Podcast: Why banning TikTok would miss a privacy forest for "national security" trees

Good morning from sunny Washington, where I'm about to go pick up a repaired car after a month. Alex Howard here, with a new edition of Civic Texts. Happy Earth Day. I'm happy to report that my body also feels close to fixed as well, after

What danah boyd told us about AI and ethics

Good morning from Washington, where the Senate dismissed impeachment charges against DHS Secretary Mayorkas on a party-line vote, the House will consider foreign aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, privacy legislation seems to be moving forward, and NPR staffers. (Jury selection is ongoing in an "unpresidented" criminal trial

Will (overdue) Congressional interest change U.S. participation in open government?

Hello from Washington, where the climate already resembles New England summer more than spring. Life in DC, redux. Alex Howard here, back in your inbox with another edition of Civic Texts. If you find these valuable, I hope you'll consider sharing them with your social networks, forwarding to

What I learned after Meta's algorithms silenced me, and then Adam Mosseri listened

Good morning from sunny Washington, where spring is now accelerating into a climate that resembles of New England summer, the Senate is back in session, and I'm getting ready to go up to Maine to sing in an acappella reunion again. Deja vue, all over again. Thanks to

Don't look up! Astronomical privacy news in the USA is being eclipsed today.

Good afternoon from sunny DC, a condition I expect that to change dramatically around 3:20 today for people across the United States where the sun is (mostly) blocked by the moon in the first total eclipse since 2017. (NASA has all of the details about where, when, and how

Why do an open Internet and net neutrality matter? Access to information is a human right.

Hello there! Alex Howard here again. I hope your Friday is going well and that you're staying safe and well, given that April snowstorms and earthquakes are in the zeitgeist in the eastern regions of the United States today. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed since I

LIVE, from DC: the U.S. Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee

Good morning from DC! Today's public meeting of the 2022-2024 term of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee has just begun. The draft recommendations we will vote on, several of which I helped draft, are online. The livestream is up on YouTube, and video

How to be healthier in an era of ubiquitous connected screens

Hello there! Alex here again. Many, many thanks to everyone who has signed up for Civic Texts and shared my first message. Special shoutout to the folks who have become paid subscribers, which is a humbling bet on me delivering something worth reading. I was just asked how I approach

I'm not ghosting you! The spirit moved me to leave Substack.

Hey there! Alex Howard here. If all has gone well, you're reading my first newsletter from Ghost. If you've been following and reading me for a while, you know this isn't my first email newsletter rodeo. Back in 2006, when I began writing about