We’ve all seen it happen. There’s some technology you love and use every day, then the company that makes it decides to discontinue it, apparently on a whim.
From the tech industry’s standoint, this practice is called “sunsetting.” The idea is that by phasing out certain products and services, they can save money or better allocate engineering talent to more promising projects.
In many cases, the company will announce a sunset date for a product that’s some time off in the future, to help users prepare and make a transition over time. Hence the comparison to the sun gradually going down. Then the lights go out for good when the sunset date finally arrives.
As users, I think we should put this concept to work on an independent basis as well, whenever we deem it necessary to express our disapproval of tech companies' practices around privacy, moderation, or other issues.
We all have social, email, and cloud accounts we’d love to stop using, but never do out of sheer inertia. Maybe a platform's privacy practices suck — an increasingly common concern. Or maybe the product has simply gotten stale.
A personal version of sunsetting would work perfectly for these scenarios. Set a deadline some time off, use the account a little less over time, and then shut it down altogether, for yourself, when the sunset date arrives.
If you want to ditch a social network in particular, be transparent. Tell your followers what other channels they can use to connect with you ahead of time, remind them several times before the existing service's sunset, and then let them migrate with you, if they choose.
Frankly, a few inevitably won't. But you just have to accept that. The good news is, you will probably be surprised how few of them you really miss, either because they weren't your personal favorites or because the old platform's algorithm was often subtly preventing you from seeing their content anyway.
I’ve already sunsetted Facebook, Chrome, Google search, and several other products using the above methods myself. In some cases, I’ve switched to other tools I enjoy more, like Substack, the pro-privacy Brave browser, and DuckDuckGo search.
In other instances, phasing out a certain product just frees up more time for life in general. It helps ensure that my time is well spent, as the tech ethicist Tristan Harris would say.
Regardless of your goal, I’d say it’s important to be more intentional about the tech you use everyday.
If something is substantively useful to you — and worth any drawbacks that it may carry — then by all means keep using it.
But if not, don’t just keep gravitating to it mindlessly. Get rid of it — gradually, if need be.
Week in Review: Aug. 11-17, 2024
- The Ethereum network's transaction fees, known as gas among users and developers, have plunged 95% since March. That could be a bullish sign for the platform's native ether token. (CoinDesk)
- Some early moves to regulate AI surfaced. The U.S. Senate passed a bill to establish civil penalties for posting pornographic "deepfake" images of a person without their consent. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that more than a dozen jurisdictions globally have blocked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Worldcoin project. Privacy concerns have been the major sticking point as regulators are skeptical of Worldcoin's goal to scan the retinas of everyone on earth. For their part, Altman and other Worldcoin backers say the scanning is needed so human internet users can be distinguished from AI bots in the future.
- Controversey erupted at Eigen Labs after CoinDesk reported that it pushed for employees to get early allocations of third-party developers' token airdrops on EigenLayer, the company's Ethereum staking network. Investors pulled more than $350 million in tokens out of EigenLayer staking in 24 hours after the news broke. In a blog post, Eigen Labs denied its employees got any special treatment.
- America's Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against NovaTech and its founders, alleging a fraud that raised $650 million from investors, including many Haitian-Americans. (Reuters)
- Crypto bankruptcy updates: As part of its court-directed liquidation, bankrupt Three Arrows Capital sued Terraform Labs for $1.3 billion, in an attempt to recoup losses from the collapse of Terraform's LUNA and UST tokens. Separately, Celsius sued Tether, alleging in an Aug. 9 court filing that the stablecoin issuer improperly liquidated more than $2 billion in bitcoin held as collateral from Celsius. Tether says the transactions were valid under a 2022 agreement between the two companies.
- MetaMask began introducing a new token-based debit card as a pilot program in the European Union and Britain in partnership with Mastercard and Baanx, a payments startup. (CoinDesk)
- Major centralized token exchanges are back in business in key jurisdictions. Binance re-opened in India after settling a $2.25 million fine with regulators there. Meanwhile, rival Coinbase re-opened access for Hawaii residents after the governor said digital currency businesses there won't require state licenses akin to those of conventional money transmitters.
- The fast-growing web3 game Hamster Combat said it has turned down multiple inqiuries from venture capital firms, preferring instead to grow organically. (CoinDesk)
- The New York Times profiled entrepreneur and former child actor Brock Pierce. His grand ambitions to turn Puerto Rico into a crypto playground have been beset by legal disputes with partners, skepticism from locals, and an apparent cash crunch, according to Times reporters David Yaffe-Bellany and Laura N. Pérez Sánchez.
- Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission created a "regulatory sandbox" to better facilitate experiments with blockchain technology. Companies have to apply to be included in the program. (The Block)
Community
- Many thanks to my old friend Lawrence Patrick, who just became a Founding Member of the newsletter. Woot! Lawrence is CEO of the Wellbeing Outfit, a global consulting firm that helps organizations develop leaders and create cultures where people can be and perform at their best. And they even take crypto payments -- a convenient option for all the startups and founders out there.
- In addition to the Founding Membership, w3w also offers monthly and annual subscriptions, each with extra goodies compared to the free tier. Plus you get my deepest gratitude and some good karma for supporting the newsletter's ongoing work. Sign up today! ☯️ 😉
Odds & Ends
- Schools in Broward County, Florida, just began a new academic year with a policy in place for the first time banning mobile phones in the classroom. Educators favor the policy to eliminate a big distraction from learning. But the rule has been controversial among some parents who believe it could create a safety problem if they can't reach their kids during a school shooting or other emergency. (Miami Herald)
- Who knew? Minnesota has a "Jetson's Law" banning flying cars. (Decrypt)
- On the latest episode of the Chopping Block podcast, panelist Brother Bing says the term for "bitcoin" in Chinese translates to "giant orange pancake." 🤯
That's it for now. Thanks for reading the newsletter today!
About me: I'm a New York-based creator with more than seven years' experience in marketing and content about web3. This newsletter grew out of the early stages of that journey, as I thought it might be useful to share what I was rapidly learning at the time about blockchain tech and decentralization with other people interested in such stuff.
During the COVID pandemic, I served as Head of Content for the censorship-resistant platform Blogchain. I have also done contract work for the World Economic Forum, the Telos Foundation, Dispatch Labs, and Vice News. Previously, I spent over a decade as an award-winning markets reporter at the Wall Street Journal.
To reach me directly with feedback, a story suggestion, or other queries, please email peter[at]w3w[dot]media.
Best wishes for a healthy and productive week ahead. 😊