Robin Berjon

Governance & Standards at @protocollabs — Former NYT, W3C TAG, science.ai — Privacy, Web, Science, Politics, Philosophy. (he/him/Ishmael)

Public Key

npub1mjcn8x74pdvg4swnfxhn0ljkjx29dgkszknctlmuu2kfzg034amqycg03p

NIP-05 Address

robin_at_mastodon.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdevfnn02skky2c8f5ntehletfr9zk5tgptfu9la7w9ty3y8c67aspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qzxrhwden5te0wfjkccte9ehx7umhdpjhyefwvdhk66pv2la

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relay.mostr.pub

relay.noswhere.com

Author Public Key

npub1mjcn8x74pdvg4swnfxhn0ljkjx29dgkszknctlmuu2kfzg034amqycg03p

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Last Notes

2024-08-18 14:31:55

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@npub1wnd…8kcm http://www.lechateaubriand.net/ Pas donné, mais qualité étoilée pour moins.

2024-08-14 14:55:52

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@npub15au…qven Glad you liked it! I'm ex-NYT — I know exactly what you mean ;)

2024-08-14 13:44:09

In case you missed it over the weekend: check out this Tech Policy Press piece I wrote with Cristina Caffarra about the wrong and right ways remedies to use now that Google Search is officially a monopoly!
https://www.techpolicy.press/google-is-a-monopolist-wrong-and-right-ways-to-think-about-remedies/

2024-08-09 17:05:44

Google is a monopolist — what happens next? Cristina Caffarra and I dive into what remedies now stand a chance of establishing competition in search. Hint: given the size of the problem, it's more than one!
https://www.techpolicy.press/google-is-a-monopolist-wrong-and-right-ways-to-think-about-remedies/

2024-08-09 08:32:03

Great piece from @npub1huj…axlc on the role of Chrome in Google's monopolistic practices.
https://www.promarket.org/2024/08/08/chrome-is-the-forgotten-fulcrum-of-googles-dominance/

2024-08-05 19:13:01

GOOGLE FOUND GUILTY! 🤩😍🥲
The details and the follow-up will matter but the web takes a step closer to freedom today! Tonight, those of us who side with democracy can take some time off to party.
Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ak4.-ACE.UY1zb7cqK_nc

2024-08-05 08:38:09

Did you want to read Rewilding in print? Now's your chance!
https://www.noemamag.com/introducing-noema-issue-v-threshold/

2024-08-02 16:30:08

What few people know is that things were perfectly fine with AI initially. It's actually customer support chatbots that triggered the Butlerian Jihad.

2024-08-02 00:29:09

American friends! Thank you for having me over for a whole 9 years. It's been wild, I made lifelong friendships, and grew in ways I wouldn't have guessed.
I hope I brought you the right kind of trouble. Come visit - I know I'll be back! ♥

2024-07-22 19:49:33

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Chrome remains the only browser with no meaningful privacy protection. Worse, it tracks its users in highly deceptive and invasive ways.
What Chrome does is deliver data and eyeballs to Google. Your safety as users is entirely a secondary consideration.
No diligent CISO should allow Chrome to be used except for testing.

2024-07-22 19:48:26

Five years ago when the Chrome team announced the Privacy Sandbox, I called a "delaying tactic." Not getting rid of cookies as the first step was never going to work.
Today they announced that they won't be deprecating third-party cookies. That's five years wasted.
Receipts: https://x.com/robinberjon/status/1164583701973483525
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/831/869/590/238/285/original/039e198e2815881d.png

2024-07-21 20:01:19

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@npub1v99…xhpf Neither had I, found completely at random.

2024-07-21 18:50:33

A more in-depth elegy is called for, but I will point out, with great sadness, that James C. Scott passing away on the day of the Crowdstrike incident is a sign if ever there was one, although a bit on the nose.

2024-07-20 21:40:33

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@npub1cgl…0jx3 No, especially not with the kind of turbulence we got!

2024-07-20 21:00:09

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@npub1cl5…nzfu Thank you, got there! And yes: the Internet is becoming the infrastructure of infrastructure, so its fragility is infectious...

2024-07-20 16:28:35

Hour 24 of a 5h flight, briefly stranded in Houston and all the displays are still Microsoft Blue. "Welcome on the plane to nowhere" says the staff.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/819/758/831/176/791/original/912a4fa03cc48d52.jpg

2024-07-19 15:30:35

You know who has written about how our concentrated tech monocultures create fragile systems that predictably collapse at large scales?
Yup, that's right, it's @npub1yj9…5vlu and I (stuck in Seattle), that's who.
https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/

2024-07-19 00:22:22

Question for the lawyers: when a browser links to a search engine and gets paid for the traffic, what distinguishes that from affiliate marketing?

2024-07-18 05:45:40

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@npub1cl5…nzfu I'm delighted that you liked it!

2024-07-18 05:44:38

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@npub17qe…83t5 Thank you for reading it!

2024-07-16 00:12:23

We often talk about ethics in tech but how much of an impact has that really made? I think that we can do better, but for that we need to give up on useless habits, hone our skills, and focus a lot more on governance.
https://berjon.com/ethicswishing/

2024-07-14 21:05:45

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@npub1v99…xhpf Thank you, I'm really happy to hear that!

2024-07-13 04:44:36

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@npub1lma…68cf It very much is, but that we need to eliminate rather than recapture!

2024-07-12 00:23:14

Has anyone written a unified view of all the major fees and rents that tech platforms impose on other businesses (e.g. from app stores, ad cuts, seller fees), not counting imposed labour?
These are de facto the internet's tax system. I'd find a collated view of it both useful and fascinating.

2024-07-08 15:08:05

Information wants to be free
from corporate capture.

2024-07-08 02:11:19

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@npub1slm…aefa It's not finalised but it's solid.

2024-07-07 21:30:30

I'm not crying you're crying.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/747/335/979/797/420/original/807f0a03a0104da7.jpg

2024-07-03 22:03:31

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@npub1cwk…qe8n Yes! Let's meet there! Yay!

2024-07-03 21:51:41

Starting next month I will be living in Brussels, Belgium! 🇧🇪
If you're there, know good people who are, want to meet when you're visiting, hit me up! My exact arrival is still unspecified, but will be "in August". I'm excited to see folks there and for what we can accomplish!

2024-07-03 21:51:41

2024-07-01 18:47:22

Along with 35 colleagues, I have signed an open letter to the UN to keep the internet decentralised, open, and multistakeholder. While our existing governance model needs an upgrade, replacing it with hierarchical state control is not the answer. #OpenInternet
https://open-internet-governance.org/letter

2024-06-18 04:09:30

I've tried to take on the question of what it would take to make the internet public interest technology. This took me on a trip through transnational infrastructure, standards, governance, industrial policy, and a whole cast of creative thinkers and next-generation projects.
It's complicated, but I have hope!
https://berjon.com/public-interest-internet/

2024-06-06 00:36:56

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@npub1lh0…upks Is there one that's not terrible?

2024-06-06 00:36:56

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@npub1lh0…upks Is there one that's not terrible?

2024-05-31 20:23:10

Are you thinking about digital infrastructure?
Do you have plans this weekend?
There's still time to apply for a Digital Infrastructure Insights Funds grant and put the fun in funded!
https://mailchi.mp/544bc327c6fe/diif-countdown-2024-rfp-deadline-june-2nd

2024-05-29 21:50:31

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@npub1t8r…rvnw I even miss XSLT :)

2024-05-29 16:31:53

The fact that anyone is still using Google Search *at all* is a demonstration of the power of defaults and switching friction. In a competitive market, this joke of a product would just be dead already.
https://www.platformer.news/google-ai-overviews-eat-rocks-glue-pizza/

2024-05-19 01:44:58

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@npub1lh0…upks Accessible by others, but you're the one editing? I haven't tried it, but there's a hosted service that goes with Obsidian.

2024-05-10 17:50:16

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@npub1lh0…upks Don't jinx it, man!

2024-05-09 16:11:57

You wanted to read Rewilding but prefer it in Portuguese?
Right there for you! https://outraspalavras.net/tecnologiaemdisputa/internet-a-alternativa-refloresta/

2024-05-07 17:59:47

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@npub1nd8…2zkd Congrats Ben, this is super deserved.