Podcasting “Inside the Clock Tower”

Reading my Consumer Reports story about an interoperable future.

Today on my podcast, I read “Inside the Clock Tower,” a short science fiction story for Consumer Reports that depicts a future of interoperable social media (as contemplated by the recently introduced ACCESS Act).

https://digital-lab.consumerreports.org/2021/06/15/inside-the-clock-tower/

The ACCESS Act would require large social media platforms to create gateways (APIs) that new services could plug into, so that users who quit the monopoly services would still be able to talk to the friends, customers and communities they left behind

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/access-act-takes-step-towards-more-interoperable-future

When people — both critics and apologists — argue about digital monopolies, they tend to over-emphasize the “network effects” and give short shrift to “switching costs.”

A product or service has network effects if it gets more valuable when new people sign up for it. You might hate Facebook but still use it because you value the people you can talk to there.

That’s network effects — a mutual hostage-taking where everyone uses it because everyone uses it. Any attempt to quit means choosing between your…