Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow and Joe Betts-Lacroix on Adversarial Interoperability

Cory Doctorow, Joe Betts-Lacroix

This event analyzes the legal and market barriers preventing adversarial interoperability, contrasting historical precedents like Samba with modern constraints posed by software patents and aggressive Terms of Service enforcement. It highlights how entities like Aaron Patzer and HiQ Labs leveraged scraping to build successful businesses before facing litigation, ultimately arguing for regulatory shifts that protect non-industrial copyright uses and allow startups to challenge monopolistic platforms. The discussion concludes with strategic advice for founders to adopt "graceful recovery" infrastructure and use science fiction as a tool to navigate market concentration while building constituencies that can drive future legal change.