Thread · 7 tweets · 23 Sept 2022

I don't think that I ever got any of my feelings neatly detangled, sorted, and labelled, but even by my chaotic standards it is very much with mixed feelings that I share these news: Next week, after precisely fives years on the job, I will be leaving the @nytimes.

It has been a humbling journey and I am infinitely grateful for the amazing colleagues who have so patiently taught me just how complex the inner workings of this magnificent beast are. Rarely have I been given the privilege to learn so much in such a short span of time.

Everyone loves to complain about @nytimes (and as a reader, I too have opinions!) but it is a sensational place all the same. I have worked with the kindest, smartest, most supportive, most dedicated people. If you get a chance to work there, you should!

I knew going in that tech had any number of problems, but I had woefully underestimated how bad they were. Internet governance is unequal to the task, and us standards folks ignoring issues of money and power for decades has brought us to a dangerous place. We fucked up.

I have focused a lot on privacy during these years and that is certainly a big part of the problem. There is no sustainable future for publishers or in fact for the whole of the digital economy without privacy. Also, you know, we are endangering people's lives. Not great.

Too many digital companies approach privacy defensively, with CYA and compliance theatre. Data and trust are key strategic assets and digital leaders who treat them as reluctant obligations to be lawyered away are wasting opportunity.

But privacy isn't enough — we need infrastructure that is sustainable & governed. We need to build commons at unprecedented scale. We need new institutional forms. There is no 'for everyone' that isn't also 'by everyone.' I am very sad to leave, but very excited for what's next!