Category: Policy

Even though I ran a political media company for four years, I’ve largely avoided writing about politics, and I’m not about to make a habit of it now. But the politics around data centers has come to dominate coverage of AI, and how those politics play out over the next few months will likely determine not only the course of Trump’s final two years in office, but who inherits the Presidency in 2028.

Until we can see the monster, we tend to ignore the monster. With their massive appetites for energy, land, capital, and water, data centers have become tangible manifestations of Big Tech’s otherwise incorporeal impact on society. Data centers give the monster a body, a tractable container through which to air out a dog’s breakfast of grievances against not only the tech industry, but also the corporations, politicians, and financiers profiting from its concentrated power.

I’m traveling today – consider this brief post a placeholder of sorts. I’ve long railed against the privatization of public space, and the hidden regulation inherent in the submission of our collective personal data to the black boxes of Big Tech. With that in mind, I’m watching this story, about Apple’s refusal to roll out its new Siri AI service in Europe. Despite its characterization as a “spat,” there are far larger issues at play.

At the heart of the matter is a fundamental disagreement about who has agency over personal data that is created on our phones and other digital devices. Apple insists it should have control over how that data is leveraged by AI agents, and that the EU’s regulatory framework, known as the Digital Markets Act, hinders Apple’s ability to protect its customers’ privacy. The EU believes the job of protecting consumers privacy – and our rights regarding how our data is exploited – is a matter best handled by the public through collective government.