Author: Reid

The Nature of Free Speech in the 21st Century Information Environment

I would like Mitchell (and Don or anyon else) to discuss the following Wired article: It’s the (Democracy-Poisoning) Golden Age of Free Speech. I think it touches on some of the issues that Mitchell and I have been discussing, while bringing up insights that we may not have specifically and explicitly addressed. Here are some passages that stood out for me: Continue reading “The Nature of Free Speech in the 21st Century Information Environment”

What Does Information Security Mean in a Democracy?

My understanding is that authoritarian regimes take information security very seriously. To these regimes, information security involves controlling information that can be a threat to the regime–e.g., information that reveals corruption or violation of human rights. But democratic countries should also care about information security, too–albeit using a different definition. In democratic societies, I think information security should involve protecting public discourse from malicious information warfare, while ensuring that accurate information plays a central role in the discourse. Who will be doing the “protecting?” In my view, the independent press will play a key role in this, and possibility academics and think-tanks. Here are some quick thoughts about this: Continue reading “What Does Information Security Mean in a Democracy?”

How Important Is Protecting Our Elections From Russian Interference?

I’m going to kick this thread off with a quote from a Fox News interview with Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday warned the United States is ill-prepared to prevent Russian interference in the upcoming midterms, as it was in the 2016 general election.

“I don’t know that I would say we are better prepared, because the Russians will adapt as well,” Tillerson said in an exclusive interview with Fox News in Bogota, Colombia. “The point is, if it’s their intention to interfere, they are going to find ways to do that. We can take steps we can take but this is something that, once they decide they are going to do it, it’s very difficult to preempt it.”

What the heck. We’re not prepared, but Tillerson almost seems to be implying it doesn’t matter because it wouldn’t make a difference. Ugh. Anyway, election security is one of my biggest concerns this year. By “election security,” I don’t only mean preventing vote tallies actually being changed, but I also mean manipulation voters through information warfare, which can mean things like stealing emails from a politicians and releasing selected sections or altering the email to cause political damage. Interference can mean using foreign money or even blackmail, not only to politicians, but key figures in the society (e.g., journalists, business people, etc.) getting them to influence an election. This is a huge deal.

This is really big deal. Do you guys agree with me on this?

How Local Businesses Can Compete Against Wal-Mart’s Red Pickle

You might be thinking about why a local company would feel the need to compete against Wal-Mart’s red pickle. You’ve come to the right place to learn the answer. You see, it relates to one of their key principles to not only their current success, but their future success as well. To find out how the red pickle is important to their current and future success, I recommend first listening to the Planet Money podcast below.

If you don’t want to listen to this, I’m going to describe the key points below, but I think both Mitchell and Don would find the podcast interesting. Continue reading “How Local Businesses Can Compete Against Wal-Mart’s Red Pickle”