Daphne Keller (Stanford Cyber Policy Center) and Corbin Barthold (TechFreedom) discuss the Supreme Court oral argument in Murthy v. Missouri (government jawboning of social media platforms) and the NetChoice cases (state content moderation laws).

Links:

Six Things About Jawboning

The Lies the 5th Circuit Told You About the Government ‘Pressuring Social Media to Censor’

Tech Policy Podcast #350: When the Government Yells at Social Media

FAQs About the NetChoice Cases at the Supreme Court, Part 1

FAQs About the NetChoice Cases at the Supreme Court, Part 2

The Long Reach of Taamneh: Carriage and Removal Requirements for Internet Platforms

God Help Us, but Brett Kavanaugh Could Save the First Amendment

‘Orwellian’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

Samuel Hammond (Foundation for American Innovation) discusses his essays on “AI and Leviathan.” Can government institutions cope with the coming technological disruption of AI?

Topics include:

- AI’s trajectory

- New Deal agencies in an AI world

- Public Choice Theory vs. the AI juggernaut

- Uber and micro-regime changes

- Government as a network of smart contracts

- Techno-totalitarianism vs. techno-feudalism

- AI Renaissance city states?

- Collapse as a feature, not a bug

- A techno-optimist’s revealed preferences

Links:

AI and Leviathan: Part I

AI and Leviathan: Part II

AI and Leviathan: Part III

Where is This All Heading?

AI: Dumb human to Einstein in a heartbeat

Tech Policy Podcast #337: China and Domestic Surveillance

Tech Policy Podcast #327: The Collapse of Complex Societies

Byron Tau (NOTUS) discusses his new book Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State.

Topics include:

• Some history: four generations of data brokers
• The continuing evolution of data collection and technological surveillance
• The great danger: data fusion / comprehensive data profiles
• Why won’t Congress regulate government data use?
• National security vs. privacy
• Should we fear a social credit system?

Links:

Means of Control

NOTUS

X: @ByronTau

Tech Policy Podcast #337: China and Domestic Surveillance

Brandon Gorrell (Pirate Wires) joins the show to discuss The White Pill, his optimistic (and mind-blowing) newsletter covering “the frontiers of tech, science, space, and more.”

Topics include: 

• Combatting the overwhelming negativity on social media. 
• Lasers are amazing.
• Why space exploration?
• Did the Big Bang really happen?
• The Pirate Wires brand — beautiful vibe!
• Breaking the New York Times / NPR decel monoculture.
• Advances in IVF.

Links:

The White Pill

It’s a big picture episode! One day (soon?), technology will enable convenient, low-cost gender transition. What does that say about human “nature”? What are the implications for society? What are (some) people getting so upset about? Jason Kuznicki (TechFreedom) joins the show to discuss.

Gender as Essence and as Economic Choice

Cosmos + Taxis issue on gender (including articles by Nathan P. Goodman and by Akiva Malamet and Mikayla Novak)

Pacification (Jason’s Substack)

Tech Policy Podcast #327: The Collapse of Complex Societies (2022 Big Picture Episode)

Tech Policy Podcast #301: The Realignment (2021 Big Picture Episode)

Mike Masnick (Techdirt) and Leigh Beadon (Techdirt) join the show to discuss their new report on the Internet’s (beneficial!) effect on art, entertainment, and culture.

The Sky Is Rising: 2024 Edition

Rather than Destroying Culture, the Internet Has Saved the Content Industries

Filterworld Is a Confused Critique of Algorithms

Liza Goitein (Brennan Center) joins the show to discuss the FISA Section 702 surveillance program. Why is it so contentious? Why is it such a hot topic now? Why and how should it be changed? And what does the Fourth Amendment have to say about it? Liza explains!

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA): A Resource Page

How Congress Learned to Live with Warrantless Surveillance (for Now)

Tech Policy Podcast #339: Will Tech Swallow the Fourth Amendment?

TechFreedom’s Ari Cohn and Corbin Barthold discuss whether AI is going to spark an “infocalypse,” bring about the “collapse of reality,” and destroy our elections. Is AI about to “flood” our “screens” with “misinformation” that’s “dangerous to democracy”? Notwithstanding these quotes from recent press stories, the answer is probably no.

Ari’s Senate testimony

What the Doomsayers Get Wrong About Deepfakes

Scott Brennen + Matt Perault paper

Tech Policy Podcast #358: Information Animals Fighting Information Wars

Tech Policy Podcast #359: Your Right to Lie — With Jeff Kosseff

From February 16, 2021 (Episode 284): Martin Gurri (Mercatus Center) discusses his book The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium.

The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium

Reality Comes Knocking

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 System

FCC Revives Common Carriage for the Internet

Zombie FCC vs. Schoolhouse-Rock Supreme Court

A Thankfully Doomed Mistake

The Elephant in the Ethernet Port