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Many view privatization as an inherent good.

That doesn't describe the process. We're not talking about the privatization of a previously public space, it is closer to a long running bait-and-switch con.

If the telephone were invented today, we'd be listening to ads instead of ringing tones.

To me, enshittification seems like privatization of human attention. It's true it wasn't considered public good, because it wasn't considered to be an economic good at all, but is that relevant?

It seems to me that capitalism reinvented itself over past 100 years by privatizing things that were either previously public or nobody could imagine them to be private goods. Aside from the military, utilities, copyrights (and fair use), attention and personal data, there are also various forms of consumer debt (mortgages). So I think it's important to put all these things into same context.

It's more than privatization, although that's related. A service which began as a private one, like Google, but gets worse for the reasons Google has gotten worse, would be appropriately labeled enshittification, I think.

But it's a goofy term, and Doctorow is indeed annoying. Bird of a feather with this writer, whose style is also incredibly irritating. Nevertheless, good points worth making.