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February 2016

The Information Revolution’s Dark Turn

A Q&A with Alistair Duff, a professor of information society and policy at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland.
The epicenter of the information revolution is, and has always been, Silicon Valley (CA). There are other tech outposts—Seattle (WA), Austin (TX), even New York—but none have defined, and been defined by, the modern information society so completely as Silicon Valley has. When it first broke out after World War II, the revolution was characterized by idealism and progress. The products and ideas that came out of it—e-mail, online commerce, biotech—improved lives and changed the nature of government and economics. But sometime in the past few decades, the revolution’s original values gave way to something different. The new Silicon Valley is big, corporate, and it’s hungry for your data. Alistair Duff, a professor of information society and policy at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, says we’ve arrived at a crisis. Duff says the freedom that characterized the early days of the information revolution has started to be supplanted by “the domination of information technology over human beings, and the subordination of people to a technological imperative.”

Happy Birthday Net Neutrality! Where Do We Stand One Year Later?

[Commentary] So here we are, a year later, and despite the clamoring of the Internet service providers that Title II would be the end of times, the Internet ecosystem is stronger than ever. The “virtuous cycle” has continued to spin. Instead of the “chilling effect” Big Telecom warned us about, Internet providers around the country have increasingly invested in more network build-out and ratcheted up speeds in many markets. Content creators are able to reach consumers over more apps and platforms than ever.

Though much work remains to be done to maintain an optimal environment for increased access and diverse voices, thanks to the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order, the future looks very bright indeed. Of course, members of Congress who have been influenced by ISP lobbyists are still attempting tactics to destroy network neutrality, big ISPs have a lawsuit against the FCC tied up in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals--yet again, and big ISPs are also trying to undermine competition with schemes like “Stream TV.” The opponents of the Open Internet have not given up, so neither can we. We need to continue to protect what we fought so hard to win.

Who’s Connected: 2 Stories of “Free Internet”

[Commentary] Facebook’s Free Basics and NYC’s LinkNYC both promised to bring Internet connectivity to the masses. So why was the community response to both so different? In addition to being important efforts on their own, two recent initiatives serve as compelling examples of who gets heard, and when, any time a big institution tries to create a technology infrastructure to serve millions of people.
Example One: Free Basics: Free Basics is the name given to the effort from Facebook’s Internet.org to (ostensibly) get India’s poorest onto the Internet.
Example Two: LinkNYC: Standing in stark contrast to Free Basics is LinkNYC, the recently-launched program to bring free broadband wifi to New York City.

There’s one key lesson we can take from these two attempts to connect millions of people to the Internet: it’s about building trust. Technology infrastructure can be good or bad, extractive or supportive, a lifeline or a raw deal. Objections to new infrastructure are often dismissed by the people pushing them, but people’s concerns are seldom simply about advertising or bring skeptical of corporations. There are often very good reasons to look a gift horse in the mouth. Whether we believe in the positive potential of getting connected simply boils down to whether we feel the people providing that infrastructure have truly listened to us. The good news is, we have clear examples of how to do exactly that.

[Anil Dash is an American blogger, entrepreneur, and technologist, and cofounder of makerbase]

Effective Regulators, Effective Privacy Choices

[Commentary] In the upcoming months, as the Federal Communications Commission examines extending the privacy rules enabled by its recent broadband reclassification, it will need to decide the role it can play in setting rules for data use by Internet service providers. The FCC’s ability to impact the consumer experience in the online ecosystem will be less significant than the Federal Trade Commission’s, since its efforts will be limited to the tracking enabled by ISPs which are only one of many technologies and business models involved. The FTC has been highly effective by basing its enforcement on the standard of whether companies are acting deceptively or unfairly. The FCC should study how consumers are protected online by a long series of FTC enforcement actions and adopt a consistent model that allows the two agencies to collaborate effectively. When it comes to the complicated ad tech ecosystem, what consumers need is regulators and technology solutions that work together to ensure easy to use and effective choices and cross-industry standards that are logical.

[Jules Polonetsky is executive director and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank committed to advancing responsible data practices]

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
12 -- 1:30 pm
https://itif.org/events/2016/03/29/telegraph-smartphone-history-electron...

When we gaze at our smart phones or tap away on our computers, it is easy to take for granted the miracle of electronic innovation. But behind every one of these devices is the story of a creator who conceived it. Please join ITIF for a discussion with Derek Cheung, a Ph.D electrical engineer, former CEO of Rockwell Scientific, and author of the book Conquering the Electron, a fascinating history of electronics innovation, from the discovery of static electricity in the 1600s to today’s smartphones. Cheung profiles the creators behind these innovations and explains in an easy-to-understand and compelling way how one generation of innovation leads to the next. He describes the impacts these innovations have on society and speculates on where the future will lead us next.


Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Thursday, March 17, 2016
9 - 10:30 am
https://itif.org/events/2016/03/17/passing-torch-how-will-internet-gover...

How the Internet is governed will change significantly in the year ahead, as the U.S. government anticipates relinquishing its oversight of key technical functions to ICANN and China launches a competing institution to encourage greater state control of the Internet. This creates significant uncertainty and raises important questions for stakeholders around the world. Does ICANN have the institutional capacity and leadership ability to take on its new role? How will the rapidly changing environment impact Internet policy in coming years? And who will be the biggest winners and losers?

The event is free and open to the public. It will be webcast live on this page and a recording will be available afterward. Follow @ITIFdc (link is external) during the event, and join the conversation using #PassingTheTorch.


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