Robert Goodall - Prairie Son

Prairie Son

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Robert Goodall

Between the prairie and the cloud, an architect of security writing short reflections on economics, technology, and world affairs.

The Two Liberalisms: How a Word I Grew Up With Lost Its Bearings

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The Two Liberalisms: How a Word I Grew Up With Lost Its Bearings

Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty with Tor

Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty with Tor

TLDR * The modern web is built on surveillance capitalism that harvests data, manipulates behavior, and treats users as products. * Tor offers a parallel, non-commercial internet by protecting anonymity, resisting censorship, and decentralizing control. * Lawmakers and corporate interests often target privacy tools like Tor and VPNs, seeking to preserve surveillance and

The Covenant of the People

The Covenant of the People

Behold the land once girded by a sacred bond, Where fields were plowed by hands both proud and fond; One voice, one altar, one ancestral dream, Flowed through the nation like a hallowed stream. Not born of conquest, nor of empire’s flame, But of shared hearth, shared faith, and

The Hidden Cost of Connected Cars: Privacy in the Age of Vehicle APIs

The Hidden Cost of Connected Cars: Privacy in the Age of Vehicle APIs

TLDR * Modern connected cars double as surveillance devices, continuously logging location, behavior, and personal habits. * Vehicle APIs massively expand who can access your data (automakers, insurers, advertisers, data brokers), often with broad default permissions. * Embedded control systems now enable active enforcement, including remote kill switches for missed payments and digital

The American FROST Act: Part I, Leading the World in Open Government Technology

Policy Featured

The American FROST Act: Part I, Leading the World in Open Government Technology

TLDR * The FROST Act shifts government from proprietary software (like Windows) to free and open source alternatives. * Government records must be stored in open formats, and government-developed software must be published in public Git repositories. * Self-hosted blockchain systems provide tamper-evident records and transparent smart contracts. * Modern architectures such as microservices,

Digital Ledgers for Financial Institutions and Trust Through Transparency

Policy Featured

Digital Ledgers for Financial Institutions and Trust Through Transparency

TLDR * Blockchain ledgers can replace fragmented, paper-heavy financial records with immutable, shared data, improving transparency, security, and trust across banks and governments. * In banking, blockchain streamlines trade finance, cross-border payments, KYC/AML, and syndicated lending, cutting fraud, delays, and operational costs while enabling real-time visibility. * Governments can use blockchain for

A More Perfect Union: How Decentralized Social Media Embodies American Democratic Values

Technology Featured

A More Perfect Union: How Decentralized Social Media Embodies American Democratic Values

TLDR * Corporate-controlled social media has effectively privatized public discourse, concentrating power over information flow in a few platforms and posing a direct threat to democratic governance. * Decentralized, federated platforms and protocols (e.g., ActivityPub/fediverse) let governments, organizations, and individuals own their own instances while staying interoperable, mirroring American federalism,

America's Energy Crossroads: The Nuclear Power Solution

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Policy Featured

America's Energy Crossroads: The Nuclear Power Solution

Reclaiming American Sovereignty Through Strategic Tariffs

Reclaiming American Sovereignty Through Strategic Tariffs

TLDR * The United States faces growing strategic risk by relying on foreign nations for essential goods, technologies, and supply chains. * Targeted tariffs are not merely protectionist, they are tools to restore industrial capacity, reduce dependencies, and reinforce national security. * Decades of offshoring, accelerated by trade agreements like NAFTA, hollowed out

The Dark Web, Demystified: Beyond the Shadows of Tor

The Dark Web, Demystified: Beyond the Shadows of Tor

TLDR * The "dark web" is widely misrepresented in media and advertising, often used to scare people away from privacy-focused technologies like Tor. * Tor is just one of many internet protocols and was originally developed and funded by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to enhance privacy and security.