hours, better working conditions Vacations with pay. Take your kids to the seashore

http://www.protestsonglyrics.net/Labor_Union_Songs/Talking-Union.phtml

We tend to focus on wages in union discussions, but unions aren’t merely about getting better pay, it’s about making better jobs. When LA teachers went out on strike in 2019, wages weren’t at the top of their list — they bargained for greenspace for every school, replacing rotting portables with permanent buildings, ending ICE entrapment of parents at the school gates, social workers and counselors for schools…and wages.

I really like how Nolan puts this. The way that the studios make money has changed: streaming is clobbering ad-supported TV and movie theater tickets. The studios are adapting. The workers want to adapt, too. The studios would rather “treat[] their work force as a disposable natural resource to be mined, used up, and then abandoned, as business dictates.”

A union gives workers “the same ability to adapt to changing industries that companies already have.” The studios want to leave workers behind. Unions give workers the collective power to say, “No. You’re taking us with you.”

Union workers are wealthier than their non-union counterparts, but that’s not just because of higher wages. As Nolan writes, “Unions make sure that the people get to adapt to changing industries, and not just the investors and the business owners.”

[Union workers] have a far greater ability to build coherent, long-term careers, as opposed to a constant treadmill of unstable short-term gigs. In non-union industries, businesses can just act like ships cutting through a desperate sea of workers, scooping up whoever they want and then tossing them overboard as soon as it’s convenient. In a union industry, though, the companies are forced to deal with the labor force as an equal. The workers have their own damn boat.

Advocates for market capitalism insist that market forces increase prosperity for everyone. They say that, in the end, having corporations serve their shareholders results in corporations serving everyone.

But a comparison of unionized and nonunionized industries reveals the hollowness of that prospect. Hollywood is wildly profitable and it pays every kind of worker well. That’s because workers have solidarity across sectors and trades. Striking writers like jonrog1 are calling on supporters to donate to the Entertainment Community Fund:

https://twitter.com/jonrog1/status/1654168529728307204

The Entertainment Community Fund supports everyone else who is affected by the work-stoppage, all the other creative and craft trades whose work has been halted by the writers’ struggle. If you want to support these workers, make sure you select “Film and TV” from the drop-down menu when you donate (we gave $100):

https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

Because all the workers are in this together. As Adam Conover explains in this amazing CNN clip, David Zazlav, the head of CNN parent-company Warner-Discovery, made a quarter of a billion dollars last year, enough to pay all the demands of all the writers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL-YwKO81go

And Carol Lombardini, spokesvillain for the studio cartel AMPTP, told the press that “”Writers are lucky to have term employment.” As John Rogers says, she “wiped out the doubt of every writer who wasn’t sure this negotiation really IS so important, that it actually IS about turning us into gig workers.”

https://twitter.com/jonrog1/status/1654506611086606336

The stakes in this strike are the same as the stakes in every strike: will workers get a fair share of the value their labor creates, or will that value be piled up in the vaults of $250,000,000/year CEOs? It’s not like the studios especially hate writers — like all corporations, they hate all their workers. The same tactics that they’re using to make it so writers can’t pay the rent today will be turned on every other kind of Hollywood worker tomorrow — and when the writers win this one, they’ll support those workers, too.

There’s a lot of concern about AI displacing creative labor, but the only entity that can take away a writer’s wage is a human being, an executive at a studio. As has been the case since the time of the Luddites, the issue isn’t what the machine does, it’s who it does it for and who it does it to.

After all, as Charlie Stross points out, a corporation is just a “Slow AI,” remorselessly paperclip-maximizing its way through the lives and joy of the flesh-and-blood people who constitute its inconvenient gut-flora:

https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9270-dude_you_broke_the_future#video&t=3478

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Berkeley, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: Animators walk the picket-line during the Disney Animator's Strike in 1941.]

Image: LA Times https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Screen_Cartoonist%27s_Guild_strike_at_Disney.jpg

CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

[ratefair]

private lenders Vancouver – how they help you

Private lenders, coupled with private refinance service providers, form part of the financial system. They provide tailored services for clients who fall outside the banking service umbrella. For this reason, funding through these private lenders is more flexible and faster compared to banks, whose requirements are fewer compared to those of other institutions. Knowledge about private lenders

The private lenders vancouver include non-bank people or organizations offering credit based on value for any form of security and not based on the customer's creditworthiness. The approach especially suits customers who have sources of income other than salaries, customers who have some bad credit history, or those seeking instant access to a capital base.

Private lenders can offer most personal and business loan types in financing real estate and bridging loans. Private lending has emerged as a mode of access to funding, especially for many borrowers because they provide flexibility in loan structuring, with the possibility of having interest-only payments or balloon payments.

Role of private refinance service providers

The private refinance service provider vancouver specialize in helping the borrower restructure his existing debts, especially for better terms than before. One of the primary interests under this service is to bring down the monthly payments, consolidate more than one debt, or revert from a variable to a fixed interest rate.

Private Lenders Vancouver

Private refinance providers tend to tailor solutions under the given unique financial circumstances and history of each client, which promises a more personalized approach relative to a traditional lender. Advantages of private lending and refinancing

Availability - Private lenders look beyond credit scores, bringing the loan to a wide spectrum of borrowers. Rapidity - The application and funding is quicker, ideal for those who require rapid financial solutions. Flexibility - Loans with customized terms and structure to suit individual needs. Personalized Service - Private refinancing service providers offer customized solutions, which assists borrowers in optimization of their financial strategies.

Consideration

But private lending and refinancing have its merits for the borrower in diverse ways. In itself, it is the proper research that should be done prior to consummating a loan with any private lenders vancouver or refinancing agency. In many instances, interest rates are higher, and the terms significantly vary from each other, so getting all the details of the contract right is significant. A good way in ensuring that such partnership can be mutually beneficial through a reputable private lender and refinance provider.

[alphamortgage]

How Mortgage Brokers Can Help You Secure the Best Interest Rates?

When it comes to getting a mortgage, choosing the best interest rates can have a big impact on your financial future. Mortgage brokers play an important role in guiding you through this difficult process and ensuring you get the best terms. Here's how they may help you secure the best interest rates.

Access to Multiple Lenders:

One of the key benefits of working with a mortgage broker is having access to a large network of lenders. Unlike banks, which only offer a restricted selection of mortgage products, brokers can work with a variety of financial institutions, such as banks, credit unions, and private lenders. This vast network boosts your chances of getting competitive rates that meet your financial needs.

Expert Knowledge and Experience:

Mortgage brokers understand the complicated workings of the mortgage business. They keep up with current interest rates, lender policies, and market trends. This knowledge enables them to offer knowledgeable counsel and recommend the best solutions based on your specific financial situation. Their expertise can save you time and effort because they know where to seek and what to avoid.

Personalized Service:

Mortgage brokers work for you, not the lender. This means they put your interests first and work hard to get the best mortgage rates and terms. They take the time to learn about your financial goals, credit history, and long-term plans before recommending a mortgage package that meets your needs. This tailored strategy may result in lower rates and better overall terms.

Negotiation Skills:

Mortgage brokers are effective negotiators. They can use their ties with lenders to negotiate better interest rates and terms for you. Their ability to present your application in the best possible light, along with their understanding of lender requirements, can often result in more competitive offers than you could get on your own.

Streamlined Process:

The mortgage application process can be stressful, particularly for first-time homebuyers. Mortgage brokers make this process easier by managing the paperwork, communicating, and coordinating with lenders. This streamlined technique not only saves you time, but it also guarantees that your application is complete and precise, lowering the likelihood of delays or rejection.

Conclusion:

Mortgage brokers help clients secure the greatest interest rates by leveraging their wide network, specialized knowledge, personalized service, negotiation abilities, and streamlined processes. Working with a broker increases your chances of acquiring a mortgage that meets your financial needs and provides advantageous conditions.

Alpha Mortgage, a Private Finance Company in Vancouver, offers flexible private mortgages, refinancing, and debt consolidation. Enjoy competitive rates and personalized guidance from our expert team. Trust Alpha Mortgage for tailored financial solutions.

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[scamnewsblog]

IN THE MATTER OF Samuel Ryan Scoten - Settlement Hearing

A hearing has been scheduled before a Hearing Panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), to consider whether the panel should accept a Settlement Agreement entered into between IIROC staff and Samuel Ryan Scoten.

The agreement concerns the conduct of Mr. Scoten who solicited and facilitated the purchase of shares without his employer's consent and engaged in discretionary trading.

The hearing is not open to the public, but will become open in the event the panel accepts the agreement. If the agreement is accepted, the panel's decision and the Settlement Agreement will be made available at www.iiroc.ca.

Documents related to ongoing IIROC enforcement proceedings - including Reasons and Decisions of Hearing Panels - are posted on the IIROC website as they become available. Click here to search and access all IIROC enforcement documents.Hearing Date:   2:00 p.m., October 11, 2012 Location:

IIROC 1055 West Georgia St., Suite 2800 Vancouver, B.C. Boardroom

IIROC formally initiated the investigation into Mr. Scoten's conduct in September 2011.  The alleged violations occurred when he was a Registered Representative with a White Rock, B.C. business location of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., an IIROC-regulated firm.  Mr. Scoten is no longer a registrant with an IIROC-regulated firm.

*  *  *

IIROC is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity on debt and equity marketplaces in Canada. Created in 2008 through the consolidation of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada and Market Regulation Services Inc., IIROC sets high quality regulatory and investment industry standards, protects investors and strengthens market integrity while maintaining efficient and competitive capital markets.

IIROC carries out its regulatory responsibilities through setting and enforcing rules regarding the proficiency, business and financial conduct of dealer firms and their registered employees and through setting and enforcing market integrity rules regarding trading activity on Canadian equity marketplaces.

IIROC investigates possible misconduct by its member firms and/or individual registrants. It can bring disciplinary proceedings which may result in penalties including fines, suspensions, permanent bars, expulsion from membership, or termination of rights and privileges for individuals and firms.

All information about disciplinary proceedings relating to current and former member firms is available in the Enforcement section of the IIROC website. Background information regarding the qualifications and disciplinary history, if any, of advisors currently employed by IIROC-regulated firms is available free of charge through the IIROC AdvisorReport service. Information on how to make investment dealer, advisor or marketplace-related complaints is available by calling 1.877.442.4322.

SOURCE: Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) - General News

[brokerbrooke]

Website: https://www.brookeshelley.ca/

Address: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

I'm an independent mortgage broker with Mortgage Architects, A Better Way with over 11 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Having previous experience as a Senior Underwriter for two major lenders (MCAP & RMG Mortgages) has given me the expertise to structure your mortgage appropriately for a quick and easy approval. Born and raised in Edmonton, AB, I have also spent a few years teaching abroad in Shanghai, China, where I adopted my lovely rescue cat, Hui & picked up conversational Mandarin. When I'm not busy helping my clients find out their best mortgage solutions, I love to run, row and read.

As a mortgage broker, I work directly for YOU, not the bank. It is my job to negotiate on behalf of my clients in order to obtain the best solution for your specific situation.

When the banks say NO, I say yes. I have exclusive access to several lenders in the mortgage space, including alternative lending, and will find the best solution for you.

I am specialized in all transactions, including purchases, refinancing for debt consolidation and to lower monthly payments as well as renewals/transfers.

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[credit720britishcolumbia]

Know All About How To Stay On Track Using Debt Management Services

Debt management services in Surrey come with various advantages like Deals with your creditors, Lowered interest rates, Pay timely & many more. Read our full blog.

[ratefair]

Private Lenders Vancouver: Uncover Tailored Financing Solutions

In Vancouver's thriving real estate scene, traditional lending institutions may not always meet every borrower's needs. Private lenders step in to fill this gap, offering adaptable financing options tailored to individual circumstances. Let's delve into the distinct benefits of turning to private mortgage lenders Vancouver.

Adaptable Approval Standards

Private lenders Vancouver often boast more flexible approval standards than banks and credit unions. In Vancouver's dynamic real estate environment, timing is critical. Private lenders recognize this urgency and typically offer swifter approval processes compared to traditional lenders. Borrowers can often secure approval for a private mortgage within days, enabling them to proceed with their property purchase promptly.

private Lenders Vancouver

Private lenders Vancouver customize their loan offerings to suit borrowers' specific requirements. Whether it's a short-term bridge loan, a construction loan, or financing for a unique property, private lenders craft bespoke packages that align with borrowers' objectives. This flexibility ensures borrowers have access to funds precisely when needed.

For homeowners seeking to tap into their property's equity, private lenders provide viable options. Whether it's for home improvements, debt consolidation, or investment ventures, private mortgage lenders extend loans based on existing property equity. This empowers homeowners to leverage their property's value to realize financial objectives.

Unlike fixed-rate conventional mortgages, private mortgage lenders Vancouver may offer negotiable terms and conditions. Borrowers have the opportunity to discuss and adjust terms directly with the lender, enabling greater flexibility and personalization. This approach ensures borrowers find a loan that suits their financial circumstances and long-term plans.

Private mortgage lending presents investment avenues for individuals seeking portfolio diversification. The private mortgage lenders in Vancouver serve a vital role by providing adaptable financing solutions in a dynamic real estate market. With their flexible approval standards, expedited processes, tailored financing options, and access to equity, private lenders empower borrowers to realize homeownership and financial aspirations confidently. Whether seeking alternative financing or investment opportunities, private lending in Vancouver offers numerous advantages for all parties involved.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralist, your daily link-dose: 24 Feb 2020

Today’s links

How “Authoritarian Blindness” kept Xi from dealing with coronavirus: Zeynep Tufekci in outstanding form.

The Snowden Archive: every publicly available Snowden doc, collected and annotated.

Key computer vision researcher quits: facial recognition is a moral quagmire.

My interview on adversarial interoperability: you can’t shop your way out of late-stage capitalism.

81 Fortune 100 companies demand binding arbitration: monopoly and its justice system.

I’m coming to Kelowna! Canada Reads is bringing me to the BC interior, March 5.

A flat earther commits suicide by conspiracy theory: conspiracies are comorbid with corruption.

This day in history: 2019, 2015, 2010, 2005

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

How “Authoritarian Blindness” kept Xi from dealing with coronavirus (permalink)

Xi Jinping’s refashioning of the Chinese internet to ratchet up surveillance and censorship made it all but impossible for the Chinese state to use the internet to detect and contain Corona Virus, writes Zeynep Tufekci in The Atlantic. Tufekci talks about “authoritarian blindness,” where people too scared to tell the autocrat the hard truths makes it impossible for the autocrat to set policy that reflects reality.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/02/coronavirus-and-blindness-authoritarianism/606922/

(Cue Mao telling China to “eat 5 meals a day” because his apparats were too scared to warn him of impending famine, then selling off the nation’s food reserves for foreign currency because he thought it was surplus. Food production collapsed.)

Before Xi, a certain amount of online dissidence was tolerated because it helped root out dangerously corrupt local leaders before they could do real damage. It’s always hard to make autocracies sustainable because corruption and looting leaves them hollow and brittle.

When Xi took power in 2012, he restored “one man rule” and began a series of maneuvers, including purges, to consolidate power for himself. The rise and rise of China’s mobile internet made this far more effective than at any time in history.

“Authoritarian blindness” kicked off the Hong Kong protests because the state so badly misjudged the cause and severity of the grievances there. The same thing happened in Wuhan when doctors and netizens faced retaliation for describing early virus outbreaks.

The reality-debt built up by official denial always results in reality bankruptcy, eventually – so finally, the reports of the virus were so widespread and alarming they could no longer be suppressed. But by then, the virus had proliferated. This is an important point: “the killer digital app for authoritarianism isn’t listening in on people through increased surveillance, but listening to them as they express their honest opinions, especially complaints.”

That’s how you stabilize the unstable: by using digital authoritarianism to fine tune the minimum viable amount of good governance to diffuse public anger. It’s how you maximize your looting without getting strung up by your ankles.

The Snowden Archive (permalink)

The Snowden Surveillance Archive collects “all documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that have subsequently been published by news media.”

https://snowdenarchive.cjfe.org/greenstone/cgi-bin/library.cgi

It’s indexed and searchable, created by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the Politics of Surveillance Project at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. (Canada is a “Five Eyes” country that partners with the NSA on global mass surveillance)

There’s a “Portable Archive” version – a tarball with all the docs so you can create your own mirror:

https://snowdenarchive.cjfe.org/greenstone/collect/snowden1/portablearchive.html

They provide instructions for turning this into a kiosk they call a “Snowden Archive-in-a-Box.” Costs about CAD120.00

Key computer vision researcher quits (permalink)

Joseph Redmon is the creator of YOLO (You Only Look Once), a key Computer Vision technology. He’s just announced his resignation from computer vision work, citing ethical concerns with Facial Recognition.

https://twitter.com/pjreddie/status/1230523827446091776

His thread is really important, calling out the gap between what ML researchers SAY they want to do about ethics and how they actually deal with ethical issues: “basically all facial recognition work would not get published if we took Broader Impacts sections seriously.”

“There is almost no upside and enormous downside risk.” That’s some serious Oppenheimer stuff right there. The kicker? “For most of grad school I bought in to the myth that science is apolitical and research is objectively moral and good no matter what the subject is.”

My interview on adversarial interoperability (permalink)

The Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons podcast (which offers information security advice and analysis for non-technical people) just posted part 2 of our interview on Adversarial Interoperability, Right To Repair, and technological fairness.

http://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2020/02/24/adversarial-interoperability-part-2/

Part one went live last week:

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1229842619380858885

In this one, I try to explain how John Deere’s war on farm-based repairs is connected to Apple’s war on independent repair, and how consumer choices can’t solve either problem — but collective action can!

It’ll take a movement, not individual action. Thankfully, such a movement exists. EFF’s Electronic Frontier Alliance, a network of groups nationwide working on local issues with national coordination. It’s the antidote to individual powerlessness.

https://www.eff.org/electronic-frontier-alliance/allies

81 Fortune 100 companies demand binding arbitration (permalink)

Binding arbitration was originally created as a way for giant corporations to resolve their disputes with each other without decades-long court battles costing tens of millions of dollars. SCOTUS ratified the principal in 1925: firms of similar size and power could use binding arbitration as an alternative to litigation.

http://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/we-now-have-a-justice-system-just-for-corporations

In the century since, corporations have eroded the idea of arbitration as something reserved for co-equals and have turned it into a condition of employment and of being a customer.

In an era of both monopoly and monoposony, it can be hard to find a single employer OR vendor who will conduct business with you unless you first surrender the rights your elected lawmakers decided that you are entitled to.

Today, the largest corporations in the world require you to “agree” to binding arbitration before you can conduct business with them: your monopolistic ISP or cable operator probably does.

As do Walmart, Uber, and Amazon (and not coincidentally, all three have crowded out all the competitors you might choose to take your business to if this strikes you as unfair).

In 2019, SCOTUS ratified the practice.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/business/binding-arbitration-consumers/index.html

81 out of the Fortune 100 non-negotiably require binding arbitration if you want to conduct business with them. “Arbitration is often confidential and the outcome doesn’t enter the public record” – if you get screwed you won’t know if it’s a one-off or a pattern.

This is especially pernicious in the realm of US health care. There is ONE pain specialist in all of Southern California that my insurer covers who doesn’t require binding arbitration. When I took my daughter to the ER with a broken bone, they threatened not to treat her unless we signed an arbitration waiver – and that ER is now owned by a PE firm that bought every medical practice in a 10mi radius and now they all do it.

We are literally replacing public courts with private corporate justice, where the “judge” is paid by the company that maimed you, or ripped you off, or killed you.

I’m coming to Kelowna! (permalink)

I’ve never been to Kelwona, BC or anywhere in BC apart from Victoria and Vancouver, so I am SO TOTALLY EXCITED to be appearing in Kelowna for Canada Reads on Mar 5. Please come and say hello! (it’s free!)

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

The event is a collaboration between the Kelowna Public Library and CBC Books, and I’m being emceed and interviewed by Sarah Penton. It’s going to be recorded for airing later as well (I’ll be sure to fold it into my podcast, which you can get here: http://craphound.com/podcast/)

A flat earther commits suicide by conspiracy theory (permalink)

A(nother) flat-earther has tried to prove that the Earth is disc-shaped by launching a homemade rocket. This one (“Mad” Mike Hughes) killed himself by pancaking into the desert.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daredevil-mad-mike-hughes-dies-homemade-rocket-launch-filmed-tv-n1141286

This is awful. Jokes about “Darwin Awards” don’t change that.

When you scratch a conspiracist, you generally find two things:

Someone who knows chapter-&-verse about real conspiracies (e.g. “If you think antivax is so outlandish, let me tell you about the Sackler family”)

Someone who has been traumatized by conspiracies (belief that the levees were dynamited during Katrina to drown Black neighborhoods are often embraced by people whose family were flooded out in 58 when the levees in Tupelo were dynamited to drown Black neighborhoods).

A belief that the aerospace industry engages in coverups and conspiracies is not, in and of itself, irrational. Aerospace is the land of conspiracies and coverups. Look at the Boeing 737 Max!

Conspiracies are an epiphenomenon of market concentration. “Two may keep a secret if one of them is dead”: the ability to conspire is a collective action problem, wherein linear increases in the number of conspirators yield geometric increases in the likelihood of defections. When an industry is reduced to 3-5 giants, the likelihood is that every top exec at each company worked as a top exec at one or more of the others (to say nothing of the likelihood of intercompany friendships, marriages, etc). Moreover, an industry that concentrated will almost certainly be regulated by its own former execs, as they are likely the only ones qualified to understand its workings.

Many of us were appalled by the sight of the nation’s tech leaders gathered around a table at Trump Tower after the inauguration.

But we should have been even more alarmed by the realization that all the leaders of the tech industry fit around a single table.

We are living in both a golden age of conspiratorial thinking and of actual conspiracies. The conspiracy theories don’t necessarily refer to the actual conspiracies, but “conspiracy” is a plausible idea with a lot of explanatory power in 2020.

We spend a lot of time wondering about how we can fix the false beliefs that people have, but some of our focus needs to be on reducing the plausibility of conspiracy itself. Make industries more competitive and diverse, make regulators more accountable.

Put out the fires, sure, but clear away the brush so that they don’t keep reigniting.

I strongly recommend Anna Merlan’s REPUBLIC OF LIES for more.

https://boingboing.net/2019/09/21/from-opioids-to-antivax.html

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago: Labour MP Brian Sedgemore excoriates his own government’s terror laws in the speech of his lifetime: https://web.archive.org/web/20050227035611/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmhansrd/cm050223/debtext/50223-21.htm

#10yrsago: How ducks, Nazis and themeparks gave America its color TV transition: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/feb/23/digital-switchover-bbc-spectrum

#5yrsago: Alex Stamos, then CSO of Yahoo, publicly calls out then-NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers on crypto backdoors: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/yahoo-exec-goes-mano-a-mano-with-nsa-director-over-crypo-backdoors/

#5yrsago: A chronology of the Canadian Conservative Party’s war on science under PM Stephen Harper: https://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2013/05/20/the-canadian-war-on-science-a-long-unexaggerated-devastating-chronological-indictment

#5yrsago: Citizenfour, Laura Poitras’s movie about Edward Snowden, wins the Academy Award for best documentary: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/edward-snowden-congratulates-laura-poitras-winning-best-documentary-oscar-citizenfour

#1yrago: Every AOC staffer will earn a living wage: https://www.rollcall.com/2019/02/22/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-call-for-a-living-wage-starts-in-her-office/

#1yrago: Richard Sackler’s “verbal gymnastics” in defending his family’s role in killing 200,000 Americans with opiods: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/sackler-behind-oxycontin-fraud-offered-twisted-mind-boggling-defense/

#1yrago: German neo-Nazis use Qanon memes to signal-boost their messages: https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-fringe-groups-are-using-qanon-to-amplify-their-wild-messages

#1yrago: French courts fine UBS €3.7b for helping French plutes dodge their taxes: https://www.thelocal.fr/20190220/breaking-french-court-hits-swiss-bank-ubs-with-37-billion-fine-in-french-tax-fraud-case

#1yrago: Apple to close down its east Texas stores to avoid having any nexus with America’s worst patent court: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/02/22/apple-closing-stores-in-eastern-district-texas/

#1yrago: Small business cancels its unusably slow Frontier internet service, Frontier sticks them with a $4,300 cancellation fee: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/02/frontier-demands-4300-cancellation-fee-despite-horribly-slow-internet/

#1yrago: Fast food millionaire complains that social media makes kids feel so entitled that they are no longer willing to work for free: https://amp.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/muffin-break-boss-fury-over-youth-who-wont-work-unpaid/news-story/57607ea9a1bbe52ba7746cff031306f2

#1yrago: Apps built with Facebook’s SDK shovel incredible quantities of incredibly sensitive data into Facebook’s gaping maw: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/22/facebook-receives-personal-health-data-from-apps-wsj.html

#1yrago: Super-high end prop horror-movie eyeballs, including kits to make your own: https://fourthsealstudios.com/

#1yrago: EU advances its catastrophic Copyright Directive without fixing any of its most dangerous flaws: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/02/european-governments-approve-controversial-new-copyright-law/

Colophon (permalink)

Today’s top sources: Four Short Links (https://www.oreilly.com/feed/four-short-links), Slashdot (https://slashdot.org), Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/”).

Hugo nominators! My story “Unauthorized Bread” is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Upcoming appearances:

Canada Reads Kelowna: March 5, 6PM, Kelowna Library, 1380 Ellis Street, with CBC’s Sarah Penton https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Currently writing: I just finished a short story, “The Canadian Miracle,” for MIT Tech Review. It’s a story set in the world of my next novel, “The Lost Cause,” a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I’m getting geared up to start work on the novel now, though the timing is going to depend on another pending commission (I’ve been solicited by an NGO) to write a short story set in the world’s prehistory.

Currently reading: I finished Andrea Bernstein’s “American Oligarchs” this week; it’s a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I’m getting really into Anna Weiner’s memoir about tech, “Uncanny Valley.” I just loaded Matt Stoller’s “Goliath” onto my underwater MP3 player and I’m listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/02/10/persuasion-adaptation-and-the-arms-race-for-your-attention/

Upcoming books: “Poesy the Monster Slayer” (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we’re having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

“Attack Surface”: The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.

“Little Brother/Homeland”: A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.

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[due4amiracle]

Day 470

Listo:

Laundry/cleaning, Reading, Dailies, #TTRPGThings, Watching.

Laundry/cleaning - Some garbage thrown away, always more to go! ✔

Reading things - - 4 Ebooks for me, 0 Audiobook for Sir! ...Yea. 218 for the year, 25 for the month! - Vampire Dawn (Vampire for Hire #5) by J.R. Rain 21%! - Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young 50%! This is interesting, it’s... kinda jumping around a bit in time, which kinda confuses me and loses me, but i understand that There Is A Big Thing that we’re working towards and we need that thicc background shit. So. We’ll see if it pulls it off or not. UwU♡ ✔✔✔✔

Dailies - - Waifu Did mah dailies! Also, level 0/50 BP now~! AND! Tree lvl 40/50! Also! 27/43 max friendship namecards acquired! New MONTH! new weeklies! Gem thingy now level 9/10! ♡ω♡✔  ok so i played a little today and? Fuck dude i did like three rolls and that was it.

Candace wanted to come home, i guess. xD

#TTRPGThings - No game today! That’s ok, next week! This gives me more time to Prepare Things. +0 -> 2448 words for the backstory! i meant to write i swear but oh i was distracted by kittens!✔

Watching things - - Vancouver by Night: Season 1 - Episode 10/19! - 100 Club: Episode 5/??! So... behind... oh no... x_x; - New York by Night: Season 1 - Episode 8/8! T_T SEASON TWO FRIDAY AHHH

Other things - Daily Diarrhea Diary - Ehhh, okish. CPAP timer - ?.? hours with 0.0 disturbances. ???/9. Ok look. The CPAP is confused ok? i wore it last night (9/27), all night long, for like 10 fuckin’ hours ok? It’s marked as 0 hours. However, the night before last (9/26), that was marked as zero? Yea it’s marked as 6.4 .2. Which, sus as fuck. And THEN the night before that (9/25), that i have marked down as 8.4 .0? Yea. It’s marked as 11.2 .1. What. The. Fuck. But it’s ok, because i might be able to finagle one of my ‘missed’ days as a ‘mushed’ day (because i did not wear it the night before that, 9/24, which is not even marked down at all - which happens when you don’t wear it on a day.) So! Maybe, could finagle 9/24+9/25 as a “CPAP was confuse, skipped me a day and mushed everything up????” idk. Something like that. Shrug. It’s fine.

Uh yea so. Anyways. Sir went to His training today! Was gone for like 7 fuckin’ hours. Came home. Told me some massively wild astounding news - He’s getting paid $15 an hour. FIFTEEN. We were expecting like, ten? No no no. F I F T E E N. Holy shit. Ok that, first of all, is amazing. But second of all, is terrifying? But it’s ok, Sir did the math, if we bump Him down to 32hrs/week (His hours and stuff are incredibly flexible) He’ll not only squeak in just able to keep His Medicaid, but we’ll also be under the limit for housing! HELL YES! Yes, we’ll lose SNAP, and yes He’ll probably be paying some medical fees now, and yes He’ll be doing some debt consolidation and working down His debt but... we’ll be able to afford it. We’ll be ok. We are ok. This is wild. It harkens back to my last Tarot draw that i did, a few months ago. PPF, 5 of cups, Tower, Chariot. Bitterness, disillusionment || chaos of change || determination, confidence, victory. It’s finally here. We’ve had the chaos, and we’re finally getting that victory. Whew.

Anyways. No perioding. Stress induced migraine, mild abdominal pain, both ears ache, shoulders-but-just-the-back-connected-to-neck-area aches, lungs kinda grungy. Still Very Stressed even though the cards are right and Sir is right and i need to just relax but oh gods the change is bad change is bad. Also very tired. And cold. It’s delightful to be cold and not in the “oh i’m just very sick and it makes me cold” kind of way but more in the “oh it’s actually chilly out” kind of way!

Food: A Liquid: A Pain: D Brain: C

Tomorrow: Laundry/cleaning, Reading, Dailies, #TTRPGThings, Watching.

Ever Onwards and Upwards!

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