The New York Times - The Battle for Digital Privacy Is Reshaping the Internet – “Apple introduced a pop-up window for iPhones in April that asks people for their permission to be tracked by different apps. Google recently outlined plans to disable a tracking technology in its Chrome web browser. And Facebook said last month that hundreds of its engineers were working on a new method of showing ads without relying on people’s personal data. The developments may seem like technical tinkering, but they were connected to something bigger: an intensifying battle over the future of the internet. The struggle has entangled tech titans, upended Madison Avenue and disrupted small businesses. And it heralds a profound shift in how people’s personal information may be used online, with sweeping implications for the ways that businesses make money digitally. At the center of the tussle is what has been the internet’s lifeblood: advertising…”

Algorithmic Management

Examinging how algorithmic management works and why it is likely to become even more widespread.

“Turbo 2.2 is one of the good guys. He's here to protect us all and give us new program identity."

SIP DOES SEEM FATAL: The FBI’s Incurable Rot. “The bureau is an institution with no shame, no remorse, and no accountability. There’s no fix for that.”

Well, there is. But it’s ugly.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Men caught smuggling KFC into lockdown-hit Auckland.

Via Jesse Kelly who tweets, “I can’t tell you how much this story has rocked me. I had such cool plans for the black market. I was gonna be a gun runner or an ocean smuggler. (I’ve read enough pirate books. Pretty much an expert.) But now, I think I need to be the guy who can get you fried chicken.”

This week I want to set sail into choppy and difficult waters. I want to try to assemble some of what we know about the origins of covid-19 into some sort of order. On this matter, there are many journalists who have written with perseverance and brilliance. So this isn’t an easy subject to write about, and there are no easy answers to be had. But, even so, there are pieces of the puzzle to be pondered to see if there is an outline of a bigger picture.