This week in Silicon Valley bias: Google is planning to tell enterprise users of its word processor that words like "motherboard" and "landlord" are insufficiently inclusive for use in polite company. We won't actually be forbidden to use those words. Yet. Though that future has apparently already arrived in Mountain View, where at least one source says that "mainboard" is the only acceptable term for the electronics that used to honor the women who raised us. In another blow for freedom, as it's now defined in the Valley, Twitter will suppress all climate ads that contradict the views a panel of government-appointed scientist-politicos. Apparently suppressing talk that contradicted CDC scientist-politicians worked so well that Twitter is rushing to double down, presumably under the slogan, "You'll pry these red pencils from our cold, dead fingers, Elon!"
In other cyber news, Megan Stifel sums up the last week of cyberwar news: It was a lot like the week before. We're still waiting – nervously -- for Russian hackers to lift their eyes from the near target in Ukraine and focus on far targets in the West. The Five Eyes security agencies are doing their best to make sure US critical infrastructure is ready. Well, except for US cloud providers, who were exempted from the definition of really critical infrastructure in the Obama administration and successfully fought off any change in their status for the better part of a decade. Sultan Meghji and I support Congressional efforts to recognize the criticality of securing cloud providers, but it is a heavy lift, especially among Republicans.
Is DJI sabotaging Ukraine's drone fleet, presumably at China's behest? The evidence is hardly airtight, but Ukraine is understandably not taking any chances, as it moves to more expensive drones sourced from the U.S. and elsewhere. Jamil Jaffer delivers a heartfelt plea to American hobbyists to do the same.
