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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 day

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Paying for it doesn't make it a market

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, then Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Anyone who says "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product" has been suckered in by Big Tech, whose cargo-cult version of markets and the discipline they impose on companies.

Here's the way that story goes: companies that fear losing your business will treat you better, because treating you worse will cost them money. Since ad-supported media gets paid by advertisers, they are fine with abusing you to make advertisers happy, because the advertiser is the customer, and you are the product.

This represents a profound misunderstanding of how even capitalism's champions describe its workings. The purported virtue of capitalism is that it transforms the capitalist's greed into something of broad public value, by appealing to the capitalist's fear. A successful capitalist isn't merely someone figures out how to please their customers – they're also someone who figures out how to please their suppliers.

That's why tech platforms were – until recently – very good to (some of) their workforce. Technical labor was scarce and so platforms built whimsical "campuses" for tech workers, with amenities ranging from stock options to gourmet cafeterias to egg-freezing services for those workers planning to stay at their desks through their fertile years. Those workers weren't the "customer" – but they were treated better than any advertiser or user.

But when it came to easily replaced labor – testers, cleaning crew, the staff in those fancy cafeterias – the situation was much worse. Those workers were hired through cut-out shell companies, denied benefits, even made to enter via separate entrances on shifts that were scheduled to minimize the chance that they would ever interact with one of the highly paid tech workers at the firm.

Likewise, advertisers may be the tech companies' "customers" but that doesn't mean the platforms treat them well. Advertisers get ripped off just like the rest of us. The platforms gouge them on price, lie to them about advertising reach, and collude with one another to fix prices and defraud advertisers:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/05/florida-man/#wannamakers-ghost

Now, it's true that the advertisers used to get a good deal from the platforms, and that it came at the expense of the users. Facebook lured in users by falsely promising never to spy on them. Then, once the users were locked in, Facebook flipped a switch, started spying on users from asshole to appetite, and then offered rock-bottom-priced, fine-grained, highly reliable ad-targeting to advertisers:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3247362

But once those advertisers were locked in, Facebook turned on them, too. Of course they did. The point of monopoly power isn't just getting too big to fail and too big to jail – it's getting too big to care:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

This is the thing that "if you're not paying for the product, you're the product" fails to comprehend. "If you're not paying for the product" is grounded in a cartoonish vision of markets in which "the customer is king" and successful businesses are those who cater to their customers – even at the expense of their workers and suppliers – will succeed.

In this frame, the advertiser is the platforms' customer, the customer is king, the platform inflicts unlimited harm upon all other stakeholders in service to those advertisers, the advertisers are so pleased with this white-glove service that they willingly pay a handsome premium to use the platform, and so the platform grows unimaginably wealthy.

But of course, if the platforms inflict unlimited harms upon their users, those users will depart, and then no amount of obsequious catering to advertisers will convince them to spend money on ads that no one sees. In the cargo-cult conception of platform capitalism, the platforms are able to solve this problem by "hacking our dopamine loops" – depriving us of our free will with "addictive" technologies that keep us locked to their platforms even when they grow so terrible that we all hate using them.

This means that we can divide the platform economy into "capitalists" who sell you things, and "surveillance capitalists" who use surveillance data to control your mind, then sell your compulsive use of their products to their cherished customers, the advertisers.

Surveillance capitalists like Google are thus said to have only been shamming when they offered us a high-quality product. That was just a means to an end: the good service Google offered in its golden age was just bait to trick us into handing over enough surveillance data that they could tune their mind-control technology, strip us of our free will, and then sell us to their beloved advertisers, for whom nothing is too good.

Meanwhile, the traditional capitalists – the companies that sell you things – are the good capitalists. Apple and Microsoft are disciplined by market dynamics. They won't spy on you because you're their customer, and so they have to keep you happy.

All this leads to an inexorable conclusion: unless we pay for things with money, we are doomed. Any attempt to pay with attention will end in a free-for-all where the platforms use their Big Data mind-control rays to drain us of all our attention. It is only when we pay with money that we can dicker over price and arrive at a fair and freely chosen offer.

This theory is great for tech companies: it elevates giving them money to a democracy-preserving virtue. It reframes handing your cash over to a multi-trillion dollar tech monopolist as good civics. It's easy to see why those tech giants would like that story, but boy, are you a sap if you buy it.

Because all capitalists are surveillance capitalists…when they can get away with it. Sure, Apple blocked Facebook from spying on Ios users…and then started illegally, secretly spying on those users and lying about it, in order to target ads to those users:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

And Microsoft spies on every Office 365 user and rats them out to their bosses ("Marge, this analytics dashboard says you're the division's eleventh-worst speller and twelfth-worst typist. Shape up or ship out!"). But the joke's on your boss: Microsoft also spies on your whole company and sells the data about it to your competitors:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/25/the-peoples-amazon/#clippys-revengel

The platforms screw anyone they can. Sure, they lured in advertisers with good treatment, but once those advertisers were locked in, they fucked them over just as surely as they fucked over their users.

The surveillance capitalism hypothesis depends on the existence of a hypothetical – and wildly improbably – Big Data mind-control technology that keeps users locked to platforms even when the platform decays. Mind-control rays are an extraordinary claim supported by the thinnest of evidence (marketing materials from the companies as they seek to justify charging a premium to advertisers, combined with the self-serving humblebrags of millionaire Prodigal Tech Bros who claim to have awakened to the evil of using their dopamine-hacking sorcerous powers on behalf of their billionaire employers).

There is a much simpler explanation for why users stay on platforms even as they decline in quality: they are enmeshed in a social service that encompasses their friends, loved ones, customers, and communities. Even if everyone in this sprawling set of interlocking communities agrees that the platform is terrible, they will struggle to agree on what to do about it: where to go next and when to leave. This is the economists' "collective action problem" – a phenomenon with a much better evidentiary basis than the hypothetical, far-fetched "dopamine loop" theory.

To understand whom a platform treats well and whom it abuses, look not to who pays it and who doesn't. Instead, ask yourself: who has the platform managed to lock in? The more any stakeholder to a platform stands to lose by leaving, the worse the platform can treat them without risking their departure. Thus the beneficent face that tech companies turn to their most cherished tech workers, and the hierarchy of progressively more-abusive conditions for other workers – worse treatment for those whose work-visas are tied to their employment, and the very worst treatment for contractors testing the code, writing the documentation, labelling the data or cleaning the toilets.

If you care about how people are treated by platforms, you can't just tell them to pay for services instead of using ad-supported media. The most important factor in getting decent treatment out of a tech company isn't whether you pay with cash instead of attention – it's whether you're locked in, and thus a flight risk whom the platform must cater to.

It's perfectly possible for market dynamics to play out in a system in which we pay with our attention by watching ads. More than 50% of all web users have installed an ad-blocker, the largest boycott in the history of civilization:

https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/

Ad-supported companies make an offer: How about in exchange for looking at this content, you let us spy on you in ways that would make Orwell blush and then cram a torrent of targeted ads into your eyeballs?" Ad-blockers let you make a counter-offer: "How about 'nah'?"

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

But ad-blocking is only possible on an open platform. A closed, locked-down platform that is illegal to modify isn't a walled garden, a fortress that keeps out the bad guys – it's a walled prison that locks you in, a prisoner of the worst impulses of the tech giant that built it. Apple can defend you from other companies' spying ways, but when Apple decides to spy on you, it's a felony to jailbreak your Iphone and block Apple's surveillance:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

I am no true believer in markets – but the people who say that paying for products will "align incentives" and make tech better claim to believe in the power of markets to make everyone better off. But real markets aren't just places where companies sell things – they're also places where companies buy things. Monopolies short-circuit the power of customer choice to force companies to do better. But monopsonies – markets dominated by powerful buyers – are just as poisonous to the claimed benefits of markets.

Even if you are "the product" – that is, even if you're selling your attention to a platform to package up and sell to an advertiser – that in no way precludes your getting decent treatment from the platform. A world where we can avail ourselves of blockers, where interoperablity eases our exodus from abusive platforms, where privacy law sets a floor below which we cannot bargain is a world where it doesn't matter if you're "the product" or "the customer" – you can still get a square deal.

The platforms used to treat us well and now treat us badly. That's not because they were setting a patient trap, luring us in with good treatment in the expectation of locking us in and turning on us. Tech bosses do not have the executive function to lie in wait for years and years.

Rather, as tech platforms eliminated competition, captured their regulators and expanded their IP rights so that interoperability was no longer a threat, they became too big to care whether any of their stakeholders were happy. First they came for the users, sure, but then they turned on the publishers, the advertisers, and finally, even their once-pampered tech workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/10/the-proletarianization-of-tech-workers/

MLK said that "the law can't make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me." It's impossible to get tech bosses to believe you deserve care and decency, but you can stop them from abusing you. The way to do that is by making them fear you – by abolishing the laws that create lock-in, by legally enshrining a right to privacy, by protecting competition.

It's not by giving them money. Paying for a service does not make a company fear you, and anyone who thinks they can buy a platform's loyalty by paying for a service is a simp. A corporation is an immortal, transhuman colony organism that uses us as inconvenient gut-flora: no matter how much you love it, it will never love you back. It can't experience love – only fear.

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/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/#dont-buy-it

#pluralistic #if youre not paying for the product youre the product #competition #capitalists hate capitalism #discipline #market discipline #the old good internet

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tomssexdoll · 3 days

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okay so y/n asks 2009-2010 tom to go to a party with her friend but tom doesnt allow, so she goes there secretly. at the end of the party tom waits y/n with his black lambo looking real mad and then he fucks her real hard because she basically escaped (do this like real rough and mean) (ONLY IF U WANT TO BTWW!!)😭

yess!

Brat taming

PAIRINGS: Tom 2010 x Female reader CONTENT: ANGST + SMUT + FLUFF SYPNOSIS: Y/N wants to go to a friends birthday party but Tom knows that there will be a bunch of guys there and ones that he really didn't like. Y/N is really upset but decides to play it cool so she can sneak out later, she wasn't going to miss her friends birthday cause of Tom. A/N: AHHH WARNINGS: dom!tom, sub!reader, p in v (missionary), rough fingering, overstimulation, degrading

"Hey Tom, I'm going to my friends party tonight" I approached him as he cooked us lunch, he furrowed his eyebrow "which friend?" turning his head to face me, "casandra" I smiled and hugged his waist from behind.

He grunted, "the one who knows every single guy I hate" I rolled my eyes "Tom it's fine, they probably won't be there" he turned around and towered over me "no, you aren't going, I know what she's like and I know what those guys are like" he growled lowly.

"Tom! That's not fair it's her birthday!" I whined, he grabbed my arm softly "I said no, nothing you say will convince me, sit down and eat" he sighed.

I hesitated for a second but obliged, he was right, nothing would convince him, but that doesn't mean I don't have other ways. I kept my cool so he wouldn't suspect me of doing anything later in the night.

After dinner we cleaned up and watched a movie, I tried to make everything as smooth as possible and texted casandra my plan, we had decided that 12am would be the best time for me to arrive and that I'd call an uber.

As the movie finished I acted sleepy, slouching on him. I felt his arms wrap around me and lift me up, "time for bed baby.." he chuckled and carried me to the bed, plopping me on there and coming up behind me, spooning me tightly. "Goodnight..." I mumbled, my facade working perfectly.

"Goodnight baby girl, sleep well" he kissed the top of my head, nuzzling his face into my neck.

As Tom layed asleep, I slowly peeled his arms off me, getting up from the bed and slipping on the dress I had hid beside the bed. He slowly woke up, tossing and turning "mm, baby where are you going.." he mumbled.

I cursed under my breath and turned to face him, luckily it was dark so he couldn't see the outfit I was in right now. "Just going to the bathroom baby go back to sleep.." I whispered and walked into the bathroom, quickly doing my makeup and hair.

As I opened the door I heard Tom softly snoring, I sighed, feeling a bit guilty but knew I had to go to this party, after all it was my friends birthday.

I slowly walked to the window, opening it quietly and jumping out. There was grass on the bottom so it didn't make a lot of noise, then I quickly slipped my heels on and ran off, jumping into my uber.

I arrived at her house, music blasting from the inside, vibrating the ground. I stepped inside and greeted casandra, handing her a bottle of vodka I had stopped to get on the way as a present. She smiled brightly and kissed my cheek, running to her bedroom and stashing it there. As she came back she hugged me, "oh thank you so much that is my favourite brand of vodka" I chuckled "yeah I knoww, but why did you lock it away, aren't you gonna drink it tonight?" she scoffed "no way! That is special and it's expensive so I'm keeping it for myself" she tapped my chin teasingly, I smiled and apprecited what she'd done.

As the night strung along, I had 3 cocktails and 4 shots, I was pretty drunk but not too drunk and decided to leave it at that, I wanted to talk with people and have fun, not be blackout drunk and possibly get kidnapped.

I talked to multiple people, some of the guys Tom hated weren't that bad, they were respectful and really nice. The conversation never turned sexual and always focused on goals and achievements.

TOMS POV:

I woke up to a cold breeze hitting me, confused, thinking I had left the window open. I went to get up but realized Y/N wasn't in bed with me, I remember her getting up for the toilet but that was ages ago..wasn't it?

I checked the time and it was 4am, I got up and checked the bathroom, nothing, the kitchen, nothing, the living room, nothing.

Then it sparked and I realized what she had done, I shouldn't of fell for it, she acted too calm about the situation. Usually she'd get really upset and argue with me about it for hours but she was pretty accepting of it.

I rubbed my temples in frustration, anger coursing through my body. "For fuck sakes..she's in so much fucking trouble" I grunted and grabbed my keys, slamming the front door and getting into my car, speeding off to this shitty party.

Y/NS POV:

At this point the party was pretty much finished, everyone was either passed out in various spots around the house or had gone home. I decided to go outside and have a cigarette with the guy I was talking to. We talked about high school and all the stupid things we did.

As I was taking a drag of my cigarette I suddenly heard crackling sounds, screeching of tires filling the air, I rolled my eyes and assumed it was some stupid teenagers doing burnout, but I listened more closely, a small squeeking noise, the noise that hit too close to home.

A sound that would only come from Tom's car, my eyes widened as I realised I had been caught, there was no way I was going to be able to walk tomorrow. I thought I successfully got away with it.

I watched as Tom's car came to a halt, his dark figure emerging from the car and storming over towards me. When the light illuminated his face I saw the pure rage and disgust in his eyes, his fists clenched at his sides and his chest heaving up and down.

"Why the fuck did you sneak out" he yelled "and why the fuck are you with him?" he scoffed, mocking the guy. He just rolled his eyes and walked off, giving me a 'goodluck' look.

"I knew you weren't going to be convinced with anything I said so I took matters into my own hands" I said non chalantly, shrugging my shoulders. I saw anger flash in his eyes, he grabbed my arm roughly "I'm not fucking dealing with your attitude, wait till we get home" he growled lowly, dragging me to the car.

No matter how angry he was, Tom never ever hit me, not a single finger or anything. He wasn't so rough with me to the point where I was bruised or hurt. Yes, he can be rough at times but the thought of hurting me has never crossed his mind.

He shoved me in and got into the drivers seat, starting the car and speeding off back home. I slouched in my seat, "I wasn't going to miss my friends birthday party because you don't approve of a group of guys, they weren't even bad, they were so nice to me" crossing my arms, his grip tightened on the wheel, his jaw clenching roughly.

"Shut up, you dont know what they're capable of" he pulled into the driveway, I got out of the car and slammed the door, walking inside the house. I set down my things on the couch and sat down, sighing deeply. My head was throbbing from all the alcohol, Tom emerged into the room and looked down at me "go to the bedroom and strip, now" he demanded, his tone cruel and dark.

I scoffed "no, I'm going to sit here and watch a movie and then go to bed" he chuckled angrily and grabbed me, pulling me closer to him. He towered over me, looking at me threateningly "do as your told or you won't be able to walk at all tomorrow" I sighed in defeat and walked upstairs, stepping into our shared bedroom, taking my dress off.

I threw it to the side and clipped my bra off, sliding my panties off, disposing of those too. I sat on the bed and waited for him, nervous and excited for what awaited me.

I heard Toms heavy footsteps coming closer, he stormed into the room, slamming the door shut behind him. "Always acting like a fucking brat" he walked towards me, pulling me up and smashing his lips into mine, I moaned into the kiss, giving him access to shove his tongue into my mouth.

Our tongues fought for dominance, his hand sliding down to my ass and giving it a harsh smack, I yelped and pulled away. His head buried into the crook of my neck, kissing and sucking harshly, leaving marks everywhere, "you're mine.." he growled, pushing me onto the bed harshly, climbing on top of me and loosening his belt, taking his pants off in a hurry, rage still filled in his eyes.

"Can't even listen to me, you have to act out" he reached out and grabbed my thighs pulling them closer towards him, I felt his clothed erection press against my aching pussy, "mm..please.." I mumbled, begging for his cock.

He grabbed my hair roughly, tugging on it, "don't be impatient, or you'll get nothing" he spat, I whined as I watched him pull his cock out. It stood tall, throbbing and super veiny.

"You're going to take it like the fucking slut you are, ok?" he demanded, grabbing my chin roughly to face him, I nodded and bit my lip, feeling his tip tease my entrance.

I knew I couldn't complain, all I had to do was sit there and painfully wait for his massive cock to punish me. "Oh fuck!" I cried out as he shoved half of his length in, my pussy resisting his cock. He grunted and grabbed my hips, digging his nails into them and leaving deep marks on the skin, trying to push himself in more.

"Fucking hell" he groaned, spitting on his hands and rubbing it onto the rest of his cock, slowly pushing in and fitting all of himself in me. I felt super full, unable to even think.

"Fuck.." I whispered my head lolling back, he chuckled evily, retracting his cock and slamming it back in, creating a brutal pace, his tip instatly hitting my g spot, abusing it.

"Ah! Too much Tom!" I whimpered, he growled and went faster, "you shouldn't of acted up so much..could've avoided this" his cock rammed in and out of me, my pussy able to handle everything that was happening.

Tom was pretty big, 8 inches. Even when he was gentle it hurt. But he always made sure I was ok, I guess this time was different, his cock balls deep in me, pounding into me mercilessly.

The pain slowly turned into pleasure, my clit was aching, desperate for attention. I cried out, grabbing one of his hands and moving it to his clit, he chuckled "so needy huh? my cock can't satisfy you enough?" his fingers latching onto my clit and rubbing rough circles.

"Such a slut.." he mumbled, growing more and more impatient. "You're so lucky, I give you everything and yet you still fucking act out", I whimpered "sorry..", he rolled his eyes "sorry won't cut it" his grip loosening on my hips and removing a hand off my clit, moving to my breasts, squeezing them tightly.

I moaned as his fingers grazed over my sensitive nipples, wrapping my legs around his waist and bringing him in closer, the pleasure hitting me in intense waves, making me arch my back.

Tom grinned as I arched my back, his head diving into my tits, sucking them cruely, his teeth biting my nipples softly.

I felt a knot building in my stomach, slowly coiling down to my core, his hips slapping against mine in a rhythmic pattern, he took me hard and fast, his breath came in ragged gasps as his release built up.

"Cum with me baby.." he growled, catching my lips in a rough kiss. I kissed him back, his tongue slipping into my mouth. With every powerful thrust, he relished the feeling of my body wrapping around him like a second skin. "Holy fuck...gonna cum" he groaned, my tight walls clenching around his cock sent waves on pleasure coursing throughout his body.

With one last brutal thrust he emptied himself in me, painting my walls white. Shortly after his orgasm I came too, my body shuddering as i did.

He slowly pulled out, crawling behind me on the bed and grabbing me, pulling me closer. I felt his cock pressed up against my back and his fingers slithering around to my pussy, sliding 2 figits in my pussy and pushing our cum back in.

I whimpered, the overstimulation setting in, "tommy no! too much!" I complained, tears falling down my cheeks, "shut up.." he said coldly, thrusting his fingers in roughly, curling his fingers at my g spot.

"Cum for me again.." he growled, slamming his fingers in and out. I was so wet that the wrong move would send his fingers flying out of me. He held me tightly and reached his thumb up to rub my clit.

I was becoming super overstimulated, the pleasure way too much for me. "Tom!" I cried out, nearing another orgasm.

"Cmon!" he shouted, pounding my pussy with his fingers, my pussy clenched again, engulfing his fingers. "Fuck yeah.." he muttered, teasing my g spot.

"Mmm! Gonna cum!" I cried out, cumming all over his fingers, whimpering as the orgasm hurt a little. He pulled his fingers out, licking the juices off clean.

He looked down at me, my body shaking and my eyes droopy, "oh baby..you're so sleepy" he chuckles, grabbing my small frame and laying us properly on the bed, holding me tight.

"This is what happens when you disobey me baby..you know that" he sighed, "when will you learn" he stroked my hair softly as I fell asleep in his arms.

tags: @tomscumdump @tomscumdoll @tomkaulitzloverr @syylss @charliesgoodboy @ge-billsgf @20doozers @miyukafujii @bkaulitzlover @ballhair

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