S06E04 of Connection Problem: Procrasto Vendetta
Hello friends old & new,
It’s home office day, because the kid wheezed at night in a way that convinced us he needed a doc in the morning, which is just the kind of thing that’ll dent the day’s schedule enough to require a bit of a reshuffle. (False alert, all good.) Between that and me hurting all over from the gym, I’m nursing a hot tea as I’m typing this, but I won’t let that slow me down. Lots happening, let’s get right into it.
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If you'd like to work with me or bounce ideas, let's have a chat.
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Personal-ish updates
I’ve filed my first FOIA request via FragDenStaat! After seeing a camera-based traffic analysis thingie in our neighborhood I asked what measures they take to make sure anonymity of citizens is guaranteed. And while I don’t quite share the local council’s confidence in the on-device AI-based anonymity protection mechanisms that the company supposedly deploys (and which seem strangely not to be mentioned on the company’s website), the response was prompt (like before on Twitter) and comprehensive (unlike on Twitter) and the whole process was super smooth. My apologies for making this request which, to be honest, was probably in equal parts to see how the process works, and partially to see how smart city surveillance plays out in our neighborhood.
In the meantime, I’m on a personal low-intensity procrasto-vendetta*. Concretely, I’m trying to get Bang & Olufsen to fix or take back our smart speakers which have some software bug that can’t be resolved because the software can only be updated by an auto-updater, which unfortunately in the version that’s installed on the speakers has a bug and isn’t working. It’s the kind of complexity-issue that connected products (especially once they work in connected systems, like a family of speakers) will just make your head explore. So I’m watching closely how this plays out, both as a consumer and as someone working in the industry and with policy makers. This might end up making a cameo on upcoming slides.
* Procrasto-vendetta: Procrastination by engaging with a complicated customer service issue; can we please just get this into Merriam-Webster?
Btw, it seems like I should have something to say about the mess at the MIT Media Lab; to be honest, I don’t think I have. There are so many levels of me just shaking my head that I wouldn’t know where to start. I’ll sit with it for a bit; maybe some clear insight will reveal itself, otherwise I’ll try not to add more noise to that already noisy space.
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New personnel at the top of the European Commission
President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who has served as German minister for all kinds of things over the years, most recently as Minister of Defence, a conservative who’s long held the informal title as least popular politician, seems to be going surprisingly strong since her nomination as president of the EC. She just announced a strong leadership team of vice presidents that includes Margrethe Vestager, currently. EU Commissioner for Competition Policy. Vestager and the other VPs are promised serious clout and influence; if this manifests as promised than Europe will see a serious doubling down on digital development and competition.
So who’s Vestager? WIRED UK and Forbes both frame her as the person who fined Silicon Valley tech companies billions — which is true, but seems a little incomplete? I don't know her work that well but her Wikipedia entry makes for an interesting read. It appears she knows not just to be hard on others but also her own people (she's credited here with forcing through unemployment cuts in a desperate situation, and also with giving up seats on the IMF to emerging economies): Maybe here's a politician with a real moral compass? If that's the case, then the European industry giants shouldn't be lulled into thinking that they're simply going to be protected from those pesky SV tech companies; it could be a rough awakening for them.
Also, curious about the inherent tension between leading the development of European digital economy while being the main watchdog of the same space: I genuinely can’t tell if this is a giant conflict of interest, or genius.
I’m watching this with a bit of hope and maybe, just maybe, also a big bag of popcorn in hand.
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Edgeryders
As I mentioned before, I’m happy to be a fellow at Edgeryders this year, with the mandate to explore how we can put humans/citizens first in our smart city policies. This is part of Edgeryders’ work with the NGI Internet of Humans. It’s a good community, if not always the easiest platform to understand at a glance.
I’d like to give a few shout-outs to interesting things going on there that I’m involved in:
- I just started a thread on the platform to explore resilience mechanisms for smart cities. At this early stage, it’s just a first attempt at collecting examples. If you know of any, please share (just hit respond here or chime in on the ER platform).
- As part of my fellowship, I head the pleasure of chatting with Jon Rogers and Michelle Thorne. There's more here in this active thread, where others also share their ideas and feedback.
- There’s also a decentralized festival in the making.
A big thank you to the always-kind John Coate (of The Well fame) and Maria Euler, who make this online space a friendly, safe, welcoming place for all.
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Speaking of smart city resilience…
Toronto Life has an interesting essay collection on Sidewalk Labs’ big waterfront development. (Thanks Patrick for the pointer.) I recommend reading these; they’re quick reads. As I’ve already mentioned on Twitter, half of these essays are fiercely critical, the other half are fiercely paid for by Sidewalk Labs as they are written by people with a financial stake in the issue (often as paid consultants to Sidewalk Labs; which is disclosed exemplarily in the collection).
I’m not a fan of this development, but I barely find it in me to blame the company for dropping this proposal: All the way back to the tender, the city must have framed this in a way so flawed and shortsighted to be painful to watch. The framing is full of false choices, of flawed assumptions, of comparisons between apples and oranges.
Do we need innovation in urban planning and mobility? Yes please. Do we need massive innovation in infrastructure & affordable housing? Yes, of course. But those mustn’t come at the expense of giving up municipal space to privately owned and controlled organizations.
What we don’t need is an ever greater lack of oversight; faster moving & faster breaking companies; astroturfing; privatized-but-publicly-accessible spaces that aren’t really public.
Instead, to thrive in the 21st century, we need more public space, more democratic oversight, better urban planning. We have the knowledge we need to build better cities; it's politics and budgets that's keeping us from implementing it.
In loosely related notes, I'll be speaking at NEXT in Hamburg about similar issues:
"What Type of Smart City Do We Want to Live in?" Here’s the session description:
Connecting the urban space promises a great many improvements. But often the realities fall short of the expectations, and for any problem a smart city solves through higher efficiency it creates two others. In his talk, Peter Bihr explores how we can design smart cities that work for citizens and administrations alike: As connected urban infrastructure that is based on participation, accountability and trust.
If you’re around, come swing by next week!
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ThingsCon
First ThingsCon Salon in Denver, CO just took place. I’m still waiting to hear from the organizers: It’s always exciting when a new city comes online for our network.
Also, the team just published a call for proposals for the annual State of Responsible IoT report (#RIoT). More here.
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If you’d like to work with me or have a chat to explore collaborations, let’s chat!
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Miscellanea
"Gallery.Delivery is both a group exhibition and a performance that can be ordered online. It will be delivered by bike courier in a "White Cube" courier bag to the address stipulated in the order, where it will be temporarily installed. As the Internet increasingly penetrates every corner of our lives, this is giving rise to a mindset…" 🙌 See also Duchamp's Boîte-en-valise, or box in a suitcase, a portable miniature monograph including sixty-nine reproductions of the artist's own work. (Thanks for the pointer, Alexandra!)
Why industry is going green on the quiet. Bizarrely, many companies consider it better for business not to mention that they work sustainably, because consumers and B2B partners associate this with lower quality or higher price. (via Laura)
Russian satellite creeps up to Intelsat satellite - again. Super interesting, also because it discusses emerging norms (or lack thereof) in space. Who gets to do what, and how close is too close for satellites?
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Currently reading: Leviathan Wakes (James S. A. Corey), Four Futures (Peter Frase), Lost Japan (Alex Kerr)
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What's next?
After a workshop in Stockholm I’ll be heading to Hamburg to speak at NEXT, where I haven’t been in a few years, exploring better urban metrics for smart cities. This is followed by a stint in Dundee as part of the OpenDott PhD program, where I’m an industry supervisor, and an attempt at low-carbon travel.
Boston & New York (most likely; details still pending, sigh). In November you can come see me speak at Tech Care, a brand new event about responsible technology in the public interest. London for Mozfest.
Have a lovely end of the week!
Yours truly,
Peter
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Who writes here? Peter Bihr explores the impact of emerging technologies — like Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence. He is the founder of The Waving Cat, a boutique research, strategy & foresight firm. He co-founded ThingsCon, a non-profit that explores fair, responsible, and human-centric technologies for IoT and beyond. Peter was a Mozilla Fellow (2018-19) and is currently an Edgeryders fellow. He tweets at @peterbihr. Interested in working together? Let’s have a chat.
Know someone who might enjoy this newsletter? Please feel free to forward your copy or send folks to tinyletter.com/pbihr. If you'd like to support my independent writing directly, the easiest way is to join the Brain Trust membership.
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Header image: Pavel Nekoranec (Unsplash)