The federal governments inaction could hamper techs response to the pandemic

Most days in this column I try to bring you one big story about the intersection of tech and democracy, but reading the news today I find I can’t draw any real lessons for you. Instead I see a few clusters of stories that feel worth reading and thinking about. Let’s take a look.

The big story of the week continues to be the (tentative, premature) plans to begin re-opening society as states manage to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections. I’ve already linked Ed Yong’s masterful piece in The Atlantic here once this week, but if you’re new to the subject it’s where I’d start. It’s the frame around everything else you’ll read about what big tech companies are doing in response to the pandemic, from sophisticated contact tracing solutions...

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