Out of Scope: The Internet Itself

Oct 14, 2024

Happy Monday! We’re in the thick of pumpkin spice season, the leaves are changing, and the Internet itself is on its last leg. But first…

📡ON OUR RADAR

Home Depot is going full Undercover Boss and will be tasking corporate employees with getting some workboots-on-the-ground experience in its physical store locations nationwide.

TikTok is depressing hype for housing in trendy NYC neighborhoods, as potential buyers want to do anything but live near eager content creators on viral street corners.

Gen-Z darling and political lightning rod Claudia Conway was profiled this week in the Times, where she discussed her future as an independent voter and her hopes for engaging Gen-Z outside the two-party system.

💡ON OUR MINDS: The Internet Itself

Last week, the Internet Archive was hacked in a massive data breach that temporarily downed its Wayback Machine, which has only just gone back online this afternoon.
This comes after a tough year for the foundation, which has been involved in countless legal battles about intellectual property and its continued existence as the primary historian of the World Wide Web.
Advocates for the organization’s sanctity have perhaps been emboldened by other blows dealt to our broader information infrastructure.
Just last week, Pirate Wires raised concerns about the massive pay-to-play industry influencing Wikipedia, and Adweek clocked all-time statistical highs of hyperbole in corporate press releases.
Amidst questions of original content and misinformation, proprietary, organic Internet data, like the kind guarded on the Internet Archive and Wikipedia, has become a hot commodity— and will continue to be a point of contention in the coming years.

🥊QUICK HITS:

In case you missed these reads:

Singles are turning to old-school tech like flyers and PowerPoints to find love.
Kamala Harris’ “opportunity agenda for Black men” includes crypto regulations.
Indicted Mayor Eric Adams might preside over a Subway Series.

Thanks for reading,

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OUT OF SCOPE