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The fact that Internet surveillance isn't totalitarian, however, doesn't mean that it does us no harm. We're watched so that we can be manipulated. Some of this manipulation is welcome. We might revel in algorithmic recommendation of music, we're pleased to be shown an advertisement for sneakers, w…

[...] let's stop rationalizing the inane economics of magazines and newspapers. It's silly to assert that information wants to be free. That was a piece of nineties pablum that has survived far too long. Consumers have no inherent problem paying for words, so long as publishers place a price tag on…

Because circulation was never a profitable business, the Internet hardly required a large leap of imagination. Instead of selling journalism to readers at a loss, media would give it away for nothing. Media executives bet everything on a fantasy: Publishing free articles on the Internet would enabl…