Wikimedia Russia Shuts Down, Putting Local Site in Peril
Bloomberg Businessweek, January 24, 2024
A campaign to replace the country’s Wikipedia with a more pliant alternative seems near completion.
Elon Musk’s Hate for Wikipedia Reveals His True Views on Free Speech
The Globe and Mail, October 30, 2023
For a low-key, collaborative project whose very name is a synonym for boring, Wikipedia sure gets autocratic personalities hot under the collar.
The Queens Man Ruled Ineligible to Be President
The Atlantic, October 19, 2023
Donald Trump’s unlikely legal doppelgänger could be a guy named Abdul Hassan.
Russian Wikipedia’s Top Editor Leaves to Launch a Putin-Friendly Clone
Bloomberg Businessweek, July 12, 2023
The move is seen as a potential precursor to a ban on the original version.
Even $500 Million a Year From Google Isn’t Enough to Save Firefox
Bloomberg Businessweek, May 5, 2023
The search giant pays a small fortune to its ostensible competitor, but Mozilla is still struggling to use that capital to fund a second act.
With Mass Layoffs, Big Tech Drops the Good-Guy Act
The Globe and Mail, Op-Ed, February 24, 2023
The technology sector has been struck by a wave of massive job cuts, hitting many companies that had only previously known good times. These show a lot about the industry leaders’ true motivations.
The Culture Wars Look Different on Wikipedia
The Atlantic, January 22, 2023
The site is tackling more controversial edits, the results of which can reverberate across the internet.
Why Some Charities Are Rethinking Cryptocurrency Donations
The Washington Post, March 31, 2022
Accepting a bitcoin gift might get you that new hospital wing, but resisters worry about a predatory, planet-killing scheme.
One Woman’s Mission to Rewrite Nazi History on Wikipedia?
Wired, Feature Article, September 7, 2021
Ksenia Coffman’s fellow editors have called her a vandal and a McCarthyist. She just wants them to stop glorifying fascists—and start citing better sources.
Can Facebook Develop a Conscience?
The New York Times, Op-Ed, April 11, 2018
If his congressional testimony is any guide, Mark Zuckerberg won’t be the one who makes it happen.
Conspiracy videos? Fake news? Enter Wikipedia, the ‘good cop’ of the Internet
The Washington Post, Outlook Section, April 6, 2018
The topsy-turvy world where mammoth tech companies rely on the volunteers of Wikipedia to impose some standards.
The Origin of Silicon Valley’s Dysfunctional Attitude Toward Hate Speech
newyorker.com, Nov. 28, 2017
When Stanford's computer science department came to the defense of an unregulated Internet. An extract from "The Know-It-Alls."
Facebook Isn’t Just Violating Our Privacy
The New York Times, March 29, 2018
It is also ripping apart the social fabric.
Facebook Doesn’t Like What It Sees When It Looks in the Mirror
The New York Times, Jan. 17, 2018
But will Mark Zuckerberg be any good at social engineering?
Silicon Valley Is Not Your Friend
The New York Times, Oct. 13, 2017
We are beginning to understand that tech companies don’t have our best interests at heart. Did they ever?
Silicon Valley Helped Create Trump, and That’s Bad for It
New York Times, Op-Ed, Nov. 18, 2016
By publishing fake news and disrupting standards of truth and civility, tech companies allowed Trump to spread his message.
The Trumpian Dreams of Silicon Valley
New York Times, Op-Ed, July 27, 2016
Other than Peter Thiel, leaders of tech industry haven't embraced the Republican nominee, but many share his views on how to fix government.
The Political Potential of the Web (PDF)
Dissent, Summer 2001
A debate with Gina Neff over how optimistic to be about the Web as a force for social justice. Looking back, I may have been a tad too optimistic, and Gina may have been on to something when she warned that the Internet may not be “a cure-all for woes of modern consumerism and alienation.”