VassB

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/...

Absolute legend!

I love essays like this. Pitch idea for @coletteshade.bsky.social

You can’t be sovereign if you don’t own anything Gas station giant Parkland is already shedding Canadian employees in the wake of TX-based Sunoco’s recent takeover of the Canadian fuel chain, which owns 15% of our gas stations and a key refinery in ...

🚨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

You’ve basically done one for that decision! But we are all ears on what should be next. Could even co-publish one. We have found them useful to work through. Plus, your ongoing work on corporate ownership and composition is so necessary.

Report Cover: Skills for Productivity, Prosperity and Well-Being in Canada: A Canadian PIAAC Research Agenda

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.

Dan have you considered just quietly updating your terms of service?

Spotify Needs to Stop AI Music From Reaching My Ears I don’t mean to be overly rude about country music — I’ve acquired a strong taste for it since living in the US — but it probably surprises few that the genre often derided for its formulaic nature was the first to have an AI “artist” top a Billboard chart.

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.” 🌶️🌶️🌶️

I’ll find out. There is a livestream so I am assuming there will be a recording.

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

This Is the Platform Google Claims Is Behind a 'Staggering’ Scam Text Operation Google is suing 25 people it alleges are behind a “relentless” scam text operation that uses a phishing-as-a-service platform called Lighthouse.

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

There Are No Weird Blogs Anymore Cause It’s More Fruitful to Drive Them Out of Business I learned many surprising lessons from my 20 months as editor-in-chief of...

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.

What we lose when we surrender care to algorithms | Eric Reinhart A dangerous faith in AI is sweeping American healthcare – with consequences for the basis of society itself

“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.

The new book is really great!

Opinion: Can we go back to the optimism of the 1990s, before the extraction economy took over? Our economic system benefits only those at the very top – but it’s not too late for change

“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.

Big Tech’s market dominance is becoming ever more extreme In a week when Nvidia’s value reached $5tn, investors in even the broadest index of global companies are now heavily exposed to the AI boom

"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...

Canada risks losing health data sovereignty without AI legislation Canada’s stalled AI laws leave health and Indigenous data vulnerable to foreign control.

"Unless Canada acts, we risk outsourcing not only our data but also our ability to govern wellness itself." policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/10/heal...

"The growing use of AI in digital espionage, cybercrimes and influence operations requires stronger guardrails and policymakers who do more than cheerlead the tech."

The end of the rip-off economy From finance and medicine to used cars, artificial intelligence is radically improving market efficiency

The “rip-off economy”, in which firms profit from opacity, confusion or inertia, is meeting its match. But the extent to which AI can eliminate this market depends on two things

Hey thanks! I haven't seen this. In my limited cultural consumption in Canada my observation was that tickets were typically attainable at face value. But really appreciate this.

does anyone want to be our friend 🥺👉👈