Techno-Politics and Tech Culture

In the 1770s, America was a relatively low tech, agrarian society. But all that was about to change. So here, for your Independence Day reading pleasure, are the seven hottest tech trends circa 1776. Continue Reading →

In political terms, the Internet is the Wild Wild West and it needs to be tamed.  Wasn't it just going to be a matter of time before the Federal Government stepped in? Continue Reading →

All a motivated cyber-criminal, with designs on being Emperor of the Internet, has to do is target the 1 percenters. Take out the uber-wealthy, or just the super-wealthy, and nothing else will matter. This is going to be a great business for someone. Continue Reading →

My friends who like to discuss politics and my colleagues who like to write about politics have made it clear to me that President Obama's State of the Union Address was precisely what they expected. If you can put your political ideology aside for a few minutes, we can think through the following issues together as American citizens. Continue Reading →

Technological advancements always empower people to behave differently – what makes today different is that the rate of technological advancement is accelerating beyond our capacity, perhaps even our ability, to react – and this... is new. Continue Reading →

Is the internet a public utility or private enterprise? That's what the FCC has to decide. Continue Reading →

Data is more powerful in the presence of other data. That is a hard, fast, immutable law. But what do you do when you run out of first party data (the data you collect yourself)? Or, what if you simply don’t have enough meaningful data to build the model you need for your particular program? Continue Reading →

For an illuminating glimpse of government power in action, it’s hard to beat the fines the Justice Department threatened to level against Yahoo if it didn’t comply with a secret and sweeping surveillance request in 2008. News coverage of the case, for which documents were unsealed last week, reported the proposed fines as $250,000 a Continue Reading →

The FBI said it is investigating media reports that several U.S. financial firms have been victims of recent cyber attacks. “We are working with the United States Secret Service to determine the scope of recently reported cyber attacks against several American financial institutions,” FBI spokesman Joshua Campbell said in a statement late on Wednesday. He Continue Reading →

US Federal Judge Lucy Koh shot down a request from Apple to grant a permanent injunction blocking the sale of some Android-based Samsung mobile devices over pantent infringement claims. The motion was part of Apple’s second patent infringement case with Samsung, and Judge Koh said the iPhone and iPad maker didn’t show that its reputation Continue Reading →