Alicia Wanless (Carnegie Endowment) joins the show to discuss the links between information and technology, information competition through history, the need for a better understanding of information ecosystems, whether we’re in an information “civil war,” and much else besides. There Is No Getting Ahead of Disinformation Without Moving Past It The Astor Place Riot...
Geoff Manne, president and founder of the International Center for Law & Economics, and host Corbin Barthold, internet policy counsel at TechFreedom, discuss the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon. FTC Chair Lina Khan’s Mission to Destroy Amazon Will Harm Millions of Consumers FTC v Amazon: Significant Burdens to Prove Relevant Markets and Net Consumer Harm Tech Policy Podcast #353: The Google Search Antitrust Trial...
Crackdowns on Encrypted Messaging Don’t ‘Help the Children’ The UK Online Safety Bill Must Not Violate Our Rights to Free Speech and Private Communication UK Government ‘Concession’ on Breaking End-to-End Encryption in the Online Safety Act (Just Passed) Turns Out Not to Be One Around the World, Threats to LGBTQ+ Speech Deepen...
The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised Faster, Please! Power and Progress Is a Wrongheaded Critique of Tech Progress Tech Policy Podcast #327: The Collapse of Complex Societies...
The Fundamental Problems with Social Media Age-Verification Legislation Texas Legislature Convinced First Amendment Simply Does Not Exist Leak of California Gun Owners’ Private Data Far Wider than Originally Reported Republicans Can’t Decide If They Want Online Privacy or Not Tech Policy Podcast #342: Save the Children (From State Social Media Laws)...
Judge Mehta’s summary judgment order Europe’s Antitrust Demagogues Shake Down Google
Content Moderation’s Legalism Problem Collective Security in a Federated World Tech Policy Podcast #345: Content Moderation Around the World In Internet Speech Cases, SCOTUS Should Stick Up For Reno v. ACLU...
Dissed Podcast: Lady Justice Isn’t Blind Pacific Legal Foundation’s amicus brief in Loper Bright TechFreedom’s amicus brief in Loper Bright Chevron Is Dead, Long Live Chevron Tech Policy Podcast #311: Administrative Law, and Why You Should Care...
Ari Cohn, Free Speech Counsel at TechFreedom, joins the show to discuss Missouri v. Biden, the tricky relationship between the First Amendment and government jawboning of social media platforms, and the unhinged discourse around social media “censorship.” Links: Judge Doughty’s opinion The Future of Online Speech Shouldn’t Belong to One Trump-Appointed Judge in Louisiana If You Believe In Free Speech, The GOP’s “Weaponization” Subcommittee Is Not Your Friend Why Is The Republican Party Obsessed ...
Eric Berger’s Ars Technica profile Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Jim Dunstan’s new paper on space regulation Jim’s recent appearance before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology The ending of Nebo Zovyot (“The Sky Beckons”) (1959)...
Read Jim’s new paper on space regulation Catch Jim’s July 13 testimony before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Tech Policy Podcast #333: The FCC in Space Tech Policy Podcast #306: The New Space Race...
Walter Olson’s profile Follow Walter on Twitter Courts Should Reject School Districts’ Suits to Childproof the Internet
Adam Thierer profile Adam’s work: Microsoft’s New AI Regulatory Framework & the Coming Battle over Computational Control What If Everything You’ve Heard about AI Policy is Wrong? Can We Predict the Jobs and Skills Needed for the AI Era? Flexible, Pro-Innovation Governance Strategies for Artificial Intelligence U.S. Chamber AI Commission Report Offers Constructive Path Forward The Coming Onslaught of “Algorithmic Fairness” Regulations Corbin’s review of Toby Ord’s book The Precipice : World t...
Daphne Keller profile page Agustina Del Campo profile page Slide deck for the Digital India Act . Daphne’s Lawfare article, “ The Three-Body Problem: Platform Litigation and Absent Parties .” Daphne’s new paper, Platform Transparency and the First Amendment . Daphne’s and Corbin’s appearances at Media Law Resource Center’s Legal Frontiers in Digital Media 2023 conference. (Stay tuned for video.) Go see Agustina at RightsCon 2023 ....
Many legislators and policymakers want to ban TikTok from the United States. They claim that the wildly popular social media platform endangers American national security. Although the critics are making a lot of noise, their argument for a ban is surprisingly shaky. What concrete threat does TikTok pose? What First Amendment obstacles stand in the way of a ban? TechFreedom’s Corbin Barthold and Ari Cohn discuss.
What does China’s rise as a tech power mean for American national security? Jimmy Quinn, a writer for National Review , joins the show to discuss. He and Corbin debate the merits of a TikTok ban, consider the new House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and explore other aspects of the recent uptick in Sino-American competition. For more, follow Jimmy’s work at National Review Online . Also, check out Tech Policy Podcast #337: China and Domestic Surveillance . Correction: At 17:30,...
State governments are passing laws that seek to protect kids from social media. But maybe what we really need is to protect kids—and the Internet—from the government. Mike Masnick, founder and editor of Techdirt , joins the show to discuss California’s AB 2273, Utah’s SB 152 and HB 311, and the wider hysteria over minors and social media use. For more, see Mike’s recent article, “ As The Social Media Moral Panic Continues, People Keep Highlighting How Much Value It Actually Provides .”...
The Federal Trade Commission is making a lot of headlines. Much of that news revolves around the agency’s notable antitrust cases—such as its efforts to block Meta’s purchase of Within, to break up Facebook and Instagram, and to block Microsoft’s purchase of Activision. How aggressive is the FTC’s approach? What is its plan? Our guest is Bilal Sayyed, senior competition counsel at TechFreedom. He explains where the agency’s antitrust policy breaks new ground—and where it does not.
Three major Internet speech disputes are at, or barreling toward, the Supreme Court. In Gonzalez v. Google , the justices will consider the scope of Section 230. In 303 Creative v. Elenis , they will decide whether a company can be compelled to design a website against its will. And if they grant review (as expected) in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton , the justices will rule on whether large social media platforms have a First Amendment right to editorial discretion. How do these cas...
Thanks to advancing technology, the police can now easily and cheaply monitor public spaces and identify, profile, and track individuals. Can the Fourth Amendment protect us from sweeping government digital surveillance? Nathan Wessler, a deputy director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, joins the show to discuss. For more, check out the ACLU’s cert. petition in Moore v. United States , which argues that the police need a warrant to conduct 24/7 camera surveillance outside a...
On February 21, the Supreme Court will hold oral argument in Gonzalez v. Google , the first Section 230 appeal the justices have ever heard. The future of the Internet hangs in the balance. Host Corbin K. Barthold discusses the case, the briefs, and what to watch for at the argument. Correction: As Corbin explains, the petitioners invoke some inapt authorities for the notion that Section 230 borrows the technical, defamation-law definition of the word "publisher." However, the Roommates decision...
Liza Lin, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal , is the co-author, with Josh Chin, of Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control . She discusses the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to use technology to spur prosperity, quash dissent, and—above all—maintain its grip on power.
Bad tech policy is a bipartisan affair. Lately, though, the right has particularly excelled at it. TechFreedom’s Corbin Barthold and Ari Cohn discuss the GOP’s obsession with supposed “Big Tech censorship,” its performative new “weaponization” subcommittee, its strange quest to turn spammy fundraising emails into a political cause, and more. The episode centers around Corbin’s and Ari’s article at Techdirt , “ If You Believe In Free Speech, The GOP’s ‘Weaponization’ Subcommittee Is Not Your Frie...
Is screen time—television, smartphones, social media, video games—harming children? Elizabeth Nolan Brown, senior editor at Reason , returns to the show with some good news: probably not! She fills host Corbin Barthold in on the latest research. For more, see Elizabeth’s recent Reason online article 5 New Studies That Challenge Conventional Wisdom About Kids and Tech , as well as her December cover story for Reason magazine, In Defense of Algorithms . The two previous Tech Policy Podcast episode...
Malcom Kyeyune is the author of The New Gnostics , an article in the autumn issue of City Journal ’s print magazine. In the piece, Malcom examines the new quasi-religions taking shape on the Internet. “It’s hard to overstate,” he writes, “how full” today’s “Internet is with itinerant prophets, holy fools, hustlers, fraudsters, and soothsayers.” In this episode, Malcom tells us why he thinks this is happening. He also discusses the growing divide between workers and the Left, his problems with th...
The United States is entering a second golden age of space innovation. Can the country’s regulatory infrastructure keep up? For better or worse, the Federal Communications Commission is bidding to fill the void (so to speak). What moves is the FCC making? Is the agency acting within its legal authority? What can it do to help the American space industry succeed? James Dunstan, TechFreedom’s general counsel, joins the show to discuss. For more, see TechFreedom’s recent FCC comments on in-space se...
Facial recognition technology is a powerful tool. Whatever we do with it—whatever rules we set around its use—we should proceed thoughtfully and cautiously, keeping a close eye on the costs and benefits of deploying it. Jane Bambauer, a law professor at the University of Arizona College of Law, joins the show for just such a thoughtful, cautious, cost-benefit driven discussion, with a focus on the use of facial recognition by law enforcement. For more, see Prof. Bambauer’s recent paper, Facial R...
The Supreme Court has never heard a Section 230 case—until now. Earlier this month, the justices agreed to review Gonzalez v. Google , in which the plaintiffs argue that YouTube’s “targeted recommendation” of videos falls outside Section 230 immunity. How did we get Section 230? Why is it important? What would the Internet look like without it? Emma Llansó, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, joins the show to explain how Section 230 came to be, ...
Independent federal agencies sit awkwardly in our constitutional structure. When they engage in aggressive overreach, therefore, they should expect to see their actions challenged in court. This episode centers around two such challenges. In Axon v. FTC , a case the Supreme Court will hear this term, the plaintiff challenges the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission’s internal tribunal. And in Consumers’ Research v. FCC , a set of cases currently in the federal courts of appeals, the peti...
Will Rinehart is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. In this episode, a wide-ranging discussion of his work, he expands on whether the FDA should declare aging a disease , how to measure broadband access (and best allocate broadband funding) , what we can learn from last year’s Facebook blackout , and why we need an abundance agenda . From the nitty-gritty details of policy to big-picture questions about our future, Will is thinking about it all. You can find out m...
