We are all fluent in the language of the internet now, which is to say we can read a consent screen at 20 paces. The sentence always opens the same way. We care about your privacy. Then comes the flood: partners, legitimate interests, performance cookies, social media pixels, audience measurement.
Somewhere, off to the side, a faintly apologetic button invites you to manage preferences. The larger, shinier one asks you to accept. This ritualised exchange has nothing to do with customer care. It is a choreography of resignation.
Cory Doctorow has given this feeling a name: enshittification. In his new book, he argues that digital platforms get worse in a predictable sequence. First they are excitingly new and easy to use. Then they become more solicitous towards their business customers at the expense of their users.
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