Welcome to the Edge in Amsterdam, the most connected office anywhere. The building’s massive network of sensors–around 40,000–is unprecedented, but happened partly by chance.

Unlike innovation that delivers new products, services, and markets, innovation as rentiership is defined by the extraction and capture of value through different modes of ownership and control over resources and assets. This shift towards rentiership is evident in the transformation of personal digital data into a private asset. In light of this assetization, it is necessary to unpack how innovation itself might be a problem, rather than a solution to a range of global challenges.

Mobile passes, QR codes and other digital credentials are increasingly required to access all manner of venues, activities and experiences in the physical world. Yet, despite our increasing exposure through digital identification, we have few laws or even norms to adequately govern these systems.

Blockchain technology, like many tech developments, was born out of a utopian ideal. It came from a vision for a cashless society that maximized individual autonomy with freedom from oversight and taxation. However, the potential for blockchain to fetter us to a system using our records is innate to a tamper-resistant, extremely durable, and verifiable record. Here, we adopt a contrarian viewpoint and discuss the drawbacks of blockchain technology that come from its strengths rather than its weaknesses. The concern with the scenarios we outline is not that it will come true but that it can.

2020-21 “Smart City” Cautionary Trends & 10 Calls to Action to Protect and Promote Democracy.

T-Mobile has confirmed that millions of current and former customers had their information stolen in a data breach, following reports of a hack over the weekend.

A fugitive who Justice Department officials say had scammed more than 20 people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday, after being on the run for almost 15 years. Austrian authorities were able to identify the person due to a facial recognition system according to the DOJ, after he tried to use an alias to open a bank account, leading to his arrest in June 2020.

The way mobile games collect information about their users, and the details of what type of information they’re collecting, remains incredible opaque. The fact that it’s all so confusing is kind of the point, obviously. As a result, mobile games have escaped the level of scrutiny we’ve applied to social media companies, despite being – as category – nearly equally popular and far more likely to be used by children.

The law, called the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), is set to take effect on November 1, 2021. It was proposed last year -- signalling an intent by China's communist leaders to crack down on unscrupulous data collection in the commercial sphere by putting legal restrictions on user data collection. The new law requires app makers to offer users options over how their information is or isn't used, such as the ability not to be targeted for marketing purposes or to have marketing based on personal characteristics.

It also places requirements on data processors to obtain consent from individuals in order to be able to process sensitive types of data such as biometrics, medical and health data, financial information and location data. While apps that illegally process user data risk having their service suspended or terminated. Any Western companies doing business in China which involves processing citizens' personal data must grapple with the law's extraterritorial jurisdiction -- meaning foreign companies will face regulatory requirements such as the need to assign local representatives and report to supervisory agencies in China.

Under Taliban rule, citizens worry that digital connections to Western organizations could be used against them.

Greenland just experienced another massive melt event this year. But this time, something unusual happened. It also rained at the highest point of its ice sheet for the first time since scientists have been making observations there, the latest signal of how climate change is affecting every part of the planet.