I’ve written newsletters for years, both as an employee (the third one here) and as a Bredemarket consultant. Some went to fewer than a dozen people, some to hundreds, and some to thousands.
Unlike a blog post, case study, or white paper, a newsletter does not provide a single focus. While the articles may be related, each stands on its own.
Sometimes literally. Individual newsletter articles may be repurposed as stand-alone blog and social media posts, extending their reach beyond the newsletter’s subscribers.
“In most countries, a civil registration system is used to record statistics on vital events, such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces and fetal deaths. This government administrative system creates a permanent record of each event.”
Note the phrase “in most countries.” And even in some countries with CRVS systems, they may not be (in WHO’s words) “well-functioning.”
Which is why this year’s ID4Africa Annual Meeting (May 12-15) will spend significant time on CRVS as it pertains to legal identity. Here’s the first session in “Track 4,” moderated by UNICEF and the World Bank:
“This session launches the examination of CRVS–ID integration as both a critical governance reform and a strategic opportunity for African countries at all stages of identity system maturity. While civil registration and national ID systems are foundational to legal identity and effective service delivery, they have too often evolved in silos—resulting in fragmentation, inefficiencies, exclusion, and lost value from public investments. Drawing on country experiences from across the continent, the session explores why coherent CRVS–ID integration is essential, what integration pathways are available, and how institutional, legal, and technical choices shape outcomes. Part I features countries that have already undertaken top-down integration reforms, sharing lessons learned and benefits realized. Part II turns to countries still assessing policy options, examining the risks of continued fragmentation, the opportunities offered by integration, and the practical trade-offs involved in moving forward.”
“Assume for the moment that you have received an EU-authorized vaccine. This is only part of the battle, because the act of vaccination has to be tied to you as a person.
“‘One of the biggest barriers to setting up these systems—and one that could greatly complicate digital health certificates – involves traceability, which for an official digital ID means documenting one’s birth event.
“‘In Africa, not everyone has a birth certificate, and many struggle to trace their identity to the birth event.’
“If you cannot prove to the satisfaction of the European Union (or whoever) that you were the actual person who received a vaccine, then you may face barriers to entering Europe (or wherever).”
This not only affects travel, but benefits, banking, and everything else that I in the United States take for granted.
I belatedly learned about Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s proposals regarding call centers. But it’s important to note that there are three different proposals, each with different impacts.
“First, the FCC will vote on reforms that can encourage businesses to bring call center jobs back the U.S.”
“Second, the FCC will explore ways to improve customer service at existing call centers, including a proposal to require call takers to be proficient in American Standard English.”
“Third, the FCC will address illegal robocalls that originate abroad by seeking comment on the targeted use of tariffs or bonds.”
Americans
Regarding those prized call center jobs that Americans hunger to fulfill so much, will the “reforms” include the abolition of the national $7.25 an hour minimum wage to make U.S.-based call center positions more attractive to employers? Well, employers in states that don’t have a higher minimum wage, anyway. Because call center jobs are a prime example of the jobs that Americans DON’T want to do. They’re worse than the data labeler jobs that require you to watch adult content.
English
Plus, many of these $7.25 an hour minimum wage states are in places where “American Standard English” is not widely spoken. Take Georgia and Oklahoma, each of which have a state minimum wage of $5.15, but that wage is overridden by the higher federal level.
Will the FCC consider Okie Talk as American Standard English?
How To Talk Like an Okie.
Or will companies be required to import Yankees to make those calls? And offer unsweet tea options in the break room?
Robocalls
Which brings us to robocalls. Most people hate robocalls. (My secret: when someone from a random number calls me about my Google business listing, I immediately turn on call recording and the accompanying announcement. That shuts them up.)
Of course, both companies could solve their income problems by setting up call centers to call Americans, in American Standard English, and urge them to buy American…
…well, except that both Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are age restricted products, which makes calling somewhat difficult. I don’t think ANY company is pioneering age estimation by voice.
“Unlike active liveness, which asks the user to complete an action (like…saying a phrase), passive liveness analyzes the content of a user’s…voice biometric input via AI neural networks that assess elements like…audio artifacts, and…the pitch, tone, and cadence of the user’s voice….”
I remember the first time I saw someone talking to himself.
I was working in Motorola’s Anaheim office at the time. For those of you who remember the “triangle” office, I was walking down the hall from the factory floor to the lunchroom. And there was someone I didn’t recognize walking the other way down the hall, talking to himself.
Or at least it looked like it.
In reality, he had an earpiece in his ear which could also pick up his voice, and he was talking on his phone. The phone was presumably tucked away in a pocket and couldn’t be seen, so if you didn’t see the earpiece, you’d assume that he was talking to himself.
This was probably in the middle of my time at Motorola (2000-2009), and smartphones hadn’t really taken off yet. Perhaps the guy was using a smartphone, but my guess is that he had a good old flip phone.
If he had a smartphone, he’d be looking at it.
While I happen to be typing this post on a laptop, I just as easily could have typed it on my smartphone. Those devices are so prominent today.
“Right now, mobile phones are the main hub of our personal device ecosystem. But as AI integrates into glasses, rings, headphones, and portable form factors, we could see our very own handsets step off center stage, and these wearable devices take their place.”
ZDNET’s assertion appears in article about Qualcomm, a leading manufacturer of the chips that drive these newer wearable devices. These new chips offer greater computing (seven times faster), less power demand, and therefore longer battery life (coupled with the ability to charge up to 50% in 10 minutes).
With these more powerful wearables, ZDNET anticipates that the wearables will become less of a smartphone accessory and more of a smartphone replacement.
But if the smartphones go away, then my future blog posts will be written as I walk down the hall.
If you’re not familiar with the complete history of the Eagles, you may not know that they began as practitioners of country rock. Their early songs were therefore softer than the ones from the Joe Walsh years.
One of those songs (actually later, but earlier in feel) was “Lyin’ Eyes.”
Glenn Frey and Don Henley could tell stories with the best country songwriters. And this was no exception, with a tale of a woman seeking solace outside of her marriage. Her life gets more scattered, until the singer turns judge and announces, “My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things.”
But before that, when the singer is merely telling the story, the woman needs to seek solace.
Google Gemini.
So the singer says what the woman is doing:
“She is headed toward the cheatin’ side of town”
Now this is a lyrical fiction.
To my knowledge, no town in California or anywhere else enforces residential zoning regulations that segregate cheaters from non-cheaters. When “the boy” in the song rented his apartment (in Buena Park?), he didn’t need to indicate his receptiveness to desperate housewives. (Different decade, I know.)
Google Gemini.
So if the cheatin’ side of town is not a geolocation, is it perhaps tied to another factor of authentication?
After all, you could use non-identity biometrics such as respiration to discover the intent of a woman, whether she is driving
to comfort an old friend who’s feeling down, or
to rush into a man’s arms as they fall together.
Cheaterland is a state of mind. My, oh my.
Google Gemini.
And if I may interject an author’s note, I am VERY impressed with Google Gemini (Nano Banana 2) for knowing what a “Thomas Brothers Map” is. Except that I had to change my story setting from North Hollywood to Buena Park to match the images.
“Life in the Fast Lane,” of course, would need a Los Angeles County map.
Your company probably spends a lot of money exhibiting and presenting at trade shows and conferences. And you probably email your prospects and customers about your participation in these events.
But what about the people not on your mailing list?
You can do what the Biometrics Institute has done and create an events page on your website. As I write this, the Biometrics Institute’s events page lists upcoming appearances from March to June, including both in-person events and (for those of us nowhere near Sydney) online events.
How many Biometrics Institute members (and non-members) have their own events pages? One major identity firm (I won’t name it) has an events page…with no events.
But even if you don’t have a web page per se, you can email your prospects and customers as mentioned above. Another identity firm just sent me an email listing several future events, their dates, their locations, and why I would want to go to any of these events.
Do your prospects know about your upcoming events? Bredemarket can help you create a blog post, social media post, email, or even some web page content so that your prospects can see you. Let’s talk.
By the way, here are all the services Bredemarket provides.
Only one of Bredemarket’s clients has given me nearly-unfettered privileges in its WordPress and LinkedIn accounts.
Yes, this seemingly violates the principle of least privilege, but it turns out I needed the enhanced WordPress access.
I initially had the ability to write drafts, but this did not allow me to fully incorporate graphics into my draft posts. So I obtained the higher privilege, but never used it to post anything.
I could, and did, post on my client’s LinkedIn account, but even that was coordinated.
The company eventually paused its activities, and my access to its WordPress and LinkedIn accounts (and other accounts) was no longer necessary, and those privileges eventually were rescinded.
But this was unusual. For most of my clients, I throw my work over a wall, and the client takes it from there.
Google Gemini.
Which is as it should be. After all, I shouldn’t be self-approving my client blog posts. What’s next, approving my payments?
Bredemarket 