This time last the year the pandemic was still considered an epidemic, and Discord considered itself a chat service for gamers. A year later and the pandemic may not yet have reached its peak, and Discord, now focused on general chat, is also flourishing.

It can be difficult to get credible and accurate reports about what is happening in China, especially when it comes to technology (and the Chinese tech industry). However over the past couple of months there has been a notable shift in both Chinese government policy and the state of China’s technology companies

If I were to create a word cloud of the thoughts I had this past year, a big (and recurring) phrase would be Potemkin Village or at least Potemkin. I tried throwing the phrase or name into Twitter to see what comes up and the results were far too many and sprawling to be of much use. Although this could also be a reflection of the algorithm’s inability to grasp the significance of the phrase.

The Internet was designed to be a decentralized communications network that could survive a catastrophic event such as a nuclear attack. In doing away with a centre, a network of networks could be resilient enough to manage if not transcend an isolated incident or a key node going offline.

We’re in the midst of what may be the largest computer security incident in years, or decades, or maybe even to date. And while it is both severe and geopolitically important, it also illustrates the hypocrisy that surrounds cybersecurity.

Yesterday (Monday) I woke up and was anxious that I did not receive a copy of the newsletter. My concern was that if I didn’t get a copy, others didn’t. I checked substack and it showed the issue was sent out. Why had I not received it?