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backus's profile
John Backus
John Backus
John Backus
@backus

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John Backus

@backus

Seeking alternative compression. Hopefully wrong on average. Shameless. Started @getcognito and @bloom

San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2012

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    John Backus‏ @backus Aug 18

    Travis Kalanick, fighting rent seeking industries since 1997. Pictured: Scour, a p2p file sharing search engine launched in 1997 (two years before Napster) by @travisk and several other UCLA students.pic.twitter.com/HbxzsFyDyQ

    2:40 PM - 18 Aug 2018
    • 9 Retweets
    • 32 Likes
    • Tim Thornton 🌵 Yaniv Feldman Tim Parsa Hannah Konitshek Sar Haribhakti Justin de Guzman LOUIS Harry Tormey Joe The Rigolo
    4 replies 9 retweets 32 likes
      1. John Backus‏ @backus Aug 18

        John Backus Retweeted John Backus

        Context: Uber and Napster were similar in that they both had to subvert anti-competitive industries. By refusing to bow down to legal pressure, Uber and Napster lasted long enough to show consumers what technology they were missing out on beforehttps://twitter.com/backus/status/1030882502112464896 …

        John Backus added,

        John Backus @backus
        When possible, software eats the world starting at the obvious entry point: maps become interactive, commerce goes online. In the presence of anti-competitive restrictions, confused startups pile up at the entry point: taxi hailing apps before Uber, digital music before Spotify.
        Show this thread
        1 reply 3 retweets 8 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Dave Craige ⚡️‏ @davecraige Aug 22
        Replying to @backus @travisk

        wasn't this simply a way to steal music?

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. John Backus‏ @backus Aug 22
        Replying to @davecraige @travisk

        The relevant part is comparing Scour (and Napster) to Uber in how they address a market that uses the law to avoid creative destruction. Showing users what they could have before the law can kill it, improving the market for the consumer

        1 reply 1 retweet 1 like
      4. Dave Craige ⚡️‏ @davecraige Aug 22
        Replying to @backus @travisk

        dunno. They just used their billions to break a lot of established laws. Many taxi drivers I talk to have to pay $6k more each year in insurance and fees.

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. John Backus‏ @backus Aug 22
        Replying to @davecraige @travisk

        Yes, I’m not saying the taxi drivers lives are better. On net, I think the ride for hire market is obviously better for consumers

        1 reply 1 retweet 0 likes
      6. Dave Craige ⚡️‏ @davecraige Aug 22
        Replying to @backus @travisk

        well of course. Consumers love cheap stuff. Investors are paying for 59% of your ride. https://www.google.com/amp/s/motherboard.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/9a3vye/uber-true-cost-uh-oh …pic.twitter.com/XQY2E7TMfQ

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Kacper Wikieł‏ @kacperwikiel Aug 18
        Replying to @backus @travisk

        Check out this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QrX5jsiico … Travis on #failcon in 2011 talking about this

        1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
      3. John Backus‏ @backus Aug 19
        Replying to @kacperwikiel @travisk

        That was interesting, thanks for the share

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      4. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Jason Droege‏ @jdroege Aug 22
        Replying to @backus @travisk

        Nice. Where’d you find this?

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. John Backus‏ @backus Aug 22
        Replying to @jdroege @travisk

        Been researching p2p history. Writing a post on penetrating anti-competitive markets, comparing Uber and Napster. Someone responded to one of my other tweets reminding me about Scour, so I dug this out of the internet archive

        1 reply 1 retweet 0 likes
      4. Jason Droege‏ @jdroege Aug 22
        Replying to @backus @travisk

        Not a lot of tech companies rallying their customers to read about copyright law back then :)

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. End of conversation

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