Tech Policy Podcast

Samuel Hammond (Foundation for American Innovation) discusses his essays on “AI and Leviathan.” Can government institutions cope with the coming technological disruption of AI? Topics include: - AI’s trajectory - New Deal agencies in an AI world - Public Choice Theory vs. the AI juggernaut - Uber and micro-regime changes - Government as a network of smart contracts - Techno-totalitarianism vs. tec...

Byron Tau (NOTUS) discusses his new book Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State . Topics include: Some history: four generations of data brokers The continuing evolution of data collection and technological surveillance The great danger: data fusion / comprehensive data profiles Why won’t Congress regulate government data use?...

Brandon Gorrell (Pirate Wires) joins the show to discuss The White Pill , his optimistic (and mind-blowing) newsletter covering “the frontiers of tech, science, space, and more.” Topics include:  Combatting the overwhelming negativity on social media.  Lasers are amazing. Why space exploration? Did the Big Bang really happen? The Pirate Wires brand — beautiful vibe! Breaking the New York Times / N...

It’s a big picture episode! One day (soon?), technology will enable convenient, low-cost gender transition. What does that say about human “nature”? What are the implications for society? What are (some) people getting so upset about? Jason Kuznicki (TechFreedom) joins the show to discuss. Gender as Essence and as Economic Choice Cosmos + Taxis issue on gender (including articles by Nathan P. Good...

Mike Masnick (Techdirt) and Leigh Beadon (Techdirt) join the show to discuss their new report on the Internet’s (beneficial!) effect on art, entertainment, and culture. The Sky Is Rising: 2024 Edition Rather than Destroying Culture, the Internet Has Saved the Content Industries Filterworld Is a Confused Critique of Algorithms

Liza Goitein (Brennan Center) joins the show to discuss the FISA Section 702 surveillance program. Why is it so contentious? Why is it such a hot topic now? Why and how should it be changed? And what does the Fourth Amendment have to say about it? Liza explains! Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA): A Resource Page How Congress Learned to Live with Warrantless Surveillan...

TechFreedom’s Ari Cohn and Corbin Barthold discuss whether AI is going to spark an “infocalypse,” bring about the “collapse of reality,” and destroy our elections. Is AI about to “flood” our “screens” with “misinformation” that’s “dangerous to democracy”? Notwithstanding these quotes from recent press stories, the answer is probably no. Ari’s Senate testimony What the Doomsayers Get Wrong About De...

From February 16, 2021 (Episode 284): Martin Gurri (Mercatus Center) discusses his book The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium . The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium Reality Comes Knocking

From March 2, 2022 (Episode 313): Robert Atkinson (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) discusses the leftwing push to turn broadband into a heavily regulated utility. Anticorporate Broadband Populists’ Real Agenda: Destroy the Current Private-Sector System FCC Revives Common Carriage for the Internet Zombie FCC vs. Schoolhouse-Rock Supreme Court A Thankfully Doomed Mistake The Elepha...

Blake Reid (Colorado Law) and Berin Szóka (TechFreedom) join the show to discuss the constitutional and policy implications of applying common carrier rules at different layers of the “tech stack.” Should broadband providers be forced to carry content? Should social media platforms? How about both? Or neither? Maybe the former, but not the latter? How about the latter, but not the former? . . . Wa...

Brian Frye (Kentucky Law) joins the show to say bananas stuff about artificial intelligence, the history of authorship, the economics of copyright, why we’re all misunderstanding plagiarism, the mysteries of free will, and more. Apologia Pro Plagio Suo Should Using an AI Text Generator to Produce Academic Writing Be Plagiarism? Plagiarize This Paper How About Using AI To Determine Whether Or Not S...

Host Corbin Barthold discusses the campaign by states like Arkansas, Texas, and Utah to age-gate the Internet. As Corbin explains, these states are taking aim at a number of recent Supreme Court decisions, including Reno v. ACLU (1997), Ashcroft v. ACLU (2004), Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011), and even (!?) 303 Creative v. Elenis (2023). Corbin on the importance of Reno v. ACLU...

Jeff Kosseff (Naval Academy) joins the show to discuss his new book Liar in a Crowded Theater , a defense of your First Amendment right to speak falsely (sometimes!). Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet The United States of Anonymous: How the First Amendment Shaped Online Speech Tech Policy Podcast #350: When the...

Alicia Wanless (Carnegie Endowment) joins the show to discuss the links between information and technology, information competition through history, the need for a better understanding of information ecosystems, whether we’re in an information “civil war,” and much else besides. There Is No Getting Ahead of Disinformation Without Moving Past It The Astor Place Riot

Geoff Manne, president and founder of the International Center for Law & Economics, and host Corbin Barthold, internet policy counsel at TechFreedom, discuss the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon. FTC Chair Lina Khan’s Mission to Destroy Amazon Will Harm Millions of Consumers FTC v Amazon: Significant Burdens to Prove Relevant Markets and Net Consumer Harm Tech Policy Podcast #353: The Google Search An...

Crackdowns on Encrypted Messaging Don’t ‘Help the Children’ The UK Online Safety Bill Must Not Violate Our Rights to Free Speech and Private Communication UK Government ‘Concession’ on Breaking End-to-End Encryption in the Online Safety Act (Just Passed) Turns Out Not to Be One Around the World, Threats to LGBTQ+ Speech Deepen

The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised Faster, Please! Power and Progress Is a Wrongheaded Critique of Tech Progress Tech Policy Podcast #327: The Collapse of Complex Societies

The Fundamental Problems with Social Media Age-Verification Legislation Texas Legislature Convinced First Amendment Simply Does Not Exist Leak of California Gun Owners’ Private Data Far Wider than Originally Reported Republicans Can’t Decide If They Want Online Privacy or Not Tech Policy Podcast #342: Save the Children (From State Social Media Laws)

Judge Mehta’s summary judgment order Europe’s Antitrust Demagogues Shake Down Google

Content Moderation’s Legalism Problem Collective Security in a Federated World Tech Policy Podcast #345: Content Moderation Around the World In Internet Speech Cases, SCOTUS Should Stick Up For Reno v. ACLU

Dissed Podcast: Lady Justice Isn’t Blind Pacific Legal Foundation’s amicus brief in Loper Bright TechFreedom’s amicus brief in Loper Bright Chevron Is Dead, Long Live Chevron Tech Policy Podcast #311: Administrative Law, and Why You Should Care

Ari Cohn, Free Speech Counsel at TechFreedom, joins the show to discuss Missouri v. Biden, the tricky relationship between the First Amendment and government jawboning of social media platforms, and the unhinged discourse around social media “censorship.” Links: Judge Doughty’s opinion The Future of Online Speech Shouldn’t Belong to One Trump-Appointed Judge in Louisiana If You Believe In Free Spe...

Eric Berger’s Ars Technica profile Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Jim Dunstan’s new paper on space regulation Jim’s recent appearance before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology The ending of Nebo Zovyot (“The Sky Beckons”) (1959)

Read Jim’s new paper on space regulation Catch Jim’s July 13 testimony before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Tech Policy Podcast #333: The FCC in Space Tech Policy Podcast #306: The New Space Race

Walter Olson’s profile Follow Walter on Twitter Courts Should Reject School Districts’ Suits to Childproof the Internet