i have a special request to the toolmakers of 2004: stop making tools that magnify and multiply awkward social situations ("a total stranger asserts that he is your friend: click here to tell a reassuring lie; click here to break his heart!") ("someone you don't know very well has invited you to a party: click here to advertise whether or not you'll be there!") ("a 'friend' has exposed your location, down to the meter, on a map of people in his social network, using this keen new location-description protocol—on the same day that you announced that you were leaving town for a week!"). i don't need more "tools" like that, thank you very much.
an important note for 2004: stop trying to build an internet without malefactors, parasites, freeriders and inefficiency. there is no such thing as a parasite-free complex ecology (thank you kathryn myronuk for this formulation). some organisms lamented the existence of mitochondria. others adapted to exploit them and integrate them. some lament the existence of spammers. spammers will always exist: stamping your foot and demanding their nonexistence won't change that: adapt or die.
- cory doctorow, "statements for 2004," dph zerofour december 22, 2003
posted December 22, 2003 in print