Friday Brief for 3 December 2021

Tech Terms

Web 3.0 — It’s complicated; but, you’re going to be hearing more about this and so here’s the best concise introduction I could find (5min 18sec).

Heads Up

This week I published an essay with The Hoover Institution/Lawfare Blog — The Business of Knowing: Private Market Data and Contemporary Intelligence (see the attached PDF below).

Bottom Line: Many U.S. federal agencies are purchasing private market data. This paper argues that U.S. government access to at least some private market data — and the limiting of foreign access to this same information — is essential for national security. It also argues, however, for a refined awareness that acknowledges the privacy we have already lost and that implements greater government oversight and accountability.

“The American people and their government leaders cannot avoid these realities. Instead, they must adapt to them by refining our institutions and the critical balance between liberty and security. These changes necessarily require uncomfortable choices that bring with them no ironclad assurances of safety. But while an evolution as discussed in this paper does not guarantee success, a lack of adaptation will guarantee failure.”