This day in history

2004, 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023.

Cory Doctorow
2 min readMay 1, 2024

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I’m on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me THURSDAY (May 2) in WINNIPEG, then Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

#20yrsago Charlie Stross’s future-rant https://web.archive.org/web/20040515161445/http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blosxom.cgi/2004/Apr/29

#20yrsago Apple’s new DRM reneges on your purchase conditions, picks your pocket https://web.archive.org/web/20040624182851/http://lawgeek.typepad.com/lawgeek/2004/04/meet_the_new_it.html

#15yrsago Solitary confinement is torture: psych expert https://web.archive.org/web/20090501235955/https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/solitaryconfinement/

#15yrsago The Doctor Will Sue You Now: the missing chapter of Ben Goldacre’s “Bad Science” about the selling of vitamin therapy instead of anti-virals to AIDS patients in South Africa https://www.badscience.net/2009/04/matthias-rath-steal-this-chapter/

#10yrsago Rob Ford’s mayoral career considered as a reality TV show — straining suspension of disbelief https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/the-ford-show-is-riveting-but-soon-well-stop-believing-it/article18232290/

#10yrsago Email considered harmful https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/04/smartphone-addiction-research-work-email/

#10yrsago WIPO sends criminal prosecution threats over publication of internal docs about its Director General’s corruption https://www.techdirt.com/2014/04/28/shameful-wipo-threatens-blogger-with-criminal-charges-accurately-reporting-wipo-directors-alleged-misconduct/

#5yrsago Jimmy Fallon played a video game on air, meaning that streaming your own game gets you taken down as a pirate, thanks to NBC https://old.reddit.com/r/beatsaber/comments/bi9cp5/beat_saber_stream_blocked_by_jimmy_fallon_show/

#5yrsago Thanks to the 2008 foreclosure crisis, a Kuwaiti ponzi schemer was able to single-handedly blight cities across America https://buffalonews.com/news/local/how-a-kuwaitis-ponzi-scheme-left-a-trail-of-blight-in-buffalo/article_7d39e12a-495f-5bba-b7f4-87d07eefa496.html

#5yrsago Uber drivers across America are going on strike https://philly.curbed.com/2019/4/25/18516670/uber-drivers-shutdown-strike-protest-philly

#5yrsago Facebook never delivered its “Clear History” feature https://www.tomsguide.com/us/facebook-privacy-problems,news-29944.html

#1yrago The seductive, science fictional power of spreadsheets https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/29/gedankenexperimentwahn/#high-on-your-own-supply

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