Techno-Politics and Tech Culture

A homemade digital clock and a homemade bomb might share several component parts. Both devices might include a timing circuit, a display, a power supply, some switches, a radio (WiFi, Bluetooth or RF), a bunch of wires and some kind of housing or case. There are, however, some nontrivial differences. As a rule, homemade digital clocks do not contain detonators or explosives. That said, a time bomb needs a timer, and a homemade digital clock would do that job nicely. So could you tell the difference between the two devices? Could you tell a clock from a bomb? Continue Reading →

If former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did delete emails from her private email system (that she should not have deleted) will forensic computer technicians find them? It's about the most popular question I get asked these days. So – for your reading pleasure – a primer on email deletion, data destruction and hard drive erasing. Continue Reading →

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 →