Tech Mirror

Ever wish you could sit down with a real-deal AI technologist and ask them what’s on earth is going on? In this double-episode of Tech Mirror, Johanna chats with Bill Simpson Young and Tiberio Cataneo, CEO and Chief Scientist at Gradient Institute. This independent, non-profit research institute works to build safety, ethics, accountability and transparency into AI systems.   In Part One of this w...

Ever wish you could sit down with a real-deal AI technologist and ask them what’s on earth is going on? In this double-episode of Tech Mirror, Johanna chats with Bill Simpson Young and Tiberio Cataneo, CEO and Chief Scientist at Gradient Institute. This independent, non-profit research institute works to build safety, ethics, accountability and transparency into AI systems.   In Part One of this w...

In this joint episode of Tech Mirror and the National Security Podcast, Anu Bradford and Johanna Weaver join Jennifer Jackett to discuss the global impact of technological advances, the challenges and opportunities they bring, and the evolving landscape of tech regulation.   Anu Bradford is a Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organization at the Columbia Law School. She is also the...

Recorded on location in the margins of NetThing and the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum. Johanna, and guest co-host Tanvi Nair, canvass how the internet actually works, and what the internet of the future might look like, with a stella line up of guests, including: Jordan Carter, Head of Policy at au. DA Senator Jana Stewart, Senator for Victoria Brendan Dowling, Australia’s Ambassador for...

Johanna speaks with Alice Dawkins, Executive Director of Reset. Tech Australia, an independent, non-partisan policy initiative wrestling with questions about online harms & safety, digital information markets, democracy and tech accountability.  In a wide-ranging conversation, the pair discuss topics including: Alice’s experience in Myanmar working with public interest lawyers involved in that...

Johanna speaks with Evelyn Douek, assistant Professor at Stanford Law School (and former corporate lawyer in Australia), about the public and private regulation of speech online. The pair discusses: the private and public regulation of speech online why 'everything is content moderation' and what it might mean to take a systems thinking approach the importance of platform transparency the history,...

In this episode Johanna speaks with author and journalist Tracey Spicer about her new book, Man-made: how the bias of the past is being built into the future. The book explores the history of discrimination in technology and the importance of diversity and inclusion in today's tech ecosystem. Spicer makes a case for a new social contract, one that would see people holding the power over machines. ...

In this episode of Tech Mirror, Johanna is in conversation with Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Chair of the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), one of Australia’s lead regulators in the area of technology and digital platforms.   In a wide-ranging conversation the pair discuss: the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services inquiry 2020 – 2025, how regulators can develop the tech knowledge and capac...

Johanna speaks with Brett Solomon, co-founder and Executive Director of Access Now, about the state of digital rights in 2023. The pair discuss critical issues including internet shutdowns, the growth of the surveillance industry, and Australia’s role in defending human rights in the digital era. The conversation took place in the lead-up to the 12th edition of Access Now’s annual RightsCon summit...

In this episode of Tech Mirror, Johanna speaks to Nitin Pai, co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent think tank and school of public policy based in Bengaluru. In a thought-provoking conversation, the pair discuss the complex relationship between the tech industry and government, the global contest between open and closed information orders, hacking of minds, and how...

In this episode of Tech Mirror, Johanna speaks to Amit Singh, a member of the expert panel appointed by the Australian Federal Government to oversee an independent audit of the government digital services platform, myGov. The conversation covers the history, present and future of the Australian digital identity ecosystem. Johanna and Amit explore the challenges of designing smart digital identity...

The theme of IWD this year is Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal future. In this episode Johanna interviews leading women in tech policy in the margins of the Raisina Conference in India. Prepare to be inspired as they share their career journeys, examples of how tech is driving gender inclusion, and offer advice for women consider a career in tech.   Guests in order of appearance: D...

In this episode, Johanna brings together a group of Australian privacy experts to discuss the Federal Government’s Privacy Act Review and to share their perspectives on the reforms that have been proposed and what might happen next. Hot topics included the meaning and importance of privacy in the digital age, the scope of the Privacy Act, meaningful consent, data minimalization, deidentification,...

Dr Catherine Ball, businesswoman, futurist, and ‘dame of drones’ sits down with Johanna Weaver in the studio to discuss her new book ‘Converge’, which takes readers on a (mostly) optimistic journey through technological breakthroughs that will shape our future. Catherine reflects on life experiences that brought her into the world of tech futurism, and details her thoughts and inspirations for wri...

Professor Lee Bygrave, Director of the Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law in the University of Oslo, joins Johanna in the studio to discuss security by design. The pair discuss the importance and challenges of translating “by design” mantras from legal concepts to engineering concepts and vice versa. In the context of the Optus and Medibank hacks, they canvas the proposal for new pena...

This week we are bringing you a discussion that we recorded as part of  NetThing 2022 – Australia’s Internet Governance Community Forum.  Johanna was joined by Kate Pounder, CEO of the Tech Council of Australia, and Richard Windeyer, Deputy Secretary at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.  Given the recent string of high profile data brea...

In this episode Johanna sits down with Professor Elanor Huntington FTSE, Executive Director of Digital, National Facilities & Collections at CSIRO, and Professor of Quantum Cybernetics at ANU. The pair canvass exactly what a quantum cybernetician does, Australia’s conditions of possibility, the great inflection point we find ourselves in, plus what the origins of Reggae can teach us about scie...

In this episode Johanna sits down with Sharad Sharma, a distinguished evangelist of public interest technology in India. Sharad co-founded the non-profit think tank iSPIRT in 2013 and has held senior leadership positions across tech companies in India and the US. The pair discuss digital public goods – both what they are and the rights and privacy implications of their design and use. They also de...

In this episode, Johanna interviews Luli Adeyemo, Director of TechDiversity and Founder of marketing firm Best Case Scenario. Prompted by Luli’s piece in InnovationAus calling for a wider review of diversity in tech than announced recently by the Australian government, the pair canvass why diversity matters, why we haven’t achieved as much progress as we hoped in the last decade, and how the tech...

In this episode, Johanna interviews Jamie Susskind, barrister and author of The Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the 21st century.   The pair explore the ideas Jamie puts forward in his book for how societies can harness the power of digital technologies while preserving (and even strengthening) freedom and democracy. Tech Mirror is recorded on Ngunnawal land. We acknowledge the tradi...

In this episode, Johanna interviews Professor Ciaran Martin, former CEO of the UK’s Cyber Security Centre, and Professor of Practice in the Management of Public Organisations at Oxford University. The pair discuss cyber operations in Ukraine, the role of the private sector in cyber defence, the ethical and legal questions raised in Johanna’s interview with Cyber Partisans spokesperson Yuliana Shem...

In this episode, Professor Johanna Weaver interviews Professor Michelle Simmons AO, world-leading quantum pioneer and Director of Sydney-based manufacturer Silicon Quantum Computing. The pair discuss SQC’s breakthrough delivery of the world’s first atomic-scale integrated circuit, the opportunities for Australia in the global race for quantum progress, how Australia can maintain and build on its a...

The Tech Policy Design Centre is proud to introduce our new title Tech Mirror: Reflecting on technology and society with Johanna Weaver. To launch our new title, the TPDC team is putting Johanna in the hot seat for the first time. Prodded by Centre researcher Ben Gowdie, Johanna talks about her time at the United Nations, Australia’s role in global tech policy, and what a healthy tech-ecosystem lo...

This week, we bring you Johanna’s discussion with Anirudh Suri, Managing Partner at India Internet Fund and author of the new book, The Great Tech Game: Shaping Geopolitics and the Destinies of Nations. The pair canvass what it’s actually like being a venture capitalist, Anirudh’s motivation for writing the book, and how the rules of the “great tech game” differ from the rules of the “great game”...

Tech Policy Design Centre Director and host of the pod, Johanna Weaver, was invited to deliver a keynote address at NATO’s annual International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) in Tallinn earlier this month. In her address, Johanna reflected on her role in the United Nations negotiations related to the application of International Humanitarian Law in cyberspace, and what this means in the cont...