- Eric D. Brown, D.Sc.
- Posts
- Weekly Intel: 2025-09-28
Weekly Intel: 2025-09-28
Tech's "move fast and break things" culture hit a wall this week
Eric Brown
September 28, 2025
In partnership with
Regulators are pushing back against Silicon Valley's worst habits: privacy violations, predatory subscription practices, and surveillance overreach. What makes this moment different: the pushback is happening everywhere at once.
The European Union is moving forward with ChatControl legislation that would force all messaging platforms - including Signal and WhatsApp - to automatically scan private messages and images for child sexual abuse material. No opt-out. No exceptions. This could reshape digital privacy standards and alter how companies operating in the EU handle secure communications. Read more
A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found emergency department death rates jumped 13% at hospitals after private equity acquisitions. The likely cause is an 11.6% reduction in full-time staff compared to non-private equity facilities. This research reveals the true cost of aggressive cost-cutting in healthcare acquisitions - a consideration that private equity firms expanding into healthcare should carefully consider. Read more
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The Federal Trade Commission hit Amazon with a $2.5 billion penalty for enrolling millions of consumers in Prime subscriptions without consent and making cancellations deliberately difficult. The breakdown: $1 billion in civil penalties, $1.5 billion in consumer refunds. This landmark case scrutinizes subscription-based business models. The message to business leaders: deceptive enrollment and retention practices now carry massive financial and reputational risks. Read more
Microsoft terminated the Israeli military's Unit 8200's access to its Azure cloud platform after discovering the spy agency was using it to store and process mass surveillance data from millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls. This highlights growing scrutiny over how enterprise technology gets used by government agencies. Companies now face real reputational and compliance risks when their products enable surveillance activities that violate terms of service or raise human rights concerns. Read more
American, Delta, Southwest, and United are lobbying together to roll back consumer protection rules that guarantee ticket refunds, price transparency, and family seating arrangements. This industry-wide deregulation push could impact corporate travel budgets and employee satisfaction during business travel. It also sets a precedent for consumer protection rollbacks in other service industries. Read more
Early predictions suggested AI coding tools would help junior developers match senior output. The reality: AI actually amplifies senior developers more by automating routine tasks and speeding up implementation cycles. This challenges assumptions about AI democratizing software development. The takeaway for business leaders: investing in senior talent remains crucial because they're better positioned to extract business value from AI tools. Read more
This piece explores technical leadership in modern software development teams. A lead developer adds value not by having the deepest expertise in any single technology, but by connecting different specialists and translating between technical and non-technical team members. The insight for business leaders: effective leadership means coordinating experts and guiding teams toward collective success, not being the most technically proficient person in the room. Read more
Despite AI diagnostic tools like CheXNet, which can outperform humans in detecting diseases from medical scans, the demand for human radiologists continues to surge. AI is serving as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for skilled professionals. This suggests that optimal business outcomes in healthcare, and potentially other sectors, require investments in both human capital and AI capabilities. Read more
The tech industry's traditional optimism has given way to uncertainty and anxiety. AI advancements, return-to-office mandates, and ongoing layoffs have created a significant shift in mood. This cultural transformation has a direct impact on employee morale, retention, and productivity. Business leaders need a more nuanced approach that acknowledges these workplace anxieties while maintaining organizational stability. Read more
That's what I'm watching. What caught your attention this week?
-Eric
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