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🔒Enclosure of the Knowledge Commons
The tech case represents a qualitative break from previous industries. Unlike lead, tobacco, and fossil fuels where the object of study was accessible to independent researchers, tech controls whether knowledge can exist at all through proprietary systems and trade secret law.
1. Collective Production
Search queries, social media posts, behavioral patterns, human interactions
2. Proprietary Processing
Training data, model weights, algorithmic decision-making locked in black boxes
3. Privatized Output
Corporate intellectual property inaccessible for democratic governance
The Qualitative Break
Unlike lead/tobacco/climate where the object of study was accessible, tech controls whether knowledge can exist at all
Primitive Accumulation (Federici): Just as the enclosure of common lands required destroying collectively held knowledge systems, AI systems enclose collectively produced data through proprietary processing. The public creates the raw material but cannot access the resulting knowledge—even for democratic self-governance.