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Concepts

Ethics and Mores

Ethical dilemmas and changing societal mores

  • China, Leverage, and Values

    If there is a new tech cold war, it is one with shots fired over a decade ago, largely by China. The questions going forward are about both leverage and values.

  • Goodbye Gatekeepers

    Goodbye Gatekeepers

    Harvey Weinstein was a gate-keeper — a position that existed in multiple industries, including the media. That entire structure, though, is untenable on the Internet, and that’s a good thing.

  • The Uber Dilemma

    The Uber Dilemma

    Benchmark’s lawsuit against Uber is extraordinary; that is because Uber, despite everything, remains an extraordinary company. Game theory explains the implications.

  • Defining Information

    In a follow-up to Zero Trust Information, exploring the four types of information and how their value changes with time.

  • Zero Trust Information

    Zero Trust Networking is security with Internet assumptions; there is tremendous value if we apply the same approach to information.

  • Six Deaths in King County, U.S. Mistakes, Paywalls and Pandemics

    The situation in the U.S., particularly in the Seattle area, is likely worse than it appears; Microsoft and Amazon should take action. Then, the U.S. needs to rely on the private sector, and publishers need to remember why people pay.

  • The Corona Virus Whistleblowers; NBA Salary Cap Decreases; Apple, Benefits, and Risks

    The Coronavirus continues to spread in China, even as reports emerge of why it was not dealt with in time to make a difference, reframing the costs of authoritarianism.

  • Clearview AI, The Problem with Scraping, Tradeoffs

    Clearview AI is billed as a story about facial recognition, but the most important questions it raises is about scraping. And, by doing so, it reveals how many trade-offs we have yet to confront.

  • Integration and Monopoly Follow-Up, Apple Paternalism, TikTok and CFIUS

    More on Apple and restrictions on competition, and why it is different than Google. Then, Apple’s actions around vaping cross the line, plus why TikTok does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

  • Tech and Liberty Follow-up, Facebook Earnings, Additional Notes on Facebook Earnings

    Making principled stands should not mean absolutism: Facebook should seek to ameliorate its trade-offs. Then, Facebook’s earnings continue to show higher costs, plus where Zuckerberg is right and wrong in defending the Instagram acquisition.

  • Tech and Liberty

    The First Amendment is not about a law, but rather a culture — specifically a culture of liberty. It is essential to tech, and in this context, Facebook is mostly right about political ads (but can still do better).

  • Zuckerberg’s Speech, Facebook Versus China, The Structure of Free Expression

    Digging into the specifics of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s speech, particularly the company’s role in a contest of values with China, and why free expression depends on more than good intensions.

  • The Internet and the Third Estate

    Mark Zuckerberg suggested that social media is a “Fifth Estate”; in fact, social media is a means by which the Third Estate — commoners — can seize political power. Here history matters.