“The world needs to act before a few powerful states and companies are able to create norms that then just become the rules.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/b...
The High-Stakes Battle for Invisible Real Estate in Space
nytimes.com
VassB
@vassb.bsky.social
policy designer + writer Managing Director of the Canadian Shield Institute (@canadianshieldinstitute.ca) + Co-author of The Big Fix, which is all about improving Canada’s competition policy https://sutherlandhousebooks.com/product/the-big-fix/
“A fundamental shift is needed in how we approach the development and deployment of AI agents,” argues Meredith Whittaker. “Basic lessons in privacy and digital security are being discarded,” she warns
AI agents are coming for your privacy, warns Meredith Whittaker
The Signal Foundation’s president worries they will also blunt competition and undermine cyber-security
econ.st
New, by me: Samsung has banned smart TV apps that enlist owners' internet connections into residential proxy networks, which are increasingly linked to cybercrime. Samsung told me it's also removing apps containing resproxy code. Bypass for ad-blockers: web.archive.org/web/20260803...
Samsung bans smart TV apps that share users' internet connections with strangers | TechCrunch
New security research offers a rare view inside residential proxy networks, which rely on apps that share a person's internet connection with someone else.
techcrunch.com
New Canadian defence investment is hard to fathom, but then so is American insanity. Episode 5 of Cross Check drops today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O47J...
5. Cross Check: How Canada Wins at Defence
YouTube video by Gloves Off with Stephen Marche
youtube.com
I wrote about the new "Apple Upgrade" program, which plans to entice people into *leasing* new devices—perhaps devices they can't truly afford—leading them to stay on a perpetual cycle of monthly payments and upgrades, filtering their most personal data through property that isn't truly theirs. 🎁:
The New iPhone Underclass
Apple’s rental program is a trap.
theatlantic.com
As Creig Lamb and I have been saying since 2019, the “intangible” economy runs on tangible rails. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/b...
A.I. Companies Are Recruiting Electricians and Carpenters by the Thousands
The future of artificial intelligence depends on finding more skilled humans for some very physical jobs.
nytimes.com
Subscribe to our newsletter! Each week we send out thoughtful policy critiques, trend analysis and economic insights about Canada's national sovereignty. Also, new Canadian music. canadianshieldinstitute.ca/newsletter
I learned a lot from this scan of Canada's history with dual-use defence technology. With the mania around defence spending right now, and lots of people selling their products as "dual-use" it's worthwhile to think about what that really means: canadianshieldinstitute.ca/updates/from...
From Jets to Quantum – Canada's History with Dual Use Technology | Canadian Shield Institute
For the first time in decades, ordinary Canadians are thinking and talking about defence. Largely thanks to the luck of our geography — so distant...
canadianshieldinstitute.ca
AI-assisted fiction is already here, tons of people are reading it, very few of them realize it, and no one wants to talk about it. Gift link to my latest: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Is This What Comes After AI Slop?
Daggermouth could be the first best-selling novel partly written by a chatbot.
theatlantic.com
From @meredithmeredith.bsky.social is spot-on: “The extent of the tech industry’s influence over the AI research domain has parallels in the U.S. military’s dominance over scientific research during the Cold War. Tech firms are drawing from a similar playbook.” dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
Remember Abundance? Here's who's actually behind neoliberalism's latest failed rebrand.
New Documents Detail Nine-Figure, Silicon Valley–Funded Abundance Movement - The American Prospect
The Prospect has obtained a fundraising pitch and historical manifesto from inside the movement.
prospect.org
What do quantum computing, aluminum cans, AI and guns all have in common? They're all industries where Canada plays, but we don't have a coherent value capture strategy. Read more in this week's edition of the National Interest newsletter. canadianshieldinstitute.ca/updates/what...
What Quantum, Aluminum Cans, Guns and AI All Have In Common | Canadian Shield Institute
You might’ve noticed that we’re in a bit of a trade war. On the Gloves Off podcast, Stephen Marche has been grappling with what...
canadianshieldinstitute.ca
Over on substack, I blogged a bit about Monday’s s.338 threatened tariffs on Canada. open.substack.com/pub/robsonj/...
Rule 1: The world is a mess. Rule 2: What is truth? Rule 3: Always claim victory.
Let me try to bring together a few different threads I’ve been pulling on in making sense of the July 20th tariff declarations from the White House.
open.substack.com
Efficiency made the global economy faster. But did it make us weaker? In Ep 4 of Cross Check, we ask what a more resilient Canada looks like — from supply chains and ownership to infrastructure, innovation, and economic sovereignty. Watch it here: youtu.be/WPWOyrk7mNU
4. Cross Check: How Canada’s Economy Can Thrive
YouTube video by Gloves Off with Stephen Marche
youtu.be
Has there ever been a better day to drop an episode of Gloves Off about how Canada can build a more resilient economy? Episode 4, How Canada Wins, Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/h... #Canada #CanadianEconomy #Trade #EconomicPolicy #Innovation #DataSovereignty
How Canada’s Economy Can Thrive
Podcast Episode · Gloves Off · July 22 · 29m
podcasts.apple.com
I wrote about what's happening to the web now that everything is A.I. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/t...
How Google’s A.I. Search Is Imperiling the Open Web (Gift Article)
As Google incorporates more artificial intelligence into search, people are spending more time on Google. Some website operators are crying foul.
nytimes.com
The price hikes and the product disappearances were not the blips of supply and demand – they were the results of behind-the-scenes pressure by Amazon, according to internal emails reviewed by the Guardian and court claims against the world’s largest company. From @georgejoseph94.bsky.social:
‘We were at their mercy’: inside the Amazon tactics that hiked prices across the internet
Internal emails revealed in court and interviews with ex-employees describe how Amazon’s practices drove up prices for competitors like Walmart and Target. Amazon denies price-fixing claims and says i...
theguardian.com
I think this is an interesting point of emphasis from the White House.
While I wait for my code to rerun, if you missed out on this interview with Greer this AM, it's worth a listen, especially if you are here in Canada. Especially today. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/p...
More Trump Tariffs Are Coming
Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, tells a Times reporter why he thinks that the administration’s tariff policy is working as intended.
nytimes.com
Cross Check for Episode 3 drops today. If you want to understand Canada can compete, adapt, and thrive in a rapidly changing global economy, this conversation is for you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSLv... #GlovesOff #CrossCheck #Canada #Trade #Economy
Cross Check: How Canada Wins at Trade
YouTube video by Gloves Off with Stephen Marche
youtube.com
Is Canada really as dependent on the U.S. as we've been told? This week on Gloves Off, what a trade war means for Canada's future, and why it's not as bad as you think. Listen now “How Canada Wins at Trade” apple.co/glovesoff #GlovesOff #Canada #TradeWar #CanadaEconomy
Gloves Off
Society & Culture Podcast · Updated Weekly · Gloves Off is about the threat to Canada’s sovereignty and how the country can thrive in the new world disorder. Because it’s not just about surviving as a...
apple.co
The Defense Dept. has a rule: Only U.S. citizens or permanent residents can handle sensitive data. Then Microsoft created a workaround that seemed to violate the spirit of this rule, leaving computer systems vulnerable to Chinese government sabotage:
How Microsoft’s “Little Workaround” Created a Major Pentagon Threat
A little-known Microsoft program allowed China-based engineers to service the U.S. government’s sensitive computer systems — until reporter Renee Dudley found out about it.
propub.li
It can be instructive to imagine the reaction if Justin Trudeau (or most PMs before him) were announcing huge spending commitments with as little explanation and as much just-trust-me attitude as Mark Carney is doing. My weekend column: www.thestar.com/business/hey...
Adam Radwanski: Hey, big spender: Why we need to start giving Carney a bit less benefit of the doubt
Canadians must demand better justification from Mark Carney, and question his “just-trust-me” style of committing billions in public funds without adequate transparency, writes Adam Radwanski.
thestar.com
Hey guys meta announced a new policy where they send a killer to get you so be sure to go to settings>my account > killer> disable killer to turn that off
Geopolitical shifts drive sovereign funds towards national priorities, study finds reut.rs/4vVhFM7
Geopolitical shifts drive sovereign funds towards national priorities, study finds
Shifting geopolitical alliances are pushing sovereign wealth funds to place greater emphasis on strategic national priorities — from resilient infrastructure to key domestic industries — alongside investment returns, a study released on Friday showed.
reut.rs
What if the law Canadians need to regulate surveillance pricing already exists? Writer Emily Osborne argues the Telecommunications Act already prohibits unjust discrimination, a principle that could be applied more broadly across the economy. https://thewalrus.ca/stop-surveillance-pricing/
