https://craphound.com/littlebrother/Cory_Doctorow_-_Little_B...
I read it a while ago, so I might be wrong, but it was a good read at any rate.
The intro to Cory Doctorow's story says he wrote it in 2007.
The story I'm thinking of was probably a short in an anthology that I must've bought in paperback in the early-to-mid 1990s.
It's a neat idea to parallel-invent, or to reference.
(I donated all my SF books around 2000, but now I should see whether I can find the book on Amazon or somewhere.)
Edit: It might've been in "Mirrorshades: An anthology of Cyberpunk", edited by Bruce Sterling, 1998.
https://craphound.com/littlebrother/Cory_Doctorow_-_Little_B...
I read it a while ago, so I might be wrong, but it was a good read at any rate.