On Elizabeth Warren’s big tech breakup proposal

“Any sort of antitrust proposal that does not seriously grapple with the reality that the power of these companies flows from controlling demand — that is, consumer choice, willingly made — not from controlling supply, like monopolies of old, is going to be fundamentally flawed.” ~ Ben Thompson

There’s lots more great analysis to be found in Ben’s article, Where Warren’s Wrong.

As always, the challenge with finding an answer to a hypothesis is that you need to be asking the right questions in the first place, based on a fundamental understanding of the system you’re looking to solve for.

Alas, Senator Warren’s premise is off base due to a misrepresensentation of how big tech came to be, so we’re left with a series of conclusions that can’t meet the objectives she’d like to reach.

I’m all for limiting big tech’s access to and use of personal data and leaving room for new players to thrive, but this proposal would lead to more harm than good.

The full proposal from Senator Warren: Here’s how we can break up Big Tech

Stock, poster, invite. 

From Malaga to San Jose.

UPDATE: the stock photography is another artist who appears to be aping the primary artist who directly worked on the WWDC poster, with the stock released in September 2016.

The Malaga piece from 2010 appears to be inspired by the original artist’s work, who has been working in this style for much longer.

The original artist is Geoff McFettridge.

Voter apathy Trumps America.

image

Trump gets fewer votes than the 2008 or 2012 Republican Candidates, but there are 10,000,000 fewer Democratic Candidate voters than 2008, causing an upset by apathy. 

A too little, too late reminder: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

September fun.

This month has been quite hectic at work, as we’ve been juggling a number of interesting projects and products, from web to wearables.

I did manage to catch Eric André with Irene last night. It was insane. We were both showered with ranch dressing. Irene made the wise decision of wearing vinyl (maybe it was leather, but she’s being a vegetarian this week, so that can’t be) so she didn’t smell like foul mayo for the rest of the evening, like I did.

This Saturday, I’ll be speaking at Spotlight UX on the Let’s Talk About UX panel. All the trials, tribulations, and benefits of doing great UX work will be shared with attendees. Ask your questions on Twitter with the hash tag #letstalkaboutux.

I’m heading away at the end of next week for an extra long weekend in St Maartens, strictly for fun. 

This coincides with voting for the CIRA board of directors, which kicks off on Sep 22. I’m running as a nomination committee candidate. I’d love your support as the board voting is typically very close. Please reach out if you’re interested in helping with your vote and inviting others to vote for me.

Tuesday and Wednesday the 27th and 28th, I’ll be checking in on the Blue Jays at the (former) Skydome. Fingers crossed they can get out of this funk, but it sounds like wear and tear has beaten the boys down.

Early August milestones.

On Aug 6, 25 years ago, the world’s first website went online.

This makes me feel both old and young at the same time, having “grown up” with the internet. Time to listen to some baudy sounds to bring back those early days BBS memories. 

On Aug 5, 50 years ago, the Beatles’ Revolver was released.

15 facts you didn’t know about Revolver. Not about a gun: “it’s a reference to what an album does: It revolves.” Spin the black circle.

Help me build a better online Canada.

image

I’m very pleased to have been selected by CIRA’s nomination committee as a candidate for the organization’s upcoming Board election happening September 22 through September 29.

CIRA is best recognized for managing the .ca domain registry, but they lead a number of other programs and initiatives that build towards a safe, connected, and valuable Internet across Canada.

Keep reading