Podcasts about berin szoka

Ryan talks to Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom, about the recent bill passed by the Florida Legislature targeting Big Tech and the constitutional issues it's likely to face in court.

On March 18, 2021, the Federalist Society's Southwest Florida Lawyers Chapter hosted Prof. Eugene Volokh and Berin Szoka to debate issues surrounding social media, free speech, and Section 230. Featuring: Prof. Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of LawBerin Szoka, President, TechFreedomModerator: Alex Brockmeyer, Shareholder, Boyle, Leonard & Anderson, P.A.; The Federalist Society's Southwest Florida Lawyers Chapter*******As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speakers.

This week on the podcast we’re joined by Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom, to talk about the pressing broadband issues of today and tomorrow. Christopher and Berin share what they see as the biggest barriers to universal, high-quality Internet access today, including the jurisdictional issues facing communities large and small, as well as the regulatory solutions which … Continue reading "From Broadband Barriers to Section 230 – Episode 450 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has been called the “Magna Carta of the internet,” the foundation of online free expression, and the 26 words that created the internet.  But it’s come under intense scrutiny in recent years, with critics saying that it’s the root cause of horrific online behavior.  Bullying, hate speech, and misinformation?  Critics say that’s all because of Section 230. But Section 230 is also wildly misunderstood, with journalists and politicians routinely misrepresenting what it does and doesn’t do, and using it as a pawn to achieve other political goals. Here to set the record straight is Berin Szoka, the co-founder of TechFreedom, a DC-based think tank that, in their words, “tries to write simple rules for a complex world.” TechFreedom Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship TechFreedom on the Executive Order  On Senator Hawley’s view of Section 230 TechFreedom amicus brief: Supreme Court should overturn the Ninth Circuit’s decision limiting Section 230 Protections

Bio Christopher Lewis (@ChrisJLewis) is President and CEO at Public Knowledge. Prior to being elevated to President and CEO, Chris served for as PK’s Vice President from 2012 to 2019 where he led the organization’s day-to-day advocacy and political strategy on Capitol Hill and at government agencies. During that time he also served as a local elected official, serving two terms on the Alexandria City Public School Board. Chris serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Local Self Reliance and represents Public Knowledge on the Board of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG). Before joining Public Knowledge, Chris worked in the Federal Communications Commission Office of Legislative Affairs, including as its Deputy Director. He is a former U.S. Senate staffer for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and has over 18 years of political organizing and advocacy experience, including serving as Virginia State Director at GenerationEngage, and working as the North Carolina Field Director for Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign and other roles throughout the campaign. Chris graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelors degree in Government and lives in Alexandria, VA where he continues to volunteer and advocate on local civic issues. Resources The Washington Center for Technology Policy Inclusion, 2020. President Trump’s Social Media Executive Order Violates The Voting Rights Act Of 1965. [online] Available at: https://www.washingtech.com/post/president-trump-s-social-media-executive-order-violates-the-voting-rights-act-of-1965 [Accessed 31 May 2020]. Public Knowledge, 2020. Public Knowledge Rejects White House Executive Order Targeting Free Speech On Social Media Platforms. [online] Available at: https://www.publicknowledge.org/press-release/public-knowledge-rejects-white-house-executive-order-targeting-free-speech-on-social-media-platforms/ [Accessed 31 May 2020]. Feld, H., 2020. Could the FCC Regulate Social Media Under Section 230? No. [Blog] Public Knowledge Blog, Available at: https://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/could-the-fcc-regulate-social-media-under-section-230-no/ [Accessed 31 May 2020]. Public Knowledge, 2020. Public Knowledge Responds To White House Proposal To Require FTC, FCC To Monitor Speech On Social Media. [online] Available at: https://www.publicknowledge.org/press-release/public-knowledge-responds-to-white-house-proposal-to-require-ftc-fcc-to-monitor-speech-on-social-media/ [Accessed 31 May 2020]. Related Episodes 'They Smile in Your Face: How the Internet is Unmasking Hidden Racism' with Robert Eschmann (Ep. 222)(Opens in a new browser tab) 'How Media Policies Have Helped the Far Right' with Anne Nelson (Ep. 217)(Opens in a new browser tab) Facebook and Civil Rights: What are the Options? with Ebonie Riley (Ep. 212)(Opens in a new browser tab) Should Americans Trust News on Social Media? with Elisa Shearer (Ep. 207)(Opens in a new browser tab) Examining "Social Media Bias" with Jen Schradie (Ep. 199)(Opens in a new browser tab) Renée DiResta: How to Fight the Imminent Disinformation Blitzkrieg (Ep. 175)(Opens in a new browser tab) News Roundup       Trump tweets mark turning point in Section 230 discourse A tweet from President Trump last week that criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order allowing Californians’ the right to vote by mail, in addition to preserving Californians’ right to vote in person if they’d prefer, has triggered a turning point in the debate around Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, even though the Centers for Disease Control recommended that election officials allow mail-in voting, specifically because of the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 disease is having on communities of color. These communities have historically been targets of voter suppression efforts. Section 230 is the 1996 law widely seen as the heart of the internet as we know it, because it shields interactive content providers, like Twitter, Google, and Facebook, from liability stemming from content posted by users. In short, without Section 230, it would be all but impossible for Twitter, Facebook, and Google to exist: without Section 230, it would simply be too risky for social media platforms to expose themselves to liability for content that you and I, or even Trump, post. President Trump posted the now-infamous tweet about Governor Newsom’s Executive Order on Tuesday. In it, the president alleged that sending mail-in ballots to voters would cause what right-wing politicians theorize is “voter fraud”, and that sending ballots to what the president termed “millions of people” would lead to the ballots being stolen. The president didn’t indicate how those attempting to steal ballots would even know whether ballots were inside of a person’s mailbox. Would they go to every single mailbox every single day to see if a ballot’s inside? In any case, the president has expressed a general fear of snail mail in recent months. At the start of the pandemic, he and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin blocked funding from the $2 trillion stimulus bill that would have provided the U.S. Postal Service with billions of dollars in grants to balance its budget. So, something’s up with the mail that this president seems extremely frightened of. All of this culminated in Twitter, for the first time, posting a disclaimer on the president’s tweet – a blue hyperlink with an exclamation mark next to it that says, “Get the facts about mail-in ballots”. When users click the link, they’re redirected to another Twitter page listing articles discussing the factual inconsistencies in the president’s claim that mail-in ballots would lead to election fraud and voting by immigrants. Unsurprisingly, Trump was livid when this happened. Two days later, he released an Executive Order providing for the Department of Commerce to file a petition at the Federal Communications Commission asking it to review still-unsubstantiated claims of social media companies’ alleged anti-conservative bias. The order also calls on the Federal Trade Commission to allow individuals to file complaints. When protests began around the nation in response to the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who has since been fired and charged with manslaughter, Trump tweeted a comment that echoed Miami’s then-Mayor Walter Headley’s 1967 remark “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”, which was met with scorn by civil rights leaders. In the tweet, the president called protesters “THUGS”, saying he’d spoken with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” (Here would be a good place to recall last summer’s Center for Investigative Journalism report that several Confederate, anti-Islam, misogynistic or anti-government militia Facebook groups counted hundreds of police among their members, a report that corroborated an earlier finding by the FBI released over a decade ago that warned of the infiltration of law enforcement by white supremacists.) Twitter followed up with the president’s “THUGS” tweet by placing a notice over it saying the tweet violated Twitter’s policy against users glorifying violence, but still allowing users to clickthrough and see the president’s tweet. The company also went on to flag tweets from Ice Cube, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, and others it deemed to have violated Twitter’s community standards. But as far as Trump’s Executive Order to rein in social media companies is concerned, after speaking with experts like Tech Freedom’s Berin Szoka, Georgetown’s Gigi Sohn, and Public Knowledge’s Harold Feld – all of whom have been guests on the WashingTECH Tech Policy Podcast – the Hill reports that there’s a general consensus in the telecommunications public policy community that the president’s executive order is a non-starter. To make it happen, the FCC would need to undo years of precedent and essentially contradict every ruling it’s made, at least during Ajit Pai’s tenure there as Chairman, including its repeal of the net neutrality order. … On another front, Senator Ted Cruz, alleging that Twitter is violating sanctions against Iran, is calling for a criminal investigation into Twitter’s alleged preservation of accounts of enemies of the United States, like Iranian Supreme Leaders Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and its Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Also, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confessed to Fox News last week that Facebook shouldn’t be “arbiters of truth”. In fact, The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Facebook Executives ignored a 2018 internal report that found the company’s algorithms “exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness”. It also warned that, if left unchecked, Facebook could spread even more discord, and that bringing Facebook’s algorithms under control would disproportionately affect users espousing conservative viewpoints. Facebook never publicly released the report or even acted internally to “check” conservative misinformation. Coincidentally, the presentation came at the same time the Trump administration was just beginning its campaign to characterize social media companies as being biased in favor of liberals. Last week, House Speaker Pelosi called Zuckerberg’s non-interventionist stance a “disgrace”. Running with the ball, Republicans in Congress are reportedly working on legislation to control speech on social media platforms by undoing the liability protections conferred by Section 230. Conservatives are pushing for the legislation even though a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit last week dismissed a lawsuit brought by Freedom Watch, the conservative legal group, and far-right activist Laura Loomer, against Facebook, Google & Twitter, alleging the companies were conspiring to suppress conservative viewpoints. Trump creates more expansive warrantless watchlist President Trump has moved to further circumvent Constitutionally-guaranteed due process protections by expanding a September 11th-era terrorism watchlist to include individuals who aren’t even suspected of terrorism. Newsweek reports the watchlist could grow to as many as a million names. But the Trump administration hasn’t acknowledged it’s expanded the watchlist, even though it’s required to do so under federal law. Now individuals can be included on the watchlist even if they just have family in El Salvador. FBI ties Pensacola shooter to al Qaeda with iPhone data The FBI says the shooter at a Pensacola naval base last December, a shooting that took the lives of 3 sailors and injured 8 others, had ties to Al Qaeda. Twenty-one-year-old 2nd Lieutenant Mohammed Alshamrani initially attempted to destroy his iPhone following the shooting, but wasn’t successful. Initially, investigators approached Apple for help in gaining access to the phone’s data. When Apple declined, the FBI took matters into its own hands and figured out how to crack open the phone on its own. Indigent customers not getting broadband despite large carriers’ promises Even though internet service providers like Comcast and Charter promised free and low-cost internet to indigent residents, a lot of those residents are getting bills in the mail. The New York Times reports that customers who are supposed to have access to these programs are getting bills instead, sometimes for as much as $120. Customers have also reported not being able to get through to a customer service rep at all, much less in their native languages. In an unusual alliance, Republican Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly joined Democrats in calling to expand broadband service around the country. O’Rielly told The Hill’s Editor-in-Chief Steve Clemons that equipment and affordability are the main barriers to broadband. Anonymous re-appears Hacktivist group Anonymous, which first made an appearance during the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, has reappeared amidst protests in cities around the nation in response to the killing of George Floyd and other grievances. A Facebook group owner who claims to be affiliated with Anonymous wrote that it would soon expose the Minneapolis police departments “many crimes in the world”. Forbes reports that Anonymous apparently even took down the Minneapolis Police Department’s website. FCC approves $16 million in telehealth funding The FCC also approved an additional $16 million for 43 applicants seeking funding to provide telehealth services during the pandemic. The money goes to healthcare providers for things like network upgrades and laptop, and is  part of a total pool of $200 million Congress allocated for COVID-19-related telehealth programs. To date, the FCC has allocated $50 million, or just a quarter of that total amount.

Recently, Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA). The bill is gaining co-sponsors and support on both sides of the aisle, and virtually everyone agrees that sex trafficking is a very real problem that Congress needs to address. But the bill is also getting pushback from voices across the spectrum, including right- and left-leaning civil society groups and tech companies big and small. Supporters of SESTA argue that long-standing intermediary liability protections for web platforms are enabling sex trafficking, citing the website Backpage.com, whose founders knowingly profited from and facilitated sex crimes. Critics of SESTA caution that the safe harbor in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is a bedrock of Internet freedom, and warn that the bill would actually undermine cooperation between law enforcement and tech companies. Evan discusses with TechFreedom’s Berin Szoka and Ashkhen Kazaryan. For more, see our coalition letter.

What should drive FCC policy regarding net neutrality? Berin Szoka of TechFreedom comments. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Berin Szoka '04, president of the technology policy think tank TechFreedom, debates UVA professor Thomas Nachbar on the FCC's net neutrality rules. These rules, which were recently upheld by the DC Circuit Court in U.S. Telecom v. FCC, require broadband service providers to treat all internet traffic identically. (University of Virginia School of Law, Oct. 26, 2016)

Recently, the Obama administration released non-binding “guidelines” for self-driving cars, telling states not to create their own regulations just yet. California went ahead anyway, and the Golden State's DMV drafted new regulations based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) guidelines. Did California jump the gun? What changes could the DMV make to improve the draft proposal? It's open for public comment, and several organizations have weighed in. Here to discuss their joint comments, co-authored with R Street and ICLE, are Marc Scribner, research fellow at CEI, and Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom.

Berin Szoka (@BerinSzoka) is the President of TechFreedom. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before joining PFF, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries. Before joining Latham's Communications Practice Group, Szoka practiced at Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Szoka received his Bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University and his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Submissions Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and California (inactive). He has served on the Steering Committee for the D.C. Bar's Computer & Telecommunications Law Section, and currently serves on the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee(COMSTAC). Szoka has chaired, and currently serves on, the Board of Directors of the Space Frontier Foundation, a non-profit citizens' advocacy group founded in 1988 and dedicated to advancing commercial opportunity and expansion of human civilization in space.   He blogs for the Technology Liberation Front.   In this episode, we discussed the history of the FCC's regulation of monopolies. federal legislation regarding municipal broadband networks and how that legislation should be built upon. whether the FCC abused its "Section 706" authority to preempt state laws that prevent municipal broadband providers from extending their boundaries. Resources TechFreedom The Future and its Enemies, Virginia Postrel (Free Press, 1999) Strategic Ituition: The Creative Spark in Human Intuition, Jeffrey Dutton (Columbia University, 2013) Technology Liberation Front

What SHOULD President Obama say tonight in his final State of the Union address? And what is he likely to say instead? Berin Szoka offers TechFreedom's take. He and Evan discuss encryption, the rise of tech policy in the presidential campaign, the good and bad news on surveillance reform, a coming clash with Europe over data flows, the first amendment, fourth amendment, and mass surveillance, making broadband deployment easier, the perils of regulating the Internet, and big data. Along the way, Berin casually compares Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin.

Who is TechFreedom? What do they do? Why should anyone care? In Tech Policy Podcast's inaugural episode, host Evan Swarztrauber interviews President of TechFreedom, Berin Szoka. They discuss TechFreedom's accomplishments, its history, and why TechFreedom is launching the only podcast focused on tech policy.

Should the market for telecommunication services be treated like your old rotary dial phone? Berin Szoka with TechFreedom comments. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Applying old-school utility regulation to the Internet would be a disaster according to Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom. Tech Freedom's new site, Don't Break The Net. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Berin Szoka of TechFreedom.org explains net neutrality and why we should be skeptical of government regulation.

A talk show on KZSU-FM, Stanford, 90.1 FM, hosted by Center for Internet & Society Resident Fellow David S. Levine. The show includes guests and focuses on the intersection of technology and society. How is our world impacted by the great technological changes taking place? Each week, a different sphere is explored. This week, David interviews Berin Szoka of TechFreedom, co-editor of The Next Digital Decade. For more information, please go to http://hearsayculture.com.

In a video release, an anonymous voice says it will destroy Facebook on November 5 of this year. Bennet talks about that with Information Security Management expert Stan Stahl, PhD. Stan Stahl, PhD. Bennet welcomes returning guest Berin Szoka, the President and founder of TechFreedom.