Washingtech Tech Policy Podcast With Joe Miller

Ashkhen Kazaryan: Tech Policy, the New Congress, and the Supreme Court Bio Ashkhen Kazaryan is a tech policy expert. She manages and develops policy projects on free speech, content moderation, surveillance reform and the intersection of constitutional rights and technology. Ashkhen joined Facebook in November of 2020 as Content Policy Manager on the Content Regulation team for two years. Before that she was the Director of civil liberties at TechFreedom from July 2016 till November 2020. At TechFreedom she also managed outreach and coalition building for the organization and hosted The Tech Policy Podcast. Ashkhen is regularly featured as an expert commentator in news outlets across television, radio, podcasts, and print and digital publications including CNBC, BBC, FOX DC, Newsy, Politico, Axios, The Information, Protocol, The Washington Examiner and many others.   Twitter LinkedIn Resources Ashkhen Kazaryan    

Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of tech law & policy this week. It’s a lot. Where should we start? Let’s start with Twitter - which continues to meltdown after Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company last month to the tune of $44 billion. Employees are fleeing the company in droves after Elon challenged them with the ultimatum of taking either a three-month severage package or staying with the new “hard core” version of the company, whatever that means. As of Friday afternoon, Twitter workers were still heading for the exit doors.    Also, Senators Blumental, Menendez, Booker, Markey, Lujan, and Feinstein sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Kahn, expressing concern that Twitter may already have violated the agency’s consent decrees for privacy violations. These lawmakers urged the FTC to step up enforcement of the decrees. And Twitter has also suspended its roll out of verified blue checks because it and outside researchers found that a high number

Bio Chuck is one of the country’s foremost experts on all aspects of federal and state universal service programs. Chuck had a leadership role at the FCC in the implementation of the universal service provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Since joining WBK in 2001, he has helped clients craft policy recommendations in every universal service rulemaking at the FCC and in several states. He also fields compliance questions from clients on universal service contribution requirements, E-rate funding, Connect America Fund (“CAF”), Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”), as well as recent broadband deployment affordability programs including NTIA’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (“BEAD”) program and the Affordable Connectivity Program (“ACP”). Innovative companies operating on the ever-evolving line between communications services and technology also come to Chuck for help in ascertaining whether and how FCC and state communications regulatory requirements affect their businesses. Chuck is an

Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of tech law & policy this week. Regulators concerned about Twitter implosion   The Federal Trade Commission has expressed “deep concern” over Twitter’s implosion since Elon Musk took over the company last month. More key executives departed the company this week, leaving it with little to no institutional knowledge on staff that knows how Twitter’s underlying technology works. Among the resignations was Yoel Roth, Twitter’s Head of Moderation & Safety, who many have seen as something of a voice of reason for the company since Musk took over. Mr. Roth had appeared the day before his resignation at a Twitter Spaces event during which he and Mr. Musk attempted to allay advertisers’ fears that their brands would appear next to harmful content like hate speech. Lea Kissner, Twitter’s Chief Information Security Officer, has also left the company, as well as its Chief Compliance and Chief Privacy Officers.    But Twitter is subject to t

Just a quick, solo episode talking about Twitter, Mastodon & Tiffany Cross.

One-size-fits-all research approaches are no longer sufficient to effectively address content moderation, fulfill the content preferences of each user, and prevent harmful, false information from undermining democracy. Researchers like Michal Luria are beginning to understand how complex human behaviors should be taken into account in UX design and incorporated into the policymaking process.   Bio Dr. Michal Luria is a researcher at the Center for Democracy & Technology. Her work makes use of immersive and human-centered design research methods to envision and critique interactions with emerging technologies. In her work she translates research insights into thought-provoking interactions and necessary discussions of ethics and policy.   Website Google Scholar LinkedIn Instagram   Resources "This is transparency to me" Center for Democracy and Technology, https://cdt.org/insights/this-is-transparency-to-me-research-prototypes/ (last visited Oct 31, 2022)

The telecommunications, media, and technology sectors are exciting fields, but if you work in public policy, one must constantly adapt. Anisa Green shares with Joe how she built her career and how to find a team that values your presence at work. Anisa Green Anisa Green is Director of  Federal Regulatory at AT&T, where she also serves as Chief of Staff for the Executive Vice President and Chief Regulatory Officer in AT&T’s DC office. Anisa has over 24 years of expertise in regulatory, legal and advocacy work. She is currently working on universal service regulatory issues, with a focus on consumer broadband affordability, digital equity, and rural healthcare matters.  In addition to serving as a Trustee of the Federal Communications Bar Association Foundation, Anisa champions various organizations focused on empowering, encouraging and educating youth, women, and marginalized communities. Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, with roots in the West Indies, Anisa holds a BA in Philosophy and Communication from th

Technology is transforming every sector of society and the economy. For example, think about how e-commerce has disrupted retail, artificial intelligence is changing healthcare, and autonomous vehicles will reshape transportation. In an increasingly digital world, technology companies are aggressively lobbying policymakers to advance their interests. This means that tech policy needs social innovation rather than just a new set of policies that favor the interests of a few well-connected tech titans. Unfortunately, many tech policy debates have been framed as if there are only two options: Either support the interests of big tech corporations or lose out on the economic benefits that come with technological innovation. But what if there’s a third way? We need policies that encourage broad adoption of beneficial technologies without favoring one company over another or creating anti-competitive market conditions. In other words, we need social innovation in tech policy. Shahed Amanullah Website Twitter Linke

Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of tech law & policy this week. New coalition pushes to make DMs safe   Let’s face it, DM’s, whether they’re encrypted or not, are no longer safe – if they ever were. Now, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs overturning Roe v. Wade, law enforcement in states in which abortion is now illegal have been obtaining search warrants that require social media companies, like Facebook which recently gave police a Nebraska teen’s personal conversation she’d had with her mom on WhatsApp regarding an abortion the teen allegedly had. There’s an open letter you can sign that’s hosted by the Fight for the Future Education Fund, which you can find in the show notes — it’s a petition for social media companies to set end-to-end encryption on messaging apps as the default, rather than leaving them open to virtual surveillance not envisioned by the framers when they drafted the Fourth Amendment.   Virtual surveillance is out of control   

Roger Quiles: How to Stay Safe in the E-sports World   If you’re a fan of video games or an avid Twitch viewer, you may have heard of E-sports. The E-sports scene is booming, with several competitions now taking place worldwide. However, with this expansion comes new challenges. Players face online harassment and can be targets for criminals. Entrepreneurs looking to enter this exciting industry face a complex law & policy landscape.  These challenges make E-sports a viable practice area for lawyers. Leading E-sports attorney Roger Quiles joined Joe Miller to shed light on these issues and more. Roger Quiles, Esq. Website Twitter LinkedIn   Roger Quiles is one of the world’s first esports and gaming attorneys, beginning to serve the industry exclusively in 2015. His work services all stakeholders in the industry, worldwide. Roger also sits on the Board of Latinx in Gaming, a nonprofit dedicated to elevating the Latinx community in the videogame industry.

Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of tech law & policy this week.  White House Proposes Tech ‘Bill of Rights’   The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy proposed a new Tech ‘Bill of Rights’ Friday targeting harms caused by artificial intelligence and biometric technology. Comments are due on January 15th. The Request for Information seeks details on how companies use these technologies and what interventions the federal government should make to defend the Constitution as things like facial recognition, voice recognition, keystroke analysis, and other tactics that infiltrate every aspect  of our lives take hold.   Abortion advocates push back against license plate reader company, Flock   Abortion advocates are fighting against a fast-growing company called Flock, which aims to provide law enforcement with advanced license plate-reader surveillance technology. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, 13 states now crimina

The major societal challenge posed by artificial intelligence (AI) is that its algorithms are often trained on biased data. This fundamental problem has enormous implications in our criminal justice system, workplaces, schools, healthcare industry, and housing sector. The persistence of racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination demonstrates the tendency of AI systems to reflect the biases of the people who built them.  Critical deficiencies in algorithmic surveillance technologies reproduce the same inequities that we have seen evolve decade-after-decade. AI systems having the same biases as the people who built them. Lydia X. Z. Brown of the Center for Democracy & Technology joins to recommend policy and systemic solutions to address these critically important challenges. Bio   Lydia X. Z. Brown is a Policy Counsel with CDT’s Privacy and Data Project, focused on disability rights and algorithmic fairness and justice. Their work has investigated algorithmic harm and injustice in public

Tech sector asks Fifth Circuit to stop Texas’s social media law from taking effect   The State of Texas’s social media law which stops tech companies from taking down hate speech and misleading information has reached the Fifth Circuit in a motion that this organization – WashingTech – has participated in amicus filings for. We agree with NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) that this law impinges on platforms’ First Amendment rights and the discretion Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act affords them to moderate content posted by third parties.    It would allow traditional media platforms, like Fox News, to ban progressive voices but require competing online platforms to host politically-motivated harmful content, including election misinformation.   Abortion advocates pushback against “people search” websites   Cyberscoop notes that abortion rights adovocates’ privacy rights are put in jeopardy by people search websites, like BeenVerified, which share their

Mark Brennan: Sephora (Privacy Case Study) In late August, the California Attorney General’s office issued its first public, monetary penalty against cosmetics giant Sephora, for violating the California Privacy and Protection Act (CCPA), which went into effect in 2018 and is one of several state-level privacy laws that have been cropping up across the country. Mark Brennan joined Joe to talk about what happened in this case and the lessons learned for retailers as U.S. privacy laws become more complex. Bio   Mark Brennan (@MWBrennanDC) is a Partner at Hogan Lovells and leads their global Technology and Telecommunications industry sector group. He has a truly unique global regulatory and policy practice and advises clients on data protection, artificial intelligence, biometric data and facial recognition, Internet of things, and other technology and consumer protection matters. LinkedIn Resources   California Attorney General settles with Sephora in first CCPA fine, Engage.hoganlovells.com (2022)(last

Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of tech law & policy.    ADL Report: Spotify has a white supremacist problem References to Hitler, Pepe the Frog, Tucker Carlson talking about the “great replacement” anti-immigration theory — it looks like songs that contain them are totally fine for Spotify, which the Anti Defamation League finds in a new report has verified at least 40 bands and musicians with hateful lyrics and imagery on their album covers. Also, it’s super-easy to get verified on Spotify, even though the company claims to have a handle on this stuff. The Washington Post has the full report.   Trump appears to nod to QAnon The Washington Post’s Technology 202 newsletter reports that Donald Trump appears to be showing increased support for QAnon, the conspiracy theory movement that accuses high profile democrats are running some kind of a pedophilia ring in which they drink the blood of children. The Post notes that this conspiracy theory has moved from the fringe

Spandana Singh: Content Moderation Beyond the US Social media platforms have played a central role in recent crises in the U.S., such as the Capitol Hill insurrection of 2021, and in Europe, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These developments underscore the power that unelected, big technology companies wield on the geopolitical landscape.    But the discussion around how social media companies function in the global south, such as their impact on the proliferation of Hindu nationalism in India or state violence against the Rohingya people of Myanmar, remains largely absent from policy discussions in the west.    New America’s Spandi Singh joined Joe Miller this week to discuss her current work – not just to prevent the spread of mis- and dis- information regarding upcoming elections in the U.S. – but also to foster a tech policy discussion that includes the unique perspectives of marginalized voices abroad.   Bio Spandi Singh works at New America’s Open Technology Institute where she leads a portfolio o

Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s what’s going on in the world of online safety and free speech this week.   Sen. Wyden: CBP has massive trove of American’s cellphone data   Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus on Thursday revealing that CBP has a massive amount of Americans’    data from millions of drivers’ license photos, license plate readers, mobile devices, and who knows what else. Some 3,000 CBP operations employees apparently have access to the data, and CBP doesn’t need probable cause to obtain warrants to search the data – they only need reasonable suspicion. Brennan Center scholar Faiza Patel told the Washington Post that the database goes far beyond reasonableness. Patel joined me on this podcast back in 2017 to discuss how the government’s surveillance of Muslims negatively impacts innocent civilians.   New York City’s Metro Transit Authority’s switch to tap-to-enter system raises surveillance alarms   The City of New York will be mo

Jon Roozenbeek: How to Pre-Bunk Misinformation and Disinformation Misinformation and disinformation are two of propagandists' most important weapons in today’s “information war.” From the war in Ukraine to civil rights violations in the United States, political operatives leverage false information to engender support and suppress votes. Misinformation is false information or information that is not true. Disinformation is false information created with a specific intent to deceive. Political elites use misinformation and disinformation as part of a strategy to influence public perception about a person, organization, or public policy. Jon Roozenbeek joined Joe this week to discuss his work on how advertising can help inoculate the public against false information.  Bio Jon Roozenbeek is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on building resilience against misinformation and extremism. He is currently writing two books with Cambridge Uni

  Hey everybody, I’m Joe Miller and here’s how tech law & policy is affecting you this week. En banc Fifth Circuit ruling solidifies police officers’ authority to expand cell phone searches   The Fifth Circuit, which is in Texas, decided that pictures of child pornography found on three cellphones in the van the defendant was driving when he was arrested couldn’t be suppressed even though the original warrants for the phones weren’t  related to the federal crime of receiving child pornography.    They arrested the defendant because they smelled marijuana and found an Advil bottle with ecstasy in it.   But when the officers searched the defendant’s van on the night of the arrest, they also found creepy stuff in the defendant’s car, like a child’s backpack filled with school supplies, sex toys, 100 pairs of women’s underwear, and a lollipop in the cup holder.   So the officers suspected that the defendant was a child predator. However, these items, in and of themselves, didn’t rise to the level of probab

Fatou Sankare: The Social Media and Law Enforcement Connection Social media has become one of the most common ways to connect with people. Many use it as an outlet to share personal information and interests, while others use it as a way to interact with friends and family online. As social media usage continues to rise, there is also an increasing number of ways law enforcement agencies are using these platforms for investigations and crime-fighting efforts. Bio With origins from The Gambia, Fatou Sankare is a Doctoral Student in Cybersecurity at Marymount University. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Howard University. She continued her education at Fordham University where she received her Master of Science in Cybersecurity. Her research area of focus is on privacy with an emphasis on policy and data in cybersecurity. Fatou is the founder of Datacation LLC, Data Scientist at a consulting firm and an assistant professor. Website Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Resour