Thanks for your kind notes yesterday. Ina will be back in your inbox tomorrow morning while I go back to spending my evenings watching The Crown.
Thanks for your kind notes yesterday. Ina will be back in your inbox tomorrow morning while I go back to spending my evenings watching The Crown.
Cloudflare's network powers internet connections to millions of websites, but most of the 2.8 billion people who use it every month have never heard of the San Francisco company. That is, until last August, when Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince made the controversial decision to cut off its service to white supremacist website “The Daily Stormer" in the aftermath of the Charlottesville violence, causing the site to go down.
Why it matters: Prince, the son of a journalist and an avid defender of free speech, took heat from some for acting as an internet gatekeeper and was praised by others for taking down neo-Nazi content. His decision fed into the larger debate over whether powerful internet players should have editorial control over how content is distributed online, Axios' Kim Hart reports.
Some highlights from Kim's recent conversation with Prince:
Read more: Catch Kim's whole interview with Prince in the Axios stream.
Jared Kushner's Office of American Innovation is convening conversations today related to getting electronic medical records to work together, a White House official tells Login. The goal, the official said, is letting Americans own their health care data.
It's part of a busy Tuesday for tech in D.C.
Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva reports: SEC chairman Jay Clayton issued yet another memo to investors yesterday, warning them of the risks of participating in initial coin offerings. That same day, his agency intervened in a token sale by Munchee, a restaurant meal-review app, because it violated securities laws.
Between the lines: Clayton's frustration with careless investors and token sale scams is starting to show. Munchee wasn't the first to violate securities law and the SEC has already published several documents with definitions, resources, and advice on token sales.
Won't stop: Companies have already raised $3.67 billion via token sales this year, according to Bloomberg, and the number of ICOs is on track to reach 500 this quarter.
Congress is under the gun to reauthorize a major surveillance law in a debate that has been overshadowed by other major policy fights, like net neutrality and the investigation into online Russian election meddling.
Why it matters: The law — known as Section 702 — expires at the end of the year. The intelligence agencies say it would be catastrophic if it isn't reauthorized. Privacy-minded lawmakers and advocates, however, say that if it is reauthorized without reforms it will perpetuate a sprawling surveillance system that ensnares Americans' information without a warrant.
Get caught up with our Facts Matter explainer in the Axios stream.
A new study from Ghostery, an anti-tracking tool, shows that an overwhelming majority (79%) of websites globally are tracking visitors' data — with 10% of these sites actually sending user data to 10 companies or more.
Why it matters: Trackers can collect and sell visitor data in ways that aren't always obvious to consumers. Too many trackers can also slow down website load times. As the trade war for data intensifies, companies that collect the most data through trackers will become the biggest targets of data privacy reform.
Axios Media Trends reporter Sara Fischer has more on this here.
Longtime Microsoft executive Julie Larson-Green has agreed to join privately-held Qualtrics as its first chief experience officer.
Why it matters: Larson-Green once led Microsoft's Windows group, and once was viewed as a possible CEO successor to Steve Ballmer (the role that eventually went to Satya Nadella). She also held prominent roles in the Office and Microsoft devices units.
Axios' Dan Primack has more in the stream.
On tap:
Trading places:
ICYMI:
Still looking for something distinctive to wear to the holiday parties this week? Maybe a cryptocurrency sweater would do the trick.