Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

Economists praise "price discrimination" as "efficient." That's when a company charges customers different sums based on inferences about their willingness to pay. But when a firm sells you something for $2 that someone else can buy for $1, they're valuing the dollars in your pocket at half the rate of the other guy's.

--

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

https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/24/price-discrimination/#algorithmic-pricing

1/

A busy 1950s grocery store. The scene has been altered: the massive, menacing, glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' hovers over the store, shooting red beams into the cash register. The store -- but not the shoppers at its front -- is suffused with red light. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
A busy 1950s grocery store. The scene has been altered: the massive, menacing, glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' hovers over the store, shooting red beams into the cash register. The store -- but not the shoppers at its front -- is suffused with red light. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
A busy 1950s grocery store. The scene has been altered: the massive, menacing, glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' hovers over the store, shooting red beams into the cash register. The store -- but not the shoppers at its front -- is suffused with red light. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
tasket
@tasket@mas.to  ·  activity timestamp 2 hours ago
@pluralistic I know this is due to a limitation in Mastodon, but please consider not posting entire articles in small pieces on fedi. A summary (even in 2 or 3 parts) with a link to your blog would suffice. Or you could put the entire thing in one post.

That way my TL would not get that "overrun with replies" look if I followed you. (I used to follow you...)

@Gargron#mastodon
Jupiter Rowland
@jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

@ Ben Pate 🤘🏻 In the words of a diaspora* developer, if Mozilla and Vivaldi "implemented ActivityPub", they'd actually "implement Mastodon". That'd mean catching more users with less effort than implementing vanilla ActivityPub and implementing features that Mastodon doesn't have. Besides, both used to have or still have a Mastodon server, but they don't seem to be aware that there's a Fediverse beyond Mastodon, much less what it's like and how it works.

In fact, they wouldn't even implement the ActivityPub C2S API at all. They'd implement the Mastodon client API and only the Mastodon client API.

CC: @rakoo @Tim Chambers

# Long # LongPost # CWLong # CWLongPost # FediMeta # FediverseMeta # CWFediMeta # CWFediverseMeta # Fediverse # ActivityPub # Mastodon # MastodonAPI
Break3 Studios
@b3s@mas.to  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

February 1st marked Global Switch Day -A celebration of the Fediverse and a chance to move away from corporate social media.

I reflected on platforms like Mastodon, PeerTube, PixelFed, and Loops. If you’ve ever thought about making the switch, now’s the time.

Reply via your timeline 🌀
https://new.vex.blue/articles/2025/02/01/global-switch-day

#Fediverse#SwitchDay #Mastodon#PeerTube#PixelFed#Loops#DecentralisedWeb #ActivityPub
⚯ Michel de Cryptadamus ⚯
@cryptadamist@universeodon.com  ·  activity timestamp 7 days ago

Ω🪬Ω
new release of #Fedialgo, the customizable timeline algorithm / filtering system for your Mastodon feed, counts the number of times each hashtag appears in your timeline even if people don't use a "#" character to give you a better sense of what people are talking about in the Fediverse.

there's a little bit of art vs. science here because some strings are disqualified from this kind of counting (e.g. a word like "the" should not be counted even if some maniac decided to make it a hashtag) so let me know if you see any weirdly high counts.

* Link: https://michelcrypt4d4mus.github.io/fedialgo_demo_app_foryoufeed/
* Code: https://github.com/michelcrypt4d4mus/fedialgo_demo_app_foryoufeed
* Video of FediAlgo in action: https://universeodon.com/@cryptadamist/114395249311910522

#activitypub #algorithm #algorithmicFeed #algorithmicTimeline#Fedi#FediTips#FediTools #Fediverse#Feed#FOSS#Masto #MastoAdmin #Mastodon #mastohelp#MastoJS #nodejs #node #opensource#SocialWeb #timeline#TL#webdev #hashtag #typescript
jfmblinux :jeditux:
@jfmblinux@mastodon.jfmblinux.fr  ·  activity timestamp 7 days ago

🇫🇷
Présentation du Fediverse : une nouvelle ère des médias sociaux par @ele

Le fédivers expliqué en 4 minutes : regardez dès maintenant pour découvrir un tout nouvel univers des réseaux sociaux, où la vie privée est respectée, les utilisateurs détiennent le pouvoir et les GAFAM n'ont pas leur mot à dire.

https://news.elenarossini.com/fedivers-video/

🇬🇧
Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media by @ele

The Fediverse explained in 4 minutes: watch now to discover a whole new world of social media, where privacy is respected, users are empowered, and Big Tech has no say.

https://news.elenarossini.com/fediverse-video/

#TheFutureIsFederated #fediverse #pixelfed #Mastodon#Opensource#NoGAFAM #RegainPrivacy#NoSpy

🇬🇧 Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media by @ele@elenarossini.com The Fediverse explained in 4 minutes: watch now to discover a whole new world of social media, where privacy is respected, users are empowered, and Big Tech has no say. #TheFutureIsFederated #fediverse #pixelfed #Mastodon #Opensource #NoGAFAM #RegainPrivacy #NoSpy
🇬🇧 Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media by @ele@elenarossini.com The Fediverse explained in 4 minutes: watch now to discover a whole new world of social media, where privacy is respected, users are empowered, and Big Tech has no say. #TheFutureIsFederated #fediverse #pixelfed #Mastodon #Opensource #NoGAFAM #RegainPrivacy #NoSpy
🇬🇧 Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media by @ele@elenarossini.com The Fediverse explained in 4 minutes: watch now to discover a whole new world of social media, where privacy is respected, users are empowered, and Big Tech has no say. #TheFutureIsFederated #fediverse #pixelfed #Mastodon #Opensource #NoGAFAM #RegainPrivacy #NoSpy
🇫🇷 Présentation du Fediverse : une nouvelle ère des médias sociaux par @ele@elenarossini.com Le fédivers expliqué en 4 minutes : regardez dès maintenant pour découvrir un tout nouvel univers des réseaux sociaux, où la vie privée est respectée, les utilisateurs détiennent le pouvoir et les GAFAM n'ont pas leur mot à dire. #TheFutureIsFederated #fediverse #pixelfed #Mastodon #Opensource #NoGAFAM #RegainPrivacy #NoSpy
🇫🇷 Présentation du Fediverse : une nouvelle ère des médias sociaux par @ele@elenarossini.com Le fédivers expliqué en 4 minutes : regardez dès maintenant pour découvrir un tout nouvel univers des réseaux sociaux, où la vie privée est respectée, les utilisateurs détiennent le pouvoir et les GAFAM n'ont pas leur mot à dire. #TheFutureIsFederated #fediverse #pixelfed #Mastodon #Opensource #NoGAFAM #RegainPrivacy #NoSpy
🇫🇷 Présentation du Fediverse : une nouvelle ère des médias sociaux par @ele@elenarossini.com Le fédivers expliqué en 4 minutes : regardez dès maintenant pour découvrir un tout nouvel univers des réseaux sociaux, où la vie privée est respectée, les utilisateurs détiennent le pouvoir et les GAFAM n'ont pas leur mot à dire. #TheFutureIsFederated #fediverse #pixelfed #Mastodon #Opensource #NoGAFAM #RegainPrivacy #NoSpy