Texas v. The Internet

HB 20, a new Texas law, prohibits social media platforms with more than 50 million users in the U.S. from moderating content on the basis of “viewpoint.” It creates a catastrophic new liability for tech platforms serving Texas, which the law says cannot be excluded from service. This is headed for SCOTUS. Continue Reading →

Is crypto frying the planet? Asking for a friend.

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 →

Crypto Lobbying is Booming

According to Bloomberg, "In the first three quarters of 2021, about a third of contributions to Wyoming Republican Cynthia Lummis’s campaign committee came from crypto executives or investors." Continue Reading →

Why Can’t We Vote Online?

We can use our phones to bank, shop, and even validate our vaccine status on our phones... so why can't we vote with our phones? Shelly Palmer talks with Bianca Peters and Dan Bowens about the benefits of letting people vote by phone -- and the perceived drawbacks. Continue Reading →

RoboGun: Imperial Walkers IRL

I have often said, "Technology is neither good nor bad; that distinction is for people." Most of the exceptions to this statement are technologies specifically designed to cause harm. Is the robotic sniper dog good or bad? Continue Reading →

Heads up: Conversations like this can be intense.

Let me get this straight. I'm about to get into a Twitter war on a topic such as women's reproductive rights, politics, taxes, music, sports, race relations, #MeToo, or any other topic that might inspire me to comment or state my case, and Twitter thinks that letting me know that there are very strong feelings on display will be news to me or be helpful in any way? Perhaps the people at Twitter missed that day at Twitter school. Continue Reading →