Tech Policy Podcast

WHOIS, the system used for querying databases of information on domain name registrations and IP addresses, has been a vital tool for journalists, security researchers and law enforcement in identifying and tracking spammers, phishers, identity thieves and other cybercriminals. However, when the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation takes effect on May 25, the service will heavily limited or possibly shut down completely in order to comply with privacy requirements. How will this impact cybersecurity? Does WHOIS raise legitimate privacy concerns?  Shane Tews, President of Logan Circle Strategies, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Tim Chen, CEO of DomainTools, join the show to discuss. For more, see Shane’s piece on the subject, Tim’s white papers, and TechFreedom President Berin Szóka’s blog post on ICANN’s IANA transition.

The growing pace of technological innovation means both regulators and established industries are finding it increasingly harder to keep up. How do companies adapt (or fail to adapt) to new disruptions in their industries? How can regulators address new technology without causing harmful unintended consequences? Author Larry Downes joins the show to discuss. For more, see Larry’s books The Laws of Disruption and Big Bang Disruption, and his recent article in the Harvard Business Review.

President Donald Trump has been vocal to criticize those he deems political opponents. However, these criticisms often extend to threats of legal action, particularly against the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post and Amazon. Trump has set aside decades of precedent and involved himself directly in a number of enforcement actions, often in ways that would benefit him or his political allies. How lawful is this kind of intervention? And how can the rest of the government resist inappropriate political meddling? Justin Florence, Legal Director for Protect Democracy, and TechFreedom President Berin Szóka join the show to discuss. For more, see their joint op-ed in the Seattle Times, and Protect Democracy’s filing in the antitrust case against the AT&T/Time Warner merger.

In recent decades, Congress has struggled to enact laws that keep up with the breakneck pace technological innovation. This pace shows no signs of slowing, and with major implications for healthcare, transportation, privacy and other key social and economic issues, it’s more important than ever for Congress to be properly informed on tech issues. We’re joined by the R Street Institute’s Zach Graves and Kevin Kosar, who argue in their recent paper “Bring in the Nerds,” that reviving the Office of Technology Assessment — an expert advisory agency that gave guidance to Congress in shaping tech policy until it was shuttered in 1995 — could help bridge this gap.

Earlier this month, IEE Spectrum broke the story that Silicon Valley startup Swarm Technologies had launched several experimental satellites through the commercial arm of India’s space agency, despite being denied authorization by the FCC. The case illustrates the complexity of the licensing process for satellites, both in the US and internationally. Space lawyer Jim Dunstan joins the show to discuss the ramifications of this launch, and how the process could be improved. For more, see part 1, part 2, and part 3 of our series on space law with Jim.

The Food and Drug Administration’s 2016 Deeming Rule classified e-cigarettes and other vaping materials as tobacco products and imposed strict regulations on what vaping entrepreneurs can say to their customers, even though advocates say these technologies can reduce the harm from smoking and help some smokers quit entirely. In response, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF)  is taking FDA officials to court on behalf of small business owners on the grounds that the rules violate free speech and were enacted unconstitutionally. Joining us is Thomas Berry, Attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation who is leading this legal effort.

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.

Tomorrow the House of Representatives will vote on the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). However, the bill to be voted on includes an amendment that merges it with the drastically different Senate counterpart bill. What the bill gets right, and what does it get wrong? How is Congress likely to resolve the conflicts between the two version? And most importantly, how will this legislation affect victims of sex trafficking? Eric Goldman, professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, and Berin Szóka, President of Techfreedom join Ashkhen to discuss.

The world in 2018 is interconnected. Cybersecurity threats are widespread — even at the 2018 Winter Olympics. As we recorded this episode in January, our guest warned us of potential cybersecurity attacks. And just last week organizers in Pyeongchang confirmed that a cyberattack crippled important IT systems, bringing down display monitors, Wi-Fi and the Olympics website just ahead of the opening ceremony. Government, private and corporate data is constantly under attack from bad actors like this. That’s where cybersecurity comes in. In this episode we are joined by Dr. Betsy Cooper, the Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. Dr. Cooper breaks down “cybersecurity”: defining and assessing it, the risks it carries, and the future of cybersecurity.

The controversial memo prepared by Rep. Nunes (R-CA) hasn’t left the newscycle since its release on February 2. Berin recorded this special episode from the Bay Area and is joined by Jennifer Granick, the “NBA All-Star of surveillance law,” and the Surveillance and Cybersecurity Counsel at the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Jennifer breaks down FISA, the authority that allowed collection of the information used in the memo, and the intricacies of the infamous memo.

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.

Recently Facebook has unveiled multiple planned changes to its newsfeed. Now we will see more content from our friends and fewer posts from news sites and businesses. They also hand checking the credibility of news organizations by users and the wider Facebook community. This has likely been done in response to the harsh criticism of the information dissemination that happened before the 2016 Presidential election. Facebook and other platforms that host third party content are often called “information intermediaries.” In this episode, we dig into the current challenges they face in the modern social media era and are joined by Tiffany Li, Resident Fellow at Yale Law, who leads the the Wikimedia/Yale Law School Initiative on Intermediaries and Information.

While some may have started 2018 with a resolution to quit smoking, statistics say many will fail. In this episode we explore harm reduction as a path to achieving smoke free future and discuss the UK's Royal College of Physicians, one of the first researchers to raise the alarm on the dangers of smoking, has released a report underlining that e-cigarettes are 95% safer than their combustible counterparts. To give us a 101 on harm reduction, vaping and e-cigarettes we invited Carrie Wade, Director of Harm Reduction Policy and Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute.

On our new episode we are joined by Jared Meyer, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability to discuss changes that executive and legislative branch made in regards to the definitions of “contractor” and “employer” and how that’s going to affect the sharing economy. For more on the topic, read Jared’s op-ed in Forbes and follow him on Twitter.

Four years after the Snowden disclosures, Congress continues to wrestle with surveillance issues.  These include an ongoing reform battle over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—a major intelligence surveillance law that targets foreigners but can result in warrantless spying on people in the US.  Despite the size of the programs the government conducts under Section 702, and the fact that the FBI currently can query Section 702 data without a warrant, the government has provided notice of its use of 702 surveillance data in only about eight criminal cases.  One reason notification may be so rare in Section 702 cases is a practice called “parallel construction,” which the government may also be using to conceal the use of even bigger or more problematic surveillance programs carried out under a separate authority called Executive Order 12333. We are joined by Sarah St. Vincent, Researcher at Human Rights Watch, their report on parallel construction comes out January 2018.

Have you ever assessed many ways your government spies on you? There is a crucial government surveillance authority up for reauthorization before December 31. We will talk about potential avenues for that reform and do “a surveillance year in review” with Michelle Richardson, Deputy Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Freedom, Security, and Technology Project, Senior Fellow at GW’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.

As the vote on Net Neutrality approaches this Thursday, December 14th, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr joins the show to explain why he plans to vote for Chairman Pai’s controversial proposal, “Restoring Internet Freedom.” To learn more read Carr’s op-ed in The Washington Post. The Commissioner also shares some of his 2018 plans with us, including taking the lead on the wireless agenda.

As the saying goes: there are those who’ve been hacked, and those who haven’t just don’t know they have. After over 140 million Americans saw their data compromised in the Equifax breach, they may be wondering: what is our government doing about it? With so many companies collecting our data, should the FTC crack down or would that have consequences for innovation? Evan is joined by Neil Chilson, Acting Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission. For more, see the FTC’s upcoming workshop on informational injury, and Neil is happy to take your questions at nchilson@ftc.gov. This will also be Evan’s last show, he has now moved onto a new job working for Commissioner Brendan Carr at the FCC. Feel free to contact him at sayre.evan91@gmail.com or on Twitter at @SayreEvan

The Fourth Amendment protects American citizens from unwarranted searches and seizures, but how far does that protection extend? The Carpenter v. United States case in front the Supreme Court seeks to determine whether or not the use of cell site location information requires law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant. Ashkhen Kazaryan, TechFreedom Legal Fellow is joined by Curt Levey, President of the Committee for Justice and Ashley Baker, Director of Public Policy to discuss.

Today we discuss the end of net neutrality....or do we? Under the leadership of Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC is set to undo broad claims on power over the Internet made in 2010 and 2015. That will also mean rolling back most – but not all – of the FCC's broadband rules. What is Pai planning to change, and what does he see as the future of Internet regulation? Is net neutrality really dying, or just changing? What difference will this make for consumers? We discuss these issues and more with our special guest, Ajit Pai himself.