Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
headphones
Tech Policy Leaders

Tech Policy Leaders

WashingTech

1 Creator

1 Creator

Tech Policy Leaders features the best minds in tech law & policy keeping you informed about the latest trends in privacy, free speech, and media law & policy throughout the world.
bookmark
Share icon

All episodes

Best episodes

Seasons

Top 10 Tech Policy Leaders Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Tech Policy Leaders episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Tech Policy Leaders for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Tech Policy Leaders episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Tech Policy Leaders - Camille Stewart: Talk about leadership
play

11/01/21 • 23 min

WashingTECH Policy Podcast was started largely because of the impact of tech, AI and cybersecurity on communities of color, working class and immigrants, and none of the big players in the industry have it on their radar.

Our conversation today is on this very topic and there is no one more knowledgeable on the topic than Camille Stewart.

Camille Stewart is an attorney and executive whose crosscutting perspective on complex technology, cyber, and national security, and foreign policy issues has landed her in significant roles at leading government and private sector companies like the Department of Homeland Security, Deloitte, and Google. Camille builds global cybersecurity, privacy, and election security/integrity programs in complex environments for large companies and government agencies.

Camille is the Global Head of Product Security Strategy at Google advising Google’s product leads on federated security and risk. Previously, Camille was the Head of Security Policy for Google Play and Android at Google where she leads security, privacy, election integrity, and dis/mis-information. Prior to Google, Camille was a manager in Deloitte’s Cyber Risk practice working on cybersecurity, election security, tech innovation, and risk issues for DHS, DOD, and other federal agencies.

Diversity in Cybersecurity is a Problem

We have long ignored the fact that addressing issues of diversity is more than just the right thing to do, as it is actually a mission imperative in cybersecurity. And as technology underpins pretty much everything that we do, how systemic racism is amplified, or cured by technology implementation, is something that we have to be thinking about.

And the policy decisions that we've made in the past, and the ones that we make moving forward, are all impacted by a society built on systemic racism, our investments are all impacted by legacy and current day systemic racism, informed decision making policies and bodies.

The Paper to Address Diversity

The Aspen Institute came to Camille seeing this moment where we needed to kind of dive in and talk about how diversity, equity and inclusion is impacting the work and convened a large group of folks across diverse backgrounds, leaders in cybersecurity, academia, industry government, to come together for a closed door, Chatham House rules, discussion on how we could move the needle on this.

How can we come together to identify what the issues are around diversity and cybersecurity and then come up with some solutions. And the thing that was really appreciated is, as Aspen and Camille worked through this, they were very clear that it needed to be action oriented. And so the discussion was really rooted in that how can we actually do work, take action, to drive diversity and inclusion in cybersecurity, for the betterment of not only the people who will and may participate in this industry, but also for the work.

Why Diversity In Cybersecurity Should Matter to Everyone

Let's think about the large scale cyber incidents we've seen recently. The attack on Colonial Pipeline then cascaded into you, not being able to get gas. The attack on JBS foods that meant you probably couldn't get your lunch meat for your kids, means that you should be concerned about cybersecurity as an individual.

And there are so many other reasons beyond that, but those very large scale incidents are very attached to the individual and how they impact your ability to access services and operate, or because you as an individual could take an action that could lead to one of those breaches.

So diversity, as a part of cybersecurity as a part of the industry is important because you can identify things based on your lived experiences and how technology shows up in your life that other people cannot.

The Future of the Cybersecurity Workforce

A lot of the diversity issues in cybersecurity are systemic. There are issues with hiring; there are issues with retention; issues of education.

So many people don't even recognize the fact that working in technology, and cybersecurity is an option for them - access to the industry, building a network, etc. And so we created some buckets that kind of address those things divided up the practitioners that were participating.

They put their brain power behind thinking about what are some solutions to the educational barriers. Certifications are a common tool in cybersecurity. But that's really tough, because most certifications require some years of experience. And you're seeing a lot of entry level jobs that require those certifications. How can it be an entry level job if you need five years of experience to get the certification that is required to get the job?

Links and Resources:

Connect with Camille on Twitter or Instagram @Camilleesq

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Brian Woolfolk (@brianpwoolfolk) is a seasoned attorney with over 20 years of government relations and congressional investigations experience. He represents a broad array of clients with matters before Congress and federal agencies. Brian also counsels clients involved in high profile Congressional Investigations. In addition, he advises clients on compliance with federal election, lobbying disclosure and gift ban regulations.

Prior to his tenure in private practice, Brian served as a Democratic counsel on the US House Judiciary Committee and advised members and staff on constitutional, environmental, antitrust, criminal justice and investigative issues. Brian also served as legislative counsel to Congressman Robert C. (Bobby) Scott of Virginia, currently the Ranking Member of the Education and Workforce Committee.

In this episode we discussed:

  • How cable networks make money outside of advertising.
  • How the FCC's proposed set-top box rules can help improve content diversity.
  • The "big picture" of policies affecting modern media diversity.

Resources:

Unlock the Box

The Black Count by Tom Reiss

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Tech Policy Leaders - Nicol Turner-Lee: How to inspire across the aisle.
play

11/24/15 • 41 min

Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee (@drturnerlee) is Vice President and Chief Research and Policy Officer for the Multicultural Media, Internet and Telecommunications Council. In this senior role, Dr. Turner-Lee designs and implements a research and policy agenda that supports MMTC’s mission, and advocates for telecom and Internet policy reform through legislation, rulemaking, executive orders, public-private partnerships, and best practices. In 2011, she was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity in the Digital Age by former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski of the Federal Communications Commission, where she chairs the subcommittee on the use of unlicensed devices to increase minority innovation and entrepreneurship. Nicol graduated with honors from Colgate University and has a doctorate in Sociology from Northwestern University and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

In this episode, we discussed:

  • The barriers to broadband adoption
  • The politics of telecom policymaking
  • Nicol's mindset and networking success factors

Resources

Multicultural Media, Internet and Telecom Council (MMTC)

Pew--Americans' Internet Access: 2000-2015

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Tech Policy Leaders - Friday News Brief - 07.08.22

Friday News Brief - 07.08.22

Tech Policy Leaders

play

07/08/22 • 2 min

TikTok is under intensifying pressure

TikTok is under intensifying pressure from Congress after Buzzfeed released leaked audio from nine different TikTok employees saying that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company based in China, had access to TikTok user data in the U.S. In a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Kahn, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner and Vice Chair Marco Rubio called for a comprehensive investigation of TikTok’s practices, since the Buzzfeed revelation contravenes sworn statements from TikTok’s policy lead, Michael Beckerman, back in October, that the company doesn’t share user information with ByteDance. The Chinese government holds a stake in ByteDance, and TikTok’s statements regarding whether it considers itself a ByteDance subsidiary have been vague, according to several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Parents sue TikTok over little girls’ deaths due to ‘Blackout Challenge’

The parents of two little girls, ages 8 & 9, are suing TikTok in Los Angeles because their kids died participating in a ‘Blackout Challenge’ that went viral on the platform, which called on participants to choke themselves until they pass out. The suit claims that TikTok knew or should have known the platform was “addictive” and warned parents the challenge was happening.

Google announced it will delete abortion clinic visits

The Washington Post reported that Google will delete location data showing users’ visits to abortion clinics. The move comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, and concerns that law enforcement officials, including citizens deputized by anti-abortion states to rat out women seeking abortions, will form a stampede to obtain pregnant women’s browser and location data. The Post also reports that misinformation remains a concern as shady company’s promoting alternative ways to seek abortions have begun to proliferate on the internet.

Apple’s new feature to block government spyware

Apple is rolling out a new iPhone feature called “Lockdown Mode” that’s designed to block government access to your phone via spyware data. The announcement comes after the recent discovery that Israeli law enforcement officials used the so-called Pegasus spyware to obtain contact information and even live audio.

That’s it for this week. You can find links to all of these stories in the show notes.

Stay safe, stay informed, have a great weekend.

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Tech Policy Leaders - Tom Wheeler: Gutenberg, Google, Darwin & Beyond
play

03/12/19 • 19 min

Tom Wheeler: Gutenberg, Google, Darwin & Beyond (Ep. 177)

Tom Wheeler joined Joe Miller to discuss Mr. Wheeler's new book 'From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future'.

Bio

Chairman Tom Wheeler is a visiting fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings. Wheeler is a businessman, author, and was Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) from 2013 to 2017.

For over four decades, Wheeler has been involved with new telecommunications networks and services. At the FCC he led the efforts that resulted in the adoption of Net Neutrality, privacy protections for consumers, and increased cybersecurity, among other policies. His chairmanship has been described as, “The most productive Commission in the history of the agency.” During the Obama-Biden Transition of 2008/09 Mr. Wheeler led activities overseeing the agencies of government dealing with science, technology, space and the arts.

As an entrepreneur, he started or helped start multiple companies offering innovative cable, wireless and video communications services. He is the only person to be selected to both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Hall of Fame, a fact President Obama joked made him “the Bo Jackson of telecom.”

Prior to being appointed Chairman of the FCC by President Obama, Wheeler was Managing Director at Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm investing in early stage Internet Protocol (IP)-based companies. He is CEO of the Shiloh Group, a strategy development and private investment company specializing in telecommunications services. He co-founded SmartBrief, the Internet’s largest curated information service for vertical markets.

From 1976 to 1984 Wheeler was associated with the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) where he was President and CEO from 1979 to 1984. Following NCTA Wheeler was CEO of several high-tech companies, including the first company to offer high-speed delivery to home computers and the first digital video satellite service. From 1992 to 2004 Wheeler served as President and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA).

Mr. Wheeler wrote Take Command: Leadership Lessons from the Civil War (Doubleday, 2000), and Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War (HarperCollins, 2006). His commentaries on current events have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and numerous other leading publications.

Mr. Wheeler served on President Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board prior to being named to the FCC. Presidents Clinton and Bush each appointed him a Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is the former Chairman and President of the National Archives Foundation, and a former board member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University and the recipient of its Alumni Medal. He resides in Washington, D.C.

Resources

Brookings Governance Studies

From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future by Tom Wheeler (Brookings, 2019)

Time to Fix It: Developing Rules for Internet Capitalism (Harvard: Kennedy, 2018)

The Root of the Matter: Data & Duty: Rules of the New Digital Economy Should Look to Old Common Law Traditions (Harvard: Kennedy, 2018)

The Supreme Court and House Democrats Breathe New Life into Net Neutrality (Brookings, 2018)

Who Makes the Rules in the new gilded age? (Brookings, 2018)

News Roundup Elizabeth Warren proposes breaking up big tech

Senator Elizabeth Warren announced her proposal last week to reign in tech firms like Google, Amazon, and Facebook. The plan calls for potentially breaking up some mergers as well as new legislation. Senator Warren wants to break up Doubleclick and Google, Facebook and its subsidiaries Instagram and Whats App, and the Amazon/Whole Foods merger.

Politico reported Monday that Facebook removed ads that Elizabeth Warren placed on the social network which criticized Facebook and called for its bre...

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

https://techpolicypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/alicia_mazzara-500x500-e1548763637485.jpg

Alicia Mazzara: Mapping How a Housing Vouchers Loophole Furthers Segregation (Ep. 171)

Landlords across the U.S. are refusing to rent to prospective tenants with housing vouchers. As a result, demand for voucher-eligible housing units in low-income areas greatly exceeds supply. But in high income areas, the opposite is true.

Bio

Alicia Mazzara is a Research Analyst in the Housing Division at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. She works on issues related to federal low-income housing policy.

Prior to joining the Center in 2015, Mazzara was a Policy Advisor in Third Way’s Economic Program where her research centered on income inequality, labor market dynamics, and workforce development. She has also spent time working in the federal government and as a Research Associate at the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Mazzara has a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and international relations from Carleton College and a Master of Public Policy from George Washington University.

Resources

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Interactive Map: Where Voucher Households Live in the 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas by Alicia Mazzara, Brian Knudsen, and Nick Kasprak (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2019).

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

News Roundup AOC and Pingree call out tech firms for sponsoring event featuring climate-change deniers

Democratic Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chellie Pingree called out Google, Facebook, and Microsoft last week for sponsoring an event put on by the CO2 Coalition, an organization that opposes policies that are designed to address climate change. Through company spokespeople, all three companies sought to distance themselves from the views expressed at the event by saying they support organizations across the political spectrum and highlighting their substantial investments to address climate change. After those companies released statements, Ocasio-Cortez and Pingree pushed back even further saying the climate-change crisis is too great for the companies to permit themselves to undermine their leadership by associating with propagandistic organizations like the CO2 Coalition.

U.S. Charges Huawei

The Department of Justice has indicted several affiliates, subsidiaries and executives of Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei. The company is accused of stealing intellectual property from T-Mobile and violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. U.S. officials say Huawei’s alleged theft of intellectual property from T-Mobile gave the Chinese government backdoor access to technology from a U.S.-based telecommunications company thereby endangering U.S. national security interests. The U.S. is also in the process of extraditing Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wengzhou from Vancouver in order to face charges that she worked to circumvent U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.

Big Tech Increased Lobbying in 2018

Google, Facebook and Amazon increased their lobbying spending in 2018 over the previous year during increased scrutiny from Congress regarding how the companies use personal data. Google’s lobbying expenditures jumped from $18 to 21 million. Amazon spent $14.2 million, up from $12.8 million in 2017. Facebook spent $13 million—a million-and—half more than the previous year. All three companies concentrated a fair share of that spending in the fourth quarter.

Netflix joins MPAA

Netflix has joined the Motion Picture Association of America which, since 1922, has been the trade association for the six major film studios. The announcement came the same day Netflix received its first-ever Best Picture nomination for ‘Roma’.

Advocacy groups call on FTC to breakup Facebook

Several advocacy groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Color of Change, are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to break up Facebook, according to a Wall Street Journal report on a

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Courtney Tanenbaum (@courttanenbaum) is a senior researcher and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) marketing and research lead at AIR. She is a graduate of the Institute for Education Leadership’s DC Education Policy Fellowship Program. Since joining AIR in May 2003, she has worked on several research and evaluation studies focused on federal policies and initiatives designed to improve the outcome of disadvantaged students and underrepresented minorities, both in K-12 and higher education.

Currently, Dr. Tanenbaum serves as the principal investigator for the National Study of the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, through a grant from the National Science Foundation. Under this grant she is responsible for managing the project, writing data-driven issue briefs on issues related to the participation of underrepresented minorities and women of all races and ethnicities in STEM. Most recently she contributed to an issue brief examining graduate student debt levels and one examining gender differences in the early career pathways of new STEM doctoral recipients. She also led a two-day symposium examining the implicit and explicit biases, barriers and challenges underrepresented groups of individuals in STEM encounter along their academic and career pathways, and how institutions of higher education and STEM academic departments can use this research to develop more effective recruitment and retention programs and practices.

Under a previous grant from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Tanenbaum served as the task lead for the implementation analysis of the national evaluation of the grant program. As task lead, she conducted multiple site visits to institutions of higher education participating in the grant, during which she led interviews with college deans, grant program leadership, faculty, and undergraduate and graduate students. She led the coding and analyses of the data collected during site visits to inform the implementation component of the evaluation.

Dr. Tanenbaum also serves on several studies of federal policy. She serves as a data collection and analysis task lead for the Impact Evaluation of Race to the Top and School Improvement Grant (SIG) programs. In this role, she has contributed to an evaluation brief examining school turnaround policies, practices, and strategies in SIG, the first and second year evaluation reports. She is also lead author on an evaluation brief examining state capacity to support school turnaround.

Dr. Tanenbaum serves as the deputy project director for the Equitable Distribution of Effective Teachers study, for which she assists in the overall management of the project, leads the collection and analysis of data gathered through interviews with officials, and serves as a lead author of the final evaluation report. In addition, she leads the school-level data collection and analysis task for the Early Implementation of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Flexibility Study. In this role, Dr. Tanenbaum is responsible for producing a policy brief exploring school-level perspectives on the implementation of ESEA flexibility that will be shared with U.S. Department of Education staff to inform future policy making, and for contributing to a key highlights report that will be released to the public.

In this episode we discussed

  • Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)
  • Stereotype Threat and Imposter Syndrome
  • Keeping Kids Interested in STEM with Comics

Resources

American Institutes for Research

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Jason Llorenz is a professor, researcher and advocate with over a decade of federal and state-level policy development, strategic communication, and legal experience. His research interests focus on:

• Digital literacy and universal inclusion on the Internet • Telecommunications and Internet policy • Digital and social media in the innovation economy

Jason teaches courses in digital communication and policy at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information.

Jason's writing appears in the Huffington Post, and he is often sought for comment on the issues facing the digital divide and universal digital inclusion. Jason has been interviewed on this subject by media outlets including the Washington Post and National Public Radio. A regular speaker, Jason has led discussions on Capitol Hill, in state capitols, and for groups and associations. He has been a speaker for SXSWEdu, SXSW Interactive, the Delegation of the European Union, the National Caucus of State Legislators (NCSL), the National Council of La Raza, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, LATISM, and many others.

Jason holds a BA from Cazenovia College, and Juris Doctor from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. He serves as an advisory board member of the Multicultural Media Technology & Internet Council (MMTC), which honored him for outstanding service in 2015. He is a board member of the Energy Equity Alliance and the DC Casineros Dance Company. He is a Member of the New York State Bar.

In the Episode We Discuss:

  1. Media Consumption Habits Across Demographic Groups
  2. How More Americans Can Use Tech to Make Money
  3. How Diversity in Tech Compares to Diversity in Media
bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Michael Calabrese is director of the Wireless Future Project, which is part of The New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute. He also serves as a senior research fellow affiliated with the Asset Building Program. Mr. Calabrese focuses on developing policies that promote pervasive connectivity, including spectrum policy reform, mobile market competition, wireless broadband deployment and IT investment and innovation more broadly.

Mr. Calabrese currently serves as an appointed member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) since 2009. He also served as an invited expert on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) spectrum reform working group during 2011-2012.

Mr. Calabrese also served as vice president (2003-2010) and was instrumental in establishing the organization's programs in areas including retirement security, health policy, asset building, education and the Next Social Contract Initiative.

Previously, Mr. Calabrese served as general counsel of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, as director of Domestic Policy Programs at the Center for National Policy, and as pension and employee benefits counsel at the national AFL-CIO.

As an attorney and graduate of both Stanford Business and Law Schools, Mr. Calabrese speaks and writes frequently on issues related to spectrum, wireless broadband, and Internet policy, as well as on pension policy and retirement security. He has co-authored three books and published opinion articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, Slate and other leading outlets.

In this episode we discussed:

  • What spectrum is, how it is divided up, and the differences between licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
  • What the so-called "car band" is and why it should be shared with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed devices.

Resources:

Spectrum Silos to Gigabit WiFi by Michael Calabrese (New America Foundation, 2016)

Open Technology Institute

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Tech Policy Leaders - Connie Frazier: The Real-World Impact of Reality TV.
play

11/15/16 • 17 min

In this episode, we discussed:

  • how traditional and social media platforms perpetuate stereotypes.
  • the role of the advertising industry in promoting accurate portrayals of underrepresented groups in the media

Resources:

Reality TV: Entertaining But No Laughing Matter (AAF, 2015)

American Advertising Federation (AAF)

American Advertising Federation's Mosaic Council

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

NEWS ROUNDUP

The tech sector and tech-related progressive thinks tanks are reeling following the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. At Benton.org, Robbie McBeath discusses the totally changed political landscape in which Republicans will now control all three branches of government. South Dakota Senator John Thune is expected to continue to Chair the Senate Commerce Committee. Three Congressmen--Greg Walden, John Shimkus and Joe Barton are expected to pursue the House Energy and Commerce Chairmanship, with Walden being the favorite since House speaker Paul Ryan credits Walden, who served as Republican Congressional Committee Chair, with helping Republicans maintain control of Congress.

Anticipated legislative initiatives include rewriting the Communications Act and an effort to override the FCC’s net neutrality rules, as well as expanding mobile and internet access to rural areas and capping Lifeline expenditures to $1.5 billion.

President-elect Trump will of course nominate a new FCC Chair to replace Tom Wheeler who is expected to leave before the inauguration on January 20th.

Tech sector stocks declined following last week’s election, as investors anticipated a new administration that would be less friendly to tech than Obama. The tech sector opposed Trump vigorously during the campaign, contributing barely anything to his campaign, outside of PayPal founder Peter Thiel who contributed $1.25 million late in the election season.

Companies like Apple are concerned about what a new Trump administration will mean for encryption and the company’s resistance to law enforcement requests for access to iPhone data during criminal investigations. Almost all of the Valley is concerned about what the new administration will mean not just for things like net neutrality and science-based policymaking, but also the sector’s influence in Washington, which had grown exponentially during the Obama era.

----

Facebook announced that it will no longer allow advertisers to exclude audiences based on their race and ethnicity for ads related to housing, credit or employment. The company will also require advertisers to pledge not to place any discriminatory ads on Facebook. The company had come under fire from civil rights activists, the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses, as well as several attorneys general after Pro Publica released a report showing how Facebook allowed advertisers selling real estate to exclude racial and ethnic groups. Two plaintiffs also sued Facebook under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

----

Following the 2016 presidential election, Facebook executives are now evaluating the role the platform plays in the dissemination of fake news, and the extent to which misinformation on the social network led to the election of Donald Trump. One piece of fake news shared over 1 million times falsely claimed that Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump.

Facebook has been under fire for bias in its newsfeed over the past year, and earlier this year was accused of suressing conservative news from its trending news results. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denies fake news on Facebook impacted the election in any way. Mike Isaac has the story in the New York Times.

----

John Wagner reported in the Washington Post on

bookmark
plus icon
share episode