TechPoPo

Bob O'Hara helped create the wireless networking protocol that you probably use every day. He is unimpeachable as a technology expert, but today we're having an experimental conversation on a very polarizing topic: gun control. This is an effort to resist the dynamic of polarizing online social media. What does it take for two very different technology people - one a San Francisco liberal, the other an Arizona gun enthusiast - to have a conversation about gun control without devolving into a...

Rachel Levinson-Waldman is Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program. She works on issues related to policing and technology, including police use of social media, body cameras, license plate readers, and other types of surveillance technologies. Her recent work has uncovered a treasure trove of documents about the NYPD's efforts in "predictive policing" - basically, if the pre-crime effort of the movie Minority Report comes to real life, it's going to...

Eric Goldman is a Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, and a leading expert on Section 230, which many people want to change despite the enormous benefits that the law has brought to Internet companies and consumers. He's a member of a distinguished group proposing seven principles for lawmakers to keep in mind as they consider changing Section 230. We have a spirited discussion about each one of these principles in this extra-long episode.

Matt Stoller is a fellow at the Open Markets Institute. His upcoming book is called Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. Matt is the kind of guy who can show up at Zuccotti Park for a protest, and walk out with a comedian asking to put him on TV (true story!). In this engaging discussion, he talks about the history of monopoly politics in the US, and the reasons to be skeptical of BigTech's good will.

Jeff Kosseff is a Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the US Naval Academy. His recent book, The Twenty-Six Words That Created The Internet, tells the amazing story of the law that allowed the growth of today's Internet giants. Without this law, known as Section 230, we would not have today's Google, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. In recent times, Section 230 is under threat by legislators on both the left and right who feel that these companies have become too powerful.

Adelin Cai has managed policy at Google, Twitter, and Pinterest. She has a view from the trenches and in leadership, fighting crucial battles to protect the user experience in these massive tech companies. What would you do if you had to decide whether to take down content or ban users from these platforms? Can large internet services truly be neutral in these efforts? Find out: What Would Adelin Do?

Is the Internet a "series of tubes"? People who make policy don't understand much about technology. And people who make technology aren't much better - they often don't know and don't care about policy. That used to be ok in a world where tech developments took many years to impact the general public. Now we're in a world where technology imposes huge social effects. These conversations are about bringing policy and technology closer together.