The hottest Data Policy Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

Britain's geospatial data is a huge mess

Odds and Ends of History • 1809 implied HN points • 18 Mar 26
🕹 Technology Data Policy
  1. Geospatial data in Britain is fragmented across many organisations, with inconsistent rules and paywalls that make it hard to find and use.
  2. That fragmentation and charging for core datasets slows innovation and creates worse-quality data, and it effectively acts like a tax on startups and small projects.
  3. A National Data Library could consolidate and open addresses, maps and property data, and making these datasets free and usable would unlock big economic and social benefits.

Bikes and battle cruisers (Odds and Ends #88)

Odds and Ends of History • 536 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Data Policy
  1. The UK government is running a consultation on increasing access to public sector data, and it's a real chance to push for making key datasets like the Postcode Address File more open to spur innovation.
  2. Big policy debates are underway about planning and environmental governance, plus new ways to safely open NHS data for research, and those changes could reshape public services and regulation.
  3. Several fast-moving tech and infrastructure trends deserve attention: breakthrough AI hardware, evolving web standards like CSS, creative uses of EV charging, and huge renewable build-outs in China.

Carole Cadwalladr: The Entire Business Model of Silicon Valley Is Surveillance

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 90 implied HN points • 14 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Data Policy
  1. Big tech’s business model is based on mass surveillance and data mining, and that data can be used to manipulate public opinion and influence elections, which threatens democratic self-rule.
  2. Major technology companies are being embedded into government through “strategic partnerships” and large contracts, effectively making them instruments of state power and creating security and sovereignty risks.
  3. Governments and tech firms are forming many-to-many information-sharing relationships that seduce and assimilate companies into state functions. This process turns tech firms into ‘bricks’ in a corporate-state wall that expands surveillance and control.

Top Links 775 America's data disaster is here. Bimodal oil prices. Defending Angela Merkel and what is wrong with Ford engines.

Chartbook • 500 implied HN points • 20 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Data Policy
  1. America is currently experiencing serious issues with data collection and analysis. Reducing the sample size compromises the quality of information we get from surveys.
  2. Oil prices are showing a bimodal pattern, meaning there are two different price levels currently affecting the market. This could indicate some instability or shifts in oil supply and demand.
  3. There are discussions about Angela Merkel's legacy and her political decisions. Some people are defending her while others are criticizing certain policies, like those related to the automotive industry.

Part 1: IndiaAI mission does not need compute, it needs data.

Experiments with NLP and GPT-3 • 23 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Data Policy
  1. Prioritize building high-quality, linguistically diverse datasets and cultural corpora instead of spending most funds on GPUs, because hardware quickly depreciates while data endures and enables sovereign AI.
  2. Run a state-led translation and terminology program to translate technical and cultural works and to standardize or create AI-related vocabulary in Indian languages through a National Terminology Commission; this will democratize technical knowledge and produce the corpora needed for local models.
  3. Subsidize translation, localization, and AI-assisted export of Indian cultural content to remove friction for global audiences and to generate rich datasets, using public funding to de-risk and scale these efforts similar to Japan’s cultural strategy.
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