In today’s post-industrial economy, you are the product. Data detailing your every move is why 34-year old Mark Zuckerberg is worth $54 billion, and Google co-founder Larry Page is worth $50 billion. Your data is incredibly valuable, and for the most part, it is not even yours. But use of your personal data is governed…
Digital technology and digital business tools are increasingly powering today’s small businesses. In Virginia, small businesses employ more than 1.5 million people. Many, like the business I started two months ago, use digital technologies to make a “traditional” small business more efficient, easier to manage and more successful. Now we are hoping government regulation of…
Digital technology and digital business tools are helping entrepreneurs succeed in ways that were unthinkable when I joined the corporate world 20 years ago. Today millions of small-business owners – including me – rely on digital platforms to build storefronts, market products and services, transact business, and secure financial data. But many are growing nervous,…
Editor’s note: This commentary is by Christopher Minott, who is the director of marketing at SBBNet, a small business with an office in Burlington. SBBNet is a member of the Connected Commerce Council (3C), a nonprofit membership organization that promotes small businesses’ access to essential digital technologies and tools. Small businesses employ 60 percent of Vermont’s workforce,…
It is well-known that Massachusetts is home to some of the most innovative technology firms in the country. Our state’s pro-innovation, pro-entrepreneur environment has been carefully crafted and protected through public policy, enviable access to private investment, and arguably the strongest tech talent pipeline in the country. Though proposals for stricter oversight of technology firms…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is under pressure after recent privacy scandals as critics question if the agency has the regulatory teeth to oversee the tech industry’s customer data policies. The new scrutiny also comes with Congress mulling federal privacy legislation. Many privacy and consumer watchdogs say beefing up the agency’s powers and resources to…
3C: Small businesses can no longer be shut out of FTC hearings on technology regulations Washington, DC – October 15, 2018 – The House Small Business Committee shared their concerns with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today that small businesses have not been fairly represented in the Commission’s hearings on the role of technology in…
American small businesses are the backbone of our economy and of our communities. They are also a source of valuable insights and unique experiences, to which we too often pay lip service rather than attention. In Washington, where politicians of every stripe talk about small businesses every chance they get, not enough of them talk…