Regulate Tech

In this episode we discuss the future of Silicon Valley in a remote world - can it continue to be the powerhouse of innovation it has been for the last decades? Is the unique combination of capital, companies and research still enough to drive the engine of the future? And can Silicon Valley continue to couple innovation and ideology in the way it has historically? And where are the new centers of...

In this episode we discuss the undervalued and overvalued events in the first half of 2022, as well as recommend some summer reading. All from Richard's boat! Tune in and let us know what you are reading!   Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Here is another craft episode - this one focused on the question of how you best allocate, manage and audit your budget. Don't let budgeting become another token exercise - use it as a lens to understand your priorities! There is great value in bureaucracy done right!   Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

You know that what you really need in your life is more hot takes on Twitter, right? Well, we are here to oblige. But we also discuss the issue of where speech is heading, what happens when speech becomes cheap (drawing on Richard Hansen's book Cheap Speech) and what we think the future is for social platforms. Tune in!   Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we read a classic text by Judge Easterbrook - The Law of the Horse - and discuss how his perspective has informed tech policy ever since 1996 when the article was written - and why he, even when he was ignored, made points that remain relevant to policy even today.    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we explore the history and genealogy of the DMA - looking at the key inspirations behind it and why it looks the way it looks. Tune in!    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Richard has dug deep in the impressive complexity and ambition of the Online Safety Bill and shares his perspective on how this will change the landscape for tech platforms - and where it will need more work and analysis.    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

A company's social responsibility can be interpreted and handled in different ways, and we have seen the field evolve from CSR to ESG. How does this work relate to public policy work? What is the difference and the overlap? And how should, in general, philanthropy factor in policy strategy - if, indeed, at all?    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the platform response to the war in Ukraine, and why the most difficult decision may still lie ahead for content moderation experts.    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

How do you approach advocacy internally? Should you join a tech giant just to change their ways? Can you change the way a large organization thinks, and if so - how? As a policy professional you have both an opportunity and a duty to voice your opinion, but in a way that can have an impact. We discuss how best to bring your views to the table, and what to avoid in answering another listener's ques...

We asked for listener questions and you delivered! This episode is based on a question about how to build, think about and work with content policy teams. We discuss content moderation (and why that is a bad term), the distinctions between speech and speaker as well as the question of how you think about hard cases. Listen in!   Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Political advertising and issue advertising are hot issues - but why? What is the key challenges if we want to regulate political communication, and what are the second order effects of that regulation? A lot to think about and discuss!   Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

What is the tech-lash, why does it matter, and where is it heading in 2022? In this episode we take a step back and talk about the different tech-lashes, their absence in the data, roots and origins as well as strategies for dealing with great social debates like this that have worked historically. Tune in!    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss all things planning and strategy for a policy team. Should a policy team plan? What frameworks exist? How do you deal with plans encountering reality? We discuss books by John Doerr - Measure What Matters - and Richard Rummelt - Good Strategy, Bad Strategy - and much, much more. Meet the new year with plans! And then change them...   Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas...

In this episode we sum up the first year with the podcast, our thoughts about 2021 and some predictions for 2022. We discuss what new episodes we should be digging into as well -- and would love to hear from you if you have ideas!    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the political economy of patents, their origin and the ways in which they touch tech policy. We also noodle on what a good tech policy agenda for patents could look like, and why trolls are a problem.    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad  

In this episode we discuss the classic text by Eric Raymond (see here http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/ ) and how different modes of production of software are converging - and what that means for policy!    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss how to work with the legal function in a tech company, and what we can learn from our colleagues in litigation, employment law, commercial negotiations and not least the new and emerging profession of product counsel. Read more about how product counsel came to become the hottest legal profession here:  http://www.bricoleur.org/2020/04/product-counsel-origin-story.html P...

In this episode we discuss what it means for technology to fail, why Facebook is ceasing to do facial recognition, what happened to Google Glass, how we should think about Altavista and MySpace and a host of other things like DRM, PETs and ECMSs. Tune in!    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In the first episode we discussed the value and challenges of advertising as a business model - and in this episode we dig deeper into the harms and how they can be mitigated. All technologies are trade offs, and here we discuss individual, social and long term harms from creating targeted profiles - and how they can be addressed.  Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the politics and policy of advertising. Universally disliked, seems to be an increasingly valuable discovery mechanism in the information economy. It underpins SME-growth and exports, and helps us find what we need - yet it is condemned as manipulative, dangerous and eroding our social liberties. Which one is it?  As a bonus we share our favorite ads:  John West: https:/...

In this episode we discuss anonymity, pseudonyms and identity in social media - where we are heading and why, and what the value of anonymity could be.    Participants: possibly Richard Allan, maybe Nicklas Berild Lundblad

If social media is a habit, which kind of habit is it - tobacco or sugar? And how should the kind of habit something is influence how we regulate it? Listen in to hear us discuss diets, norms, bans and nudges, dissemination and discovery as the basis of how to start thinking creatively about social media regulation. 

In this episode we discuss when decision making should be shifted from companies to third parties, government and regulators. Who decides what? And when? With examples from tech policy we try to figure out where the debate is heading today.    Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss how comms, press and policy interact, what to watch out for, common mistakes and the changing landscape of tech in media. Listen in!   Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad