Last year, a swarm of AI browsers from companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, Opera, and The Browser Company launched with the aim to replace Chrome with features like sidebar assistants and automated tasks. While Google had introduced Gemini to Chrome last September, the assistant lived in a floating window. One interesting feature Google demoed to press ahead of today's launch involved multiple tabs. Before today, the Gemini in Chrome feature was available only to Windows and macOS users. With this rollout, the sidebar will be available to Chromebook Plus users as well. Google is also taking advantage of its newly launched personal intelligence feature, which connects to your Gmail, Search, YouTube, and Google Photos accounts, allowing you to ask questions based on your own data. There's a new Nano Banana integration coming to Chrome, too, that allows you to modify an existing image with another image or product that you find while browsing. Last year, the company explained that these features would use Chrome's password manager or saved card details, but said its AI models wouldn't be exposed to any of these details. This feature is rolling out initially to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S. Google's demo, just like tons of other AI demos, involved shopping and travel planning. In real-world use cases, agents often don't get the intent or break during traversing different sites, and that would be a challenge for wider adoption. The company said that in its early testing, users have used the feature for tasks such as scheduling appointments, filling out tedious online forms, collecting their tax documents, getting quotes for plumbers and electricians, and filing expense reports. Hear from 250+ tech leaders, dive into 200+ sessions, and explore 300+ startups building what's next. Anthropic launches interactive Claude apps, including Slack and other workplace tools TikTok users freak out over app's ‘immigration status' collection — here's what it means Researchers say Russian government hackers were behind attempted Poland power outage Microsoft gave FBI a set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops: Reports
Google debuted a new “Auto Browse” feature for Chrome on Wednesday. The tool, powered by Google's current Gemini 3 generative AI model, is an AI agent designed to take over your Chrome browser to help complete online tasks like booking flights, finding apartments, and filing expenses. Last year, Google dropped the “Gemini in Chrome” mode to answer questions about what's on web pages and synthesize details from multiple open tabs. Auto Browse, which users can access by launching the Gemini sidebar in Chrome, will only be available today in the US to subscribers of Google's monthly AI Pro and AI Ultra plans. It's unclear when Auto Browse will become available to nonpaying users and additional countries. Google's rollout squares with Silicon Valley's vision for the future of web browsing, which includes a whole lot more AI and a whole lot less of you. Whether it's a browser designed from inception around generative AI, like OpenAI's Atlas, or one that's been retrofitted with new AI-based tools, like Google's Chrome, almost every option available to consumers now has some level of baked-in AI. (The Vivaldi browser is a notable exception for users who want to avoid AI-powered web browsing.) In a prelaunch demo, Charmaine D'Silva, a director of product management for Chrome, showed me an example of Auto Browse helping her shop online. When initiated, Auto Browse takes over Chrome and makes ghostly clicks in its own tab while it attempts to complete the given task. “Use Gemini carefully and take control if needed,” reads a disclaimer on the demo version. Tasks that are deemed by Google to be more sensitive, like posting on social media and swiping your credit card, still require a bit of user oversight. Despite Google's efforts to make it safer to use, Auto Browse and similar AI-based tools are still at risk of being deceived by prompt injection attacks when visiting malicious websites, which trick the bot into acting in ways that the initial user did not intend. I'll be testing Auto Browse this week to get a sense of its initial strengths, weaknesses, and what the tool actually means for average Chrome users. The bots are almost always overhyped, and I've found them to be consistently unreliable. Still, Google is insistent on realigning the web browsing experience around AI. Given Google's track record for pushing out new features gradually, you should expect Auto Browse to roll out more widely in the near future. In your inbox: Maxwell Zeff's dispatch from the heart of AI The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
The San Francisco Police Department is investigating an accident involving a Zoox autonomous vehicle that crashed into the driver's-side door of a parked car, TechCrunch has learned. In a statement on January 20, Zoox said it was “cooperating with local authorities to provide an accurate account of the incident.” The company is operating a similar program in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Amazon-owned company issued a recall in December to fix an issue where some of its vehicles were crossing center lanes and blocking crosswalks. (Zoox also issued two different software updates during recalls earlier in 2025 before it started offering public rides.) Zoox also said it offered medical attention to Durden, who allegedly declined. According to Mission Local, Durden refused medical treatment until his car was towed. “Safety and transparency are foundational to Zoox, and we are cooperating with local authorities to provide an accurate account of the incident,” the company said in a statement. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane. Hear from 250+ tech leaders, dive into 200+ sessions, and explore 300+ startups building what's next. Meta to test premium subscriptions on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp Anthropic launches interactive Claude apps, including Slack and other workplace tools This founder cracked firefighting — now he's creating an AI gold mine TikTok users freak out over app's ‘immigration status' collection — here's what it means Researchers say Russian government hackers were behind attempted Poland power outage Microsoft gave FBI a set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops: Reports Capital One acquires Brex for a steep discount to its peak valuation, but early believers are laughing all the way to the bank
All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Gizmodo may earn an affiliate commission. Amazon announced another round of layoffs Wednesday morning, impacting roughly 16,000 employees, just months after the company cut thousands of corporate jobs last fall. The announcement came in a blog post by Amazon's Senior VP of People Experience and Technology, Beth Galetti, and follows a previous round of layoffs in October that affected about 14,000 corporate workers. “Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months,” wrote Galetti. But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate. While Galetti framed the layoffs as part of routine organizational adjustments, her message did little to ease fears that more cuts could be coming. It feels fair to assume that one of these areas is AI. So far, Amazon has been careful not to say outright whether AI is wholly responsible for its recent job cuts. But during an investor call in October, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy pushed back on the idea that the company's recent layoffs were driven primarily by AI or financial pressures. “What I would tell you is, you know, the announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it's not even really AI driven, not right now at least,” Jassy told investors. “As I shared in October, we've been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. Still, Jassy has previously been more candid about the long-term impact AI could have on Amazon's workforce. In a blog post last summer, he acknowledged that as the company rolls out AI tools across its business, the technology will likely lead to fewer jobs overall. He wrote, “We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.” The company is set to report its final quarterly earnings for 2025 next week, but in its most recent earnings report, Amazon said sales rose 13% to $180.2 billion in the three months ending September 30. AlphaGenome is reportedly the most comprehensive and accurate DNA sequence model developed to date. Amazon is taking its brick-and-mortar business and going home. The Trump regime's abuse of AI has opened up new legal questions. Workers want it to help get us out, starting with canceling ICE contracts.
Artificial intelligence has gotten a bad reputation lately, and often for good reason. But a team of scientists at Google's DeepMind now claims to have found a revolutionary use case for AI: helping humanity unravel the “dark matter” of our genome more effectively than ever before. “We are thrilled to introduce AlphaGenome: our solution to deciphering the complex regulatory code,” said Pushmeet Kohli, vice president of research at Google DeepMind, in a press briefing held Tuesday. Our DNA contains the instructions for building and regulating every biological aspect of ourselves. But only a tiny portion of our genes, 2% or so, actually carry the code for the tens to hundreds of thousands of proteins that perform the functions a body needs to survive, such as insulin or collagen. Scientists once assumed our genetic dark matter was comprised of worthless junk DNA, but we now know that it contains sequences vital to regulating our protein-making genes. Scientists Launch Wild New Project to Build a Human Genome From Scratch While scientists have mapped out most of the human genome, we still know very little about how many of these genes work, especially those found in non-coding regions; we're also largely in the dark about how variations in these genes can affect their functioning. Long before AI became a cultural buzzword (and punching bag), scientists had been using deep learning models—trained on lab data—to more efficiently sift through the mountains of the human genome and to predict a gene or DNA sequence's function. But DeepMind researchers say AlphaGenome is the most comprehensive and accurate DNA sequence model to date. It can reportedly analyze up to 1 megabase (Mb)—about 1 million DNA letters—at a time, compared to older models capable of analyzing upwards of 500 kilobases (kb), though at some cost. From that sequence, the model is said to “predict thousands of functional genomic tracks.” These tracks aren't just limited to how a gene or DNA sequence is expressed but also other less visible functions. In the paper, the researchers also detailed how AlphaGenome matched or outperformed other existing AI models in 25 out of 26 tests measuring how well it could predict the effects of a genetic variant. More than just accuracy, however, the model can do more at once; it can simultaneously predict nearly 6,000 human genetic signals tied to specific functions, according to the researchers. At least some outside scientists have praised the capabilities of AlphaGenome, while noting that it can't solve every lingering mystery about our genetic code just yet. “At the Wellcome Sanger Institute we have tested AlphaGenome using over half a million new experiments and it does indeed perform very well,” Ben Lehner, head of Generative and Synthetic Genomics at the University of Cambridge's Wellcome Sanger Institute, told the Science Media Center. They argue that AlphaGenome, or similar models, could now be used to better diagnose rare genetic diseases, identify mutations that drive cancer, or uncover new drug targets. The Trump regime's abuse of AI has opened up new legal questions. Employees reported major job cuts this week, just months after the video hosting site was bought by Bending Spoons. Eightfold, an AI company that makes human resources software, is being sued over one of its hiring tools.
President Donald Trump's administration appears to believe that general rules don't apply. Whether it's disappearing undocumented immigrants, shooting US citizens and deploying the National Guard against them, capturing the leader of a sovereign nation, or threatening to take control of Greenland, Trump's reach appears limitless. But despite the bravado, there is one situation that, so far, Trump has been unable to bend to his will: the case of Tina Peters, a former election clerk in Mesa County, Colorado, who became a hero in the election denial community after she used another person's credentials to facilitate an associate watching a software update of her county's election management system. Peters has served roughly 14 months of a nine-year prison sentence, and figures in the election denial community like former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn have been campaigning for her release ever since. Unlike the nearly 1,600 January 6 prisoners Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of on his first day in office, the president cannot pardon Peters because she was convicted on state rather than federal charges—though this didn't stop Trump issuing a “pardon” on Truth Social last month. Nevertheless, Trump is now conducting an increasingly intense pressure campaign against Colorado and its Democratic governor, Jared Polis, whom Trump has called a “sleazebag” and a “scumbag” for refusing to release Peters. Polis has since said he is considering granting clemency to Peters, a decision that has left elected officials in the state, both Democrats and Republicans, baffled and worried. “I have major concerns that [commuting Peters' sentence] emboldens the far right that has been attacking our elections and election officials,” Jena Griswold, Colorado's secretary of state and the state's top election official, tells WIRED. Polis declined to be interviewed, but his spokesperson Shelby Wieman tells WIRED, “The Governor takes the responsibility of clemency very seriously, and his team reviews all applications submitted. Peters first came to national attention in May 2021 when she allowed Conan Hayes, a former pro surfer who later worked for pillow-salesman-turned-election-denier Mike Lindell, unauthorized access to election equipment in Mesa County, as part of a scheme to prove that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump. The information was widely hailed by election deniers as further proof that US elections were rigged, even though widescale election rigging in 2020 was never actually proven, and Trump's own officials called it the most secure election in history. At her sentencing hearing in October 2024, district judge Matthew Barrett said: “You are no hero. You're a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle snake oil that's been proven to be junk time and time again.” She is due for parole in September 2028. While Peters has been incarcerated at the medium-security La Vista Correctional Facility for women in Pueblo, she has continued to be portrayed as a hero among the election denial community. In May, Trump posted for the first time about Peters' case on Truth Social: “Tina is an innocent Political Prisoner being horribly and unjustly punished in the form of Cruel and Unusual Punishment,” Trump wrote. “This is a Communist persecution by the Radical Left Democrats to cover up their Election crimes and misdeeds in 2020.” Trump then called for the Department of Justice to “to take all necessary action to help secure the release of this ‘hostage' being held in a Colorado prison by the Democrats, for political reasons.” He repeated his call for her release in another Truth Social post in August, threatening to take “harsh measures” if Peters was not freed. Days after the letter was sent, Trump once again posted in support of Peters on Truth Social, writing: “FREE TINA PETERS, WHO SITS IN A COLORADO PRISON, DYING & OLD.” Election workers and some Colorado officials have now come to believe that the president is engaging in a pressure campaign on Colorado. In recent months, the administration has threatened to remove the state's control over its wolf reintroduction program, Trump announced plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research based in Boulder, and on December 30, Trump vetoed plans to complete the Arkansas Valley Conduit, an infrastructure project designed to bring clean drinking water to some 50,000 people in the southeast part of Colorado. Throughout this period, Trump has continued to post about Peters' cause on Truth Social, specifically targeting Polis, whom he called “the SLEAZEBAG Governor of Colorado” on December 3. On New Year's Eve, Trump wrote on Truth Social: ”Hard to wish [Peters] a Happy New Year, but to the Scumbag Governor and the disgusting “Republican” (RINO!) Four days later, on December 11, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election.” Though Trump has no power to pardon those convicted on state charges, Ticktin claimed it applied to his client. Peters's legal team has applied for clemency from the governor. “You have somebody who is nonviolent, a first-time offender, elderly. On the other hand, does she take full accountability for her crime? Polis' possible change of heart has left many in Colorado baffled. Earlier this month, Griswold, together with a Colorado county clerk and the director of the state's clerks association, sent Polis a letter urging him not to commute Peters's sentence. “I do not believe that giving in to a vengeful president makes the retribution stop,” Griswold tells WIRED. “Donald Trump and I have known each other since we were 15 years old,” Ticktin tells WIRED, adding that he has spoken to the president about the case directly but says Trump's actions are not about retribution: “By Governor Polis standing up to Donald Trump for something that's unreasonable, he's drawing more attention to the state and causing the state to be looked at more, [but] I don't think that it's retaliation by Donald Trump.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment about whether Trump is conducting a retribution campaign against Colorado, but instead provided a list of reasons why each action was taken—even including responses to two issues WIRED didn't raise: childcare funding and disaster relief. Election workers have been under threat for years, and just this past summer an election office in Archuleta County in southern Colorado was firebombed by a suspect who, according to the arrest affidavit, believes in election denial conspiracy theories. This is an edition of the Inner Loop newsletter. Big Story: China's renewable energy revolution might save the world Watch our livestream replay: Welcome to the Chinese century WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
It's looking to cut around 1,700 positions, mostly at the management level. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. According to the company's announcement, it's streamlining its Technology and IT & Data organizations, with the former moving “from a project/matrix setup to one where most of our engineers will be dedicated to a specific product and module.” This reorganization is meant to simplify processes and decision-making throughout the company. “As a result of these proposed changes, some roles — mainly at the leadership level — may no longer be required,” ASML said in its press release. “At the same time, to retain our engineering capability, we will create new engineering jobs to strengthen existing technology projects and embark on new ones to support our own and our customers' growth plans. While this will allow some of our impacted colleagues to move to new roles, we have to acknowledge that some will leave ASML as a result.” This isn't just a minor trim for the two departments, too. Even though ASML still plans on creating roles in Manufacturing, Customer Support, and Sales, it expects to reduce its headcount by 1,700 positions, mostly affecting the Netherlands and the United States. “As our FY 2025 financial results demonstrate, we are choosing to make these changes at a moment of strength for the company,” the company stated. However, these job losses aren't caused by a contraction of the tech industry — instead, it's driven by industry shifts, with AI and automation taking over many entry-level positions. ASML's announcement, though, is different, with many of the affected personnel expected to be from leadership positions — mostly middle managers and up. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.
It's looking to cut around 1,700 positions, mostly at the management level. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. According to the company's announcement, it's streamlining its Technology and IT & Data organizations, with the former moving “from a project/matrix setup to one where most of our engineers will be dedicated to a specific product and module.” This reorganization is meant to simplify processes and decision-making throughout the company. “As a result of these proposed changes, some roles — mainly at the leadership level — may no longer be required,” ASML said in its press release. “At the same time, to retain our engineering capability, we will create new engineering jobs to strengthen existing technology projects and embark on new ones to support our own and our customers' growth plans. While this will allow some of our impacted colleagues to move to new roles, we have to acknowledge that some will leave ASML as a result.” This isn't just a minor trim for the two departments, too. Even though ASML still plans on creating roles in Manufacturing, Customer Support, and Sales, it expects to reduce its headcount by 1,700 positions, mostly affecting the Netherlands and the United States. “As our FY 2025 financial results demonstrate, we are choosing to make these changes at a moment of strength for the company,” the company stated. However, these job losses aren't caused by a contraction of the tech industry — instead, it's driven by industry shifts, with AI and automation taking over many entry-level positions. ASML's announcement, though, is different, with many of the affected personnel expected to be from leadership positions — mostly middle managers and up. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.
Emily Choi-Greene says she's the type of person who supports tax increases on her ballot. “This one attacks the very few people willing to take a risk on themselves to found a startup,” said Choi-Greene, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based cybersecurity startup Clearly AI. This sends a clear signal that Washington is not the place to build and hire,” said Amy Harris, director of government affairs for the Washington Technology Industry Association, said during her testimony. Choi-Greene, who testified remotely from her company's office in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, said she and her husband took a “huge risk and a huge pay cut” when they left Amazon to launch Clearly AI in 2024. She added that they structured early employee equity so it could qualify for QSBS. During his testimony in Olympia on Tuesday, Aviel Ginzburg, a Seattle-based venture capitalist at Founders' Co-op and leader of the startup community Foundations, described the proposed law as a “job destruction bill” and an “extinction-level event” for both founders and investors in the Seattle region. He said the bill would move Seattle into a “third-tier innovation system.” “Research shows that the QSBS exemption benefits multimillionaires and billionaire venture capitalists more than the truly small businesses that it was intended to benefit,” Shigamura said in her testimony. Asked by Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen about the threat of entrepreneurs leaving to a more tax-friendly state, Rep. Berg said she doesn't think people move based on taxes. “Folks are making decisions all the time about whether to stay or leave, and I don't necessarily think our tax code is a basis of those decisions,” Berg said. QSBS is a long-standing federal incentive designed to reward the risk of starting and funding young companies. Washington's existing capital gains tax law, approved in 2021, does not explicitly reject QSBS treatment. Most states conform to federal QSBS treatment, with the exception of California, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Mississippi. Microsoft's mission: empowering every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. Learn how Microsoft is thinking about responsible artificial intelligence, regulation, sustainability, and fundamental rights. Proposals take aim at 3D printing tech to strengthen Washington state laws against ‘ghost guns' Washington proposal to tax startup exits sparks backlash from Seattle tech leaders Seattle's ORCA transit system gets major tech upgrade with new ‘Tap to Pay' feature GeekWire Studios has partnered with AWS for the Guide to re:Invent. This interview series took place on the Expo floor at AWS re:Invent 2025, and features insightful conversations about the future of cloud tech, as well as partnership success stories. Washington proposal to tax startup exits sparks backlash from Seattle tech leaders Nick Hanauer, critic of income inequality, calls proposed Washington wealth tax ‘impractical'
“[T]he next phase of cybersecurity disruption will come from adversaries scaling identity attacks to compromise data security as agentic AI becomes more prominent,” Netwrix, of Frisco, Texas, predicted in its forecast of trends that will be shaping cybersecurity in 2026 and beyond. These workflows now determine who and what can access sensitive data, meaning failures in identity automation translate directly into data exposure risk, the report explained. Adversaries are shifting their focus from individual credentials to identity orchestration, federation trust, and misconfigured automation, it continued. Since access to critical data stores starts with identity, unified visibility across identity and data security is required to detect misconfigurations, reduce blind spots, and respond faster. That shift, experts warned, dramatically increases the potential impact of identity failures. “Identity orchestration, federation trust, or faulty automation allow attackers to circumvent controls, have a bigger blast radius and more options for attacks,” said Netwrix Vice President for Security Research Dirk Schrader. “Attackers go after identity orchestration because it's the leverage point that decides who gets access, when, and under what conditions,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Stealing one set of credentials yields limited reach and is often neutralized by MFA [multifactor authentication] or password resets.” “Compromising the orchestration layer lets an attacker mint or hijack trusted sessions and tokens at scale, bypass controls by changing policy, and persist by creating new privileged identities or OAuth apps,” he continued. Michael Bell, CEO of Suzu Testing, a provider of AI-powered cybersecurity services, in Las Vegas, explained that identity orchestration controls who gets credentials, how they're issued, and what they can do with them. The Netwrix researchers also found that the dependency between identity security and data security becomes more pronounced as AI-driven automation operates continuously and at scale. One over-permissioned non-human identity can propagate access and data downstream like workflow-shaped lateral movement. Data risk also shifts dynamically as agents transform and enrich outputs.” “The risk isn't only malicious AI, it's amplified mistakes — over-permissioned agents, weak scoping, stale privileges, over-broad connectors and missing guardrails on where data can flow,” he told TechNewsWorld. “A compromised service identity can cause automated data exfiltration, model poisoning, or large-scale misconfiguration in seconds, which is far faster than manual attacks.” The researchers also reported that cyber insurers are shifting how they assess risk and set pricing. “Cyber insurers are shifting assessment and pricing because the old ‘once-a-year questionnaire' model didn't predict real losses,” Netwrix's Schrader said. One area that will come under increased scrutiny from insurers is network-edge vulnerability. “The report is absolutely right that the cyber insurance industry is changing how they think about incidents,” added Arvind Parthasarathi, founder and CEO of Cygnvs, a multinational cyber incident response solutions company. “Now the world is shifting to where there's literally no amount of money that an organization can spend to guarantee that they will never have a major event or a breach.” Rich Seiersen, chief risk technology officer at Qualys, a provider of cloud-based IT, security, and compliance solutions in Foster City, Calif., pointed out that in the year ahead, most analysts anticipate moderate hardening of the insurance market with gradual premium increases, more selective underwriting, and closer attention to security controls. “However, it's doubtful that we'll return to the severity of previous hard markets, when applicants faced comprehensive questionnaires and long-lasting underwriting delays,” he told TechNewsWorld. “An event like that could push the market into a sharper hardening cycle,” he said. Starburst's Vega noted the Netwrix report highlights an important shift: the security problem is increasingly about where control is enforced (identity, policy, governance) rather than purely about detection or telemetry volume. “Organizations should treat identity-orchestration, federated governance, and automation-hardening as first-order security problems, not afterthoughts,” he said. “Investing in policy-aware, federated data access, strong identity lifecycle and runtime controls, and robust vendor-continuity planning will be the practical differentiators over the next three to four years,” he added. “The report correctly identifies that identity and data security are converging into a single problem space,” added Suzu Testing's Bell. “The real AI risk isn't autonomous attacks,” he said. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. Dell's Strategic Reset and Intentional Return to the XPS Brand Alliance Calls for Cyber U to Stem Tide of Nation-State Attacks The Sphere of Influence: How Lenovo Brought Vision Back to CES Our Children Are Not Ready: A Generational Crisis in the Age of AI
Sustainability: News about the rapidly growing climate tech sector and other areas of innovation to protect our planet. The Bellevue, Wash.-based business launched in October 2024, has grown to 20 employees, and its first quarter revenue spiked 10-fold compared to the same period last year. RELATED: Tech veterans from Meetingflow and EnergySavvy launch custom AI app startup in Seattle The products are designed to integrate into a client's existing systems. All three also worked at Microsoft earlier in their careers. The startup is a public benefit corporation and Goldfeder said the team is eager to help utilities, energy companies and others addressing climate-related challenges. He noted that losses from natural disasters worldwide hit $320 billion in 2024, while utilities need to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to modernize their electrical grids. GeekWire Studios has partnered with AWS for the Guide to re:Invent. This interview series took place on the Expo floor at AWS re:Invent 2025, and features insightful conversations about the future of cloud tech, as well as partnership success stories. Click for more about underwritten and sponsored content on GeekWire. Tech veterans from Meetingflow and EnergySavvy launch custom AI app startup in Seattle Qualterra raises $4.5M to turn organic waste into carbon-trapping, crop-boosting biochar A new Adventr for Seattle tech vet: Matt Fisher joins interactive media startup
ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data (eff.org) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46756117 ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46756117 - Jan 2026 (941 comments – 18 hours) Cambridge analytica should have been the warning shot but it wasn't enough. On government forms.This thread is Exhibit A for how the tech-privacy community so often trips itself up. We have abuse of government data at hand. Nobody denies the government has the data, how they got the data or how they're using it.So instead we go into parallel construction and advertising dragnets and a bunch of stuff that isn't clear cut, isn't relevant, but is someone's bogeybear that has to be scratched. This thread is Exhibit A for how the tech-privacy community so often trips itself up. We have abuse of government data at hand. Nobody denies the government has the data, how they got the data or how they're using it.So instead we go into parallel construction and advertising dragnets and a bunch of stuff that isn't clear cut, isn't relevant, but is someone's bogeybear that has to be scratched. So instead we go into parallel construction and advertising dragnets and a bunch of stuff that isn't clear cut, isn't relevant, but is someone's bogeybear that has to be scratched. Also, don't forget that profit maximization means selling to the highest bidder, which might not be US govt. Certainly, there is means, motive, and opportunity for individuals with access to sell this info to geopolitical adversaries, and it is BY FAR the easiest way for adversaries to acquire it.It has happened before and it will happen again. * https://www.wired.com/story/us-judge-rules-ice-raids-require...* https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2026/01/judge-orders-release-...> A federal judge in Minnesota on Thursday ordered the release of a Liberian man four days after heavily armed immigration agents broke into his home using a battering ram and arrested him.> U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in his ruling that the agents violated Garrison Gibson's Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. * https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2026/01/judge-orders-release-...> A federal judge in Minnesota on Thursday ordered the release of a Liberian man four days after heavily armed immigration agents broke into his home using a battering ram and arrested him.> U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in his ruling that the agents violated Garrison Gibson's Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. > A federal judge in Minnesota on Thursday ordered the release of a Liberian man four days after heavily armed immigration agents broke into his home using a battering ram and arrested him.> U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in his ruling that the agents violated Garrison Gibson's Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. > U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in his ruling that the agents violated Garrison Gibson's Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. Does this imply that undocumented aliens subject to deportation have been making claims on Medicare/Medicaid monies? HHS is broader than CMMS.Like, if these data were being used to audit the CMMS roles for illegal immigrants, that would be something. That's not what DHS is doing because I suspect they don't want to have to produce a report that says this was a made-up bit of electioneering. Like, if these data were being used to audit the CMMS roles for illegal immigrants, that would be something. That's not what DHS is doing because I suspect they don't want to have to produce a report that says this was a made-up bit of electioneering. Yes, it's surely public information and therefore ought to be subject to the same controls as any other personal health information. It seems moot that it was given to a private company; the issue just shifts to being that the private company (apparently) does not comply with data protection laws, e.g. HIPAA. Do we know what is happening to these people? Why do we not hear from them afterwards? A concentration camp is a place where a government or authority detains large numbers of people without normal legal process, usually because they belong to a particular group rather than because of individual crimes.Historical examples:- Nazi Germany (1933–1945)- British camps during the Second Boer War (1899–1902)- Imperial Japan- United States (1942–1945) Historical examples:- Nazi Germany (1933–1945)- British camps during the Second Boer War (1899–1902)- Imperial Japan- United States (1942–1945) - Nazi Germany (1933–1945)- British camps during the Second Boer War (1899–1902)- Imperial Japan- United States (1942–1945) - British camps during the Second Boer War (1899–1902)- Imperial Japan- United States (1942–1945) Similarly, Nazis did this with census machines so they knew how to scale concentration camps.In 2001, Edwin Black published a book about strategic partnership of IBM with Nazis since 1933 til end of WWII. US camps holding Japanese immigrants during WW2.Sure, it might be somewhat hyperbolic (arguable, because ICE/current administration has few qualms dismissing constitutional rights whenever convenient), but the term is definitely not Nazi-exclusive (even the Germans had concentration camps long before Hitler, in Namibia) Sure, it might be somewhat hyperbolic (arguable, because ICE/current administration has few qualms dismissing constitutional rights whenever convenient), but the term is definitely not Nazi-exclusive (even the Germans had concentration camps long before Hitler, in Namibia) And it has nothing to do with Jews. Jews were removed from public life at first, over-punished for minor infractions and deported or pushed toward self deportation. The thing to notice here is that Germany did not had that many Jews in the first place, they were rather small minority. The tens of thousands thing was possible only after Germans conquered foreign lands and started to kill non German Jews. The WWIII did not started yet, so yep, we are not there, but it is actually OK to comment on similarities before that. Also, tens of people have already died in those concentration/detention camps. Has the same damn job too, coordinate, communicate, control.Humanity doesn't learn from its past because it is too focused on its future. I remember protesting against data retention laws in the early 2000s. People thought we were nuts for using historical examples about the Nazis abusing all kinds of records to hunt down Jews. History was never going to repeat itself that way.Until it did. What data-retention issues do you have with HHS having patients' home addresses? There isn't a data-retention issue with HHS having home records, there is an abuse issue with DHS giving it to Palantir to VLOOKUP addresses out of. Kinda ironic but I think you've got the current situation a little backwards. Karp (who is Jewish) has boasted about Palantir being used to hunt down the “far right”: https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/28/palantir_boss_fii_spe...I think it's very important to focus on how data collection of this nature is bad, not that “because Nazis did it” it's bad. ...according to an unsubstantiated claim by the CEO of Palantir while on a PR tour. Palantir is the IBM of our time, using scaled data engineering to handle the tracking and incarceration of ethnic minorities, who are quickly shipped off for worse persecution, including torture, at government-run camps, all without any due process.> he can turn around and say he's actually preventing NazisAnyone can say anything absurd, counterfactual, and unconvincing, regardless of circumstances. For us to consider it true, we'd need some evidence that it is at least more true than the opposite.> Say thank you," Karp added.Thanks for the link. Wow, I didn't realize that he was such an insufferable, sociopathic, abusive douchebag as a person. Like a wife-beater who insists his victim thank him for it. > he can turn around and say he's actually preventing NazisAnyone can say anything absurd, counterfactual, and unconvincing, regardless of circumstances. For us to consider it true, we'd need some evidence that it is at least more true than the opposite.> Say thank you," Karp added.Thanks for the link. Wow, I didn't realize that he was such an insufferable, sociopathic, abusive douchebag as a person. Like a wife-beater who insists his victim thank him for it. Anyone can say anything absurd, counterfactual, and unconvincing, regardless of circumstances. For us to consider it true, we'd need some evidence that it is at least more true than the opposite.> Say thank you," Karp added.Thanks for the link. Wow, I didn't realize that he was such an insufferable, sociopathic, abusive douchebag as a person. Like a wife-beater who insists his victim thank him for it. Wow, I didn't realize that he was such an insufferable, sociopathic, abusive douchebag as a person. Like a wife-beater who insists his victim thank him for it. Wow, I didn't realize that he was such an insufferable, sociopathic, abusive douchebag as a person. Like a wife-beater who insists his victim thank him for it. In retrospect what has actually happened with mass surveillance has been far worse than what the most unhinged conspiracy nut on shortwave radio or some crazy end times Geocities web site was predicting back then. The predictions of the conspiracy nuts were conservative.The big thing everyone got wrong was that we assumed people would care and put up resistance. We assumed people would choose technologies that protected their privacy and would get mad when highly invasive things were foisted on them. This bargain is being made all over the world to varying degrees, and the trend is toward increasingly authoritarian societies that offer a comfortable lifestyle as long as you don't question it too much. It's all fun until you get dragged off to hell at the end. The big thing everyone got wrong was that we assumed people would care and put up resistance. We assumed people would choose technologies that protected their privacy and would get mad when highly invasive things were foisted on them. This bargain is being made all over the world to varying degrees, and the trend is toward increasingly authoritarian societies that offer a comfortable lifestyle as long as you don't question it too much. It's all fun until you get dragged off to hell at the end. This bargain is being made all over the world to varying degrees, and the trend is toward increasingly authoritarian societies that offer a comfortable lifestyle as long as you don't question it too much. It's all fun until you get dragged off to hell at the end. It's all fun until you get dragged off to hell at the end. I predict the IRS has my address.> This is a devil's bargainMedicare (and the IRS) having your home address is a devil's bargain? Medicare (and the IRS) having your home address is a devil's bargain? Each individual data point seems normal or innocuous, but when you tie them all together and then leverage the tech panopticon you have an insane amount of detail on every person. There are no meaningful legal safeguards on how this data is used, especially when it's laundered through private contractors not subject to much oversight.When you couple this with increasingly unlimited powers granted to law enforcement agencies, you get a situation where a system could decide you're a threat and some just comes and beats the shit out of you, takes your property, or shoots you, and you have little recourse.The people cheering for this seem to think it'll never be used against them. The people cheering for this seem to think it'll never be used against them. None of that is relevant to the article. It's about HHS data being queried to give ICE probable addresses. What you're doing is indistinguishable from whataboutism.I don't think that's your intent. But we have an actual abuse of public data at hand here. Going on a tangent about dragnet surveillance is off topic and misleading. But we have an actual abuse of public data at hand here. Going on a tangent about dragnet surveillance is off topic and misleading. Keep in mind that DOGE made off with a huge stash of data, which combined with other data, such as voter registration data, twitter messages (public and private) and other such datastores could become an extremely efficient tool in messing with elections. The data we're talking about here are home addresses. Where I disagree is in saying the government shouldn't have these records. The government knowing where I live is not only fine but also sort of necessary. What I'm pushing back on is the notion that it was inappropriate for any branch of the government to have these data, or that any of this has anything to do with private dragnets.They're addresses. This isn't a possession problem, it's one of access.> the USA does not have the equivalent of a GDPRYou could have super GDPR that bans all private dragnets and HHS would still have home addresses. This is a Privacy Act and HIPAA problem. This isn't a possession problem, it's one of access.> the USA does not have the equivalent of a GDPRYou could have super GDPR that bans all private dragnets and HHS would still have home addresses. This is a Privacy Act and HIPAA problem. This is a Privacy Act and HIPAA problem. This is a Privacy Act and HIPAA problem. It's more that there's fewer legal protections, so private surveillance is a great way for governments to launder the illegal things they want to do. Governments have to operate in a more open manner (at least those with a reasonable amount of democratic accountability do). So the dysfunction is made public more often, and likely used over decades for political point-scoring.It's similar to open source development. Everyone moans that open source projects are full of infighting slowing down development compared to closed projects.Then, as soon as someone comes along and gets shit done like with systemd or the Linux kernel it's the opposite complaint. The doer is now a wannabe dictator ordering everyone about. Everyone moans that open source projects are full of infighting slowing down development compared to closed projects.Then, as soon as someone comes along and gets shit done like with systemd or the Linux kernel it's the opposite complaint. The doer is now a wannabe dictator ordering everyone about. Then, as soon as someone comes along and gets shit done like with systemd or the Linux kernel it's the opposite complaint. The doer is now a wannabe dictator ordering everyone about. I wouldn't be so sure about this. Each must have their own strategy, HR, marketing, etc. A lot of behavior that is forced by competition, like advertising / patent and copyright systems / hiding research instead of sharing it is very wasteful. Profits going to the owners is also an overhead cost that might not be needed in other types of economic arrangements. The goals of a government can be much more varied. The goals of a government can be much more varied. I work in fintech, at a market leader. Large companies colluding to reject potential hires due to surveilled ideology, sexual preferences of people in the closet filtered to scammers, hate groups learning about the family members of activists, insurance rejecting customers based on illegally obtained data… the list of risks is giant. Non-state actors can't easily use violence to throw me in jail. The surveillance non state actors are already doing anything this administration wants. There are more avenues to stop, nullify, and avoid this when it's a private enterprise than when it's the state. If anything the civil suit against the business is more likely to go somewhere.The fact that the state may "pay out" does not mean it has any serious incentive not to shoot the person dead so long as such payouts don't become too regular.I owe Comcast $200, according to them. The fact that the state may "pay out" does not mean it has any serious incentive not to shoot the person dead so long as such payouts don't become too regular.I owe Comcast $200, according to them. Let me rephrase: why wouldn't state actors be scary?The state might have a monopoly on legal physical violence, but I think it is naive to think private interests can't harm you just as much, with or without state connections. The state might have a monopoly on legal physical violence, but I think it is naive to think private interests can't harm you just as much, with or without state connections. This includes otherwise private property that the government is leasing. I essentially cannot be kicked out unless I cause a disturbance as long as the location is open for public business. This is true for DMVs, county administrative buildings, police offices, jails, any government service with a public area and public hours.On the flip side, if Target wants to ban recording in their stores, not only can they do so with zero risk of litigation, but if you get trespassed you can be fined or go to jail for a violation. The penalties get even harsher for the same trespassing crime if it's a private residence and not a business.I'm sure we can come up with counterexamples, and maybe surveillance is the best one, but philosophically it's pretty easy to see why it's worse for the government to do a Bad Thing than for any individual or private enterprise to do the exact same Bad Thing.Edit: I'd love to hear a justification as to why this is being downvoted because nothing in the content warrants that. On the flip side, if Target wants to ban recording in their stores, not only can they do so with zero risk of litigation, but if you get trespassed you can be fined or go to jail for a violation. The penalties get even harsher for the same trespassing crime if it's a private residence and not a business.I'm sure we can come up with counterexamples, and maybe surveillance is the best one, but philosophically it's pretty easy to see why it's worse for the government to do a Bad Thing than for any individual or private enterprise to do the exact same Bad Thing.Edit: I'd love to hear a justification as to why this is being downvoted because nothing in the content warrants that. I'm sure we can come up with counterexamples, and maybe surveillance is the best one, but philosophically it's pretty easy to see why it's worse for the government to do a Bad Thing than for any individual or private enterprise to do the exact same Bad Thing.Edit: I'd love to hear a justification as to why this is being downvoted because nothing in the content warrants that. Edit: I'd love to hear a justification as to why this is being downvoted because nothing in the content warrants that. This was not the claim though, the claim is that it's not scary to be surveilled until that information reaches state actors.States acting against citizens can be worse in a moral/political sense, but a victim is not more or less harmed depending on the aggressor. States acting against citizens can be worse in a moral/political sense, but a victim is not more or less harmed depending on the aggressor. This has been going on forever, everywhere.Laws have always applied selectively, particularly when it comes to whatever group is responsible for enforcing them. Laws have always applied selectively, particularly when it comes to whatever group is responsible for enforcing them. The TikTok rationale essentially came to ‘we want genz voters' Once the Baltic nations gained independence they tried everyone involved in the administration of those orders, which took place without trial or oversight and often resulted in the replacement families being deported if the actual tagets could not be found.Ofc Stalin or any of the power brokers at the time were long dead, so instead it was a parade of lower level admin workers, all who were elderly in their 80s or 90s and who at that time were young, simply doing the bidding of their employers.The lesson: don't be a bag holder for people who will die before you leaving you to hold the responsibility for their crimes. Ofc Stalin or any of the power brokers at the time were long dead, so instead it was a parade of lower level admin workers, all who were elderly in their 80s or 90s and who at that time were young, simply doing the bidding of their employers.The lesson: don't be a bag holder for people who will die before you leaving you to hold the responsibility for their crimes. The lesson: don't be a bag holder for people who will die before you leaving you to hold the responsibility for their crimes. US will not lock up a single asshole who helps kill thousands of people abroad (not even inconvenience them with a simple court appearance to have to justify themselves), but it sure can lock up thousands on flimsiest justifications like FTA in court because of whatever, or technical parole violations, or driving on suspended license, basically for failures to navigate bureaucracy while poor.I'll believe in rule of law when at least shits who materially support mass killings of children will start getting locked up. No such thing.Until then it's all just bullshit that normal people have to submit to, and ruling class gets to excuse itself from with endless lawyering, exceptions, and nonsense, while it's clear they're still just scum psychos doing scum psycho things. I'll believe in rule of law when at least shits who materially support mass killings of children will start getting locked up. No such thing.Until then it's all just bullshit that normal people have to submit to, and ruling class gets to excuse itself from with endless lawyering, exceptions, and nonsense, while it's clear they're still just scum psychos doing scum psycho things. Until then it's all just bullshit that normal people have to submit to, and ruling class gets to excuse itself from with endless lawyering, exceptions, and nonsense, while it's clear they're still just scum psychos doing scum psycho things. From https://archive.is/E6zXj :> But, as Chayes studied the graft of the Karzai government, she concluded that it was anything but benign. Many in the political élite were not merely stealing reconstruction money but expropriating farmland from other Afghans. Warlords could hoodwink U.S. special forces into dispatching their adversaries by feeding the Americans intelligence tips about supposed Taliban ties. Afghanistan is often described as a “failed state,” but, in light of the outright thievery on display, Chayes began to reassess the problem. The government was actually succeeding, albeit at “another objective altogether”—the enrichment of its own members. Many in the political élite were not merely stealing reconstruction money but expropriating farmland from other Afghans. Warlords could hoodwink U.S. special forces into dispatching their adversaries by feeding the Americans intelligence tips about supposed Taliban ties. Afghanistan is often described as a “failed state,” but, in light of the outright thievery on display, Chayes began to reassess the problem. The government was actually succeeding, albeit at “another objective altogether”—the enrichment of its own members. It's a novel Constitutional theory that even this SCOTUS seems reluctant to honestly embrace. I'm honestly curious if this would be a Privacy Act or HIPAA violation. The article seems to be unsure on this. If that EO was legal, then sharing the data is, too. Palantir “receives peoples' addresses from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)” [1]. That's broader than Medicare or Medicaid.If you're on a legal visa and have to get a prescription filled, I think you'll wind up in those data. (Same if you are legally on Medicare with a spouse who overstayed their visa. As I said, these data are broader than CMMS. (I live in Wyoming, near the Idaho border. If you're on a legal visa and have to get a prescription filled, I think you'll wind up in those data. (Same if you are legally on Medicare with a spouse who overstayed their visa. As I said, these data are broader than CMMS. (I live in Wyoming, near the Idaho border. As I said, these data are broader than CMMS. (I live in Wyoming, near the Idaho border. As I said, these data are broader than CMMS. (I live in Wyoming, near the Idaho border. “Several federal laws authorise the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to make certain information available to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),”> > does that mean that undocumented migrants are getting Medicare and Medicaid? I was told explicitly that undocumented migrants weren't getting Medicare and Medicaid services, but at this point, I don't know who to believe. I was told explicitly that undocumented migrants weren't getting Medicare and Medicaid services, but at this point, I don't know who to believe. I was told explicitly that undocumented migrants weren't getting Medicare and Medicaid services, but at this point, I don't know who to believe. As a general rule, the first amendment protects the right to say, e.g. "John Doe lives at 123 Main St." John may not like that people know that, but that doesn't generally limit other peoples' right to speak freely. If the law says you can share aliens information, but not Americans information, and then you do share Americans information I think you're probably breaking the law, and at the very least there should be a process to find out what the basis is for you doing it. Normally these things would be decided by a court. If only there was an independent Judikative or something idk... For what it's worth, I'm a naturalized American. We can categorize people, even sort them by desirability for some purpose, without resorting to dehumanization much less genocide. So do team sports, families and like club memberships. I'm confused by this shoehorning.This article is about actual, not potential, abuse. It involves healthcare data the government owns being used in a novel and disturbing way. This article is about actual, not potential, abuse. It involves healthcare data the government owns being used in a novel and disturbing way. People probably didn't think much of it at the time. Other people then navigate to those websites with little to no awareness of the potential for abuse.This article is about a concrete example of such potential abuse that went on for many years before blindsiding a great many people when it was abruptly weaponized overnight. That's exactly what's happening with the internet giants as well. Other people then navigate to those websites with little to no awareness of the potential for abuse.This article is about a concrete example of such potential abuse that went on for many years before blindsiding a great many people when it was abruptly weaponized overnight. This article is about a concrete example of such potential abuse that went on for many years before blindsiding a great many people when it was abruptly weaponized overnight. So, before it's too late, we, the people potentially enabling this data abuse, must think about consequences and morals.Also: today they come for Latinos, tomorrow can be your turn. Also: today they come for Latinos, tomorrow can be your turn. From a cynical British perspective, when I think of government departments and civil servants. I think inefficiency, data siloing, politics and lack of communication between departments and also internally not communicating between teams. Not withstanding a lack of cooperating and willingness to change.Did Palantir have a political mandate, or can they just cut through the bureaucracy or bypass it with technology? The reason they are able to very efficiently send a dozen ICE agents to a random persons home to hold them at gun point until they can prove their immigration status is because the goal is to send ICE agents around holding people at gun point and they're happy if they happen to also get it right sometimes. I would be curious to have data / information showing that. It's also kind of a problem to say "Oh well, we've got no concrete data, let's continue to let them deport whoever they like and shoot anyone who gets in the way". This is the pitch of every consulting company ever.In this case, Palantir is doing VLOOKUP on healthcare records to get suspects' addresses. They then put that in a standalone app because you can't charge buttloads of money for a simple query. In this case, Palantir is doing VLOOKUP on healthcare records to get suspects' addresses. They then put that in a standalone app because you can't charge buttloads of money for a simple query. The U.S. government almost certainly has intimate health data on every Briton as a result of these deals. Of course it's tempting to throw everything into one huge database. But Jesus, this is like interns writing the Software... There really isn't anything special about Palantir the company. They have disrupted consulting on marketing alone (all this forward-deployed stuff is more fluff than anything) which is not unheard of, and continue to receive all this bad press due to their clientele and the kind of data they're processing. They are happy to take credit for all the "conniving" allegations because it makes them look like they have a plan, and anybody with purchasing power involving with them knows it corresponds very little to the company operationally, i.e. what the company does. It's the privatization of what started as an intelligence program.Recommended watching (The REAL Story Behind Palantir's Dystopian Pre-Crime Takeover (w/ Whitney Webb)):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3DFZFoJC5s Recommended watching (The REAL Story Behind Palantir's Dystopian Pre-Crime Takeover (w/ Whitney Webb)):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3DFZFoJC5s What are you using to conclude their effectiveness?It appears Palantir “brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a ‘confidence score' on the person's current address” [1]. That's like VLOOKUP.On effectiveness, Trump is deporting fewer people than Obama did with a tenth of the budget. It appears Palantir “brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a ‘confidence score' on the person's current address” [1]. That's like VLOOKUP.On effectiveness, Trump is deporting fewer people than Obama did with a tenth of the budget. On effectiveness, Trump is deporting fewer people than Obama did with a tenth of the budget. * They are going after people legally here on temporary visas such as SIV that give them access to medicaid* They are going after people that are not on medicaid and have no insurance but received care (either emergency care or charity care) at a hospital or clinic that takes medicaid (I don't know if hospitals capture this information for CMS). * They are going after people that are not on medicaid and have no insurance but received care (either emergency care or charity care) at a hospital or clinic that takes medicaid (I don't know if hospitals capture this information for CMS). Replace Palantir with McKinsey and making an app for VLOOKUP makes more sense. For example I see zero freedom difference between my ath10k with its firmware loaded from disk by libre software, and my x520 with firmware stored in onboard flash. Neither undermines the freedom or security of my workstation user domain, and both are unfree if I get the itch to dig into modifying my network cards. Hell, you would probably have bipartisan support for nationwide crackdowns on employers who are employing anyone here illegally. They are undercutting American employees and dodging taxes. Who wouldn't be for that kind of law enforcement?Instead we get unaccountable masked men with guns murdering citizens and terrorizing an entire populace. It seems like that would be much more effective, which makes me genuinely wonder if the demonstration of strength through cruelty that we currently have hasn't been the goal all along. Instead we get unaccountable masked men with guns murdering citizens and terrorizing an entire populace. It seems like that would be much more effective, which makes me genuinely wonder if the demonstration of strength through cruelty that we currently have hasn't been the goal all along. It was considered somehow scandalous for Bill Clinton to have an opinion on what his AG Janet Reno was doing Laws and protections do not just apply for citizens. You can't run out and start serial killing illegal immigrants and then claim you aren't a murderer. The data shouldn't be shared unless comsent is provided. But I'm unsure of why Palantir is the bad person for developing software.I don't work for Palantir or hold their stock. I don't work for Palantir or hold their stock. At the beginning of 2025, 87% of ICE arrests were immigrants with either a prior conviction or a criminal charge pending, according to ICE data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. Only 13% of those arrested at the beginning of 2025 didn't have either a conviction or a pending charge.> But the criminal share of apprehensions has declined as the months have gone on. By October 2025, the percentage of arrested immigrants with a prior conviction or criminal charge had fallen to 55%. Since October, 73% taken into ICE custody had no criminal conviction and only 5% had a violent criminal conviction, according to a Cato Institute review of ICE data. * https://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/opinion/mass-deportat...Under Obama 3M illegal immigrants were removed, and there wasn't all of this drama. (Hint: this isn't about public safety or illegal immigration.) By October 2025, the percentage of arrested immigrants with a prior conviction or criminal charge had fallen to 55%. Since October, 73% taken into ICE custody had no criminal conviction and only 5% had a violent criminal conviction, according to a Cato Institute review of ICE data. * https://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/opinion/mass-deportat...Under Obama 3M illegal immigrants were removed, and there wasn't all of this drama. (Hint: this isn't about public safety or illegal immigration.) * https://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/opinion/mass-deportat...Under Obama 3M illegal immigrants were removed, and there wasn't all of this drama. (Hint: this isn't about public safety or illegal immigration.) Under Obama 3M illegal immigrants were removed, and there wasn't all of this drama. (Hint: this isn't about public safety or illegal immigration.) (Hint: this isn't about public safety or illegal immigration.) Maybe because under Obama agents didn't go around smashing windows:* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/17/ice-detentio...Note: the above person was an asylum seeker, so following the official process (AFAICT).Or under Obama they didn't pull away people who were in line to take the Oath of Allegiance:* https://people.com/immigrants-approved-for-citizenship-pulle...Or take US citizens out of their homes, in their underwear, in the middle of winter:* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop * https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/17/ice-detentio...Note: the above person was an asylum seeker, so following the official process (AFAICT).Or under Obama they didn't pull away people who were in line to take the Oath of Allegiance:* https://people.com/immigrants-approved-for-citizenship-pulle...Or take US citizens out of their homes, in their underwear, in the middle of winter:* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop Note: the above person was an asylum seeker, so following the official process (AFAICT).Or under Obama they didn't pull away people who were in line to take the Oath of Allegiance:* https://people.com/immigrants-approved-for-citizenship-pulle...Or take US citizens out of their homes, in their underwear, in the middle of winter:* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop Or under Obama they didn't pull away people who were in line to take the Oath of Allegiance:* https://people.com/immigrants-approved-for-citizenship-pulle...Or take US citizens out of their homes, in their underwear, in the middle of winter:* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop * https://people.com/immigrants-approved-for-citizenship-pulle...Or take US citizens out of their homes, in their underwear, in the middle of winter:* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop Or take US citizens out of their homes, in their underwear, in the middle of winter:* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop * https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop He got tons of pushback from the left. He was just able to weather his party's fringe in ways Republicans have not. If you wanted to make a more detailed point, then do that but as your comment stands, it is just a useless bothsides-ism. Now, where are all these 'I don't have anything to hide people?' Two of my kids are into investing, and some of their choices are 'morally indefensible', to me.We've had the discussions since they were old enough to be taught 'right' from wrong.Their aims are to increase the money they have, not to make anyone feel better, or judge others' choices. If you can't see the irony in that, that their warnings are twice as important if the pool of potential abusers if government power is twice as big, then nobody's really losing anything when you opt out of engaging these people. Just because they're hypocrites does not make them wrong. Remember it was the GOP that passed the PATRIOT Act, and people were warning about that from the very beginning.Though they've been arguing in bad faith on any number of topics (and have been for decades):* https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/03/arguing-with-z...* https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324005018 Though they've been arguing in bad faith on any number of topics (and have been for decades):* https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/03/arguing-with-z...* https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324005018 There's some point at which increased corruption actually becomes more egalitarian (though obviously, not as egalitarian as zero corruption). You can set up a beach bar in most of America without a permit and without getting cited for months on end, too, and plenty of people do it. (The pot-brownie sellers in Dolores Park aren't licensed.) Sounds like Americans are in general fine with all of it. General sentiment still remains aligned with the status quo. The Fourth mandment quite literally starts with:> The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ...You might think if you are stopped by police and you have cash on it, that it is your "effects" and it can't be seized without any crime but you'd be wrong. The legal theory surrounding this is that it is a civil action against property, not a criminal action against its owner, even though the basis for the civil action is a crime that not only doesn't have to be proven, it doesn't even have to be alleged.Medical info is just one prong of a massive effort to acquire all sorts of personal information, seemingly to build a database so citizens can be targeted. Examples:- AG Pam Bondi has sought voter rolls from the majority of states [1], which most recently came up as a random demand to end ICE terrorism in Minnesota [2], which has so far refused to hand over that information. Consider where Minnesota sits in the estimated number of undocumented migrants [3]. Why is ICE there and not, say, Texas or Florida?- DOGE previous accessed (and alleged copied) all the data from the Social Security Administration [4]. Who has it now?I personally believe this has long reached the point that in a just world, Palantir employees would be prosecuted and sent to jail. Palantir is (allegedly) knowingly providing the means to kill journalists and target people while they're at home so a missile strike will also kill their entire family [5][6].This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. > The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ...You might think if you are stopped by police and you have cash on it, that it is your "effects" and it can't be seized without any crime but you'd be wrong. The legal theory surrounding this is that it is a civil action against property, not a criminal action against its owner, even though the basis for the civil action is a crime that not only doesn't have to be proven, it doesn't even have to be alleged.Medical info is just one prong of a massive effort to acquire all sorts of personal information, seemingly to build a database so citizens can be targeted. Examples:- AG Pam Bondi has sought voter rolls from the majority of states [1], which most recently came up as a random demand to end ICE terrorism in Minnesota [2], which has so far refused to hand over that information. Consider where Minnesota sits in the estimated number of undocumented migrants [3]. Why is ICE there and not, say, Texas or Florida?- DOGE previous accessed (and alleged copied) all the data from the Social Security Administration [4]. Who has it now?I personally believe this has long reached the point that in a just world, Palantir employees would be prosecuted and sent to jail. Palantir is (allegedly) knowingly providing the means to kill journalists and target people while they're at home so a missile strike will also kill their entire family [5][6].This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. The legal theory surrounding this is that it is a civil action against property, not a criminal action against its owner, even though the basis for the civil action is a crime that not only doesn't have to be proven, it doesn't even have to be alleged.Medical info is just one prong of a massive effort to acquire all sorts of personal information, seemingly to build a database so citizens can be targeted. Examples:- AG Pam Bondi has sought voter rolls from the majority of states [1], which most recently came up as a random demand to end ICE terrorism in Minnesota [2], which has so far refused to hand over that information. Consider where Minnesota sits in the estimated number of undocumented migrants [3]. Why is ICE there and not, say, Texas or Florida?- DOGE previous accessed (and alleged copied) all the data from the Social Security Administration [4]. Who has it now?I personally believe this has long reached the point that in a just world, Palantir employees would be prosecuted and sent to jail. Palantir is (allegedly) knowingly providing the means to kill journalists and target people while they're at home so a missile strike will also kill their entire family [5][6].This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. Medical info is just one prong of a massive effort to acquire all sorts of personal information, seemingly to build a database so citizens can be targeted. Examples:- AG Pam Bondi has sought voter rolls from the majority of states [1], which most recently came up as a random demand to end ICE terrorism in Minnesota [2], which has so far refused to hand over that information. Consider where Minnesota sits in the estimated number of undocumented migrants [3]. Why is ICE there and not, say, Texas or Florida?- DOGE previous accessed (and alleged copied) all the data from the Social Security Administration [4]. Who has it now?I personally believe this has long reached the point that in a just world, Palantir employees would be prosecuted and sent to jail. Palantir is (allegedly) knowingly providing the means to kill journalists and target people while they're at home so a missile strike will also kill their entire family [5][6].This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. - AG Pam Bondi has sought voter rolls from the majority of states [1], which most recently came up as a random demand to end ICE terrorism in Minnesota [2], which has so far refused to hand over that information. Consider where Minnesota sits in the estimated number of undocumented migrants [3]. Why is ICE there and not, say, Texas or Florida?- DOGE previous accessed (and alleged copied) all the data from the Social Security Administration [4]. Who has it now?I personally believe this has long reached the point that in a just world, Palantir employees would be prosecuted and sent to jail. Palantir is (allegedly) knowingly providing the means to kill journalists and target people while they're at home so a missile strike will also kill their entire family [5][6].This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. Who has it now?I personally believe this has long reached the point that in a just world, Palantir employees would be prosecuted and sent to jail. Palantir is (allegedly) knowingly providing the means to kill journalists and target people while they're at home so a missile strike will also kill their entire family [5][6].This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. I personally believe this has long reached the point that in a just world, Palantir employees would be prosecuted and sent to jail. Palantir is (allegedly) knowingly providing the means to kill journalists and target people while they're at home so a missile strike will also kill their entire family [5][6].This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. This "immigration enforcement" goes well beyond undocumented migrants. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was targeted for organizing peaceful protests against Israel's genocide.At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. At this point if you don't see how all these things are interconnected, you're burying your head in the sane. There are literally 20x more illegal immigrants in Texas as compared to Minnesota:* https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-...* https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-...There are 12x more in Florida:* https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-...If you want to go fishing, the Mojave Desert is not the place you should be going. * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-unauthorized-immigra...(Hint: this is not about illegal immigration.) * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-unauthorized-immigra...(Hint: this is not about illegal immigration.) * https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-...There are 12x more in Florida:* https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-...If you want to go fishing, the Mojave Desert is not the place you should be going. * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-unauthorized-immigra...(Hint: this is not about illegal immigration.) There are 12x more in Florida:* https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-...If you want to go fishing, the Mojave Desert is not the place you should be going. * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-unauthorized-immigra...(Hint: this is not about illegal immigration.) * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-unauthorized-immigra...(Hint: this is not about illegal immigration.) * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-unauthorized-immigra...(Hint: this is not about illegal immigration.) * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-unauthorized-immigra...(Hint: this is not about illegal immigration.) I haven't lost any of my rights yet. All the mechanisms to deport people were already there. Trump is deporting fewer people than Obama did, and Obama wasn't blowing Saudi Arabia's military budget every year on his numbers. Maybe learn grammar before giving grand politic lessons. Why won't you protest against current citizenship rules, since it's clear you want them to be changed?edit: I see it's just a simple "f** ice" and "you need to go" case. edit: I see it's just a simple "f** ice" and "you need to go" case. Those were german people who identified with NSDAP party.Edit: I understand (well, kind of...) why people downvote me, but I'm really lost when trying to understand why they downvote you. Edit: I understand (well, kind of...) why people downvote me, but I'm really lost when trying to understand why they downvote you. I want it to be done without murder. Murder is bad.I don't care if it's done by ICE or the Pink Pony Friendly Airlift Service. And they should do it without murder, with murderers in their ranks being charged per the law.> to be fair, nazis were Germans…yes. That doesn't make being anti-Nazi racist against Germans. I don't care if it's done by ICE or the Pink Pony Friendly Airlift Service. And they should do it without murder, with murderers in their ranks being charged per the law.> to be fair, nazis were Germans…yes. That doesn't make being anti-Nazi racist against Germans. That doesn't make being anti-Nazi racist against Germans. That doesn't make being anti-Nazi racist against Germans. Given the same tendency is shared by large private organisations, this is throwing one's hands up with extra steps.Regulations and laws work. The heuristic is to not participate in modern medicine? Which is practically useless when we're discussing HHS data. I bet that if all conspiracy theorists will be more worried that their neighbors become crazy and would try to do something positive about it (talk to them, befriend them, influence them, etc.)
While I think this was obviously more complicated than a single entity and probably required two sets of specialists rather than just one, it certainly worked and I would expect something similar is possible with Canada?The founders were not required to move to the US, but ended up doing so anyway. VCs are not going to know that when evaluating a company. The easiest way for them to do that at scale is to ensure they are experts in a very small number of jurisdictions that are predictable.Honestly, it makes sense. My hot take: given the 1 year delay on receipt of funds and the fact that it has the biggest impact on small teams, if you are going to scale a VC backed startup as fast as you need to - SR&D won't be the reason you succeed. If you are not scaling fast enough to make it - SR&D won't save you.If you stay in Canada and raise from Canadian VC's you'll get half the cash at half the valuation. The government makes that up to you in SR&D a year later.Found in Canada because it's your home and you love it. The government makes that up to you in SR&D a year later.Found in Canada because it's your home and you love it. I can't imagine how much of a pain it must be to try to manage investment stakes in foreign corporations. I worked at a place that expanded into Calgary and picked up a bunch of ML engineers with oil-and-gas backgrounds (who were eager for something outside the energy sector) and the government picked up half of the payroll tab for several years. There is also, of course, no health insurance benefits to worry about. - prescription medicine- dental- vision- mental health- things like physiotherapy I don't have to deal with this as we are a (very) small business but it's a major headache for larger small businesses. My US benefits were middling in terms of coverage and package when working for a large F500 and went about $16k USD on a 180k salary -- converted is about $19k CAD at todays rates. At the time I was in a big city with great hospitals and doctors, but not noticeably better than Canada even at the higher price. Employees will want to work for a large employer that lets them pay for health insurance with pre-tax dollars, among other tax advantaged benefits that having a well funded HR department can provide. And employees cannot easily compare compensation at other employers so they are more likely to stick around than shop around, reducing the need to increase pay to keep up with the market.Employers can also tweak compensation by modifying deductibles/out of pocket maximums/healthcare provider networks, and most people's eyes will glaze over before they can figure out if they got an increase or decrease in their total compensation. Employers can also tweak compensation by modifying deductibles/out of pocket maximums/healthcare provider networks, and most people's eyes will glaze over before they can figure out if they got an increase or decrease in their total compensation. Other comments in this thread make it sound like an absolute nightmare. It's only a nightmare if you hate all taxes and labour rights. Since this is purely about ownership structure and equity governing law, I'm curious what the intersection you're seeing between these terms and "labour rights" are. We're a US company with employees in Europe (not even an HQ in Europe, just employees there), and I've learned more about European labor law idiosyncracies over the last few years than over the whole rest of my career, because I've had to. Having a Canada-registered company is usually required to get government grants and loans from Canadian banks, although that's probably not very important to VC-backed companies. There are also some tax advantages to running a Canada-registered company if you're based out of Canada, plus it's much easier to find a local professionals (lawyers, accountants, etc.) Read the thread: clearly a lot of people are reading this as "you can't HQ in Canada, your team has to move". But I think that it counts for a little bit more than just "details for your finance person", since the tax and grant eligibility implications could mean that some startups would be better off incorporating in Canada and not taking the Y Combinator money. But if you're taking the VC funding route (which most applicants to Y Combinator are), then I agree that none of this should really matter very much. You can't have employees without a local subsidiary. If you're going through an EOR agency, they're contractors not employees. Canada's provinces are only given control over a specific set of topics [1], but their powers are almost absolute in these areas, since the courts almost never let the Federal government interfere.So for labour code specifically, US companies need to adhere to both Federal and state labour codes, while Canadian companies only need to follow a single provincial labour code. (There is a Canadian Federal labour code, but that only applies to Federally-regulated companies, and those companies don't need to follow the provincial labour codes)[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_...[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act,_1867#Part_VI... (There is a Canadian Federal labour code, but that only applies to Federally-regulated companies, and those companies don't need to follow the provincial labour codes)[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_...[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act,_1867#Part_VI... Literally nothing else changes about the operation of the company.This structure is so standard that Canadian YC companies already tended to do it. Whatever else YC is OK with, future priced-round investors want companies incorporated in the US.I'm sorry, but you were wrong; your analysis of what this change meant was based on a wildly false premise. This structure is so standard that Canadian YC companies already tended to do it. Whatever else YC is OK with, future priced-round investors want companies incorporated in the US.I'm sorry, but you were wrong; your analysis of what this change meant was based on a wildly false premise. I'm sorry, but you were wrong; your analysis of what this change meant was based on a wildly false premise. Uhh, we don't have universal coverage for everything health up here, we still have private benefits that our employers pay for as part of our compensation plans.Life insurance, dental, vision, prescriptions, physio, mental health, critical illness etc..It might be less than in the US, but it's not "no health insurance benefits to worry about". Life insurance, dental, vision, prescriptions, physio, mental health, critical illness etc..It might be less than in the US, but it's not "no health insurance benefits to worry about". And I suspect not having things like pregnancy being seen as preexisting conditions is a big win for parents-to-be.Age or low-income (I think) provide provincial or federal assistance independent of employment also. Medical expenses are also far easier to deduct on taxes in Canada vs. the US. Medical expenses are also far easier to deduct on taxes in Canada vs. the US. The standard move in this situation is that you form a US Delaware C Corp and make your HQ a subsidiary. Canadian pride isn't enough to keep a company in Canada. There are real and significant economic incentives to move elsewhere. To be specific: telling people "you're free to leave at any point" when they express concerns about humanity's impact on the planet is the kind of thing psychology boards take issue with, particularly when it comes from someone with a large platform and professional credentials in mental health. Fairly senior dev, US citizen here (20 years experience).After what I've seen this past year, but more the past month, I will work for peanuts for a path to citizenship in Canada. US in 5 years is not a place I want to be, looking into all options and very serious. After what I've seen this past year, but more the past month, I will work for peanuts for a path to citizenship in Canada. US in 5 years is not a place I want to be, looking into all options and very serious. Starting a business in the USA is often far more lucrative, but people usually still incorporate in both countries for tax and liability reasons.Things like the Canadian youth tax-credits also mean anyone over 28 gets pushed down the list for entry-level positions. The US is far easier to find a reasonable job, and the cultural tradition of entrepreneurship is far better. The US is far easier to find a reasonable job, and the cultural tradition of entrepreneurship is far better. When you're ready to seriously explore options, NewLife.Help (https://newlife.help) has a solid Move Planner and an excellent cost-of-living comparison tool that can help you weigh different paradises against each other. If you are a dual US/Canadian citizen, than you may still be expected to file a US return or face fines. Similarly, if your business sells products or services to US customers there are transactional and fiscal state-specific grace levels than can trip tax obligations.Best of luck =3 Not saying anyone's right or wrong but the idea that, should America go psycho, Canada would somehow be okay is a pipe dream. Canada is essentially an outpost of the United States. Yes, I have Canadian family (even old stock "Loyalist" Canadian family) and they all feel the same way.People need to be real.If you actually want to be able to declare independence from America you'd need citizenship in a country with actual nuclear capability. If you actually want to be able to declare independence from America you'd need citizenship in a country with actual nuclear capability. On the military angle, I'd much rather live in a country without nukes. But I'm willing to kick the nuclear blackmail risk can down the road, my own government's threats are way more immediate. This is honestly insane.> On the military angle, I'd much rather live in a country without nukes.That's because the majority of the typical American with these views is extremely privileged and has never actually had to live in a country without nukes. Ukraine is the future of countries without nukes -- forced to choose between great powers or made into buffer zones without any prospects. > On the military angle, I'd much rather live in a country without nukes.That's because the majority of the typical American with these views is extremely privileged and has never actually had to live in a country without nukes. Ukraine is the future of countries without nukes -- forced to choose between great powers or made into buffer zones without any prospects. That's because the majority of the typical American with these views is extremely privileged and has never actually had to live in a country without nukes. Ukraine is the future of countries without nukes -- forced to choose between great powers or made into buffer zones without any prospects. I'm the co-founder of looch, a US SMB financial platform. (* edit: I originally posted this in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772809 but have since merged the thread hither) Can't help but think this is a move meant to satisfy the US admin. Most Canadian YC founders incorporate their startups in the US (sctb and I did that, way back when), just like other international founders do and of course U.S. founders do, so the number of companies being affected by this change must be very small—small enough that it would be of little interest to the US govt.Most probably the change is because the number was too small to justify all the paperwork, legal hoops to jump through, compliance tracking, etc., that inevitably come with cross-border investments. (It would be like a software team saying "why are we putting all this extra effort into supporting platform X when we only have 3 users on platform X and they can all easily switch to platform Y". The reason I'm posting at all is that I'd hate for any Canadian founders (or potential founders) to read a misleading headline and say "welp, I guess YC doesn't want us then". (It would be like a software team saying "why are we putting all this extra effort into supporting platform X when we only have 3 users on platform X and they can all easily switch to platform Y". The reason I'm posting at all is that I'd hate for any Canadian founders (or potential founders) to read a misleading headline and say "welp, I guess YC doesn't want us then". The reason I'm posting at all is that I'd hate for any Canadian founders (or potential founders) to read a misleading headline and say "welp, I guess YC doesn't want us then". Canadian talent leaves Canada every year, and less investment is not going to help.This is made worse by Canadian investment culture being very conservative, and not loving startups in general. This is made worse by Canadian investment culture being very conservative, and not loving startups in general. The people who have capital in Canada are uninterested in funding Canadian domiciled GPs - they mostly end up choosing American asset classes because of high returns.Institutional investors like the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and CDQP tend to target asset classes outside of Canada due to their returns requirements being in the double digits range.Edit: Can't reply> TBF, the OTPP has a huge home bias - they've got more Canadian investments than they do US investments despite the market being less than a tenth the sizeHuge by institutional investor standards but not in aggregate.The majority of OTPP's assets are not in real estate [0] - out of $209B AUM, only $29.4B is invested in real estate globally.Most of their Canadian assets are fixed income investments, and even then their overall Canadian assets are dwarfed by their transnational investments (primarily US and Asia). Institutional investors like the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and CDQP tend to target asset classes outside of Canada due to their returns requirements being in the double digits range.Edit: Can't reply> TBF, the OTPP has a huge home bias - they've got more Canadian investments than they do US investments despite the market being less than a tenth the sizeHuge by institutional investor standards but not in aggregate.The majority of OTPP's assets are not in real estate [0] - out of $209B AUM, only $29.4B is invested in real estate globally.Most of their Canadian assets are fixed income investments, and even then their overall Canadian assets are dwarfed by their transnational investments (primarily US and Asia). Edit: Can't reply> TBF, the OTPP has a huge home bias - they've got more Canadian investments than they do US investments despite the market being less than a tenth the sizeHuge by institutional investor standards but not in aggregate.The majority of OTPP's assets are not in real estate [0] - out of $209B AUM, only $29.4B is invested in real estate globally.Most of their Canadian assets are fixed income investments, and even then their overall Canadian assets are dwarfed by their transnational investments (primarily US and Asia). > TBF, the OTPP has a huge home bias - they've got more Canadian investments than they do US investments despite the market being less than a tenth the sizeHuge by institutional investor standards but not in aggregate.The majority of OTPP's assets are not in real estate [0] - out of $209B AUM, only $29.4B is invested in real estate globally.Most of their Canadian assets are fixed income investments, and even then their overall Canadian assets are dwarfed by their transnational investments (primarily US and Asia). Huge by institutional investor standards but not in aggregate.The majority of OTPP's assets are not in real estate [0] - out of $209B AUM, only $29.4B is invested in real estate globally.Most of their Canadian assets are fixed income investments, and even then their overall Canadian assets are dwarfed by their transnational investments (primarily US and Asia). The majority of OTPP's assets are not in real estate [0] - out of $209B AUM, only $29.4B is invested in real estate globally.Most of their Canadian assets are fixed income investments, and even then their overall Canadian assets are dwarfed by their transnational investments (primarily US and Asia). TBF, the OTPP has a huge home bias - they've got more Canadian investments than they do US investments despite the market being less than a tenth the size.They couldn't target a higher proportion of Canadian assets while remaining reasonably diversified. They couldn't target a higher proportion of Canadian assets while remaining reasonably diversified. Pretty much.Israel [0], China [1], and increasingly India [2][3] worked on resolving this issue by establishing funds of funds that partnered with private sector players by matching dollar-to-dollar with them to help build a VC ecosystem.It's the same problem in the EU as well despite ECB proclamations. Heck, Norway's (ik not EU, it's EFTA) PIF has been conspicuously absent from any sort of statment of solidarity for Greenland unlike their Swedish, Finnish, and Danish peers because 25% of Norway's budget is dependent on the PIF maintaining double digit performance.Edit: can't reply> I think our biggest problem in Canada is total addressable market is small [...]Israel is even smaller than Canada - 9 million people versus 40 million - and the median Israeli remains poorer [4] than the median Canada [5]. The only difference is vision (and moreso lack thereof amongst Canadian and European decisionmakers).> I don't think an Israeli founder would have trouble moving to the US if they wanted to.They don't. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. Israel [0], China [1], and increasingly India [2][3] worked on resolving this issue by establishing funds of funds that partnered with private sector players by matching dollar-to-dollar with them to help build a VC ecosystem.It's the same problem in the EU as well despite ECB proclamations. Heck, Norway's (ik not EU, it's EFTA) PIF has been conspicuously absent from any sort of statment of solidarity for Greenland unlike their Swedish, Finnish, and Danish peers because 25% of Norway's budget is dependent on the PIF maintaining double digit performance.Edit: can't reply> I think our biggest problem in Canada is total addressable market is small [...]Israel is even smaller than Canada - 9 million people versus 40 million - and the median Israeli remains poorer [4] than the median Canada [5]. The only difference is vision (and moreso lack thereof amongst Canadian and European decisionmakers).> I don't think an Israeli founder would have trouble moving to the US if they wanted to.They don't. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. Heck, Norway's (ik not EU, it's EFTA) PIF has been conspicuously absent from any sort of statment of solidarity for Greenland unlike their Swedish, Finnish, and Danish peers because 25% of Norway's budget is dependent on the PIF maintaining double digit performance.Edit: can't reply> I think our biggest problem in Canada is total addressable market is small [...]Israel is even smaller than Canada - 9 million people versus 40 million - and the median Israeli remains poorer [4] than the median Canada [5]. The only difference is vision (and moreso lack thereof amongst Canadian and European decisionmakers).> I don't think an Israeli founder would have trouble moving to the US if they wanted to.They don't. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. Edit: can't reply> I think our biggest problem in Canada is total addressable market is small [...]Israel is even smaller than Canada - 9 million people versus 40 million - and the median Israeli remains poorer [4] than the median Canada [5]. The only difference is vision (and moreso lack thereof amongst Canadian and European decisionmakers).> I don't think an Israeli founder would have trouble moving to the US if they wanted to.They don't. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. > I think our biggest problem in Canada is total addressable market is small [...]Israel is even smaller than Canada - 9 million people versus 40 million - and the median Israeli remains poorer [4] than the median Canada [5]. The only difference is vision (and moreso lack thereof amongst Canadian and European decisionmakers).> I don't think an Israeli founder would have trouble moving to the US if they wanted to.They don't. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. Israel is even smaller than Canada - 9 million people versus 40 million - and the median Israeli remains poorer [4] than the median Canada [5]. The only difference is vision (and moreso lack thereof amongst Canadian and European decisionmakers).> I don't think an Israeli founder would have trouble moving to the US if they wanted to.They don't. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. The only difference is vision (and moreso lack thereof amongst Canadian and European decisionmakers).> I don't think an Israeli founder would have trouble moving to the US if they wanted to.They don't. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. In fact, Israel had an India-style brain drain to the US until the 2010s.Heck, a little over a decade ago I had acquaintances of mine in TLV seriously considering moving their entire family to Sunnyvale for a $150k base salary job instead of earning $90k. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. They ended up deciding to become founders instead.> 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. > 900M in the EUThe EU only has a population of 450M people. So not only do we have fewer customers, we're competing against an economic juggernaut that shares our broad business rules, our culture and language (with one exception) and can market to us through all our media channels with very little friction.So unless you're in health care or some other regulated field that a US startup can't just expand into easily, it's a tough go. So unless you're in health care or some other regulated field that a US startup can't just expand into easily, it's a tough go. And it's not just in the startup landscape.We literally have laws on the books [0] that force our media companies to maintain a certain amount of Canadian content on TV/radio/streaming/etc so we're not only consuming US content.This isn't a comment on whether that's good or bad, it's just a fact, and it has a real impact on our society at all levels.0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content We literally have laws on the books [0] that force our media companies to maintain a certain amount of Canadian content on TV/radio/streaming/etc so we're not only consuming US content.This isn't a comment on whether that's good or bad, it's just a fact, and it has a real impact on our society at all levels.0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content ?NBA and NFL is everywhere, the Israeli dream before tech began booming in the 2010s was "immigrate to Boston, Brooklyn, or Miami", and Jewish Americans like Seth Klarman, Sheldon Adelson, Ronald Lauder, and Bill Ackman have had an outsized stake in media and entertainment ownership before the Mizrahi cultural boom in the 2010s.Literally the only reason Canada fell behind was because the political leadership in countries like Israel decided to work on building a domestic tech VC ecosystem in the 1990s-2000s while their Canadian equivalents during that era had no economic vision aside from resource extraction.Additionally, the Canadian equivalents of Shlomo Kramer (Checkpoint, Palo Alto Network, Imperva, Cato Networks, Cyberstarts), Nir Zuk (Palo Alto Networks, Cyberstarts), and Gili Rannan (Sequoia, Wiz, Cyberstarts) - David Cheriton (Google, Arista), Chamath Palihapitiya (Facebook, Slack, Groq), Joseph Tsai (Alibaba), Changpeng Zhao (Binance), Chip Wilson (Lululemon), and Ryan Cohen (Chewy) - are all hard MAGA. Heck, even Big 5 banks like Scotiabank are pro-Trump [0] because their LatAm business benefits from Trump power projection in the region. NBA and NFL is everywhere, the Israeli dream before tech began booming in the 2010s was "immigrate to Boston, Brooklyn, or Miami", and Jewish Americans like Seth Klarman, Sheldon Adelson, Ronald Lauder, and Bill Ackman have had an outsized stake in media and entertainment ownership before the Mizrahi cultural boom in the 2010s.Literally the only reason Canada fell behind was because the political leadership in countries like Israel decided to work on building a domestic tech VC ecosystem in the 1990s-2000s while their Canadian equivalents during that era had no economic vision aside from resource extraction.Additionally, the Canadian equivalents of Shlomo Kramer (Checkpoint, Palo Alto Network, Imperva, Cato Networks, Cyberstarts), Nir Zuk (Palo Alto Networks, Cyberstarts), and Gili Rannan (Sequoia, Wiz, Cyberstarts) - David Cheriton (Google, Arista), Chamath Palihapitiya (Facebook, Slack, Groq), Joseph Tsai (Alibaba), Changpeng Zhao (Binance), Chip Wilson (Lululemon), and Ryan Cohen (Chewy) - are all hard MAGA. Heck, even Big 5 banks like Scotiabank are pro-Trump [0] because their LatAm business benefits from Trump power projection in the region. Literally the only reason Canada fell behind was because the political leadership in countries like Israel decided to work on building a domestic tech VC ecosystem in the 1990s-2000s while their Canadian equivalents during that era had no economic vision aside from resource extraction.Additionally, the Canadian equivalents of Shlomo Kramer (Checkpoint, Palo Alto Network, Imperva, Cato Networks, Cyberstarts), Nir Zuk (Palo Alto Networks, Cyberstarts), and Gili Rannan (Sequoia, Wiz, Cyberstarts) - David Cheriton (Google, Arista), Chamath Palihapitiya (Facebook, Slack, Groq), Joseph Tsai (Alibaba), Changpeng Zhao (Binance), Chip Wilson (Lululemon), and Ryan Cohen (Chewy) - are all hard MAGA. Heck, even Big 5 banks like Scotiabank are pro-Trump [0] because their LatAm business benefits from Trump power projection in the region. Additionally, the Canadian equivalents of Shlomo Kramer (Checkpoint, Palo Alto Network, Imperva, Cato Networks, Cyberstarts), Nir Zuk (Palo Alto Networks, Cyberstarts), and Gili Rannan (Sequoia, Wiz, Cyberstarts) - David Cheriton (Google, Arista), Chamath Palihapitiya (Facebook, Slack, Groq), Joseph Tsai (Alibaba), Changpeng Zhao (Binance), Chip Wilson (Lululemon), and Ryan Cohen (Chewy) - are all hard MAGA. Heck, even Big 5 banks like Scotiabank are pro-Trump [0] because their LatAm business benefits from Trump power projection in the region. It's safe to assume YC will continue to fund Canadian founders, but they'll now require them to incorporate in Delaware, Singapore, or the Cayman Islands - none of which is significantly difficult for a founder. Couple employees, file my taxes...nothing special about running a business. If you can't wing it out of your garage, your burn rate just exploded - Getting permits has been exorbitantly slow and complex - WorkSafeBC cooperation and inspections are a major time sink (gets better after the first stretch) - Getting certficates to export plants is—in my opinion—unnecessarily complex and slow, such that I don't think I'll even bother at this rate - Inter-provincial regulations and standards can be hard as hell to nail down. Asking random people on forums can yield better results than extensive google or LLM querying - Keeping track of things like write offs and deductions can span years for single costs. I need to be on top of so many things that aren't 'the work', and it takes a lot away from focusing on making a better product - Shipping things is expensive as hell, and I anticipate this problem will worsen over time. It probably sounds like I don't understand what regulations are for and I hate red tape, but that's not the case at all. I think small businesses are disproportionately slammed by some of the requirements they create, though. I also wonder if there are blanket policies which cause some people to be pressed much harder than necessary. It makes you wonder if any of it is worth it at all.Again though, if you just go around repairing things or you provide software services, your life will be orders of magnitude simpler. I used to have a sole proprietorship here in BC providing software consulting services, and it was fine. I had one tax hiccup in something like 10 years, and it wasn't a big deal. I rarely had to think about it.I do wonder if this friction could be part of why Canada arguably has a lack of interest and innovation when it comes to producing material goods. Again though, if you just go around repairing things or you provide software services, your life will be orders of magnitude simpler. I used to have a sole proprietorship here in BC providing software consulting services, and it was fine. I had one tax hiccup in something like 10 years, and it wasn't a big deal. I rarely had to think about it.I do wonder if this friction could be part of why Canada arguably has a lack of interest and innovation when it comes to producing material goods. I do wonder if this friction could be part of why Canada arguably has a lack of interest and innovation when it comes to producing material goods. The primary tension and strain comes from deciding where your market is, I think. You can simplify your overhead in obtaining certificates and building your workflows by choosing to sell to a market where these factors are minimally taxing (like just selling in Ontario or across Canada), but in my case this limits my market too much. In my case, some of the products I sell are banned outright because the province or state it's going to considers it invasive. Figuring out all of these requirements and rules in advance is essential so your shipments don't end up rejected and destroyed at the border.What kind of hardware are you manufacturing? In my case, some of the products I sell are banned outright because the province or state it's going to considers it invasive. Figuring out all of these requirements and rules in advance is essential so your shipments don't end up rejected and destroyed at the border.What kind of hardware are you manufacturing? > What kind of hardware are you manufacturing?Simple electronics. What do you find makes it hard to run a small business in Canada? I've heard that Shopify is by itself 10% of all Canadian tech jobs paying >$100K. It sounds like Canada has some unique regulations here, wouldn't have expected that. The current administration has been talking about a 51st state and Mark Carney made a speech at Davos about a rupture in the World Order and the "Middle Powers" standing up for themselves.Suddenly YCombinator no longer invests in Canadian startups.Maybe it is "just corporate governance," maybe not. Suddenly YCombinator no longer invests in Canadian startups.Maybe it is "just corporate governance," maybe not. There's nothing stopping a Canadian from starting (or redomiciling) their startup in the Cayman Islands. However it's committed to becoming a dutch diseased resource colony with no value add and a macquiladora for US software companies. Relative to capital and assets, it's the least productive place on earth. People are just far too risk-averse up north to actually properly fund a real startup. if you talk to anyone in canada who is from here and doesn't work in the public sector, the conversation quickly turns to whether they're planning to leave and how far along they are. I live in Vancouver, BC, and am a Canadian citizen. better - but I don't know many folks that are actively planning to leave. You can start a software company within few minutes in Canada. That doesn't strike me as "not at all" when the TN status is 1/ effectively a work visa, whether you like the strings attached or not, and 2/ a foot in the door that lets you move to a more permissive status down the line. A Waterloo or UofT grad can go from applying to a US job to their first day in a few weeks, and the only interaction they'll have with the immigration system will be getting asked for paperwork at the border. Compare that to a British or Japanese new grad, for whom there is essentially very few options unless they have excellent connections or that they display enough extraordinary abilities to be eligible for O-1.