When the Law Makes Everything Worse

Doctorow dives deep into a disturbing trend of companies using copyright law originally created to fight early-2000s music piracy to control hardware, software, and even replacement parts.

This is why printer companies can lock you into “authorized” ink cartriges, Amazon controls every Audiobook purchased through Audible, and manufacturers can prevent repair, replacement, or modification. These copyright laws are also why cloud platforms can lock your own files behind paywalls.

Copyright has become a weapon to keep you from owning the very things you buy.

And with increasing consolidation, we’re heading toward a world where only a few companies run all social media and email, while one company dominates search.

When these platforms know you have nowhere else to go, their products can rot with impunity.

When Google Makes Search Worse On Purpose

One of the book’s most jaw-dropping examples is Google intentionally degrading its own product. Doctorow notes that Google tweaked search results so users have to perform multiple searches to get what they want, giving Google more chances to show ads, which generates more revenue. They only get away with this because they own 90% of the search market.

Competition keeps companies honest. Monopoly lets them enshittify everything.

What Enshittification Means for the Future

Doctorow warns of a world where social media and email costs money, and basic online communication is locked behind subscription fees. Devices will continue to become even less repairable and more disposable, while privacy becomes an expensive luxury good.

Not because better alternatives are impossible, but because companies profit more by making everything worse. We’re not suffering from a lack of innovation. We’re suffering because the law allows monopolies to tighten their grip.

But There’s Hope If We’re Willing to Fight

Doctorow doesn’t just diagnose the rot. He lays out potential solutions like restoring competition, rebuilding open protocols, enforcing interoperability, strengthening antitrust laws, protecting digital ownership and repair rights, and supporting creative workers in an increasingly hostile digital economy.

For digital creators, writers, musicians, and anyone who depends on online platforms, Doctorow offers a roadmap for reclaiming autonomy.

We Don’t Have to Accept This

Enshittification is not destiny. It’s not natural evolution. It’s not inefficiency or incompetence.

It’s a choice made by powerful corporations because the current legal and economic landscape rewards them for it.

The first step toward fixing the internet is understanding what broke it. Doctorow gives us the vocabulary and the framework we need.

And as for me?

I’m with him.

Because I am absolutely not paying for email, and I’m definitely not paying Zuck for Facebook.