Who am I?
My name is Tyler Sonnemaker, and I write about the intersection of tech and policy with the goal of exposing and explaining the underlying forces that influence Silicon Valley and Washington. That means covering a variety of topics related to tech and internet policy, including online privacy, cybersecurity, diversity in tech, the digital divide and internet infrastructure.
Check out more of my writing and follow me on Medium and Twitter.
Why did I start Trusty?
My background spans across entrepreneurship, media, design and policy. While those may seem like unrelated fields, there’s a common thread: each requires establishing rapport and trust.
Whether with co-founders, investors, readers, bosses, teammates, clients or customers, I’ve worked to build relationships from scratch to a point where we can passionately disagree and express unpopular opinions, yet still open up to one another to gain additional perspective and find new shared ground.
That credibility must be earned, and given how distrustful many people are of journalists (and understandably so), reporting has forced me to work that much harder for it. It has taught me the value of doing your homework, listening and empathizing — and given me an appreciation for how and why people come to trust a total stranger to tell their story to the world.
On the flip side, I’m also constantly surprised at how readily people trust technology. We offer up intimate personal details and place our lives in the hands of tech companies without any hesitation, all in the name of convenience and cost.
I wanted to figure out why that is.
I’m both a firm believer in technology’s ability to help us solve problems and the first one to point out its negative side effects, so my bias isn’t in favor of or against technology, but toward a deeper understanding of it (and the people behind it).
Trusty is a way for me to develop that deeper understanding, but it also depends on the support of readers like you who bring that same curiosity.
