RTP's Fourth Branch Podcast

In an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19 and contain its impact, nations across the world are exploring the use of various methods of tracking the virus. Some – such as Singapore and South Korea – have established national surveillance networks that operate in real-time to assist in this task, while others – like the United States – have largely delegated this effort to individual states, which can result in a patchwork of different surveillance activities. Private companies – like Google and Apple – have also stepped in to assist in this effort.

Increased visibility into the virus’s spread appears crucial to public health authorities’ efforts but concerns have been raised that such widespread data collection activities may be overly intrusive and that privacy interests have not been adequately considered in the effort to stop the spread of this virus. Further, some question the security of personal health data, especially as hackers and cyber-criminals turn their attention towards these new surveillance programs.

In this podcast, our panel of experts explores these important issues and more.

Featuring:

- Drew Bagley, Vice President and Counsel for Privacy and Cyber Policy, CrowdStrike
- Neil Chilson, Senior Research Fellow for Technology and Innovation, Charles Koch Institute
- Roger Klein, Faculty Fellow, Center for Law, Science & Innovation, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

What is the legislative and legal background of the recent Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship, how will it affect Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and what may be the unforeseen consequences of this move? These and other questions are addressed in this episode.

Featuring:
- [Host] Adam Thierer, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
- Ashkhen Kazaryan, Director of Civil Liberties, TechFreedom
- Neil Chilson, Senior Research Fellow for Technology and Innovation, Charles Koch Institute

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

As small businesses across the country grapple with the current and potential impacts associated with COVID-19, the National Federation of Independent Business continues to track the latest developments from healthcare officials, congress and the administration. Please join us to hear about how the organization is supporting small businesses during this time, and which government policies are positively and negatively affecting business operations today and down the road.

Featuring:
- Karen Harned, Executive Director, National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

While most agree cybersecurity is a vital part of modern national security and see cyber-attacks as an evolving and dangerous threat, the question of how best to utilize the resources of the United States to protect the nation against cyber-attacks is far more contested.

Many in the cybersecurity space see the path forward as including more public-private partnerships since private companies are often more directly impacted by cybercrime than the federal government and can be more dynamic in their responses.

However, given the criticism of these partnerships in the past, are they truly the best way to protect the public? In this time of quarantine, American society has become more dependent on internet technology, so examining how our nation protects itself and its companies digitally has never been more important.

Are public-private partnerships the best way to fight cybercrime? If not, can the government alone protect the nation from cybercrime? If these partnerships are the way of the future, how could they be improved? This episode will discuss these important questions and more.

Featuring:
- Dmitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder & Former CTO, CrowdStrike
- Jamil Jaffer, Adjunct Professor, NSI Founder, and Director, National Security Law & Policy Program, Antonin Scalia Law School

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

Journalists and academics seem convinced that artificial intelligence is often biased against women and racial minorities. If Washington’s new facial recognition law is a guide, legislators see the same problem. But is it true? It’s not hard to find patterns in AI decisions that have a disparate impact on protected groups. Is this bias? And if so, whose?

Do we assume the worst about decisions with a disparate impact – applying a kind of misanthropomorphism to the machine – or can we objectively analyze the factors behind the decisions? If bias boils down to not producing proportionate results for each protected class, is the only remedy to impose a “proportionate result” constraint on AI processing – essentially imposing racial, ethnic, and gender quotas on every corner of life that is touched by AI?

Featuring:
- Stewart Baker, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
- Curt Levey, President, Committee for Justice
- Nicholas Weaver, Researcher, International Computer Science Institute and Lecturer, UC Berkeley

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

In October of 2019, President Trump issued an executive order that imposed a series of restrictions and requirements on Federal agencies, and even included a requirement that agencies publish their guidance on the internet. The purpose of the executive order was to promote transparency and democratic fairness in the administrative law process. This has led to a renewed debate over what the relationship should be between the executive branch and the administrative state, and has also led to some disagreement over whether the executive order represented any meaningful change from the status quo.


Featuring:
- Hon. Steven Bradbury, General Counsel (and performing the functions and duties of Deputy Secretary), U.S. Department of Transportation
- John Walke, Director, Clean Air Project, Climate & Clean Air Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Prof. Adam White, Assistant Professor and Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

How can data privacy enforcement provide clarity for businesses while protecting the public from harm? What might be the best enforcement options available to the FTC and state attorneys general going forward? Jennifer Huddleston and Ian Adams discuss.

Featuring:
- Ian Adams, Executive Director, International Center for Law & Economics
- Jennifer Huddleston, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy, American Action Forum

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

In 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule entitled “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science.” The proposal garnered over 9,000 unique public comments. On March 18, 2020, EPA published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking that, among other things, states that the EPA would be required to make public important information underlying both significant regulatory actions and influential scientific information disseminated by the Agency. Why is this EPA effort to promote transparency important? Why is it controversial? This episode will discuss and evaluate the proposed rule in light of the March 2020 supplementary notice.

Featuring:
- Dr. Richard B. Belzer, Associate Fellow, R Street Institute
- Prof. Adam White, Assistant Professor and Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
- [Moderator] Daren Bakst, Senior Research Fellow, The Heritage Foundation

Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.