Regulate Tech (Richard Allan)

In this episode we discuss the responsibility of platforms in the larger perspective of what we should expect in the coming years, how the public sphere can be upheld and what laws are coming. 

In this episode we discuss the Arab Spring and how it evolved, how the Internet played a role and what role it really played as well as how the Arab Spring might have unfolded today if it had happened now.

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

When should you pivot from lobbying against a bill to shaping it? When should you re-evaluate and ditch old strategies? How can you keep yourself honest in assessing how things are actually going and are we - in policy and politics - rewarding persistence at the price of increasing our sunk costs? We discuss Annie Duke's excellent book Quit: Knowing when to walk away from a policy perspective.

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad 

In this episode we read a classic text by Judge Easterbrook - The Law of the Horse - and discuss how his perspective has informed tech policy ever since 1996 when the article was written - and why he, even when he was ignored, made points that remain relevant to policy even today. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this session we discuss encryption, and how it affects our ability as a society to fight crime. This is not a new discussion, and the questions have been up for discussion before. Is it different this time? We also discuss the long term future of encryption and how the debate might evolve. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

What is the tech-lash, why does it matter, and where is it heading in 2022? In this episode we take a step back and talk about the different tech-lashes, their absence in the data, roots and origins as well as strategies for dealing with great social debates like this that have worked historically. Tune in! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss how comms, press and policy interact, what to watch out for, common mistakes and the changing landscape of tech in media. Listen in!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the upcoming discussions about network fees and network investment. Should online service providers pay a fee to telecom companies, when their traffic is so voluminous? Should network investment be separated out into specific companies? And what will happen to network neutrality in all of this? Should we all just get Starlink? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the key drivers for regulation, in a nifty ABCDE-model. Tune in and listen to us discuss access, behaviour, content, data and... energy! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the undervalued and overvalued events in the first half of 2022, as well as recommend some summer reading. All from Richard's boat! Tune in and let us know what you are reading!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

One of the most heated and interesting debates about tech policy for the early Internet was embodied in the idea of network neutrality. In this episode we discuss the past, present and future of network neutrality, incumbents vs challengers, zero-rating and how we should think about network neutrality now. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss all things planning and strategy for a policy team. Should a policy team plan? What frameworks exist? How do you deal with plans encountering reality? We discuss books by John Doerr - Measure What Matters - and Richard Rummelt - Good Strategy, Bad Strategy - and much, much more. Meet the new year with plans! And then change them...

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we sum up the first year with the podcast, our thoughts about 2021 and some predictions for 2022. We discuss what new episodes we should be digging into as well -- and would love to hear from you if you have ideas! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the politics and policy of advertising. Universally disliked, seems to be an increasingly valuable discovery mechanism in the information economy. It underpins SME-growth and exports, and helps us find what we need - yet it is condemned as manipulative, dangerous and eroding our social liberties. Which one is it? 

As a bonus we share our favorite ads: 

John West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP92j-uEnps

Coors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_N4l0s7qU0

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this session we discuss the history and future of privacy, fundamental concepts and ideas about data as well as the question of if we will see more or less personal data online in the future. Listen in! 

Midsummer's Eve episode! In this episode we return to the classics, and one of the texts that has been both praised and ridiculed - John Perry Barlow's Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace from 1996. What has happened since it was written and how has the tech policy space changed -- where was Barlow right and what did he get wrong. Far from dismissing Barlow we try to engage with the text and look at what we can learn from reading classics. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode the subject is how platforms and society deal with nudity - and what that says about content regulation generally. Nipples, artistic nudity, documentary photos of nudity, contexts and more than anything the wider question of what kinds of harm we are looking to prevent and how those harms are becoming more and more abstract and general with time are some of the issues we discuss in this week's episode. Send us thoughts and ideas!

Participants: Richard Allan / Nicklas Berild Lundblad

How does a policy team think about academic research? Is it helpful, if so - when and why? And what are the do's and dont's in collaboration and what are some of the key learnings from what we have seen from research so far in the tech policy space?

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we explore the history and genealogy of the DMA - looking at the key inspirations behind it and why it looks the way it looks. Tune in! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the future of Silicon Valley in a remote world - can it continue to be the powerhouse of innovation it has been for the last decades? Is the unique combination of capital, companies and research still enough to drive the engine of the future? And can Silicon Valley continue to couple innovation and ideology in the way it has historically? And where are the new centers of innovation, ideology and vision? What will all this mean for the future of tech policy? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we dig into the craft a bit more and discuss collaboration and competition in the policy space, companies briefing against each-other and why standards is the next space to really watch out for. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we are discussing the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and the recently proposed UN convention as well -- what can we learn from the 20 years since the original Budapest convention launched and why should we be engaged in the work the UN now seems to be undertaking with very little public attention paid to it? How should we approach issues related to new crimes, new evidence and cross-border cooperation between law enforcement agencies? 

https://www.coe.int/en/web/cybercrime/the-budapest-convention

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/08/13/cybercrime-dangerous-new-un-treaty-could-be-worse-rights

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad 

In this episode we discuss anonymity, pseudonyms and identity in social media - where we are heading and why, and what the value of anonymity could be. 

Participants: possibly Richard Allan, maybe Nicklas Berild Lundblad

How do you approach advocacy internally? Should you join a tech giant just to change their ways? Can you change the way a large organization thinks, and if so - how? As a policy professional you have both an opportunity and a duty to voice your opinion, but in a way that can have an impact. We discuss how best to bring your views to the table, and what to avoid in answering another listener's question. Tune in! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

A company's social responsibility can be interpreted and handled in different ways, and we have seen the field evolve from CSR to ESG. How does this work relate to public policy work? What is the difference and the overlap? And how should, in general, philanthropy factor in policy strategy - if, indeed, at all? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

We asked for listener questions and you delivered! This episode is based on a question about how to build, think about and work with content policy teams. We discuss content moderation (and why that is a bad term), the distinctions between speech and speaker as well as the question of how you think about hard cases. Listen in!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this season opener we discuss governments surveillance, NSO, scanning phones for illegal materials, Enchrochat, Anom and much more! What limits should we look for when we think about government surveillance and how can such limits be implemented and enforced? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

If social media is a habit, which kind of habit is it - tobacco or sugar? And how should the kind of habit something is influence how we regulate it? Listen in to hear us discuss diets, norms, bans and nudges, dissemination and discovery as the basis of how to start thinking creatively about social media regulation. 

So AI is on everyone's mind. But how should we think about capable and complex systems overall? What are the fundamentals? What are some general models and ideas about the challenges we will face when regulating AI? In this episode we discuss the broad strokes around AI and how they force us to rethink things like agency and actions. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundböad

In this episode we discuss big tech, competition policy and the question of the future of antitrust. We also note that companies get big by competing, but stay big through regulation and that the Internet is going from a farmers' market to a pharma market!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

So, we are 8 episodes in and it felt about right to take a step back and say hi and introduce ourselves, explain how we ended up being interested in tech policy and why Richard was dissuaded from becoming Indiana Jones and ended up an Italian psychologist pirate. Listen in if also if you want to hear a bit about how tech companies started out thinking about policy and what the early days were like! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Richard presents a model of content moderation that explores motives, functions and problems associated with the content moderation value chain. We discuss digital villages and cities, and the gentrification of Reddit. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Should platforms become the arbiters of truth? Should we as a society require that they uphold a shared baseline of facts and ensure that doubting historical and scientific truths is much harder than it is today? What about lying - should that really be allowed online? In this episode the subject is truth and we discuss if the long arc of platform history bends towards institutional knowledge. 

Participants: Richard Allan and Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss Lawrence Lessig's seminal book Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (1999). What it meant to us then, what we think it still means and where it ended up being wrong about today. 

Participants: Richard Allan , Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we dig deep into one of the real classics of tech policy making - the 1980 privacy principles and their impact. We also discuss how emphasis has changed over the years. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the classic text by Eric Raymond (see here http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/ ) and how different modes of production of software are converging - and what that means for policy! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the new UK Online Safety Bill and where they get their cheap lawyers and programmers, as well as how to really think about a duty of care. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this first episode of the year we discuss the Online Safety Bill and the latest changes, new challenges and everything from criminal liability to age verification in practice. Tune in and send us your questions and ideas. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we start looking into the often both complex and complicated issues of jurisdiction over the Internet. We discuss the trends and evolution, and the re-territorialization of the Internet over time and give a few examples of hard choices we may have to make in the future. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we review some recent research and ask why and how we should regulate technology more broadly -- through focusing on the technology or on the human behaviour? What is best and how do we research human behaviour and use of technology better? 

The papers we discussed: 

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2216614120

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2302.11225.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36848573/

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss news, journalism and the tension between preserving the democratic institution of journalism and propping up news business models that are not working. We also discuss the role public service has to play, the dynamics of the debate and future solutions. 

Participants: Richard Allan / Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we review the year - looking at what kind of a year it was. Was it A Year of Catastrophes? A Year of Regulation? Or was it the Twitter year? We discuss the key events, things undervalued and missed -- and what 2023 has to offer! Tune in and offer us ideas for what we should talk about next year!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

What do you do when the clash between your organization's views and those of a government just is not avoidable anymore? How do you handle redlines? In this episode we discuss the tricky art of confrontation. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss hearings, what goes on behind the curtains and how you can survive - but never win - a hearing. Tune in to learn about different parliaments and the tricks of the trade! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

On thermonuclear lawsuits, fair and unfair attacks, the necessary grumbling phase, the value of real, deep and felt conflict and much more. How should you react when attacked as an organisation? What is the best policy response to criticism? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

You know that what you really need in your life is more hot takes on Twitter, right? Well, we are here to oblige. But we also discuss the issue of where speech is heading, what happens when speech becomes cheap (drawing on Richard Hansen's book Cheap Speech) and what we think the future is for social platforms. Tune in!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the challenges with the age limits in today's legislation and what could and should be done to make sure kids are safer online. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

The first copyright episode! We discuss the old copyright wars and the coming ones, as well as the benefits of Creative Commons. What was all the fuss about? And why did copyright fade as the unquestioned number one policy issue in tech policy? 

Participants: Richard Allan and Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Here is another craft episode - this one focused on the question of how you best allocate, manage and audit your budget. Don't let budgeting become another token exercise - use it as a lens to understand your priorities! There is great value in bureaucracy done right!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the emerging law on the right to disconnect, work/life balance and the question of what is actually happening to jobs and work as the pandemic lifts. How do we think about the workplace of the future, privacy and leisure time? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we examine the often somewhat fuzzy distinction between open and closed systems and platforms, and discuss if there are better ways to think about this. We also suggest that maybe we should pay more attention to the distinction between centralized and de-centralized solutions. 

Participants: Richard Allan and Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss how to work with the legal function in a tech company, and what we can learn from our colleagues in litigation, employment law, commercial negotiations and not least the new and emerging profession of product counsel. Read more about how product counsel came to become the hottest legal profession here: 

http://www.bricoleur.org/2020/04/product-counsel-origin-story.html

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the new proposal from the European Commission to strengthen the code of practice for misinformation. We discuss the underlying premise, the tools and what the negative framing of the issue means for the future of democracy online. Tune in! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss all things geographical - maps, location, local organization and communities, satellite imagery and borders, public sector geo imagery and issue of geographical naming. We also explore why the topical Internet will realize the democratic promise in the technological revolution! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss what works and what does not work in trying to shape the outcome of the legislative process. We also launch the idea of venture policy portfolios to avoid being late to the game, and give a few pointers on what not to say. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the EU Digital Services Act that is published on the 27th in the Official Journal. We talk about its origins, motivation, signal value, concrete provisions and offer a few predictions for the coming years! Tune in! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the political economy of patents, their origin and the ways in which they touch tech policy. We also noodle on what a good tech policy agenda for patents could look like, and why trolls are a problem. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss what it means for technology to fail, why Facebook is ceasing to do facial recognition, what happened to Google Glass, how we should think about Altavista and MySpace and a host of other things like DRM, PETs and ECMSs. Tune in! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Political advertising and issue advertising are hot issues - but why? What is the key challenges if we want to regulate political communication, and what are the second order effects of that regulation? A lot to think about and discuss!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this, the season's last episode, we recommend some summer reading. The full list below! We will be back third week of August! 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

The list: 

Alan Rusbridger Breaking the News

Gary Klein Sources of Power

Jonathan Haidt The Righteous Mind

Julia Galef The Scout Mindset

Dunbar et al, Thinking Big

China Mieville The City and The City

John Connolly The Dirty South 

David Spiegelhalter, Art of Statistics

Jill Lepore If Then

Stephen Coleman How Voters Feel

This is another craft session, where we discuss the actual organization and build up of policy teams, and how to think about them in different models - capabilities, super powers, geographically and mapping to political and business structures. A lot to unpack and discuss!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

How do we deal with new technology from a regulatory perspective? How fast does the legislation catch up with technology, and is it different for different areas of the law? How do things like crypto, AI and quantum provoke responses from government? In this episode we discuss models of regulation for emerging technology, and what we really are regulating - is it technology, companies or geopolitical power balances? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

This episode is dedicated to digging deeper on transparency from first principles. How should we understand the increasing demands on transparency and the different legislative proposals? What does transparency really mean and what are the design dimensions of transparency? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

Richard has dug deep in the impressive complexity and ambition of the Online Safety Bill and shares his perspective on how this will change the landscape for tech platforms - and where it will need more work and analysis. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the platform response to the war in Ukraine, and why the most difficult decision may still lie ahead for content moderation experts. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

This one is about the craft! About how to build policy teams, where they report in and what to do and not do when setting out to think about a policy function! 

Participants: Richard Allan and Nicklas Berild Lundblad

(Note a slight lag in a few places in this one between us, though, apologies for that). 

In this episode we discuss when decision making should be shifted from companies to third parties, government and regulators. Who decides what? And when? With examples from tech policy we try to figure out where the debate is heading today. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In the first episode we discussed the value and challenges of advertising as a business model - and in this episode we dig deeper into the harms and how they can be mitigated. All technologies are trade offs, and here we discuss individual, social and long term harms from creating targeted profiles - and how they can be addressed. 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss how the taxation debate unfolded, and what hard choices underpin it. We aim to clarify some of the discussions and look behind the scenes to understand motivations and challenges in creating a clear and predictable international tax system. It is hard!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this episode we discuss the year that was and the year that is coming - and make some predictions! Happy New Year!

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

The new AI-regulation has gotten a lot of attention - but what does it tell us about the mechanics of legislation and the articulation of political intent - and how should we read the second and third order effects of this first-of-a-kind legislation? 

Participants: Richard Allan, Nicklas Berild Lundblad

In this week's episode we discuss the evolution away from a global Internet into several smaller splinternets. How large are they likely to be? What does this mean for the large platforms? Was there ever a global Internet to begin with? And will technology ultimately resist the re-territorialization we are seeing today with digital sovereignty and data localization?