But scepticism about libertarian technofetishism has been a bit of a theme in his writing for... a while now. The Vile Offspring in Accelerando are a scarcely-veiled example.

yes, and the skepticism is almost certainly deserved. it drives me insane how naive most libertarians are about how things would actually play out if they got their way. it's sad but true that there probably isn't a clean, self-consistent ideology/system that will work in a messy world. but if I had to pick one, it would be socialism because the only freedom I can imagine being better than having complete control over my money (Ayn Rand) is not even having to worry about it (Star Trek).

> his reads like a movie/music executive complaining about about the open internet

But it's also different; unlike movie execs, Stross knows a fair amount about the open internet, and something about financial systems.