Big Tech firms deploy nationalistic arguments to suggest that American incorporation equates to a guarantee that their business models won’t undermine US national security or US foreign policy. Without a federal privacy law to constrain data collection and sharing, however, that is not true. This data-brokerage ecosystem allows US citizens’ […]
Category: Ideas
Private Espionage Is Booming. The US Needs a Spy Registry
Years ago, while stationed in Moscow as the bureau chief for a major news magazine, I was approached by a representative of a multinational company and presented with a tantalizing offer. He said he had highly sensitive materials exposing possible criminal activity by a Russian competitor. The documents were mine […]
The CDC Owes Parents Better Messaging on the Vaccine for Kids
One of the oddities of the CDC’s recommendation, beyond the calculations it’s based on, is its lack of consideration of alternate vaccination approaches for adolescents beyond the same exact dosage and schedule as adults. The CDC’s analysis “assumes that single doses of mRNA vaccines have 0 percent effectiveness at preventing […]
I’m Not a Reporter. But I’m Verified as One on Twitter
I never called myself a journalist until Twitter made me. I’m an attorney, activist, and faculty member, but it was only by using the “journalist” label that I was able to get one of the most coveted assets in social media, the blue “verified” checkmark. My months-long effort to get […]
QAnon Pivots Its Exiled Online Movement to the Real World
The crowd pulsed as more than 1,500 attendees stamped and sang “We’re Not Gonna Take It!” While the For God & Country Patriot Roundup, a QAnon-linked conference in Dallas in late May, began with narratives of unity and love, speakers alluded to or outright spoke of a second insurgency, including […]
Global Democracies Need to Align to Fight Disinformation
As the US prepares for next year’s midterm elections, and the slew of foreign and domestic online disinformation and propaganda likely to accompany it, it is crucial to develop sensible social and legal protections for the groups most likely to be targeted by digital spin campaigns. While the timing is […]
Reagan-Era Gen X Dogma Has No Place in Silicon Valley
As a core member of Gen X, I’m usually content to sit and watch boomers and millennials lob rhetorical bombs at one another. I and my cohort quietly plug away as an underrated influence on society, and especially the modern tech industry; despite our occasional complaints about being forgotten, many […]
Florida’s Condo Collapse Foreshadows the Concrete Crack-Up
It will likely be many months before we know for sure what caused the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida, last week, which killed at least 18 people. But it’s already clear that at least one culprit was failing concrete. In 2018 an engineering firm […]
What If Regulating Facebook Fails?
What about us? We are the 3 billion, after all. What if every Facebook user decided to be a better person, to think harder, to know more, to be kinder, more patient, and more tolerant? Well, we’ve been working on improving humanity for at least 2,000 years, and it’s not […]
Crucial Tech Like Email Is Still Failing Trans Employees
When I came out as trans at 49, I knew there were many battles ahead of me. I didn’t expect email would be what made it clear I did not belong. Shortly after transitioning, I took an engineering role at a tech company where I’d worked previously. I was excited […]