Author and activist Cory Doctorow wants you to understand why online digital platforms are failing users, and he’s fighting for a better internet. “Enshittification” — a word he coined to describe the degradation of online platforms and services — is the slightly profane albeit funny title of his latest book.

Outspoken, prescient and very clever, Cory has spent a quarter of a century explaining abstract digital concepts to non-geeks like me. And now he’s whipping heads across North America, the U.K. and Portugal, in a fast-paced book tour.

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When we connect online for this conversation, Cory appears on my computer screen, game for a deep-dive into the state of the digital world, but visibly weary. He’s just landed in Seattle for an event; the next day, he’s off to the V

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