TechTank

On the anniversary of George Floyd's murder by police officer Derek Chauvin, questions remain about the emerging role of technology in the criminal justice process. Bystanders like Darnella Frazier, the teenager who recorded the death of Mr. Floyd on her smartphone, are now empowered to film police officers engaged in egregious and potentially unlawful acts. And footage from police body cameras can provide the public an opportunity to view violent incidents with their own eyes. In this episode, host Nicol Turner Lee speaks with Brookings scholars Rashawn Ray and Makada Henry-Nickie, and Keesha Middlemass, Associate Professor in Political Science at Howard University, about the benefits, risks, and limitations of technology in the criminal justice process.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Should a powerful technology company such as Facebook have the power to ban public officials from its platform? On January 7th, the day after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Facebook temporarily banned then President Donald Trump on the grounds that he had used a video and online statement to incite violence. Since then, the company referred the Trump case to an oversight board composed of 20 independent experts to determine whether to make the ban permanent and to provide guidance for other world leaders.Last week, the Facebook Oversight Board reached its decision and affirmed the initial ban — but turned the issue of a permanent ban back to Facebook, with a request the company issue a decision on Trump within the next six months. The case raises important questions regarding the actual decision itself as well as the governance model of having a board of experts make decisions about platform access for national political leaders.In this episode, host Darrell West speaks with Quinta Jurecic, Senior Editor at Lawfare and a Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, about the appropriateness of the Facebook Oversight Board’s decision on Trump and the governance model represented by the board itself.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The nation’s current antitrust laws have historical regulatory and enforcement precedents. Recent hearings targeting Big Tech companies are beginning to question whether the existing laws are adaptable to current corporate behaviors and provide sufficient policing of deceptive or anti competitive behaviors or practices. In this episode of TechTank, host Nicol Turner Lee discusses the Biden administration's potential approach to antitrust and competition policies, particularly those affecting Big Tech, with Brookings Fellows Bill Baer and Tom Wheeler, and MIT Professor Nancy Rose. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Biden has put forth an agenda to Build Back Better that now includes physical infrastructure and job creation in an effort to stir economic recovery in the United States. Broadband infrastructure is included in his trillion dollar plan, alongside water, roads, and bridges, as well as the modernization of schools, and other institutional assets. Making high-speed broadband and the applications it enables available to all citizens are at the core of his agenda, which resonates with the recent proposal of a Tech New Deal by podcast co-host, Dr. Nicol Turner Lee. Prior to President Biden’s announcement, Congressman and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn released the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act with Senator Amy Klobuchar and other Democratic co-sponsors. The Act introduced comprehensive bicameral broadband infrastructure legislation to get high-speed broadband access to all Americans, with the specific focus on closing the digital divide. The proposed legislation will invest over $94 billion in infrastructure, and ensure internet access for citizens to learn, earn, and access telehealth from a viable broadband connection. In this episode of TechTank, Dr. Nicol Turner Lee speaks with Congressman Jim Clyburn about his new legislation and former Federal Communications Commission Interim Acting Chair and Commissioner, Mignon Clyburn. The discussion will touch upon Dr. Turner Lee’s proposed Tech New Deal as a path for reaching the proposed legislative goals of the Majority Whip’s proposed legislation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In February, the latest US rover named Perseverance landed on Mars and began what is expected to be a historic exploration of the Red Planet. Equipped with high-resolution cameras, microphones, drills, scoopers, and a helicopter, the mission aims to find evidence of microbial life from 3.5 billion years and decipher what happened to that planet. Already, Perseverance is navigating its landing spot in Jezero Crater, finding rocks that appear to have been molded by water and wind, taking pictures of volcanic rocks, and starting to move around the crater.In this episode of TechTank, Darrell West speaks with NASA specialist and planetary geologist Vicky Hamilton of the Southwest Research Institute. The two of them discuss the benefits of space exploration, what we have learned from past missions, and how scientists are testing for ancient life on Mars.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast is part of a three-part series on the various parts of the Tech New Deal. This episode explores the necessity of digital service in the U.S. How do we establish programs that improve upon the tech pipeline, while at the same time, ensuring that we have enough workers to nourish and grow our burgeoning broadband networks and services?Further, how do we ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate to make national service an over-arching bridge builder as we make our way out of this pandemic and the more prominent racial divides that we are currently experiencing?In this episode of Tech Tank, Nicol Turner Lee speaks with Amanda Renteria and Nick Sinai about a digital service corps. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, under the coronavirus quarantines and lockdowns, most of us are working from home. This transition to a virtual world has blurred the lines between professional and personal life… in more ways than one.We’ve all heard some of the scarier versions of Big Brother. Companies installing technology in their employees’ chairs, that tracks how long they spend at their desks each day. Required employee tracking bracelets, which record how many minutes you spend on your lunch break. Though the pandemic has isolated us in so many ways, that doesn’t mean we’re entirely alone. In fact, some of us are being watched like never before. Darrell West invites attorney John Ella to the podcast, to discuss how companies surveil employees and what workers can do to protect themselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the days leading up to the U.S. Capitol insurrection on January 6, social media platforms were flooded with hate speech and misinformation. Months before, there were also denouncements by former President Donald J. Trump about the proposed content moderation practices of private companies, as well as their use of Section 230 protections. It took only days after armed mobs stormed the U.S. Capitol, for platforms like Facebook and Twitter to decide Trump’s tweets were more than just “saber rattling.” Relying on section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, for immunity from civil suit, Twitter permanently banned President Trump’s account, wiping out his contact with 88 million followers, and banned thousands of conservative social media accounts. Facebook banned Trump’s account “at least until his term was over.” Google and Apple blocked the conservative-leaning social networking service Parler from their stores, and Amazon Web Services denied Parler access to its cloud network. Parler was forced to shut down for a time.To many, January 8 seemed two days, two years, or two decades too late. Nonetheless, the question remains: Should free speech be regulated online? And if so, what should the content moderation practices be of private companies? Further, what voices should be subjected to greater scrutiny, and will those from more marginalized populations be questioned? In this episode of Tech Tank, Nicol Turner Lee speaks with David Johns of the National Black Justice Coalition and CTI scholars John Morris and Tom Wheeler. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the end of 2020, reporting revealed the dramatic SolarWinds hack of major American businesses and government agencies. Russia broke into leading institutions and cybersecurity experts still are gauging the scope of the damage. But this isn’t the only hack that Americans need to be wary of. The pandemic has also revealed the weakness of private business and ordinary citizens to protect themselves against malware, phishing attacks, and unwanted intrusions. Taking advantage of the security lapses exposed by remote work, hackers have held whole cities and companies hostage. Ransomware skyrocketed over the last year and exposed our fundamental vulnerabilities.In this situation, Congress and the Biden Administration must act to stop nation-state actors and lone wolf attackers that target Americans all the time. The United States needs a clear plan to combat cyber intrusions and ordinary people need to exercise much better digital hygiene. In this episode of Tech Tank, Darrell West speaks with Congressman Jim Langevin of Rhode Island on how government, business, and regular people can protect themselves from cybersecurity attacks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Online dating apps like Tinder collect a large amount of personal information on their users. Tinder’s privacy policy clearly states your data may be used to deliver “targeted advertising”. Even a step beyond that, the policy says “you should not expect that your personal information, chats, or other communications will always remain secure”. Your online data affects what job offers you have access to on LinkedIn, how much you pay for insuring your car, ads you will see on Youtube and if you can get approved for a loan. The lack of a national privacy standard and the weakness of security guidelines leave many online daters with inadequate protections and creates regulatory uncertainty for the dating apps and websites themselves. So in the meantime, how can people using online dating apps protect their privacy and security?In this episode, Darrell West, Caitlin Chin, and Mishaela Robison discuss the risks of dating apps and what can be done to improve personal safety. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.