Data Sovereignty

The $10 Domain That Almost Started a War

A developer bought an expiring domain for $10 as a joke. That domain controlled the data stream of weather balloons used by a military power for targeting. What followed was a cascade of geopolitical tension, intelligence probes, and a near-conflict that underscores how ownership of digital assets can be weaponized. The real story isn’t the domainโ€”it’s the data flowing through it.

The FCC Just Banned Your Robot Vacuum (And It’s Not About Security)

The FCC just banned foreign-made robot vacuums, claiming national security. But the real story is about control, not safety. This is a test case for how the U.S. will regulate every IoT device by originโ€”turning your home into a geopolitical battlefield. Consumers lose choice, pay more, and get no straight answers.

SaaS Isn’t Dying โ€” It Was Already Dead

Many SaaS companies survived on cheap debt, not real moats. With AI coding tools making in-house replication cheap and data sovereignty demands rising, the zombie era of subscription software is ending. The tools that survive will have genuine network effects or proprietary data โ€” the rest will be replaced by internal builds. The question isn’t ‘Is SaaS dying?’ but ‘Did your SaaS ever have a reason to exist?’

Stop Handing Your Family’s Secrets to Big Tech. Try This Instead.

A distant relative recently sent me a photo of my great-grandmother. I wanted to preserve it, but I refused to hand her memory to a tech monopoly. Family trees aren’t just datasets; they are living narratives. Local-first architecture lets us share our history with relatives without surrendering our privacy to corporate servers.

Your ‘Free’ Browser CAD Is a Trap. Here’s Why I’m Not Using It.

That ‘free’ browser CAD tool you love? It’s not free. It’s a trade: your autonomy for convenience. When the server goes down, your work goes with it. This article argues that the real cost of cloud-based design tools is user sovereignty โ€” and why we should think twice before renting our creative tools.

The Mainframe Trap: Why Your Company’s AI Brain Is a Hostage Situation

AI vendors are recreating the mainframe era: they commoditize the interface while monopolizing the intelligence. This article argues that the convenience of easy AI deployment is a trap that locks your company’s most valuable assetโ€”its institutional intelligenceโ€”inside a vendor’s walled garden. Learn why you should own your AI brain, not rent it.

Why Orbital Data Centers Are a Terrible Idea (And Exactly Why They’ll Be Built)

Orbital data centers are a terrible idea on paper: high costs, impossible maintenance, and crippling latency. But the real driver isn’t efficiency โ€” it’s data sovereignty. Placing servers beyond any nation’s jurisdiction is a geopolitical power play that will happen regardless of the economics.