Tech Policy Podcast

When we talk about hotels and the sharing economy, it’s usually about the hotel industry’s war against Airbnb, HomeAway, and other home-sharing sites. But today, we’re talking about the good news story of Recharge, a tech company that enables consumers to rent hotel rooms for a few hours, or even a few minutes. What’s behind this latest innovation in what otherwise looks like a stagnant industry....

With all the headlines around cyber attacks, there’s a lot of confusion and myths surrounding data security. Sometimes, the simplest explanation is the right one, and cybersecurity isn’t always as complicated as it seems. Human error and physical-world problems play a large role, and not all cyber attacks are created equal. Joining Evan to bust through some common myths is Taylor Barkley , Assista...

Email privacy reform passed unanimously in the House, but the Email Privacy Act has hit a snag in the Senate. Though the bill’s core mission — requiring warrants before law enforcement can access Americans’ online communications — is largely uncontroversial, some Senators are pushing an exception that would allow law enforcement to bypass warrant requirements in an emergency. Evan is joined by Jim...

Digital activism is often little more than trending hashtags and caps-locked arguments that devolve into Hitler comparisons, but a new company is hoping to take advantage of the connective power of the internet to form effective, local groups around specific issues. Evan is joined by Clearvoter Founder Michelle Ray to discuss how her organization plans to turn slacktivism into activism.

If you get hacked, should the government hack back? Recent efforts have been made to fight the use of illegal botnets, but many privacy advocates are concerned that these policies will excessively expand government hacking powers and impede legitimate security research. Evan is joined by Drew Mitnick , policy counsel for Access Now, to discuss the proposals. Can government fight illegal botnets wi...

Tech policy has gotten scant attention in the 2016 election, but Uber and the sharing economy are starting to break through. While Trump hasn’t said much, if anything, about ride sharing, erstwhile Republican candidates like Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Carly Fiorina spoke favorably about the on-demand economy and urged government to largely stay out of the way. If the GOP is generally pro-Uber, are...

The media and advertising markets are more competitive than ever, and it’s been awhile since radio, TV stations, and newspapers were the only games in town. As competition from the Internet is ever increasing, traditional media must adapt. Joint sales agreements (JSAs) allow two broadcast stations to have the same advertising sales force, which can increase efficiency and cuts costs. But the FCC’s...

There are two kinds of states: those that recognize home sharing, and those that pretend it isn’t happening. While regulations that provide a framework and certainty for an industry can actually be good companies like Airbnb and HomeAway, the devil is always in the details. Recently, Arizona passed a law on home sharing, and Carl Szabo , Policy Counsel for NetChoice, says other states should follo...

How are states handling the controversial issue of regulating daily fantasy sports, including companies like DraftKings and FanDuel? As the industry has exploded in popularity, state lawmakers, attorneys general, and gaming commissions have taken different approaches. While some states have enacted outright bans, others are grappling with how to regulate a relatively new industry that claims its p...

If you’re looking for a nuanced, thoughtful debate on government surveillance, you probably won’t find it in Congress. But look no further than American high schools. Jenna McLaughlin , a national security and surveillance reporter for The Intercept, immersed herself in a major high school debate competition. She found the arguments to be much more substantive and scrutinized than the claims about...

Spokeo is a search engine for people. But unlike your phone book, Spokeo claims to glean its information from public databases, such as social media profiles. So when the site allegedly posted false info about Thomas Robins, he sued. On May 16, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Spokeo v. Robins, the latest in a line of cases where the Court tries to flesh out when a plaintiff is allowed to...

In the “Golden Age of Surveillance,” are limits on government data collection really enough to protect privacy? Is mass surveillance inevitable? In the past, there was a “wall” between intelligence agencies and law enforcement. This separation protected Americans from being prosecuted for crimes unrelated to national security with information swept up in intelligence operations. But, in a post-9/1...

WhatsApp has over a billion users worldwide, and the Facebook-owned encrypted messaging app is particularly popular in Brazil, where it’s used by 93% of Internet users. Earlier this month, a Brazilian court shut down the app across the country after the company failed to comply with a court order demanding data related to a drug trafficking investigation. Evan is joined by Javier Pallero , policy...

News broke yesterday that Google will soon face a 3 billion euro fine from the European Commission after 6 years of antitrust investigations from EU regulators. In the past, the EC has accused Google of unfairly promoting its own services in search results at the expense of its competitors. Now, regulators are complaining that Google requires smartphone manufacturers to make Google search the defa...

The European Union (EU) is an interesting case for tech policy. While individual member states get direction from Brussels, where the EU is headquartered, they also create policies within their own borders. Should technology regulations be harmonized across the EU to create a “Digital Single Market?” Or should EU nations compete over crafting the best policies and attracting the most startups and...

The Internet is getting smarter. And as the way we use the Internet is changing, the way we manage its traffic must change too. Evan and AEI Economics Research Associate Evelyn Smith discuss software-defined networking (SDN), it's benefits, and policy implications. How does SDN compare to road traffic? Does net neutrality make broadband “dumb?” For more, see Evelyn's post in Tech Policy Corner .

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai joins the show to discuss his dissenting vote in the FCC’s approval of the Charter-Time Warner merger. Late last month, the FCC and Department of Justice (DoJ) approved the merger of the sixth and third biggest broadband providers in America. And even though the DoJ determined that the merger will benefit consumers without harming competition, the FCC extorted a series of...

Uber and Lyft have ceased operations in Austin, TX following a failed vote on a referendum to overturn regulations adopted in December by the city council. The regulations restricted where passengers could be picked up and dropped off, required ride-sharing cars to be clearly labeled with company logos, and mandated data reporting and fingerprint background checks. What does this mean for the futu...

Should innovation require permission? Should entrepreneurs have to get government approval before experimenting with new products and business models? As technology has rapidly evolved over the last several decades, regulators have taken different approaches to creating and adapting rules to keep up. In his book Permissionless Innovation , Adam Thierer, senior research fellow with the Technology P...

Is Facebook biased against conservatives? Gizmodo ran a story today based on interviews with former contractors for Facebook, who “curated” the otherwise-machine-generated “Trending Topics” next to the Newsfeed (the real heart of the Facebook experience). They allege that other “curators” implemented their own political bias in writing blurbs about trending stories, excluding conservative themes a...

Taxi monopolies have clashed with ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft across the country. But what happens when the clash is between two taxi companies? Ken Leininger, founder of Ken’s Cab, found out the hard way. When he tried to operate his small cab company in Little Rock, AR, he found out that local law protected the city’s taxi monopoly from competition. He and the Institute for Justice...

Has the War on Drugs become a war on phones? The Apple v. FBI saga made encryption a household issue, but while that case focused on counter-terrorism, the vast majority of law enforcement confrontations with the tech sector deal with drug investigations. Is the “going dark” problem really an issue of national security? Or is law enforcement just trying to solve more drug crimes by getting into lo...

What role should telephone and other technology companies play in national security and surveillance? Who should be in charge of collecting and storing data about our phone calls? The NSA? Or the companies themselves? In a recent  paper , Mieke Eoyang , VP of the National Security Program at Third Way, argues that the telecommunications industry should play a greater role in the shaping and enacti...

You may have seen this story in the news: a child runs up thousands of dollars worth of purchases on her parent’s Apple, Google, or Amazon app store account. In pretty much every case, the companies have been happy to refund the purchases when asked, as parents were clearly unaware of what their children were buying. Nonetheless, the FTC has taken enforcement action against all three companies. Wh...

How does one regulate Bitcoin and other virtual currencies? This is question is puzzling many lawmakers and bureaucrats struggling to navigate a new, decentralized industry that’s still in its nascent stage. Isn’t the point of Bitcoin not to be regulated? And who would even have jurisdiction anyway? Evan is joined by Peter Van Valkenburgh, Director of Research at Coin Center, a think tank focused...