Ryan Khurana at CapX argues that France’s new “digital services tax” is a thinly veiled assault on leading American tech firms. With a three percent revenue tax on companies making €750 million and up, the measure is squarely aimed at the likes of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple — which French Finance Minister […]
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“They Are Losing Their Faith That The EU Is Still About Freedom And Hope”
Bui By Erik Sass TES Editor The alarm bells are ringing, but will EU officials in Brussels wake up before it’s too late? Alas, probably not. A rising tide of discontent in Eastern Europe over protectionism, income inequality, unchecked immigration and overregulation threaten to undermine the region’s adhesion to the European Union, jeopardizing […]
Are we ready for a world of AI “deep fakes?”
By Daniel McGroarty TES GeoPolicy Editor “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” The iconic impact of Rene Magritte’s most-posterized work is due not to the painting itself, but to the sophomoric witticism in the subscript: It is a painting of a pipe, and not the pipe itself. But that’s not the painting’s […]
“THERE’S NOTHING MORE ANTISOCIAL THAN SOCIALISM”: Venezuela’s Agony Should Terrify You
By Erik Sass TES Editor Some things never change, although they can certainly take on frightening new forms. Venezuela is a perfect example. As the country which used to be one of South America’s richest enters the final stages of socialist collapse, collectivist ideologues all around the world are once again grasping for […]
“We are clearly moving away from an evidence-based approach to regulation.”
By Erik Sass TES Editor One of the more confounding mysteries of U.S. public health regulation in recent years has been the crackdown on new forms of nicotine delivery, including e-cigarettes and vaping. On the face of it these new technologies, though still bad for human health, are vastly preferable to regular cigarettes, […]
BAN IT ALL! New plastics rule doesn’t go far enough
Writing for Bloomberg, Leonid Bershidsky applauds the European Parliament’s new rules restricting commercial use of plastics — forks, straws, coffee stirrers, balloon sticks and the like — but argues they won’t go far enough to have a meaningful impact on the environment. The phase-outs should have hard deadlines. Plastic bags should be […]
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself — and measles
An alarming editorial in The Lancet Infectious Diseases shows how outbreaks spread when social bonds become frayed. Measles increased in 98 countries last year, with 229,000 cases reported. It’s a worsening global health crisis, even though measles can be prevented easily with the vaccine. The spread of disinformation, which is turning parents against vaccines, is driving new […]
Tech can take out TB
In Devex, Michael Reid makes an optimistic argument that new technology will finally help end the global epidemic of tuberculosis—an airborne infection that kills the most people of any germ. 3.6 million people go without TB treatment each year, mostly due to barriers preventing people from accessing health services. Technology can turn that […]
Zuckerberg: I’m doing everything — everyone should too.
Internet god and would-be humanoid statesman Mark Zuckerberg took to the Washington Post’s op-ed page to unveil some exciting new rules that should govern our sense of self worth and hasten our evolution into politically reflexive, image-obsessed automatons. Purporting to have learned, Mark (friends use his first name) calls for regulation in four areas: […]
“The end of the internet as we know it.”
Matthew Lesh, writing a barnstormer for CapX, argues that the European Parliament’s new Copyright Directive will permanently split the Internet in two. Europe will enjoy a severely restrictive, heavily-censored version of digital reality — crippling free expression and suppressing the democratic values it aims to promote. Everyone fortunate enough not to live […]