I will soon have spare slots in my
freelance writing schedule for regular weekly or monthly work, and
major projects. Here are the main areas that I've been covering,
some for more than two decades. Any commissioning editors interested
in talking about them or related subjects, please contact me at
glyn.moody@gmail.com (PGP available). I am also available to speak on these topics at relevant conferences.
Surveillance, Encryption, Privacy,
Freedom of Speech
For the last two years, I have written
hundreds of articles about these crucial areas, for Ars Technica UK
(http://arstechnica.co.uk/author/glyn_moody/), Privacy News Online
(https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/author/glynmoody/) and
Techdirt (https://www.techdirt.com/user/glynmoody).
Given the challenges facing society this year, they are likely to be
an important focus for my work in 2018.
China
Another major focus for me this year
will be China. I follow the world of Chinese IT closely, and have
written numerous articles on the topic. Since I can read sources in
the original, I am able to spot trends early and to report faithfully
on what are arguably some of the most important developments
happening in the digital world today.
Free Software/Open Source
I started covering this topic in 1995,
wrote the first mainstream article on Linux for Wired in 1997
(https://www.wired.com/1997/08/linux-5/), and the first (and still
only) detailed history of the subject, Rebel Code
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Code) in 2001, where I
interviewed the top 50 hackers at length. I have also written about
the open source coders and companies that have risen to prominence in
the last decade and a half, principally in my Open Enterprise column
for Computerworld UK, which ran from 2008 to 2015.
Open Access, Open Data, Open Science,
Open Government, Open Everything
As the ideas underlying openness,
sharing and online collaboration have spread, so has my coverage of
them. I wrote one of the most detailed histories of Open Access, for
Ars Technica
(http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/what-is-open-access-free-sharing-of-all-human-knowledge/).
Copyright, Patents, Trade Secrets
The greatest threat to openness is its
converse: intellectual monopolies, which prevent sharing. This fact
has led me to write many articles about copyright, patents and trade
secrets. These have been mainly for Techdirt, where I have published
over 1,500 posts, and also include an in-depth feature on the future
of copyright for Ars Technica
(http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/07/copyright-reform-for-the-digital-age/).
Trade Agreements - TTIP, CETA, TISA,
TPP
Another major focus of my writing has
been so-called "trade agreements" like TTIP, CETA, TPP and
TISA. "So-called", because they go far beyond traditional
discussions of tariffs, and have major implications for many areas
normally subject to democratic decision making. In addition to 51
TTIP Updates that I originally wrote for Computerworld UK
(http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.nl/2016/01/the-rise-and-fall-of-ttip-as-told-in-51.html),
I have covered this area extensively for Techdirt and Ars Technica
UK, including a major feature on TTIP
(http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/05/ttip-explained-the-secretive-us-eu-treaty-that-undermines-democracy/)
for the latter.
Europe
As a glance at some of my 318,000 (sic)
posts to Twitter, identi.ca and Google+ will indicate, I read news
sources in a number of languages (Italian, German, French, Spanish,
Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Swedish in descending order of
capability.) This means I can offer a fully European perspective on
any of the topics above - something that may be of interest to
publications wishing to provide global coverage that goes beyond
purely anglophone reporting. The 30,000 or so followers that I have
across these social networks also means that I can push out links to
my articles, something that I do as a matter of course to boost their
readership.