Facebook’s Cryptocurrency, Cyberwarfare Escalation With Russia, and Deepfake Countermeasures
This week in tech
Facebook announced Libra, a product that may or may not be a cryptocurrency depending on who you ask. The announcement has not been met with the enthusiasm Facebook was probably hoping for. Charles Arthur called it “Alarming and Unnecessary,” and Jennifer Grydiel suggested that regulators block the product. Wired published a less opinionated, more explanatory piece about the proposed currency. My own article about Libra is forthcoming, but suffice it to say that I don’t trust Facebook as far as I can throw them.
Meanwhile, traditional banks are flirting with cryptocurrency as startup crypto firms continue to grapple with regulators. All signs point to the continued domestication of cryptocurrency, as the anonymity preserving cypherpunk vision of cryptocurrency has been largely co-opted by mainstream powers. Even Facebook — the most flagrant privacy violator around — has now thrown in with cryptocurrency, signifying an enormous sea change in how the technology is being applied, by whom, and to what ends.
This week the New York Times broke the news that the U.S. has inserted malware into Russia’s electric grid. The move is being branded as retaliation. For years the F.B.I. and D.H.S. have warned that Russia has…
