VassB

“The Canadian Shield Institute, an economic think tank, recommended a stricter definition of a Canadian company based on where it is governed and controlled, rather than simply where it has offices or employees.” Yes, we need a more logical definition of a domestic firm.

Gullible, Cynical America The trouble with believing anything and nothing at the same time

The data economy has made us dumber in ways that also make us vulnerable to authoritarian takover. We are have become both cynical and gullible in the sense we think we are too jaded be fooled and as a result are tricked more easily www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

AI-generated Iran war videos surge as creators use new tech to cash in The US-Israel war with Iran is being monetised by online creators with AI-generated misinformation.

Latest commentary from me in BBC Verify on the surge of AI-generated war misinformation.

tl;dr the barrier to creating convincing synthetic conflict footage has collapsed, while engagement-driven monetisation is accelerating its spread.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trafigura makes trade happen. And we make it our mission to do that responsibly. Trafigura is a leading supplier of commodities, founded in 1993.

Ok - in terms of being financially rewarded for being “Canadian” (?) www.trafigura.com

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

Of course they asked a chatbot to do it for them. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

This season is full of fun, huge stories, and kicks off with surely our most annoying in-studio guest ever

Documents Reveal a Web of Financial Ties Between Trump Officials and the Industries They Help Regulate ProPublica is releasing a trove of disclosure records that detail the finances of more than 1,500 Trump appointees, including former lobbyists, industry executives and at least a dozen officials who d...

A trove of nearly 3,200 disclosure records, which ProPublica made public this week, reveals a web of financial ties between Trump officials and the industries they help regulate.

“As journalist Eoin Higgins argues in Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left, Thiel and his cohort are working to codify, capitalize, and normalize tech billionaire control of the media itself”

I could see something tiered to differentiate a domestic firm from a firm with operations here. In a way that is factual and not discriminatory.

A company with Canadian operations is in Canada, but seems distinct from a domestic firm. Doesn’t mean it’s bad!

Does this look like a Canadian company to you? JK it's very Ottawa brutalist, so it sort of does. We looked through public procurement data and you won't believe what we found, etc.

YouTube video by TVO Today Can Canada Regain Its Digital Sovereignty? | TVO Today Live

Major gaps in Canada's #digital #sovereignty affect everyone. @spaikin.bsky.social talks to @canadianshieldinstitute.ca @vassb.bsky.social ThinkOn's Craig McLellan & @mozilla.org's Mark Surman: youtu.be/KLxJf1QbBQQ?...

It is in Canada!

who have we become

I’m procurement pilled

What does it mean to be a genuinely Canadian company?

If we're going to try to Buy Canadian, we should have a real definition. Today we're putting out a draft version, to get some feedback.

How does this look to you?

👀

I’ll hope to meet you IRL!

TVO Today Live: Can Canada Regain its Digital Sovereignty? For this edition of TVO Today Live, Steve Paikin asks: have we done enough to secure our nation's digital independence?

TVO Today Live: Can Canada Regain its Digital Sovereignty? We’re taping a show in Waterloo about this on Feb. 27. Hope to see you there. www.eventbrite.ca/e/tvo-today-...

Recoding the system: how to counter the Big Tech Lobby Playbook - SOMO Taking power back from Big Tech corporate giants means disrupting their global lobby playbook, which is vital to begin resetting the system.

Big Tech’s lobby playbook has allowed it to shape laws in its favour.

Taking power back won't be easy; the antidote must be dynamic and creative.

In our recent series, we suggest 8 counter-strategies to disrupt its playbook:
www.somo.nl/recoding-the...

🆕 Market-Shaping States

The latest working paper by IIPP Director @mazzucatom.bsky.social and Co-Deputy Director @rainerkattel.bsky.social proposes a new theory of public sector capacities and capabilities, reframing the state as capable of shaping futures.

✍️ Read more here: buff.ly/olOcFlX

... based on internationally recognized methodology standards and the ability for third parties to bring cases directly to the Competition Tribunal for greenwashing complaints."

Here's where Canada went: "Budget 2025: the government proposes to amend the Competition Act to update the greenwashing provisions by removing the requirement for businesses to substantiate their environmental benefit claims...

This was fun to work on with Denise! I learned a lot, and lots of supplementary material that I enjoyed collecting got killed during the review. Thank you to the CSA Group for engaging us on the research.

Hey @uwaterloo.ca and @wilfridlaurieruni.bsky.social people, we're coming to town! Still a few free tickets for a discussion with @spaikin.bsky.social, @vassb.bsky.social, ThinkOn's Craig McLellan and @mozzilla.bsky.social's Mark Surman Friday night at CIGI:

Say Goodbye to the Undersea Cable That Made the Global Internet Possible History was unmade last year, as engineers began the massive project of ripping the first-ever transoceanic fiber-optic cable from the ocean floor. Just don’t mention sharks.

I’ve been waiting for this undersea cable epic from @janeruffino.bsky.social to drop

Great piece

Dual use technology is the idea that important innovations have both military and civilian applications.

But it only works if Canada captures the value.

As we implement our Defence Industrial Strategy, will Canada secure the returns?

app.cyberimpact.com/newsletter-v...

AI’s Biggest Builders Are Now Its Biggest Lobbyists OpenAI and Anthropic spent more on lobbying in 2025 than ever. They’re pushing for friendly treatment amid tensions—at least for Anthropic—with the Trump administration.

OpenAI and Anthropic spent more on lobbying in 2025 than ever. My latest for @forbes.com is a breakdown of what the big #AI model makers lobbied on last year and why:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

You will never convince me this should be legal