As the FCC gears up for a Dec. 14 vote on the repeal of net neutrality, many consumers are left wondering what exactly that is. For the season 1 finale of Politech, Nate, Alex and Cat will do a deep dive on what net neutrality is and why it matters. 

Columbus is on its way to becoming the very first “smart city,” so what does that mean? Alex, Nate and Cat are here to break it down, along with (you guessed it) more Russian-related news. https://www.columbus.gov/smartcolumbus/projects/ http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/07/10/columbus-under-construction-to-become-americas-first-smart-city.html http://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/checking-in-on-columbus-oh-a-year-after-smart-city-challenge/448055/ http://www.npr.org/2017/10/22/559086726/the-russia-investigations-interference-impacted-real-life-senators-propose-new-l?utmsource=facebook.com&utmmedium=social&utmcampaign=npr&utmterm=nprnews&utm_content=2049 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/10/19/facebook-and-google-might-be-one-step-closer-to-new-regulations-on-ad-transparency/?utm_term=.4a0b12068ea6 https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/26/twitter-bans-russia-today-and-sputnik-from-advertising-on-its-service/

In the inaugural episode of POLiTECH, hosts Nate Doughty, Cat Hofacker and Alex McEvoy tackle the hacks, from Equifax’s breach that left 143 million Americans’ information exposed, to Facebook’s 3,000 ads it sold to Russian agents during the 2016 election. But wait, there’s also good news. Find out how Facebook is bringing jobs to central Ohio.

Robo workers, online bots trolling elections, and Amazon’s algorithm. What do they have in common? Artificial intelligence. This week on POLiTECH, we’re taking a look at all things AI.

A message you regret sending can take many forms. This week, POLiTECH looks at a proposed Ohio bill that could decrease sexting penalties, and Cat discusses some tools journalists can use to verify information during a crisis. Special guest Matt Bernhard is also here to talk about the implications of Ohio being hacked during the 2016 election.

Nate, Cat and Alex head to the underside of the web. The city of Athens contemplates a future of public wifi, while California revises regulations on self-driving cars. Finally, what is going on with Kaspersky? We talk about why the anti-virus firm is in trouble.  https://www.athensnews.com/news/local/city-mulls-the-possibility-of-eventually-providing-wi-fi-in/article_9961c1ae-4944-11e7-840e-af48d082ddf3.html https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/6/16259170/self-drive-act-autonomous-cars-legislation https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/technology/kaspersky-lab-israel-russia-hacking.html

Ohio State Sen. Joe Schiavoni joins this week’s POLiTECH is discuss his new bill that would increase broadband access across the state. Meanwhile, Twitter is cracking down on anti-abuse rules over recent criticisms. Cyberattacks are also back, with the UK blaming Iran for the June attack on parliamentary emails. Nate, Cat and Alex will talk about this new era of political hacking. http://ohiosenate.gov/schiavoni/press/senators-schiavoni-and-hite-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-to-give-more-ohioans-access-to-broadband-internet https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/14/16410348/twitter-boycott-new-rules-enforcement-aggressive-stance-harassment-jack-dorsey http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40394074 http://www.politico.eu/article/iran-hacked-british-parliament-9000-emails-report/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-13/qualcomm-seeks-china-iphone-ban-escalating-apple-legal-fight