Sam Liebeskind

For Tech Companies

Close anonymity loopholes . Facebook Groups and Pages can be created without linking to a specific Facebook user; only an email address is necessary. Admins can post to their groups under the Group or Page name, effectively allowing anonymous, or at least, pseudonymous, posts. Ending anonymity will not end harassment; in some... See more

The digital sphere is artificially built and those who operate it get to set its rules in ways that are enforced in code, which is to say that are enforced as the laws of the system itself. That is how structural power is established. Many parts of the digital landscape are presented on the surface as consumer goods (social, search) or as markets... See more

We have allowed today’s students to speed along the information superhighway without so much as a driver’s permit.

Donnelly and Schrantz are arguing for a major shift: “a long-overdue scaled investment in community organizing around the country.” I agree 100%, especially because I concur with them that how we do politics now, as a purely transactional process of extracting votes from people, has contributed to the crisis of democracy and the allure of... See more

Why the Lab failed is a story of grand plans cast into turmoil by the disgrace of the grand planner himself. Among other things, it reveals how difficult it is to hold on to a place at the table, once you’ve got it (assuming you’d even want to). In the end, it boils down to a question: Is local government really the best place for public interest... See more

Building a collection on the internet is like building a sandcastle on the beach: eventually the tide washes in and it’s as if it never existed in the first place.