The FTC’s Next Strike on Data Privacy
Remember last week when we talked about the new avalanche of lawsuits against Facebook? Well it gets worse for the social media giant (whether or not it’s better for us remains to be seen). Yesterday, the FTC made a move that could signal future regulation of data handling: They demanded all of it. The data, …
(Anti)competitive spirit: Facebook, the FTC, and Antitrust
Modern life is completely dominated by just a few corporations. That’s a discordant thing to realize in a nation that prides itself on an excess of choice. If you search “nightlight” on Amazon, you get 11,000 results. “Coffee mug” gets 100,000. We cannot possibly scroll through 100,000 coffee mugs, and there’s simply no rationale for …
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Facial Recognition and Bias: The Price of Progress
We can remember facial recognition seeming like a sci-fi wonder. There was something alluring about the idea of machines so smart they’d know us, and tech so advanced it was like a friend. But the more sinister applications were always simmering under the surface. Even in 1990, Total Recall envisioned a world in which you …
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Broadband Access in the Age of Covid-19
BiTE is a completely remote, distributed team. That’s not COVID-related; we’ve been that way since the day we hung out our virtual shingle. As the I-guess-we’re-in-the-second-wave-even-though-the-first-never-ended pandemic rages on, and more businesses move to remote work, we’re watching businesses struggle with the shift. And the infrastructure, too. Temporary outages are more and more common (in …
The Innovator’s Pandemic
Before we begin, a quick note about the historical moment we find ourselves in: We are in the midst of an unprecedented, global crisis. None of us have ever experienced anything like it, and it’s difficult to know how to react from day to day. It’s OK if you find yourself snacking a lot while …
Look for the Helpers
There is certainly no shortage of worry right now. And it would be easy to just give you a bulleted list of the closures and cancellations, projections and grey particulars of pandemic life. But today we’d rather focus on the bright spots of hope. They’re there if you look. From Italians in quarantine singing on …
COVID Crisis
No matter where you turn, everyone is talking (or worrying) about coronavirus. Our Washington-based, Director of Content has been sick all week, and we admit we’ve all been on tenterhooks waiting to see if it’s anything to worry about. Of course, we’re a fully distributed company, so we’re safe in the event of an outbreak. …
Somebody’s Watching You
Decade Dangers Every now and then, the internet graces us with a new way to explore our own mortality. Take Facebook’s “10-Year Challenge,” for example. Doing a close-read of how much you’ve aged in the past decade doesn’t sound all that fun, but it’s all the rage right now, and Facebook, Instagram, and even …
