September 2026

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

September 2026

https://thebulletin.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/bulletin-sept26-cover.png.webp

Cover by Thomas Gaulkin

Introduction: What went wrong with the internet—and how do we fix it

By Dan Drollette Jr

What went wrong with the internet, and how do we fix it—particularly in an era when data centers and AI seem poised to overrun the Earth? The premise of this issue of the Bulletin is straightforward—but the diagnoses and the proposed solutions are not. One thing our essayists do seem to agree on, however, is that things are getting worse.

Introduction: What went wrong with the internet—and how do we fix it

By Dan Drollette Jr

What went wrong with the internet, and how do we fix it—particularly in an era when data centers and AI seem poised to overrun the Earth? The premise of this issue of the Bulletin is straightforward—but the diagnoses and the proposed solutions are not. One thing our essayists do seem to agree on, however, is that things are getting worse.

a large data center in Northern Virginia encroaches on some upscale suburban homes

The dirty parts of the computing world, revisited

By Nathan Ensmenger

Ten years ago in these pages, I argued that the environmental costs of computing were the dirty little secret of the digital economy. That secret is now out: Data centers have become the subject of public hearings, political campaigns, and congressional legislation. But the new environmental awareness has fixated on the measurable impacts of computation—such as water consumption, electric rates, and thermal pollution levels—while overlooking the bigger picture about what a data center actually is: a factory. And like every factory, a data center is a means of organizing labor, capital, land, and political power. So data centers require the same kinds of public institutions that earlier generations built to govern factories, utilities, and other industries.

old German monastery seen through window

Three reasons Europe learned to distrust Big Tech before America did

By Enrique Dans

European attitudes toward digital privacy and technology regulation are dismissed in the US as technophobia. But there are distinct, historically grounded reasons why Europe has moved further and faster to regulate Big Tech: There’s the memory of the surveillance states run by the Nazis and the Stassi, the absence of a European version of Silicon Valley (with all of the Valley’s financial clout in domestic politics), and a fundamentally different idea about what personal data is and what can legitimately be done with it.

“The internet is a giant copying machine”: Interview with Vint Cerf

By Dan Drollette Jr

Widely thought of as the “founder of the internet,” Vint Cerf talks about how to bring back a sense of trust to this new AI-dominated version, and the ideals behind the original internet—including the emphasis on the net being an open, neutral, level playing field, ideals which are under siege today. In this interview, Cerf talks about what needs to be improved, at a time when AI storms its way into what he sometimes calls “my beautiful internet.” And Cerf explores one of today’s greatest problems: Funding is not going to the creators of the content that AI is using.

Opinion: The world has moved on. But it need not stay this way forever

By Cory Doctorow

In 2022, the author, Cory Doctorow, coined the term “enshittification” to describe how the internet is declining in value to its end-users, due to the prevalence of monopolies and an emphasis on short-term gain over upholding long-term standards and practices. He diagnosed a cycle that has become common to digital platform decay: Tech giants initially lure users, then gradually squeeze business clients and end-users, until the giants finally trash the entire experience to maximize profit for shareholders. In this reprint of a 2026 essay, he argues that enshittification is spreading to other areas as well—some of which are vital to the functioning of Western democracies in the 21st-century. Doctorow offers his opinion as to the specific sources of the problem, and how to combat them.

silhouette of man with planet in background

Who stands behind the words?

By Deb Roy

The internet severed speech from the relationships that made it trustworthy; AI severs it from the speaker. Fluent, personalized, institutionally usable speech can now be produced at mass scale with no chain of responsibility anchored in a person who answers for it, hollowing out the assumption that underwrites public trust: that behind every word that counts stands a person or institution that can be held to it. While a number of reforms can be made to the design of AI, the solution is not better machines alone but institutions that anchor every word in an accountable human being.

Quantum won’t protect critical telecom networks from massive attacks. Good old maintenance might

By Juljan Krause

Since at least 2021, the Chinese state-sponsored campaign known as "Salt Typhoon" lived inside the telecommunications networks of America and its allies, reading call records and tracking the movements of millions. In the aftermath, vendors, expert witnesses, and industry analysts have promoted quantum security as the surefire new remedy. But a test revealed quantum protections could have prevented only 9 out of 42 attacks at most, because the attackers held valid administrator credentials and entered through vulnerabilities that went unpatched for years. Cybersecurity budgets and attention tend to follow flashy novelty solutions, while patch management and credential hygiene go unheralded.

anti-nuclear waste protest by Taiwan indigenous tribe, in costume

Paradise lost? The framing of nuclear risk and its impact upon the Tao Community of Lanyu Island, Taiwan

By Louie Palmer

In 1978, Taiwanese authorities began constructing a nuclear waste storage facility on the outlying island of Lanyu. The local community, the Tao people, were left unaware of the purpose of the site initially, believing it to be a food canning plant. Selected for its isolation and ease of maritime dumping, the state sought to downplay the risks, restricting the local people’s access relying on the community’s illiteracy to maintain a shroud of obscurity. Following the outlawing of marine dumping, storage barrels on the site were found to have severe corroded, leading to radiation leaks. Lanyu has become a case study in how political bodies manipulate the framing of the risk of nuclear hazards near minority populations

A large, black military submarine is partially submerged and moving through calm waters under a cloudy sky.

Indian nuclear weapons, 2026

By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns, Mackenzie Knight-Boyle

As India expands its nuclear stockpile to an estimated 190 warheads and ramps up plutonium production with its new fast breeder reactor, major technological strides in MIRV-equipped Agni-V missiles, rail-mobile launchers, and a growing SSBN fleet mark a decisive maturation of its nuclear triad—pivoting primary long-range deterrence toward China while maintaining operational readiness against Pakistan.

The dirty parts of the computing world, revisited

By Nathan Ensmenger

Ten years ago in these pages, I argued that the environmental costs of computing were the dirty little secret of the digital economy. That secret is now out: Data centers have become the subject of public hearings, political campaigns, and congressional legislation. But the new environmental awareness has fixated on the measurable impacts of computation—such as water consumption, electric rates, and thermal pollution levels—while overlooking the bigger picture about what a data center actually is: a factory. And like every factory, a data center is a means of organizing labor, capital, land, and political power. So data centers require the same kinds of public institutions that earlier generations built to govern factories, utilities, and other industries.

Three reasons Europe learned to distrust Big Tech before America did

By Enrique Dans

European attitudes toward digital privacy and technology regulation are dismissed in the US as technophobia. But there are distinct, historically grounded reasons why Europe has moved further and faster to regulate Big Tech: There’s the memory of the surveillance states run by the Nazis and the Stassi, the absence of a European version of Silicon Valley (with all of the Valley’s financial clout in domestic politics), and a fundamentally different idea about what personal data is and what can legitimately be done with it.

“The internet is a giant copying machine”: Interview with Vint Cerf

By Dan Drollette Jr

Widely thought of as the “founder of the internet,” Vint Cerf talks about how to bring back a sense of trust to this new AI-dominated version, and the ideals behind the original internet—including the emphasis on the net being an open, neutral, level playing field, ideals which are under siege today. In this interview, Cerf talks about what needs to be improved, at a time when AI storms its way into what he sometimes calls “my beautiful internet.” And Cerf explores one of today’s greatest problems: Funding is not going to the creators of the content that AI is using.

Opinion: The world has moved on. But it need not stay this way forever

By Cory Doctorow

In 2022, the author, Cory Doctorow, coined the term “enshittification” to describe how the internet is declining in value to its end-users, due to the prevalence of monopolies and an emphasis on short-term gain over upholding long-term standards and practices. He diagnosed a cycle that has become common to digital platform decay: Tech giants initially lure users, then gradually squeeze business clients and end-users, until the giants finally trash the entire experience to maximize profit for shareholders. In this reprint of a 2026 essay, he argues that enshittification is spreading to other areas as well—some of which are vital to the functioning of Western democracies in the 21st-century. Doctorow offers his opinion as to the specific sources of the problem, and how to combat them.

Who stands behind the words?

By Deb Roy

The internet severed speech from the relationships that made it trustworthy; AI severs it from the speaker. Fluent, personalized, institutionally usable speech can now be produced at mass scale with no chain of responsibility anchored in a person who answers for it, hollowing out the assumption that underwrites public trust: that behind every word that counts stands a person or institution that can be held to it. While a number of reforms can be made to the design of AI, the solution is not better machines alone but institutions that anchor every word in an accountable human being.

Quantum won’t protect critical telecom networks from massive attacks. Good old maintenance might

By Juljan Krause

Since at least 2021, the Chinese state-sponsored campaign known as "Salt Typhoon" lived inside the telecommunications networks of America and its allies, reading call records and tracking the movements of millions. In the aftermath, vendors, expert witnesses, and industry analysts have promoted quantum security as the surefire new remedy. But a test revealed quantum protections could have prevented only 9 out of 42 attacks at most, because the attackers held valid administrator credentials and entered through vulnerabilities that went unpatched for years. Cybersecurity budgets and attention tend to follow flashy novelty solutions, while patch management and credential hygiene go unheralded.

Paradise lost? The framing of nuclear risk and its impact upon the Tao Community of Lanyu Island, Taiwan

By Louie Palmer

In 1978, Taiwanese authorities began constructing a nuclear waste storage facility on the outlying island of Lanyu. The local community, the Tao people, were left unaware of the purpose of the site initially, believing it to be a food canning plant. Selected for its isolation and ease of maritime dumping, the state sought to downplay the risks, restricting the local people’s access relying on the community’s illiteracy to maintain a shroud of obscurity. Following the outlawing of marine dumping, storage barrels on the site were found to have severe corroded, leading to radiation leaks. Lanyu has become a case study in how political bodies manipulate the framing of the risk of nuclear hazards near minority populations

Indian nuclear weapons, 2026

By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns, Mackenzie Knight-Boyle

As India expands its nuclear stockpile to an estimated 190 warheads and ramps up plutonium production with its new fast breeder reactor, major technological strides in MIRV-equipped Agni-V missiles, rail-mobile launchers, and a growing SSBN fleet mark a decisive maturation of its nuclear triad—pivoting primary long-range deterrence toward China while maintaining operational readiness against Pakistan.

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

September 2026

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

September 2026

Introduction: What went wrong with the internet—and how do we fix it

Introduction: What went wrong with the internet—and how do we fix it

The dirty parts of the computing world, revisited

Three reasons Europe learned to distrust Big Tech before America did

“The internet is a giant copying machine”: Interview with Vint Cerf

Opinion: The world has moved on. But it need not stay this way forever

Who stands behind the words?

Quantum won’t protect critical telecom networks from massive attacks. Good old maintenance might

Paradise lost? The framing of nuclear risk and its impact upon the Tao Community of Lanyu Island, Taiwan

Indian nuclear weapons, 2026

The dirty parts of the computing world, revisited

Three reasons Europe learned to distrust Big Tech before America did

“The internet is a giant copying machine”: Interview with Vint Cerf

Opinion: The world has moved on. But it need not stay this way forever

Who stands behind the words?

Quantum won’t protect critical telecom networks from massive attacks. Good old maintenance might

Paradise lost? The framing of nuclear risk and its impact upon the Tao Community of Lanyu Island, Taiwan

Indian nuclear weapons, 2026

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