Government

The U.S. House of Representatives has announced that it will no longer permit the use of TikTok on any devices under its management. The ban was announced by the House's Chief Administrative Office on Tuesday, following the introduction of legislation that would prohibit the use of TikTok on all federal devices. Security issues make the app "high risk," according to the House cybersecurity office. Continue Reading →

When government regulators scared Facebook out of its Libra/Diem cryptocurrency project a while back, I didn't think too much about it. The original project was ambitious. Libra was designed to be a stablecoin and was backed by deposits of real cash to be contributed to the Libra Association, a supporting plutocracy with a membership fee of $10 million. Founding members got an option to become validator node operators, a vote on the Libra Council, and could earn interest on their investment. Continue Reading →

The White House would like to get to the bottom of this whole "is cryptocurrency going to destroy the climate or not" thing. The Office of Science and Technology Policy announced it's putting together a report that assesses whether digital assets “impede or advance efforts to tackle climate change” and makes moves toward a “clean and reliable electricity grid.” Continue Reading →

Imagine a universe where Twitter is fully regulated, an alternative Twitterverse. This is not a place that will ever exist, but sometimes it's helpful to simplify complex issues to help think them through. What would your perfect Twitterverse be like? What rules and regulations would have to exist? Would the world be a better place if your imaginary Twitterverse existed, or would it just present us with a different set of complex issues? Continue Reading →

Facebook is being pilloried for its unwillingness to remove a paid advertisement by President Trump’s reelection campaign after Facebook was notified by the Biden campaign that the ad contained false statements about Joe Biden and his son. On the surface, this seems simple, and Facebook’s decision not to remove the ad seems wrong. But there is much more to the story. Shelly Palmer talks with Kerry Drew and Bianca Peters on Fox 5 New York's Good Day. Original Airdate: October 15, 2019 Continue Reading →

Facebook is being pilloried for its unwillingness to remove a paid advertisement by President Trump’s reelection campaign after Facebook was notified by the Biden campaign that the ad contained false statements about Joe Biden and his son. On the surface, this seems simple, and Facebook’s decision not to remove the ad seems wrong. But there is much more to the story. Continue Reading →

If Libra and Calibra are successful, Facebook will have control of information (Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram), weaponized information (a virtual military), and currency (Libra). I’m pretty sure that makes Facebook the largest government on earth. Continue Reading →

I wrote an article back in April 2009 entitled Metamerica: Evolving The Governance Of A Digital Democracy. It begins, “Dateline New York: April 3, 2021” with breaking news about a massive, catastrophic data breach. So how would the Great Data Crash of 2021 happen? Or, perhaps more importantly, why have the questions I posed in 2009, and the very clear predictions of known consequences of our digital society, not only gone unanswered by our leaders but in many cases gone unasked? Let’s look back to help us see the future. Continue Reading →

Once a beacon of optimism, the tech industry has come under pressure as concerns about potential negative impacts of innovation mount. Here are three ways to approach the problem. Let's discuss. Continue Reading →

Shelly Palmer talks about US Government Data Breaches and getting hacked on Fox 5 with Ben Simmoneau and Juliet Huddy. Original airdate: July 14, 2015 Continue Reading →