2012

Jim Harper & Ryan Radia on cybersecurity legislation

Thumbnail image for Jim Harper & Ryan Radia on cybersecurity legislation

Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, and Ryan Radia, associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, discuss Congress’s recent interest in cybersecurity. Harper and Radia begin by discussing why Congress wants to legislate cybersecurity and the potential threats that have Congress frightened. Harper and Radia then discuss the types of bills before Congress, which include aspects of information sharing that would promote cybersecurity intelligence but may have privacy implications, and mandates for a security infrastructure. The discussion then turns to the role of government in cybersecurity and whether the protection of online information and assets should be left to markets. The discussion ends with Harper and Radia predicting the future of the proposed bills.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Jennifer Shkabatur on transparency reform

Thumbnail image for Jennifer Shkabatur on transparency reform

Jennifer Shkabatur, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet Society at Harvard University, discusses her new paper, “Transparency With(out) Accountability: The Effects of the Internet on the Administrative State. Shkabatur begins by discussing the focus of her paper, a critical look at open government initiatives. Shkabatur believes promises of transparency in government fall short and do not promote accountability. She then discusses innovations in accountability facilitated by the Internet, which she divides into three categories: mandatory transparency, discretionary transparency, and involuntary transparency. Shkabatur then sets forth types of reforms that she believes would improve government transparency. According to Shkabatur, context and details on agency processes are necessary along with details about how an agency performs various tasks.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Naomi Cahn on the digital afterlife

Thumbnail image for Naomi Cahn on the digital afterlife

Naomi Cahn, John Theodore Fey Research Professor of Law at George Washington University, discusses her new paper entitled, “Postmortem Life Online.” Cahn first discusses what could happen to online accounts like Facebook once a person dies. According to Cahn, technology is outpacing the law in this area and it isn’t very clear what can happen to an online presence once the account holder passes away. She discusses the various problems family members face when trying to access a deceased loved one’s account, and also the problems online companies face in trying to balance the deceased’s privacy rights with the need to settle an estate. Cahn claims that terms of service often dictate what will happen to an online account after death, but these terms may not be in line with account holder wishes. She then suggests some steps to take in making sure online accounts are taken care of after death, including taking inventory of all online accounts and determining who should have access to those accounts after death.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Spencer Weber Waller on Facebook and antitrust

Thumbnail image for Spencer Weber Waller on Facebook and antitrust

Spencer Weber Waller, Professor and Director at the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, discusses his new paper entitled, Antitrust and Social Networking. The discussion centers on the likelihood of Facebook being charged by the government as having a monopoly over the social networking market. Waller first explains antitrust law, which, among other things, prohibits monopolization to protect competition. Waller then discusses the difficulty of defining the market for social networks. He claims that Facebook is dominant in the market, but he also says there are multiple markets for Facebook’s participation, like consumer use and advertising. Waller goes on to explain how a court would analyze an antitrust violation. According to Waller, there is a two-step process involved where courts ask whether there is market power, and whether a company is doing anything with that power to interfere with competition. Waller ends the discussion by analyzing the likelihood of Facebook ever being charged with antitrust violations. Waller also briefly gives his thoughts on the recent antitrust suit filed by the DOJ against Apple.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Adam Lashinsky on how Apple works

Thumbnail image for Adam Lashinsky on how Apple works

Adam Lashinsky, author and editor-at-large for Fortune, discusses his new book, Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works. Lashinsky begins by discussing Apple’s obsession with secrecy to the point that employees do not discuss what they are working on with other employees. According to Lashinsky, secrecy is tied to focus and achievement, so Apple employees obtain a depth and expertise on one area, rather than being exposed to different areas of the company. He then discusses how secrecy impacts employee morale and how employees view accomplishment and achievement as a tradeoff for happiness and morale. Lashinsky then explains how other corporations can emulate Apple’s secretive style and reap the benefits.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Christina Mulligan on patent scalability

Thumbnail image for Christina Mulligan on patent scalability

Christina Mulligan, Visiting Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, discusses Her new paper, co-authored with Tim Lee, entitled, Scaling the Patent System. Mulligan begins by describing the policy behind patents: to give temporary exclusive rights to inventors so they can benefit monetarily for their inventions. She then explains the thesis of the paper, which argues that the patent system is failing because it is too large to scale. Mulligan claims that some industries are ignoring patents when they develop new products because it is nearly impossible to discover whether a new product will infringe on an existing patent. She then highlights industries where patents are effective, like the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. According to Mulligan, these industries rarely infringe on patents because existing patents are “indexable,” meaning they are easy to look up. The discussion concludes with Mulligan offering solutions for the current problem, which includes restricting the subject matter of patents to indexable matters.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Bruce Schneier on the importance of trust in society

Thumbnail image for Bruce Schneier on the importance of trust in society

Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security expert and author, discusses his new book entitled, “Liars & Outliers: Enabling the Trust That Society Needs To Thrive.” Schneier starts the discussion by looking at society and trust, and explains why he thinks the two are necessary for civilization. According to Schneier, two concepts contribute to a trustful society: first, humans are mostly moral; second, informal reputation systems incentivize trustworthy behavior. The discussion turns to technology and trust, and Schneier talks about how the information society yields greater consequences when trust is breached. He then describes how society deals with technology and trust and why he thinks the system is not perfect but working well overall.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Jason Mazzone on copyright and the abuse of IP law

Thumbnail image for Jason Mazzone on copyright and the abuse of IP law

Jason Mazzone, professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, discusses his new book, Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law. Copyfruad, according to Mazzone, occurs when intellectual property law is used in an abusive or overreaching manner. Mazzone believes the problem arises when content owners make false or fraudulent claims of intellectual property rights that are not recognized by the law. The discussion turns to the scope of harm that results from Copyfraud, and Mazzone proposes that the solution lies in legislative measures as well as education on the scope of intellectual property law.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Gabriella Coleman on Anonymous and LulzSec

Thumbnail image for Gabriella Coleman on Anonymous and LulzSec

Gabriella Coleman, anthropologist and the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy in the Department of Art History & Communication Studies at McGill University, discusses hacktivist group, Anonymous. Coleman begins with an overview of Anonymous starting with its beginnings as a group of pranksters to its evolved state of political activism. The group, according to Coleman, started out pulling pranks, or “lulz,” on the message board 4chan. The pranks consisted of Internet memes and practical Internet jokes called trolling. She then discusses how the group moved into activism using denial of services attacks to shut down websites and issued a series of videos against the Church of Scientology. The discussion then turns to the recent arrest of several Lulzsec members, including Sabu, the hacker turned FBI informant.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

Rebecca MacKinnon on Internet freedom

Thumbnail image for Rebecca MacKinnon on Internet freedom

Rebecca MacKinnon, a former CNN correspondent and now Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, discusses her new book entitled, “Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom.” MacKinnon begins by discussing “Net Freedom,” which she describes as a structure that respects rights, freedoms, and accountability. She discusses how some governments, like China, use coercion to make private companies act a as subcontractors for censorship and manipulation. She goes on to discuss a project she launched called Global Network Initiative, where she urges companies like Google and Facebook to be more socially responsible. MacKinnon believes technology needs to be compatible with political freedoms, and she issues a call to action for Internet users to demand policies that are compatible with Internet freedoms.

Listen to and discuss this episode →

← Previous Entries