The Tech Policy Press Podcast

At the September G20 summit in Delhi, the government of prime minister Narendra Modi promoted the country’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) as a model for the world for how to develop digital systems that enable countries to deliver social services and provide access to infrastructure and economic opportunities to residents. Other world leaders were enthusiastic about the pitch, endorsing a common framework for DPI systems. But even as an Indian vision for DPI appears to be attractive beyond that country’s borders, what are the ideas and events that shaped India’s approach? Today's guest is Mila Samdub, a researcher at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School who recently published an essay titled “The Bangalore Ideology: How an amoral technocracy powers Modi’s India,” looking at histories of technocratic ideas in India, and how they have combined with Modi’s particular brand of populism.

Exploring the demand side of misinformation, the podcast features a guest who discusses the motivations and social factors that drive individuals and communities to consume false information. It delves into the distinction between wrong information and misinformation, explores the impact of motivations on belief updates, and discusses partisan sorting and political polarization. The chapter also emphasizes the power of intellectual humility, the importance of empathy in understanding different beliefs, and challenges of expressing diverse opinions on social media.

Anu Bradford, a professor at Columbia Law School, discusses her new book on the competition between the US, EU, and China in establishing digital governance models. The podcast explores contrasting regulatory models, the battle for tech supremacy, China's digital infrastructure expansion, the decline in internet freedom, and the future of tech policy and society.

The 13th installment of the Freedom on the Net report from Freedom House finds that "while advances in artificial intelligence offer benefits for society, they have also been used to increase the scale and efficiency of digital repression." Justin Hendrix spoke with two of the report's authors- Allie Funk and Kian Vesteinsson about their findings, which unfortunately do not represent a change of trajectory from prior years.

The European Union is nearing the passing of sweeping AI regulation, focusing on areas such as product safety and risk-based regulations. The need for legal protections and representation for individuals affected by AI decisions is also discussed. The impact of industry lobbying on the legislation and Open AI's concerns about being designated a high risk system are explored. The UK's approach to AI safety and upcoming negotiation are also addressed.

In Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, Los Angeles Times technology columnist Brian Merchant has written a new history of perhaps one of the most famous movements for worker rights and power in the face of automation. The book sets the record straight on the Luddites, and unpacks what today’s workers can learn from them. 

The ubiquity of cameras in our phones and our environment, coupled with massive social media networks that can share images and video in an instant, means we see often graphic and disturbing images with great frequency. How are people processing such material? And how is it different for people working in newsrooms, social media companies, and human rights and social justice organizations? What protections might be put in place to protect people from vicarious trauma and other harms, and what is the ultimate benefit of doing this work?In their new book, Graphic: Trauma and Meaning in Our Online Lives, University of California Berkeley scholars Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros set out to answer those questions.

In 2019, journalist Kashmir Hill had just joined The New York Times when she got a tip about the existence of a company called Clearview AI that claimed it could identify almost anyone with a photo. But the company was hard to contact, and people who knew about it didn’t want to talk. Hill resorted to old fashioned shoe-leather reporting, trying to track down the company and its executives. By January of 2020, the Times was ready to report what she had learned in a piece titled “The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It.” Three years later, Hill has published a book that tells the story of Clearview AI, but with the benefit of a great deal more reporting and study on the social, political, and technological forces behind it. It's called Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy As We Know It, just out from Penguin Random House.

This podcast explores the scale and influence of technology platforms, including the legal complexities of ride-hailing platforms in Colombia and the use of technology by immigrant communities. It also delves into the challenges of addressing data privacy and child protection in Big Tech, as well as the difficulties in implementing privacy laws in the United States.

Dr. Shelby Grossman discusses AI's ability to write persuasive propaganda. Dr. Kirsty Park and Steph Amunke highlight the shortcomings of the initial disinformation code of practice and the new strengthened code. The assessment of reporting requirements reveals that most platforms scored below adequate. The transition to a code of conduct in relation to the Digital Services Act is discussed. Addressing disinformation challenges and solutions, with the importance of regulating procedures and intervening at the economic and ecosystem level.