Tech Policy Podcast

Earlier this month, IEE Spectrum broke the story that Silicon Valley startup Swarm Technologies had launched several experimental satellites through the commercial arm of India’s space agency, despite being denied authorization by the FCC. The case illustrates the complexity of the licensing process for satellites, both in the US and internationally. Space lawyer Jim Dunstan joins the show to disc...

The Food and Drug Administration’s 2016 Deeming Rule classified e-cigarettes and other vaping materials as tobacco products and imposed strict regulations on what vaping entrepreneurs can say to their customers, even though advocates say these technologies can reduce the harm from smoking and help some smokers quit entirely. In response, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF)  is taking FDA officials...

On International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting the stories of several incredibly talented women in tech policy. They discuss what brought them to tech policy, and what drives them on this career path. Featured in this episode are: Gigi Sohn , a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and Mozilla Policy Fellow;  Michelle Richardson , Deputy Director of the...

Tomorrow the House of Representatives will vote on the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). However, the bill to be voted on includes an amendment that merges it with the drastically different Senate counterpart bill. What the bill gets right, and what does it get wrong? How is Congress likely to resolve the conflicts between the two version? And most importantly,...

The world in 2018 is interconnected. Cybersecurity threats are widespread — even at the 2018 Winter Olympics. As we recorded this episode in January, our guest warned us of potential cybersecurity attacks. And just last week organizers in Pyeongchang confirmed that a cyberattack crippled important IT systems , bringing down display monitors, Wi-Fi and the Olympics website just ahead of the opening...

The controversial memo prepared by Rep. Nunes (R-CA) hasn’t left the newscycle since its release on February 2. Berin recorded this special episode from the Bay Area and is joined by Jennifer Granick, the “ NBA All-Star of surveillance law ,” and the Surveillance and Cybersecurity Counsel at the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Jennifer breaks down FISA, the authority that allowed c...

The effort to overturn FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order already has 50 Senators signed onto the Congressional Review Act - a vehicle chosen by Senate Democrats in attempt to bring back Obara-era net neutrality regulations. To break down what a CRA is and the prospects of its passage we have invited the leading experts in the field: Gigi Sohn - a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Ins...

Recently Facebook has unveiled multiple planned changes to its newsfeed. Now we will see more content from our friends and fewer posts from news sites and businesses. They also hand checking the credibility of news organizations by users and the wider Facebook community. This has likely been done in response to the harsh criticism of the information dissemination that happened before the 2016 Pres...

While some may have started 2018 with a resolution to quit smoking, statistics say many will fail . In this episode we explore harm reduction as a path to achieving smoke free future and discuss the UK's Royal College of Physicians, one of the first researchers to raise the alarm on the dangers of smoking, has released a report underlining that e-cigarettes are 95% safer than their combustible cou...

On our new episode we are joined by Jared Meyer, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability to discuss changes that executive and legislative branch made in regards to the definitions of “contractor” and “employer” and how that’s going to affect the sharing economy. For more on the topic, read Jared’s op-ed in Forbes and follow him on Twitter.

Four years after the Snowden disclosures, Congress continues to wrestle with surveillance issues.  These include an ongoing reform battle over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—a major intelligence surveillance law that targets foreigners but can result in warrantless spying on people in the US.  Despite the size of the programs the government conducts under Section 702, and...

Have you ever assessed many ways your government spies on you? There is a crucial government surveillance authority up for reauthorization before December 31. We will talk about potential avenues for that reform and do “a surveillance year in review” with Michelle Richardson, Deputy Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Freedom, Security, and Technology Project, Senior Fellow at GW...

As the vote on Net Neutrality approaches this Thursday, December 14th, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr joins the show to explain why he plans to vote for Chairman Pai’s controversial proposal, “Restoring Internet Freedom.” To learn more read Carr’s op-ed in The Washington Post. The Commissioner also shares some of his 2018 plans with us, including taking the lead on the wireless agenda.

As the saying goes: there are those who’ve been hacked, and those who haven’t just don’t know they have. After over 140 million Americans saw their data compromised in the Equifax breach, they may be wondering: what is our government doing about it? With so many companies collecting our data, should the FTC crack down or would that have consequences for innovation? Evan is joined by Neil Chilson,...

The Fourth Amendment protects American citizens from unwarranted searches and seizures, but how far does that protection extend? The Carpenter v. United States case in front the Supreme Court seeks to determine whether or not the use of cell site location information requires law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant. Ashkhen Kazaryan, TechFreedom Legal Fellow is joined by Curt Levey, Presiden...

Today we discuss the end of net neutrality....or do we? Under the leadership of Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC is set to undo broad claims on power over the Internet made in 2010 and 2015. That will also mean rolling back most – but not all – of the FCC's broadband rules. What is Pai planning to change, and what does he see as the future of Internet regulation? Is net neutrality really dying, or just...

You might not be able to see them but airwaves are very important, enabling all sorts of communication that we rely on. Given the exploding demand for access to the airwaves from new technologies like AR, VR, and 4K video, is the way we allocate spectrum good enough? Is there a better way? We discuss that and more with our guests, Ryan Radia, Research Fellow and Regulatory Council at the Competiti...

While many classrooms have iPads and children rely on the Internet to do their homework, in many ways education is still an analog experience.  Are we headed for a wave of disruption? Or are there certain human elements of education that simply can’t be digitized? Evan is joined by Jan Hein Hoogstad, founder and technology developer for Offcourse, an online education platform. They discuss the sta...

Video games have presented a challenge for parents since their advent. “Get off the couch and play outside!” or “Read a book!” are phrases the host of this podcast heard plenty throughout his childhood. But it’s been over three decades since Pong was invented, and the landscape has changed dramatically. Video gaming has become a professional and spectator sport, and the industry’s impact on the ec...

Artificial intelligence is already transforming our lives in many ways, and it has the potential to do so much more. But it seems like news headlines only focus on potential job loss and the end of the world than increased productivity and social benefits. Is this because our mental imagery of AI is so influenced by dystopian sci-fi novels and movies like Terminator ? Or have policymakers not done...

In 1975, “media” essentially meant television, radio, and newspapers. Obviously, today’s market looks way different thanks to the Internet and other developments. We have cable and satellite TV, online news, podcasts, and social media. We have “cord cutters” and “cord nevers,” and there are more ways to consume more content than ever before. In this competitive environment, however, many of the me...

Pop some champagne and untangle your headphones, as the Tech Policy Podcast is celebrating it's 200th episode. Woo! Evan sits down with Austin Carson, Executive Director of TechFreedom and an all-around normal guy. They celebrate this milestone, solving all of the world's problems in under 30 minutes and answering some of your burning questions. Are all New Yorkers this awful, or is it just Evan?...

The Internet has disrupted the way we communicate, entertain ourselves, and more. But what about how we take care of ourselves? While the Fitbit and Apple Watch are nice ways to track exercise, how often do we still have to fill out paper forms when we visit a doctor? Is there more to telemedicine than “counting steps?” Evan is joined by Nadia Morris, Director at the AT&T Connected Health Foundry...

Russia's meddling in the 2016 election isn't exactly breaking news. But recently, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are facing an intense backlash from prominent Senators after revelations that Russian actors bought hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ads meant to stoke division among Americans on hot button issues like gun control, race relations, and even the recent NFL prot...

Germans head to the polls on Sunday for a national election. And while many political headlines are bemoaning what could be a “boring” victory for Chancellor Angela Merkel, the election could have serious implications for tech policy. Will Merkel’s coalition with the social democrats (SPD) survive, or might we see an unexpected contract with the up and coming libertarian-leaning “free democrats (F...