I wrote about ‘price-less’ shopping (not priceless). I find it sort of sticker-shocking. Curious to learn where else (and if) this is happening (fingers crossed for useful comments!). www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

I don't even know what the price is half of the time. Stores are removing price tags from the shelves. On the one hand, "smart" move on their part, because people will pay if they want the product. On the other hand, it's pretty shitty for consumers, who have little choice if they want something.

📈 Digital Public Infrastructure and Public Value Digital Public Infrastructure (#DPI) can maximise public value creation but must be properly created, governed, and regulated. 🔗 Read the paper by IIPP's @mazzucatom.bsky.social, @eaves.ca, and Beatriz Vasconcellos here: buff.ly/GlUyzRi

For my last Buying Power of the year, I wrote about one way to think about the divergence in consumer sentiment (bad) and behavior (free-spending) this year: It’s the YOLO economy, typified by the expanding popularity of services like Klarna and Affirm. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

'Sole-source' clause in new U.S. National Security Strategy runs roughshod over Canadian sovereignty financialpost.com/news/economy...

The Gales of November is the new Tickle Me Elmo

Recently, A.I. passed a kind of Turing test for the eye: the images and videos that it can produce are now sometimes indistinguishable from real ones. @chaykak writes about how 2025 became the year of “slop.” newyorkermag.visitlink.me/7WY9vv

I've been investigating digital deception for ~15yrs and 2025 was the worst year. VC-backed bot farms, endless AI slop, industrial level scams, abusive AI nudifiers, Meta paying $ for hoaxes... Deception was legitimized, monetized & shoved down the public’s throat: indicator.media/p/2025-the-y...

A dense network of interconnectedness and interdependence is about to get denser.

The Trump Corollary captures the caprice of a geopolitical bully who lacks a coherent strategy and projects dominance for its own sake

If we can't even identify our enemies then how can we fight them? Trump's National Security Strategy is the longest suicide note in American history www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

A lengthy and detailed story on problems in ticketing and the live music industry, by Anya Zoledziowski, featuring a few quotes from @vassb.bsky.social and myself: www.cbc.ca/news/enterta...

At #AttnGovernOrBeGoverned, @vassb.bsky.social (Managing Director, @canadianshieldinstitute.ca) asked Marcus Bokkerink (former Chair of the UK Competition & Markets Authority) and @lutherlowe.bsky.social (Head of Public Policy, Y Combinator), what does successful digital market regulation look like?

AI companies want to mediate the entire economy. Their competitors aren't happy about this nymag.com/intelligence...

Diversity of all types drives innovation. So does immigration. I’ve written about new StatsCan research on diversity & innovation and how I hope the federal government will absorb its findings, given that its immigration crackdowns threaten its own stated goals. open.substack.com/pub/orbitpol...

NEW: A newly enacted NY state law requires retailers to reveal whether it used "surveillance pricing" to decide how much you pay for goods. Target, for example, shows the alert on a pop-up when you try to buy eggs online. @regret.bsky.social—@wired.com's new investigative data reporter!—reports:

Why there's no such thing as clean energy www.thestar.com/news/insight...

I wrote about a novel approach to tackling misinformation currently being discussed in Wales--and which some say Canada should try, too. What if we made a rule so politicians couldn't lie? www.thestar.com/politics/fed...

🆕 The Authoritarian Stack IIPP Honorary Professor @francescabria.bsky.social's latest research project maps the "Authoritarian Stack"— a network of tech firms, funds, & political actors turning core state functions into private platforms. 🔗 Learn more about the project here: buff.ly/NO8ON2K

When Mark Carney sets specific goals for Canada to "diversify away" from its reliance on the US—making headlines in Canada but not the US—hear that for what it is: Close partners and allies looking elsewhere for better friends. This is the silent way that the US loses its pointless trade war.

Could a national, public ‘CanGPT’ be Canada’s answer to ChatGPT?

“Amazon is a technofeudal rentier owning the digital infrastructure on which privateers, states and societies depend.”

“We’re living in the age of what I call reverse philanthropy: instead of giving, you get,” writes Molly Jong-Fast. “And in setting this example, Mr. Trump is making our country’s rich people worse, by emboldening them to embrace his transactional style of governing.”

Cynics like to say Canada lacks a distinct national identity, but then how would they explain this? defector.com/how-a-campy-...

AI and the Growing Economy of Fraud is a free event presented by @mediatechdemocracy.bsky.social, @canadianshieldinstitute.ca and MASS LBP, funded by the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation. Space is limited so we encourage you to reserve as soon as possible. Click here to register: tinyurl.com/fyaakr3n

This is an important book that perfectly meets the moment. And there is so much Canada can learn from it. I also LOVE a double entendre title. Add this to your reading list. Congratulations @vincebeiser.bsky.social!

I could not agree more strongly with this. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The budget doesn’t specify exactly what roles could be replaced with AI, but other institutions have already attempted to introduce the technology to customer-facing roles — with poor results. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/24/a...

A really good roundup from @marketplace.org, a full hour on food, from lab grown chocolate to what it means that grocery prices are up 25% in the past 5 years. Perfect for the holiday season & just so fascinating, every segment www.marketplace.org/shows/shows/...

🚨New article!🚨 There's a danger the Canada Strong growth plan will enable a sell-off of Canadian companies to foreign investors - and that this would be considered a *win* for the strategy. This would be a mistake. Here's why 👇👇👇 #CanadaSky #CdnPoli #OwnershipMatters

As Canada drives ahead with its infrastructure-, defense- and AI-heavy “elbows up” economic strategy, let’s not lose sight of a key foundation: People and skills. We developed a PIAAC Research Agenda to use recent data to develop better skills strategies. fsc-ccf.ca/research/a-c...

Spoiler alert: my answer is NO.

As AI-generated music starts to top the charts, Spotify should let users tune it out

“That’s why there is a case for temporary, targeted price controls that hold down costs, paired with supply-side reforms that encourage new production.” 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Happy to be hosting this today, and on a panel about digital sovereignty. 🤓💃

NEW: Google is taking legal action against Chinese cybercriminals responsible for sending out millions of scam text messages—including those parcel delivery scams. Google hopes the lawsuit will help to disrupt the scammers' sprawling infrastructure

What a thrill to be part of @talkingpointsmemo.com's series about the past 25 years of digital media! I wrote about why private equity goons destroyed Deadspin and why it matters.

“The problem is that when it is installed in a health sector that prizes efficiency, surveillance and profit extraction, AI becomes not a tool for care and community but simply another instrument for commodifying human life.”

Who wants to use a credit card / go to a store when you can't tell if the form of payment you brought is accepted until you try it? The best explanation here is: they know much of the American economy is more collusive than competitive, so consumers generally won't have a choice anyway.

“Legislation should prevent discrimination and self-preferencing, and put a price on data extraction-and in some cases cap excessive fees.” The legendary thinker + doer Tim Wu www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

this is the craziest thing I've read in a long time???? Meta projected that 10% of its revenue last year, $16 billion, came from scams. Meta intentionally charges the scammers MORE and knows that people who click on scams are more likely to see more of them www.reuters.com/investigatio...

#CIGF2025 kicks off on November 13 with a panel discussion into Canada’s digital sovereignty. Don’t miss voices from policy, tech and academia on shaping our digital future. 🇨🇦 @vassb.bsky.social, @mgeist.bsky.social, @mariejulie.bsky.social. Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/canadian-l...

This is a great opportunity for provinces! Ontario has some updates to the Consumer Protection Act that gesture on this, but we could be more explicit, intentional.

"Eight of the 10 biggest stocks in the S&P 500 are tech stocks. Those eight companies account for 36 per cent of the entire US market’s value, 60 per cent of the gains in the index since the market bottomed in April and almost 80 per cent of the S&P 500’s net income growth in the last year."

Happy Amazon Prime Day! Amazon collects mountains of data about how you use the service, but there is a setting you can change to make it harder for the company to use that data to sell you more things. #OptOutOctober www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...