Technology and Society
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iCloud Backups and Encryption; Facts, Principles, and Concerns; Determining Defaults
More encryption news, this time about how Apple holds the keys to iCloud backups. I think this approach strikes the right balance: privacy exists, particularly if you work for it, while acknowledging legitimate societal concerns.
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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.
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Lime Leaves 12 Cities; Scarcity Amongst Abundance; An Update on Apple, Trump, and Encryption
Scooter companies appear to be struggling, which is not a surprise; still, it is an excuse to re-visit assumptions around ride-sharing in comparison, and an generalizable principle about Aggregation Theory. Plus, an update on Apple versus the FBI.
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Visa/Plaid Follow-Up; Apple v FBI, Round 2; 2020 Differences
More on Visa/Plaid, including why payments in the U.S. and China are so different. Then, Apple is facing off against the FBI again, but its position is both stronger technologically and weaker politically.
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AB 5 and Health Care, Project Connected Home Over IP, Ecosystem Pragmatism
A more flexibility economy would benefit from a stronger safety net. Then, a new standard that actually has real potential. It’s a win for some companies, but questionable for others.
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SBNation and AB5, Understanding SB Nation, AB 5 and the Internet
SB Nation is a publishing company that was only ever possible because of the Internet. That it has to change its model because of AB 5 shows why AB 5 is fundamentally flawed.
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Regulating Demand, Ad Targeting and Unintended Consequences, Expedia CEO Out
Google’s continued dominance may not be intransigence, but rather the difficulty of regulating demand. Then, how Apple helps Google and Facebook, and Barry Diller isn’t blaming Google.
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Larry Page and Sergey Brin Step Down, Why Now?, Google Going Forward
Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s impact on Silicon Valley is incomparable; now, though, they are formalizing a departure that arguably happened years ago. Why now, and what should Alphabet and Google do next?