Martin Abrams is Executive Director and Chief Strategist for the Information Accountability Foundation, which receives funding from large technology companies. We talked with him about early efforts at accountability and why technology firms would support such efforts. Click here to listen or click play below.
Rory Van Loo has tackled big problems with big ideas before. He helped set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the Great Recession. What big steps can be taken to rein in Big Tech? What lessons can be learned from other regulatory agencies? Van Loo is now a law [Keep reading]
As former head of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, David Vladeck had a front-row seat at some of the landmark lawsuits against Big Tech. He’s in a great position to explain why it’s so hard for the U.S. government — any government — to balance Big Tech’s power. “It’s [Keep reading]
If Big Tech is “Too Big to Sue” — tech firms can do whatever the Hell they want without fear of legal repercussions — how do we fix that? Haven’t we tried already? Today Duke University released part two of our docu-podcast, “Defending Democracy (and us) from Big Tech.” This [Keep reading]
Image courtesy https://www.top10vpn.com There are many tech angles to the war in Ukraine. Many threats that have until now been theoretical – like creation of a “Ru-net” as an alternative to the Internet – are becoming a reality. Tech firms are making very hard decisions. Is it better to cut [Keep reading]
As war rages in Ukraine, big technology companies are struggling to keep up. Thousands of small decisions are being made at breakneck speed. Think, for just a moment, about the overwhelming task of sifting through propaganda-spewing social media accounts. Make yourself a tech exec right now. What’s free speech? What’s [Keep reading]
There is a historic tendency for tech enthusiasts to overstate the importance of the latest digital wizardry during major global conflicts. Remember Iran’s “Twitter Revolution?” That’s not to ignore tech’s impact. Scholars will debate the role of disinformation during our time for decades. I find Carole Cadwaller’s discussion of the [Keep reading]
After years of fighting to beat back identity thieves, last November, the IRS launched a new authentication system the agency hoped would start to turn the tide. The tool was designed for a limited set of taxpayers — those who wanted to access past tax returns online, or get access [Keep reading]
A set of armed robbers who terrorized residents near Duke University recently are being called “tech-savvy” after they allegedly demanded their victims Venmo them money and wipe their smartphones — disabling anti-theft measures — before stealing the gadgets. In one case, a 28-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint and forced [Keep reading]
Hate pop-ups that interrupt your web browsing — and probably come with consequences you don’t fully understand? Well, there’s hope. When Europe passed its ambitious law designed to protect consumer privacy, known as GDPR, many Internet users noticed only one impact — annoying pop-ups jammed with mini-privacy policies. To any [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan