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In a rare show of bipartisan unity this past Wednesday, Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee expressed concerns over the rapid spread of facial recognition software used by technology companies. This should make you stop and think very long and hard about what your elected leaders do not understand about the world we live in. Continue Reading →

Wikiality, “the best narrative wins,” has all but replaced reality. Fiction often replaces facts. Lies are harder and harder to separate from truths. A pure democracy is truly dangerous to powerful people. Narratives are hard to control. Which raises the question, can a constitutional republic (or a bunch of other elected central governments) control a true democracy that is the direct voice of about 55 percent of the global population? Continue Reading →

Mark Zuckerberg is founder and chief executive officer of Facebook, the world’s largest population. In reading his op-ed in the Washington Post, Mark Zuckerberg: The Internet needs new rules. Let’s start in these four areas, I was struck by its similarities to Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, which for all practical purposes incited the Colonies to rebel against the King. Both of these manifestos deserve to be read in their entirety. Continue Reading →

Shelly Palmer talks about Facebook alternatives with Sukanya Krishnan and Jennifer Lahmer on Fox 5’s, Good Day Wake Up. Original Airdate: March 12, 2019 Continue Reading →

Facebook has been under relentless attack since the Cambridge Analytica scandal in early 2018. Broadcasters and news publishers have declared open season on Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and other senior executives at the company. And while not quite ubiquitous, #deletefacebook pops up every time there’s a story about data privacy. The EU has fined them, the US is trying to figure out how to regulate them, and the notion that free services should be absolutely free (as opposed to checking a box on a terms and conditions page that allows the free service to use your data as payment) is gaining traction. Whether or not Facebook deserves the scrutiny it is under is a great topic for another article. Today, I want to have a look at alternatives. If you don’t like Facebook, what might work for you? Is the time right for the reemergence of focused social networks? Continue Reading →

During the recent congressional hearings, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the Senate intelligence committee's vice chairman, said, "The era of the wild west in social media is coming to an end." Congress, he said, will have to take action. "Where we go from here is an open question." More hearings are clearly in the offing, and some kind of regulation is likely to follow. That's the probable future, but what would happen if the government lost its ability to control the tech industry? What if tech fought back? What if our democracy transformed into a technocracy? Continue Reading →

Shelly Palmers discusses Yahoo Mail's business practice of scanning user email accounts to gather data for targeted advertising with Sukanya Krishnan and Jennifer Lahmers on Fox 5’s Good Day New York. Original Air Date: September 4, 2018 Continue Reading →

Shelly Palmer addresses the rebound of tech shares following the third quarter earnings report on CNN’s Quest Means Business with Richard Quest and Clare Sebastian. Original Airdate: July 31, 2018 Continue Reading →

Augmented reality (AR) is on the cusp of being one of the technological advances that are all but guaranteed to change our day-to-day behavior. Imagine living in a world filled with “movie magic.” A world so packed with computer-generated images, it’s hard to tell fantasy from reality. That’s the dream, but where are we now, and who is going to get us there first? Here’s a quick overview of the state of AR. Continue Reading →

The general data protection regulation (GDPR) goes into effect on May 25th and it will impact companies located in the EU, and those that operate there. Is your business ready for this change? Shelly Palmer discusses this new EU data privacy law on CNN Money with Maggie Lake. Original Airdate: May 24, 2018 Continue Reading →