Doctorow on Swartz

Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing on Aaron Swartz.

US figures out how to have a General Strike

Corporate USia thought it had rendered the General Strike harmless, moot, because instead of unions enabling workers to own their labor, corporations figured out how to own their workers. ows is the only way corporate USia could have a general strike.

The corporate form

The corporation is legally bound to put its bottom line ahead of everything else, even the public good.

Hunting Eagles and Toast

We flatter ourselves that we act, by creating images of perfervid calisthenic motion in service of some end:



We make more of these images all the time.



In service of some end.

Meanwhile, we regard guys who go to the trouble of casting the Mona Lisa on manifold pieces of toast with condescension:



As General Motors/Countrywide/Name Your Bank/AIG fails. It took many years to make these creatures. Their scale was law, free and clear, unto itself.

They were free to rise. Were we free from their rise? Are we free from their fall?

The Inspector will see you now

A necessary fence:

Murka is a country founded on the rights of property, and about the only thing that's changed since its bloody birth is that some things that were once property — ie: people — achieved legal personhood (after much more bloodletting, of course). It's also interesting to consider that shortly after this wrenching transformation of property into people — so vigorously and violently opposed, remember — that a new class of person was created, almost as if to compensate for the loss; and, in a fitting irony, these newly defined legal fictitious entities, these "corporate persons", quickly became everyone's new master, making slaves of us all. Read the whole thing.

bloodlines of legitimation

AKMA notes the curious fact that the "legitimate" online offerings from music companies typically offer no added value, no lyrics, no liner notes, nuthin', in other words, that would differentiate the "legitimate" from the pirated file.

I'll add this one to the pile of examples of USian Grifterism (a pile which includes, among other things, certain forms of mortgages, FEMA, several major corporations and the entire Bush Administration).

For the record co's, the thing that makes their pay-for-it files "legitimate" has nothing to do with the listener, or with the music, or with the quality of the file. It has to do with the contractual relationship of the corporation to the property.

This is the working definition of legitimacy in USia. It's also the reason we have no culture, no community, and no public forums for consensual intelligence. Legitimacy by contract is not love. It is the blood of USia, and it's poison.

imhfo, of course.

David Lynch, Man of Mystery

remerciements a Tony

eBay on my mind. like a rash

I thought I'd do some early seasonal shopping on eBay. I found the sort of thing I wanted. It stated a flat rate rather than staging an "auction," but allowed me to make an offer. This was new to me, unpracticed in the way of th'eBay, but I did, and two days later, got an excited email informing me that my offer was accepted.

Congratulations! You committed to buy the following item:

I went to pay, and learned that the actual payment would require my going to an external site.

Payment details: Please be sure to use our Marketworks Checkout

hmmm.

Before taking that step, I asked for shipping costs. Got an email back from "Kris" - an associate with the vendor. The shipping seemed a bit high. I clicked the link on Kris' email to the seller's site, and found no sign of a geographical location. Geezerly of me, I guess, to want to actually know where in space the seller to whom I'm sending money in expectation of receiving the very product advertised is located.

But I asked Kris, who replied:

Dear Valued Customer,

We ship out of KY.

Sincerely,

Kris

Oh.

Kris,

This does not answer my question. I will not send money in payment until I have your complete address. I tried calling your customer service number and was unable to reach a live representative.

To which:

Dear Valued Customer,

You have to pay using our checkout method, we do not accept mailed in payments..

We accept either paying with a credit card or using paypal.

Sincerely,

Kris

==

Kris,

I am aware that I will use a credit card for payment. My reason for requiring your business address is that I am unwilling to pay for something to a seller whose physical location is unknown to me. It has to do with having recourse in case anything goes wrong. All I have is email and a telephone number that does not bring me a live person.

If you are unwilling to provide a full address of your headquarters and the name of the president of your firm, then please cancel this transaction.

Thanks

Tom

Dear Valued Customer,

I understand.

Well Michael Rubin is the CEO/president.

Sincerely,

Kris

I should mention, somewhere in the original confirmation I was informed:

• Your purchase is a contract and you have committed to buy this item. Please contact the seller to arrange payment.

In all, there were 13 emails and one useless phone call, giving the Valued Customer, in the end, the alleged name of the ceo, but withholding any physical address.

If you're doing business in the world, selling stuff and receiving money, don't you need to actually BE somewhere?

Well apparently not. Not even virtually, it seems. I went back just now to find their "presence" on eBay:

Sorry, this store does not exist. ##1## ##2##