Podcast
The Tech Policy Press Podcast
Hosted by Tech Policy Press · EN
Tech Policy Press is a nonprofit media and community venture intended to provoke new ideas, debate and discussion at the intersection of technology and democracy.
You can find us at https://techpolicy.press/, where you can join the newsletter.
99episodes
Episodes
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Promising Opportunities, Distinct Risks: AI and Digital Public Squares
Mar 6, 202500:50:37Summary readyCould AI help design better, more democratic platforms and online environments for public discourse? What are the opportunities, challenges, and risks of deploying AI in contexts where people are engaged in political discussion? Today’s guests are among the more than two dozen authors of a new paper on AI and the future of digital public squares:Audrey Tang, Taiwan's Cyber Ambassador and former Digital MinisterRavi Iyer, managing director of the USC Marshall School Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision MakingBeth Goldberg, head of R&D at Jigsaw and a lecturer at Yale School of Public Policy
SummaryBuilding Middleware for Bluesky: A Conversation with Blacksky Founder Rudy Fraser
Mar 3, 202500:37:58Summary readyOn this podcast, we regularly engage with questions about redesigning social media networks to make them more democratic, pluralist, and prosocial. One hypothesis people have about how to do that is through the decentralization of platforms and the introduction of middleware—tools built to give users more control over their social media experience and, thus, more autonomy in how they engage in public discourse. In this episode, you’ll hear a discussion with one entrepreneur building middleware for Bluesky: Rudy Fraser, the founder of Blacksky Algorithms and a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
SummaryInocencia en Juego: An Investigation into Groups Targeting Children on Facebook
Mar 2, 202500:31:27Summary readyLast week, Tech Policy Press joined the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (EL CLIP) in publishing a report and series of articles documenting how adult users use public Facebook groups to identify and target accounts that indicate they are children for sexual exploitation. The “Innocence at Risk (Inocencia en Juego)” project, coordinated by EL CLIP with participation from Chequeado, includes a report from Lara Putnam, a professor of Latin American history and Director of the Civic Resilience Initiative of the Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security at the University of Pittsburgh, and independent reports from journalists across Latin America investigating a pattern of behavior on the platform’s public groups in Colombia, Venezuela, and Argentina. They published their reports in EL CLIP, Chequeado, Crónica Uno, El Espectador, and Factchequeado. This episode features a discussion with Lara Putnam and Pablo Medina Uribe, who led the project at EL CLIP.
SummaryWatching the Watchers: The Future of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Feb 28, 202500:30:25Summary readyOn January 22, President Donald Trump terminated all three Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), an intelligence watchdog charged with monitoring the United States government's compliance with procedural safeguards on surveillance activities. The PCLOB's independence is also of concern to the European Commission, which relies on its reports in its assessment of whether US intelligence practices are aligned with EU Data Protection Framework standards. On February 24, two of the three terminated members filed suit against the government, arguing they were wrongfully terminated and must be reinstated. The outcome could determine the independence and effectiveness of the PCLOB going forward.This episode explores what's at stake in this matter, and it features three segments, including:Excerpts from remarks by the remaining PCLOB board member, Republican Beth Williams, at the annual State of the Net conference on February 11 in Washington, DC;An interview with former board member Travis LeBlanc conducted just days before he filed suit against the government;An interview with Greg Nojeim, Senior Counsel and Director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
SummaryEvaluating the First Systemic Risk and Audit Reports Under the Digital Services Act
Feb 23, 2025Tap to summarizeTech Policy Press Associate Editor Ramsha Jahangir hosts a roundtable discussion on the first systemic risk assessments and independent audit reports from Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines produced in compliance with the European Union's Digital Services Act. Ramsha is joined by:Hillary Ross, program lead at the Global Network Initiative (GNI);Magdalena Jozwiak, associate researcher at the DSA Observatory; andSvea Windwehr, the assistant director of EU policy at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Transcribe →Unpacking New Mexico's Complaint Against Snap Inc.
Oct 6, 2024Tap to summarizeLast week, Wall Street Journal technology reporter Jeff Horwitz first reported on details of an unredacted version of a complaint against Snap brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. Tech Policy Press editor Justin Hendrix spoke to Horwitz about its details, and questions it leaves unanswered.
Transcribe →Understanding the People Who Turn Lies Into Reality
Sep 1, 2024Tap to summarizeRenée DiResta, who serves on the board of Tech Policy Press and has been an occasional contributor, is the author of Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality, published by Hachette Book Group in June. Justin Hendrix had a chance to catch up with DiResta last week to discuss some of the key ideas in the book, and how she sees them playing out in current moment headed into the 2024 US election.
Transcribe →Big Tech and the News
Jun 30, 2024Tap to summarizeNews and journalism organizations and dominant tech companies are in a years-long battle over content, clicks and revenue, and the tech companies are winning. What are policy options that encourage both the sustainability and quality of news content on popular online platforms? In this episode, Rebecca Rand explores perspectives on the subject, drawing on a conversation hosted by Justin Hendrix with experts Anya Schiffrin and Cory Doctorow at the Knight Foundation's INFORMED conference earlier this year.
Transcribe →How China Regulates Tech
Jun 23, 2024Tap to summarizeAngela Zhang is the author of High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy, published this year by Oxford University Press. With a career in the practice of law and in teaching it, Zhang has held roles King’s College London and at New York University School of Law, and most recently served as Director of Philip K. H. Wong Center for Chinese Law at the University of Hong Kong. She will join the University of Southern California as a Professor of Law in fall 2024.
Transcribe →What's Next for Tech Policy in India After the Elections
Jun 9, 2024Tap to summarizeWhat role did technology play in India's elections, and what impact will the outcome have on tech policy in the country? Joining Justin Hendrix are three experts: Amber Sinha and Vandinika Shukla, both fellows at Tech Policy Press, and Prateek Waghre, the executive director at the Internet Freedom Foundation. Plus, Tech Policy Press program manager Prithvi Iyer sums up the election result.
Transcribe →