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.”