INTRODUCTION The dot-com bubble. It’s hard to put into words how crazy, outlandish, extravagant, and optimistic the dot com bubble was. When I landed in the middle of it as a Microsoft intern in the mid-90s, the first company party I went to — Microsoft rented out a mountain. [Keep reading]
Even Big Tech companies understand they wield too much power. Facebook’s attempt to create an Oversight Board is a nod to this reality. In practice, it also demonstrates why this problem is so challenging. And how an effort to bring sense to the 2020 presidential election ended up as a [Keep reading]
This isn’t the first time the American Way has been threatened by an industry with too much power and influence. What has been done in the past to rebalance the scales? We talk with a field of experts to learn what can be borrowed from the epic struggles of the [Keep reading]
Big Tech makes big decisions over our lives: What products we see, how we feel about world events, what to censor — to some degree, even what medical decisions we make. Yet who controls Big Tech? The firms are so powerful and rich they really act as judge and jury [Keep reading]
“Amazon Prime is *incredibly* popular with Americans. How popular? There are more than 150 million members in the U.S, with many (most?) there to enjoy “free”* two-day shipping. That’s roughly equal to the number of Americans who VOTED in 2020. And Amazon is betting all 150 million will do almost [Keep reading]
“There’s a pretty good possibility if you go down to Florida, that you’re not coming back alive.” Every day, millions of people go online looking for roommates, or concert tickets, or a date, or a cheap vacation. Most are keenly aware that there’s a chance they’ll encounter criminals and scams [Keep reading]
Marty Abrams, Information Accountability Foundation Jolynn Dellinger, Duke Law School David Hoffman Cybersecurity Professor, Duke University Chris Hoofnagle, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology Jane Horvath Chief Privacy Officer, Apple Francella Ochillo Next Century Cities Alexys Ogorek Law Student Duke University Barak Richman Duke Law School Ken Rogerson Duke [Keep reading]
Duke University law school professor Barak Richman studies the economics of contracting, new institutional economics, antitrust, and healthcare policy. We talked with him about the role that antitrust law might play in creating accountability for Big Tech. Click here to listen to this episode or click play below.
Ken Rogerson teaches at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where he is the director of graduate studies. He explained that market economics alone cannot create incentives for companies to address the harms caused by new technologies. Click here to listen or press play below.
Jolynn Dellinger teaches privacy at Duke University Law School and is a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. She talks about the need for tech workers — sometimes, whistleblowers — to step forward when they witness questionable practices at tech companies. Click here to listen or press play [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan