What? Ignoring the fact that I can't figure out what your second sentence means, obviously he's comparing it to forced labor. That's what we're talking about.
Trying to clarify what I mean, I'll probably give up after this as I'm
on my 3rd day of very little sleep so perhaps I'm just incoherent.
My reading of his linked essay is as a discussion of the power dynamic
between users and companies they rely on. This is compared with a
romanticized version of feudalism. While the users are not compelled
to actually use these services, once they enter into them they are at
the mercy of the companies (feudal lords) to not take advantage of
their much greater position of power (like his version of the early
feudal era serfs).
