That Was The Week 2021 - #1

Keith Teare and Andrew Keen on the week in tech

Commercial interests owning platforms used by the majority of society as a modern printing press are no more suited to deciding what is allowed to be published than the first printing press owners were suited to deciding what newspapers were allowed to print.

That Was The Week #48

The last episode of 2020. Enjoy. 

The Federal Trade Commission and 48 State Attorney Generals filed a suit against Facebook on Wednesday this week. It alleges that Facebook, through its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp, exhibited antitrust behaviour.

That Was The Week #47

Stewart Butterfield, the Slack founder and Bret Taylor, Chief Product Officer at Salesforce, represent a formidable team. Together with Salesforce's market weight and sales energy they are likely to play a major role in helping to evolve the operating system that enterprises run on.

That Was The Week #46

Capitalism cannot innovate without investing. So Venture does not deform capitalism. It enables it.

The State, Freedom and Big Tech in the Spotlight

That Was The Week #45

The astonishment at Mark Zuckerberg stating that Steve Bannon's calls to murder various people do not break Facebook's rules enough to ban him drew the eyes of many of the headline writers.

That Was The Week #44

I usually do not like to talk about politics in That Was The Week. After all, tech and politics are very different worlds, and most of us do not determine our tech preferences based on politics.

That said, the rise of massive corporations valued over $1 trillion and the calls from all sides of the political spectrum for anti-trust measures against them make it hard to ignore politics in tech.

As we say goodbye (good riddance) to President Trump, and hello (phew) to President-Elect Biden, it is worth reflecting on how it will change the landscape in Silicon Valley. The consensus is well summed up in this week's News of the Week section dedicated to the topic.

That Was The Week #43

Andrew Keen & Keith Teare

This week I highlight contributions from a wide range of points of view. Some call for the modification of Section 230. Others want it to remain untouched. Some want it ended altogether.

That Was The Week #42

This week's show is a talk with Alex Kantrowitz from the "Big Tech" newsletter on Substack (https://bigtechnology.substack.com). Alex is also author of "Always Day One: How the Tech Titans Plan to Stay on Top Forever".

We discuss the Section 230 hearing in Congress, with the three leaders of Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but first, we talk about the anti-trust case against Google.

That Was The Week, #41

I’m drawn to Bill Gurley again this week. He has been relentless in calling out the Investment Banks for “stealing” money from founders and employees’ pockets. He does not mince words.

That Was The Week #40

What is the alternative to an open approach where everybody can post without fear of being "edited"? It can only be that some people designate themselves as more capable of truth than others and impose that truth on everybody. Such a 'benevolent', big brother, brave new world, approach goes against any sense of freedom and democracy.