Tech Policy Podcast

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 SystemFCC Revives Common Carriage for the InternetZombie FCC vs. Schoolhouse-Rock Supreme CourtA Thankfully Doomed MistakeThe Elephant in the Ethernet Port

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? . . . Wait, stop. That last one is nonsense. Tune in to find out why.The Greatest Internet Law Chart EverUncommon Carriage The Conservative Bias Panic Comes for Gmail’s Spam DetectionThe Republican Project to Break Your Email AccountUS Telecom (D.C. Cir. 2017)Carlin Communications (9th Cir. 1987)

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 SuoShould Using an AI Text Generator to Produce Academic Writing Be Plagiarism?Plagiarize This PaperHow About Using AI To Determine Whether Or Not Something Is Creative Enough To Get Copyright ProtectionAI and the Nature of Literary Creativity

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. ACLUPaul Matzko on the notorious “fairness doctrine”Scholarly criticism of the “scarcity rationale”Corbin on Texas’s H.B. 1181FedSoc event on age-verification lawsCandeub, Morell, and Toscano in defense of age-verification lawsMore from Candeub, Morell, and ToscanoMore from Candeub

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 MisinformationThe Twenty-Six Words That Created the InternetThe United States of Anonymous: How the First Amendment Shaped Online SpeechTech Policy Podcast #350: When the Government Yells at Social Media

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 ItThe 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 ConsumersFTC v Amazon: Significant Burdens to Prove Relevant Markets and Net Consumer HarmTech Policy Podcast #353: The Google Search Antitrust Trial

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

The Conservative Futurist, a futurist exploring the intersection of conservative ideology and the future of technology and society, discusses the decline in productivity growth, the connection between culture and innovation, the hypothetical scenario of a scientifically innovative Roman Empire, political disintegration and the challenges of liberal democratic market capitalism, and the link between economic growth and tolerance for a better future.

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