The Internet Itself

Plus: Claudia Conway and PowerPoint For Lovers

Banner Image: The Internet Archive

Happy Monday! We’re in the thick of pumpkin spice season, the leaves are changing, and the Internet itself is on its last leg. But first…

📡 ON OUR RADAR

• Home Depot is going full Undercover Boss and will be tasking corporate employees with getting some workboots-on-the-ground experience in its physical store locations nationwide.

• TikTok is depressing hype for housing in trendy NYC neighborhoods, as potential buyers want to do anything but live near eager content creators on viral street corners.

• Gen-Z darling and political lightning rod Claudia Conway was profiled this week in the Times, where she discussed her future as an independent voter and her hopes for engaging Gen-Z outside the two-party system.

💡 ON OUR MINDS: The Internet Itself

• Last week, the Internet Archive was hacked in a massive data breach that temporarily downed its Wayback Machine, which has only just gone back online this afternoon. 

• This comes after a tough year for the foundation, which has been involved in countless legal battles about intellectual property and its continued existence as the primary historian of the World Wide Web.

• Advocates for the organization’s sanctity have perhaps been emboldened by other blows dealt to our broader information infrastructure.

• Just last week, Pirate Wires raised concerns about the massive pay-to-play industry influencing Wikipedia, and Adweek clocked all-time statistical highs of hyperbole in corporate press releases. 

• Amidst questions of original content and misinformation, proprietary, organic Internet data, like the kind guarded on the Internet Archive and Wikipedia, has become a hot commodity— and will continue to be a point of contention in the coming years.

🥊 QUICK HITS:

In case you missed these reads:

• Singles are turning to old-school tech like flyers and PowerPoints to find love. 

• Kamala Harris’ “opportunity agenda for Black men” includes crypto regulations.

• Indicted Mayor Eric Adams might preside over a Subway Series.