Podcasts about technology law policy

Eighteen months ago, the first-of-its-kind Judicial Innovation Fellowship launched with the mission of embedding experienced technologists and designers within state, local, and tribal courts to develop technology-based solutions to improve the public's access to justice. Housed within the Institute for Technology Law & Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, the program was designed to be a catalyst for innovation to enable courts to better serve the legal needs of the public.  In August, the program will wrap up its inaugural cohort, which placed three fellows in courts in Kansas, Tennessee and Utah. But even though those three fellowships were successful, our guest today, Jason Tashea, the program's founding director and cofounder, says its future is uncertain because its continued funding is uncertain. “These programs are expensive, they are hard to fundraise for,” he says. In today's episode, Tashea, an entrepreneur, educator, and award-winning journalist, joins host Bob Ambrogi to discuss the need for and genesis of the program, the fellowships it supported this year, and his assessment of the program's success. He also shares his thoughts more broadly on the need for innovation in the courts to address the gap in access to justice.  Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out. Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks.   If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.  

In this episode, Foundry Fellow, Dyllan Brown-Bramble sits down with Gabrielle Hibbert, a Fellow at the Decentralized Future Council and Hillary Brill an Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow Institute for Technology Law & Policy at Georgetown Law to discuss the work of the Decentralized Future Council, the future of Web3 law and policy, and why early-career professionals should get up to speed on it.

Gigi Sohn joins EFF hosts Cindy Cohn and Danny O'Brien as they discuss broadband access in the United States – or the lack thereof. Gigi explains the choices American policymakers and tech companies made to create a country where there are millions of Americans who lack access to reliable broadband, and what steps we need to take to fix the problem now. In this episode you'll learn: How does the FCC define broadband Internet and why that definition makes no sense in 2020; How many other countries adopted policies that either incentivized competition among Internet providers or invested in government infrastructure for Internet services, while the United States did neither, leading to a much of the country having only one or two Internet service providers, high costs, and poor quality Internet service; Why companies like AT&T and Verizon aren't investing in fiber; How the FCC uses a law about telephone regulation to assert authority over regulating broadband access, and how the 1996 Telecommunication Act granted the FCC permission to forbear – or not apply – certain parts of that law; How 19 states in the U.S. have bans or limitations on municipal broadband, and why repealing those bans is key to increasing broadband access How Internet access is connected to issues of equity, upward mobility, and job accessibility, as well as related issues of racial justice, citizen journalism and police accountability; Specific suggestions and reforms, including emergency subsidies and a major investment in infrastructure, that could help turn this situation around. Gigi is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate.  She is one of the nation's leading public advocates for open, affordable and democratic communications networks. From 2013-2016, Gigi was Counselor to the former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler. She advised the Chairman on a wide range of Internet, telecommunications and media issues, representing him and the FCC in a variety of public forums around the country as well as serving as the primary liaison between the Chairman's office and outside stakeholders. From 2001-2013, Gigi served as the Co-Founder and CEO of Public Knowledge, a leading telecommunications, media and technology policy advocacy organization. She was previously a Project Specialist in the Ford Foundation's Media, Arts and Culture unit and Executive Director of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm. You can find Gigi on her own podcast, Tech on the Rocks, or you can find her on Twitter at @GigiBSohn. A transcript of the episode, as well as legal resources – including links to important cases, books, and briefs discussed in the podcast – is available at https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/podcast-episode-why-does-my-internet-suck.  Please subscribe to How to Fix the Internet using your podcast player of choice. If you have any feedback on this episode, please email podcast@eff.org. Audio editing for this episode by Stuga Studios: https://www.stugastudios.com. Music by Nat Keefe: https://natkeefe.com/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Hear how TikTok and other data-scraping apps like WeChat are being targeted by executive actions. What does this mean for the platforms and their users? What does this mean for businesses? What does this mean for American law? Listen to our analysis! Sources: [1] Georgetown Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Institute Hosts Virtual Discussion on Executive Orders targeting TikTok and WeChat, Aug. 17, 2020, https://www.georgetowntech.org/news-fullposts/august-17-2020-institute-hosts-virtual-discussion-on-executive-orders-targeting-tiktok-and-wechat. [2] P.L. 95-223 (October 28, 1977), 91 Stat. 1626, codified as amended at 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. (2018) (“IEEPA”); AND Christopher A. Casey, Ian F. Fergusson, Dianne E. Rennack, and Jennifer K. Elsea, Cong, Research Serv., R45618, The International Emergency Economic Powers Act: Origins, Evolution, and Use (2020), https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R45618.pdf. [3] Ibid. § 1701. [4] https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/international/the-committee-on-foreign-investment-in-the-united-states-cfius [5] Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok, and Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain, 85 F.R. 48637 (August 11, 2020), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/11/2020-17699/addressing-the-threat-posed-by-tiktok-and-taking-additional-steps-to-address-the-national-emergency. [6] Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat, and Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain, 85 F.R. 48641 (August 11, 2020), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/11/2020-17700/addressing-the-threat-posed-by-wechat-and-taking-additional-steps-to-address-the-national-emergency. [7] Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain, 84 Fed. Reg. 22689 (May 15, 2019), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/05/17/2019-10538/securing-the-information-and-communications-technology-and-services-supply-chain. [8] Christian C. Davis et al., Commerce Issues Proposed Rule Implementing “Supply Chain Executive Order”, Int'l Trade Alerts (Dec. 3, 2019), https://www.akingump.com/en/news-insights/commerce-issues-proposed-rule-implementing-supply-chain.html.

In episode five, Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and Benton Senior Fellow, Gigi Sohn explains the digital access divide as framed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our first four conversations with medical professionals, we talked about the current crisis and the tool kits being utilized by caregivers to meet the current need. Telehealth, often requiring stable access to broadband, has been critical in flattening the curve and isn't easily attainable in communities without widespread access to broadband. That's where Sohn comes in.Join us for our fifth episode.  Gigi Sohn is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and on the Advisory Board of the Open Markets Institute. Gigi is one of the nation's leading public advocates for open, affordable and democratic communications networks. For thirty years, Gigi has worked across the country to defend and preserve the fundamental competition and innovation policies that have made broadband Internet access more ubiquitous, competitive, affordable, open and protective of user privacy. Sohn's podcast G&T: Tech on the Rocks is available on iTunes and Spotify.Music provided by Dillon O'Brian

On September 4, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced sweeping regulatory changes to the operation of YouTube, one of the internet’s most popular websites. YouTube has 2 billion monthly active users and features content from more than 50 million individual creators, most of whom are small businesses or individuals. Many of the creators affected earn money using YouTube and stand to lose, in aggregate, hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars from these regulatory changes. Some will need to restructure their business model. The changes also subject content creators to increased risk of prosecution and stiff fines. Yet these significant regulatory changes were never put before a legislature; none of the content creators or users of the website were privy to the rationale or design of the regulation; and there was no public process for comment. Instead, the new regulation was confidentially negotiated between YouTube and FTC staff and put into place by a court.FTC settlements have long been praised by those who value the “soft law” benefits of such an approach: flexibility to deal with case-by-case specific problems, particularly in fast-changing industries; reduced need to establish one-size-fits-all industry-wide rules; efficient resolution of cases; the ability to shape future behavior through a kind of common law. Such settlements have also long been criticized by those who emphasize the difference between them and hard law: a creation of regulatory ambiguity; lack of process that considers the interests of the full range of stakeholders; a “rulemaking” environment with a power differential between the negotiating parties; and an agency ability to accumulate incremental changes to the law that in total can be quite significant.This episode explores FTC settlements and consent decrees, including the YouTube case and what it means for FTC enforcement going forward. It will take place as part of the Federalist Society's Executive Branch Review Week.Featuring:- Jessica Rich, Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law- Sean Royall, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP- Gerard Stegmaier, Partner, Reed Smith LLP- [Moderator] Neil Chilson, Senior Research Fellow for Technology and Innovation, Charles Koch Institute Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

On September 4, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced sweeping regulatory changes to the operation of YouTube, one of the internet’s most popular websites. YouTube has 2 billion monthly active users and features content from more than 50 million individual creators, most of whom are small businesses or individuals. Many of the creators affected earn money using YouTube and stand to lose, in aggregate, hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars from these regulatory changes. Some will need to restructure their business model. The changes also subject content creators to increased risk of prosecution and stiff fines. Yet these significant regulatory changes were never put before a legislature; none of the content creators or users of the website were privy to the rationale or design of the regulation; and there was no public process for comment. Instead, the new regulation was confidentially negotiated between YouTube and FTC staff and put into place by a court.FTC settlements have long been praised by those who value the “soft law” benefits of such an approach: flexibility to deal with case-by-case specific problems, particularly in fast-changing industries; reduced need to establish one-size-fits-all industry-wide rules; efficient resolution of cases; the ability to shape future behavior through a kind of common law. Such settlements have also long been criticized by those who emphasize the difference between them and hard law: a creation of regulatory ambiguity; lack of process that considers the interests of the full range of stakeholders; a “rulemaking” environment with a power differential between the negotiating parties; and an agency ability to accumulate incremental changes to the law that in total can be quite significant.This episode explores FTC settlements and consent decrees, including the YouTube case and what it means for FTC enforcement going forward. It will take place as part of the Federalist Society's Executive Branch Review Week.Featuring:- Jessica Rich, Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law- Sean Royall, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP- Gerard Stegmaier, Partner, Reed Smith LLP- [Moderator] Neil Chilson, Senior Research Fellow for Technology and Innovation, Charles Koch Institute Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

The Digital Divide is the gap between those who have easy access to computers and the internet, and those who don’t. The problem this gap creates is becoming more acute during the coronavirus pandemic. As schools move to distance learning, workers are displaced from their jobs, and public services move online, the need for an affordable, reliable broadband connection and productivity technology is great. Low-income Americans and communities of color are particularly disadvantaged. Aspen Digital’s Vivian Schiller speaks with Geoffrey Starks, FCC commissioner, Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, Gigi Sohn, distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, and Larry Irving, former Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The views and opinions of the speakers in the podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.

  Bio   Luis Avila (@phoenikera) is the President and Founder of Iconico Campaigns, a company that works to build advocacy capacity in organizations around the country. Migrating in 2000 from Mexico, Luis stayed in the U.S. to attend college, where he developed projects with people involved in arts, politics and social justice.  In 2004, Luis learned about civic participation in Jackson, Mississippi, as part of the American Freedom Summer program. He collaborated with organizers and leaders to advocate for the DREAM Act, fight against SB1070 and challenge Sheriff Joe Arpaio's discriminatory practices in Arizona. In 2008, Luis joined the Obama campaign where he got insight on cornerstone aspects of electoral organizing. This knowledge, paired with technologies developed to boost volunteer engagement, is applied now in all his advocacy and community engagement work. Luis spearheaded Somos América in 2011, the largest immigrant-rights coalition in Arizona, and currently sits on the Boards of Advisors of the National Council for La Raza and The New Teacher Project, an organization working to end education inequality. A long-time family and community engagement expert, Luis has designed engagement models for domestic and international organizations and school systems. In 2016, he served as Nevada's Democratic Coordinated Campaign Field Director, contributing to major victories in the state legislature, electing the first Latina Senator and delivering the state to Hillary Clinton, and he’s currently launching Instituto, an organization to build political infrastructure in communities of color in Arizona. Resources Instituto   Iconico    News Roundup The FCC signals that it will approve the Sprint/T-Mobile merger, China’s Huawei has a tough week as President Trump limits its U.S.-based business, and Luis Avila is my guest   FCC signals Sprint/TMobile approval The Trump administration appears divided over whether to approve the Sprint/TMobile merger. The companies say if the merger’s approved they’ll have 5G built out to the entire country in 6 years. Sprint says they’ll also sell prepaid wireless company Boost mobile. FCC Chair Ajit Pai says the merger conditions the companies are proposing are adequate and said he’d approve the deal. The two other Republicans on the Commission signaled their support as well giving the deal the majority it needs at the FCC. Policy expert Gigi Sohn says though that over at the DOJ’s antitrust division, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim is saying the conditions aren’t enough.   Tough week for Huawei   Chinese device manufacturer Huawei had a tough week last week as President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that bans American telecom companies from installing foreign-made equipment that could pose a national security threat. American officials have accused the company of violating an American trade embargo against Iran and with assisting China with spying on U.S. companies. Since Trump issued the order, Google parent Alphabet has suspended doing business with Huawei, outside of what’s available via open source, by revoking the Android licensing deal the tech giant had with Huawei.   President Trump creates story database to collect stories of conservatives being censored on social media   Looks like the White House wants to set up its own social network to compete with Twitter and Facebook. The White House has created a creepy new database that lets conservatives report instances in which they’ve been censored on social media platforms. The President is attempting to get users to opt-in to a separate White House newsletter that purports to allow anyone, irrespective of their political views, to receive updates without relying on Facebook and Twitter.   The White House also decided not to sign on to a multinational campaign created by Christchurch, New Zealand to stamp out online hate speech. The White House says the effort would dilute the freedom of speech. 18 other countries, including many of America’s allies, disagreed.   Johns Hopkins releases free online course on gun violence prevention   Johns Hopkins has released a free online course where users can learn how to prevent and protect against gun violence. The course contains six modules taught by experts, including mental health professionals. It’s entitled Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change and its intended to equip students to use research to combat gun violence in America.   Carriers claim to stop collecting geolocation data but evidence suggests otherwise   Major wireless carriers including AT&T and Verizon have claimed that they have stopped sharing geolocation data with third party bounty hunters. But the the facts suggest otherwise. Congressman Mike Doyle notes that the number of complaints about police departments and others unauthorized (and unconstitutional, for that matter) surveillance of individuals has been on the rise. AT&T has acknowledged that it took advantage of a loophole in a Communications Act privacy provision that doesn’t cover a type of geolocation data known as A-GPS which AT&T’s Joan Marsh says is less precise than location data covered by the National Emergency Address Database.   Amazon releases HQ2 plan for Arlington Amazon released its plan for 2 LEED-certified 22 story office buildings in Arlington. There will be 50,000 square feet of street level space for retail and restaurants.   San Francisco becomes first city to ban facial recognition technology   San Francisco became the first city to ban the use of facial recognition technology. The ordinance passed by a vote of 8-1 and is headed to Mayor London Breed for her signature.   Events   Tues., 5/21 New America 2019 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index 740 15th Street NW 9:30AM-11AM   House Judiciary Committee Full Committee Hearing: Understanding the Digital Advertising Ecosystem Dirksen 226 10AM   House Homeland Security Committee Growing and Diversifying Our Cyber Talent Pipeline 310 Cannon 2PM City Year Idealist Gala Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania 6PM Reception/7PM Program and Dinner   MIT Enterprise Forum Celebrating Entrepreneurship in Our Nation’s Capital 600 Mass. Ave. 5:30PM   Wed., 5/22 Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide Conferences Goes through 5/24 Vint Cerf Keynotes Georgetown University Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy 37th/O NW   House Oversight Committee Facial Recognition Technology (Part 1): Its Impact on our Civil Rights and Liberties 2154 Rayburn 10AM   House Energy & Commerce Committee Full Committee Hearing on “LIFT America: Modernizing Our Infrastructure for the Future” 2123 Rayburn House Office Building 10 AM   Tues., 5/28 New York University Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies 2019 Critical Race and Digital Studies Conference NYU Washington D.C., 1307 L St., NW 9:00AM-7:30PM   Sat, 6/1 DC Stem Network DC STEM Fair UDC 7AM-4PM

  Bio   Gigi Sohn (@gigibsohn) is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate. She is one of the nation’s leading public advocates for open, affordable and democratic communications networks. For 30 years, Gigi has worked to defend and preserve the fundamental competition and innovation policies that have made broadband Internet access more ubiquitous, competitive, affordable, open and protective of user privacy. From 2013-2016, Gigi was Counselor to the former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler. From 2001-2013, Gigi served as the Co-Founder and CEO of Public Knowledge, a leading telecommunications, media and technology policy advocacy organization. She was previously a Project Specialist in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture unit and Executive Director of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm. Gigi holds a BS in Broadcasting and Film, Summa Cum Laude from the Boston University College of Communication and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.       Resources   GigiSohn.com   Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution by Susan Crawford (Yale University Press, forthcoming, 2019)     News Roundup   Net neutrality bill looks increasingly unlikely The success of the net neutrality bill designed to reinstate the 2015 net neutrality rules that passed the House Energy & Commerce Committee last week by a vote of 30-22, looks increasingly unlikely to succeed, as its still gotta get past the Senate, and the Trump administration has threatened to veto even if it does. A floor vote in the House is expected today.   Congress ramps up tech scrutiny Congress is continuing its ramp up of scrutiny of big tech, looking specifically at how social media and tech companies enable harmful speech. They’re also looking at competition issues like Amazon’s promotion of its own private label products over competing products offered by smaller businesses.   The House Judiciary Committee is holding a bipartisan hearing today on the rise of hate crime and white nationalism 10AM in 2141 Rayburn.   On the competition front…several members are taking a fresh look at antitrust issues following Elizabeth Warren’s SXSW announcement of her proposal to rein in big tech with better antitrust enforcement. And so Amazon quietly removed promotional ads that gave preferential treatment to its own private label products. And Senators Amy Klobuchar and Marsha Blackburn sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to investigate Google for antitrust and data privacy violations.   Elizabeth Warren also introduced a new bill last week that could hold tech executives criminally liable for tech breaches. And Ed Markey introduced a bill that would require Google and Facebook to comply with online privacy rules. Markey’s bill is designed to stem harmful marketing on channels like YouTube that are largely unregulated in terms of the marketing and advertising that kids are exposed to. Google cancels AI ethics board   Google has killed the AI ethics board it set up. That’s after thousands of employees and public advocates pushed the company to remove Heritage Foundation President Kay Cole James--over comments she made about trans people and for the Heritage Foundation’s skepticism regarding climate change. The board also lacked civil rights leaders, as NAACP President Derrick Johnson noted on Twitter.   Leading AI scientists to Amazon: stop selling facial recognition technology   Leading AI scientists, including Yoshua Bengio, who won the Turing Award, which is basically the Nobel Prize of technology, have signed a letter urging Amazon to stop selling its facial recognition software, known as Rekognition. A couple of peer-reviewed papers have found the software, which police departments have been using, disproportionately misidentifies women and people of color. The New York Times has more.   Microsoft vows to focus on discrimination at employee meetings Microsoft promises to give its employees space to discuss discrimination issues at monthly employee meetings. CEO Satya Nadella and HR Chief Kathleen Hogan announced during an all-hands call last week. The move comes after employees erupted in an email thread, complaining about gender discrimination issues at the company.   Events   House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Hate Crimes and White Nationalism Today, Tues., 4/9 at 10AM Rayburn 2141, Streaming   Federal Trade Commission FTC Hearing #12: Competition and Consumer Protection Tues., 4/9 and Wed., 4/10 Constitution Center 400 7th St SW, Washington, DC 20024     Senate Judiciary Committee Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse Wed., 4/10 at 2:30PM Dirksen 226, Streaming   Senate Commerce Committee Illegal Robocalls: Calling all to stop the scourge Thurs, 4/11 at 10AM 216 Hart, Streaming   Brookings How Will Emerging Technologies Affect the Future of Work Fri., 4/12 at 10AM 1775 Massachusetts Ave.. NW   FCC Open Meeting Fri., 4/12 at 10:30AM 445 12th St. SW Commission Meeting Room, Streaming  

On International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting the stories of several incredibly talented women in tech policy. They discuss what brought them to tech policy, and what drives them on this career path. Featured in this episode are: Gigi Sohn, a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and Mozilla Policy Fellow; Michelle Richardson, Deputy Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Freedom, Security, and Technology Project; Dr. Betsy Cooper, executive director of the Berkley Center for Long-Term Cyber Security; Cathy Gellis, lawyer with a focus on Internet issues; Jennifer Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel for the ACLU; Carrie Wade, Director of Harm Reduction Policy and Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute; and Tiffany Li, resident fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project.

The effort to overturn FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order already has 50 Senators signed onto the Congressional Review Act - a vehicle chosen by Senate Democrats in attempt to bring back Obara-era net neutrality regulations. To break down what a CRA is and the prospects of its passage we have invited the leading experts in the field: Gigi Sohn - a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, a Mozilla Fellow, Counselor to the Former FCC Chairman Wheeler and Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom.