Techdirt

Regulating Speech In An Age Of Fake News Nov 20, 2024

We've got another cross-post for you this week, and this time it's also a live panel recording. Recently, Mike joined a panel at Boston University Questrom School of Business which was recorded for WBUR's Is Business Broken? podcast, alongside professors Marshall Van Alstyne and Nadine Strossen, and moderated by host Curt Nickisch. The discussion is all about Section 230 specifically and the regulation of speech more broadly, and you can listen to the whole thing here on this week's episode.

From The Streisand Effect To Bluesky Nov 13, 2024

It's been a few weeks, but we're back! Although the podcast schedule is still going to be sporadic for a little while longer (Mike explains further in the intro) we've got a couple cross-post episodes lined up, starting with today's. Recently, Mike joined Ed Zitron on his Better Offline podcast for a far-reaching interview about (among other things) the history of Techdirt, the future of Bluesky, and the origins of the Streisand Effect. You can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode. Better Offline Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-streisand-effect-with-mike-masnick/id1730587238?i=1000675856146

Useful Lessons From 'Slow Social Media' Oct 08, 2024

Though the current popular narrative about social media seems to be that it is harmful and has little or no redeeming value, the truth (which a lot of people know) is that it also has a lot of value, and the potential to be even better. A recent research report from New_Public finds some ideas on how to pursue that potential by looking at a niche, local social media site that moves a lot slower than the big networks, and this week we're joined by New_Public co-director Eli Pariser to discuss what useful lessons there might be to learn from "slow social media". Read the report (pdf): https://newpublic.org/uploads/2024/07/Front-Porch-Forum-report-2.pdf

The Story Of Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover Sep 17, 2024

If you're a Techdirt reader (or any tech news reader) you've already heard a lot of stories about the chaos of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, but no matter how much you know, there's a lot to learn in a new book that hits the shelves today. Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, by New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, is the definitive retelling of the saga-so-far, and it's full of fascinating details that make it a gripping read. Today, Kate joins us on the podcast to talk all about the book and the stories therein. Get the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737290/character-limit-by-kate-conger-and-ryan-mac/

How Fact Checking Fails Aug 27, 2024

There's been plenty of conversation over the past decade about how unprepared the mainstream media was for the shifts that have happened in politics and political discourse, especially when it comes to finding... well... the truth. As we move towards the 2024 election, the challenges of reporting and fact checking are once again in the spotlight, and this week we're joined by NYU Journalism Professor and Jay Rosen to talk about the state of modern journalism, and how fact checking so often fails.

AI As A Tool For Writing, Not A Replacement Aug 14, 2024

A few months ago, Mike wrote about the ways he uses AI tools when writing for Techdirt — not to do any of the actual writing, but to help improve it. The specific tool in question is Lex, a word processor with embedded AI features, and this week Lex founder Nathan Baschez joins Mike on the podcast to talk more about AI as a tool for creative improvement rather than a replacement for creativity.

The NCMEC Board Is Captured & Failing, Says Former Member Aug 07, 2024

We've had several episodes and posts lately all about NCMEC, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, looking at both the great work it does and some of the problems that plague it. One thing we've often been especially concerned about is the center's advocacy efforts, such as pushing for FOSTA and KOSA. This week, we're joined by former NCMEC board member Don McGowan, who shares his story about leaving the board over the many problems that plague it.

Link Taxes Won't Save Journalism Jul 17, 2024

A few weeks ago, Mike was the moderator on a panel hosted by CCIA all about link taxes — the various problematic efforts around the world to force internet companies to pay media outlets for sending them traffic. The panel featured Public Knowledge Policy Director Lisa Macpherson, Lion Publishers Executive Director Chris Krewson, and lawyer Cathy Gellis who we regularly work with here at Techdirt. You can listen to the whole discussion here on this week's episode of the podcast.

The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality Jul 09, 2024

It was over six years ago when we last had Renée DiResta on the podcast for a detailed discussion about misinformation and disinformation on social media. Since then, she's not only led extensive research on the subject, she's also become a central figure in the fever-dream conspiracy theories of online disinformation peddlers. Her new book Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality dives deep into the modern ecosystem of online disinformation, and she joins us again on this week's episode to discuss the many things that have changed in the past six years.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech Minisode: The Supreme Court’s NetChoice Ruling Jul 01, 2024

The hosts of Ctrl-Alt-Speech are both on vacation this week, but we didn’t want to leave our listeners waiting too long for an update on today’s big news about online speech: the Supreme Court’s ruling in the NetChoice cases, which sends the Texas and Florida laws that would limit the ability of online platforms to moderate political speech back to the lower courts. So Mike Masnick has stepped briefly back to the microphone to join our producer, Leigh Beadon, for a quick mini episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, which we’re also posting to the Techdirt podcast feed. In this short discussion, Mike explains the immediate implications of the ruling, the way it separates procedural questions from its broader guidance on the First Amendment, and what it signals about how the court will evaluate issues like this in the future. Read more about the NetChoice ruling in our coverage on Techdirt: From Mike Masnick - https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/01/in-content-moderation-cases-supreme-court-says-try-again-but-makes-it-clear-moderation-deserves-first-amendment-protections/ From Cathy Gellis - https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/01/in-the-netchoice-cases-alito-and-his-buddies-are-wrong-but-even-if-they-were-right-it-may-not-matter-and-thats-largely-good-news/

Raising Kids In A Digital World Jun 25, 2024

We weren't planning to do a series, but after our last two episodes with Alice Marwick and then Candice Odgers, things have lined up nicely for a trifecta of episodes about the current moral panic around kids and social media. This week, we're joined by Dr. Devorah Heitner, an expert on kids and technology and author of the recent book Growing Up In Public, as well as a Substack about mentoring kids in a connected world, to discuss what parents really need to know about kids, social media, and the internet.

What An Actual Expert Thinks About Kids & Social Media Jun 18, 2024

In the conversation about keeping kids safe online, the actual experts with the most to offer are all too often treated as outsiders and interlopers. One such expert is Candice Odgers, Professor of Psychological Science and Informatics at the University of California Irvine, who has recently been involved in a lot of debates against people who are very confident despite having far less information and expertise. This week, she joins us for something of a follow-up to our previous episode, to have a more productive discussion about the real challenges with kids and social media and the real efforts to address them.

A Primer On Child Online Safety Legislation Jun 11, 2024

There's a broad legislative push for rules that would (supposedly) protect kids online. But as we've written about at length, while the concern for teen mental health might be genuine, the legislative response is highly problematic and based on a misdiagnosis of the underlying problems. This week, we're joined by UNC's Alice Marwick, one of a group of academics who recently released a primer on child safety legislation, to discuss the many different issues at play and the problems with various regulatory proposals. Child Online Safety Legislation (COSL) - A Primer: https://citap.pubpub.org/pub/cosl/release/5

The Importance Of Section 230 For Online Communities Jun 04, 2024

At the latest committee hearing about its repeal bill, Congress finally deigned to bring in one witness who spoke in defense of Section 230. Engine Executive Director Kate Tummarello got a little bit of time to explain how Section 230 isn't about protecting big tech, it's about protecting the hosts and users of all kinds of extremely important and valuable online communities. But that little bit of time was far from enough, so this week Kate joins us on the podcast to say some more things that Congress really, really needs to listen to.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Deepfake It Till You Make It (Teaser) May 30, 2024

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss a fascinating story about how political deepfakes are being used in the Indian election - but not in the way you might expect. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Platform Moderation Or Individual Control? May 21, 2024

As decentralized social media experiments continue, we're getting more and more opportunities to really understand the impact of decentralized systems and how they are received by users. Amy Zhang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Washington, has been studying and thinking about these issues a lot, and this week she joins us on the podcast to discuss a recent paper and, in general, how users are faring in the world of decentralized social media and content moderation. Research paper, "Do Users Want Platform Moderation or Individual Control?" - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.02208

Generative AI Is Doomed May 14, 2024

There's no shortage of prognostication about the future of generative AI, including plenty of predictions that it won't actually be around forever for various reasons. A lot of these takes are a little too speculative or just not very interesting, but one that stands out comes from law professor and returning podcast guest Eric Goldman, who joins us this week to discuss his recent lecture and subsequent paper arguing that the regulatory environment won't allow generative AI to survive. 2024 Nies Lecture on Intellectual Property: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3tzZ_nH-AI Research paper, "Generative AI Is Doomed": https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4802313

The Challenges Facing NCMEC's CyberTipline May 07, 2024

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline is a central component of the fight against child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, but there have been a lot of questions about how well it truly works. A recent report from the Stanford Internet Observatory, which we've published two recent posts about, provides an extremely useful window into the system. This week, we're joined by two of the report's authors, Shelby Grossman and Riana Pfefferkorn, to dig into the content of the report and the light it sheds on the challenges faced by the CyberTipline. Stanford Report: https://purl.stanford.edu/pr592kc5483 Techdirt posts: https://www.techdirt.com/company/ncmec/

Talking TikTok Apr 30, 2024

We've got one more cross-post episode for you today, then next week we're back with a brand new discussion. Recently, Mike joined the Daily Beast's The New Abnormal podcast with host Andy Levy for a conversation about the big news from last week: Biden signing a bill that will ban TikTok in the US if owner ByteDance doesn't divest from it. The full episode of The New Abnormal covers other topics as well, or you can listen to Mike's segment isolated here on this week's episode. The New Abnormal episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-campaign-shifts-strategy-for-its-part-time-candidate/id1508202790?i=1000653645212

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Combating Sextortion (Teaser) Apr 24, 2024

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss the startling epidemic of "sextortion" scammers targeting teens online. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing Friday - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Copyright Conundrum Apr 24, 2024

This week, we've got another cross-post episode for you. Mike recently appeared on the Sidebar podcast from Courthouse News as part of an episode taking an in-depth look at why copyright is actually the biggest free speech restriction in the US and the various questions, implications, and problems that arise from this. You can listen to the whole thing here on this week's episode.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Facebook's New AI Content Policy (Teaser) Apr 18, 2024

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Ben and guest host Alice Hunsberger discuss Meta/Facebook's new policy for labeling AI-generated content. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Abolishing Section 230 Would Abolish Wikipedia Apr 16, 2024

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had a hearing all about Section 230, in which they didn't even attempt to find a witness pointing out its benefits. Among the many organizations that could have provided that vital perspective is the Wikimedia Foundation (as seen in three excellent posts on Medium), and this week we're joined by Rebecca MacKinnon, Wikimedia's VP of Global Advocacy and long-time open internet defender, to talk about why the hearing was bad and Section 230 is very, very important. Posts by Wikimedia: https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/if-congress-repeals-section-230-what-will-that-mean-for-wikipedia-691559dfb2c5 https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/common-assumptions-and-misunderstandings-about-online-content-moderation-and-reforming-section-230-eb9bd6d70d58 https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/alternatives-to-reforming-section-230-refocusing-internet-regulation-on-empowering-people-c175af4d6626

Democratic Design For Online Spaces Apr 09, 2024

One very important thing to understand in the conversation about online speech is that there are many different kinds of online communities, big and small, and they all have their own needs when it comes to rules and governance. This fact is a key element of a new book, Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life by media studies professor Nathan Schneider, and this week Nathan joins the podcast to talk about how democracy does (and doesn't) manifest in online communities.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The Most Moderated Word on Meta (Teaser) Apr 04, 2024

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss the recent decision from the Oversight Board that reveals the single most moderated word on Meta's social media sites. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

How Important Will The Murthy Case Be? Apr 03, 2024

We've written a lot about the Murthy case at the Supreme Court, and especially how poor of a job the states did in making their argument. Now, as we await the ruling, there are a lot of questions about what it will look like and how consequential it will be. This week, we're joined by law professor Kate Klonick to discuss what happened, what's likely to come next, and what kind of impact it will have.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Elon Musk & Stonetoss (Teaser) Mar 28, 2024

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss the latest curious and contradictory content moderation decisions by Elon Musk, and a recent article about the risks and challenges associated with how different countries approach internet regulation. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl-alt-speech/id1734530193 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/93842011-b662-430a-8e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcky6_VTbejGkZ7aHqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: https://www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Cognitive Liberty Is The End Goal Of Decentralization Mar 26, 2024

Last year in September, we released a cross-post episode of Mike's appearance on the DWeb Decoded podcast with Danny O'Brien. If you listened to that episode, you know that Mike and Danny go way back, and Danny played an important role in the founding of Techdirt. This week, we've got the inverse counterpart to that episode, with Danny joining Mike here on the Techdirt podcast for a discussion about decentralization and "cognitive liberty" (and a bunch of other topics).

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The TikTok Ban (Teaser) Mar 18, 2024

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from the debut episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike and Ben discuss the US bill that aims to ban TikTok, or at least force ByteDance to divest from it. Listen to the whole episode, covering all the week's biggest news in online speech, by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl-alt-speech/id1734530193 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/93842011-b662-430a-8e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcky6_VTbejGkZ7aHqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: https://www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Gaming Like It's 1928! Mar 13, 2024

As is tradition, now that we've announced the winners of our latest public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1928, it's time for a special episode of the podcast taking a closer look at them. Just like in past years, Mike is joined by myself and our game design partner Randy Lubin to discuss our thoughts on the winners in all six categories, and a bunch of other great games that didn't quite make the cut.

Checking In On Bluesky With Jay Graber Mar 05, 2024

Anyone who follows Techdirt knows we're very interested in the progress of Bluesky, the decentralized social network that embraces our concept of protocols over platforms. Bluesky recently ended its invite-only beta and opened its doors to the public, so it seems like a great time for a check-in, and who better to check in with than Bluesky CEO Jay Graber? Jay joins us on this week's episode for a discussion about Bluesky's progress and what the future holds.

KOSA Isn't Just Wrong About The Internet, It's Wrong About Child Safety Feb 21, 2024

In our coverage of the problems with KOSA and other legislative pushes to "protect the children" online, we usually (for obvious reasons) come at the subject from the technology side, and look at all the ways these laws misunderstand the internet. But that's not their only flaw: these proposals also tend to lack any real understanding of child safety. Maureen Flatley is someone who has been vocal from the other side, having covered child safety issues for about as long as we've covered tech, and she joins us on this week's episode to discuss how KOSA and its ilk aren't rooted in what we really know about keeping kids safe.

How To Actually Help Kids Online Feb 13, 2024

As we've written about repeatedly, efforts to protect kids online and improve their mental health at the moment all seem to be focused on taking social media away from them, even though all the evidence suggests this would be harmful, not helpful. Today, we're joined by Rob Morris, who aims to take a different approach with his online mental health service Koko, for a discussion about how the real way to help kids is to meet them where they're at.

Is the Internet Killing Culture? (No. Don’t Be Stupid.) Feb 06, 2024

A couple weeks ago, we released the 2024 edition of our Sky Is Rising report about the state of the entertainment industries. Last week, Mike and I joined Corbin Barthold on Techfreedom's Tech Policy Podcast for a discussion about the report and, more broadly, the state of culture in the internet era and the conversations that surround it. You can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

The Data Transfer Initiative After One Year Feb 01, 2024

Back in April, we were joined on the podcast by Chris Riley, the Executive Director of the new nonprofit Data Transfer Initiative that aimed to promote data portability and empower users to transfer their data from one service to another. Today, the Initiative has released its first annual report, and Chris is back on the podcast for a discussion all about how things are going, and what's on deck for 2024. Data Transfer Initiative Annual Report 2023 (PDF): https://dtinit.org/assets/DTI-Annual-Report-2023.pdf

Protocols, Not Platforms Jan 25, 2024

We've got a nice fresh live recording for you today! Just yesterday, Mike was at the Knight Foundation's INFORMED Conference to participate in a panel discussion with Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, moderated by former Twitter Trust & Safety head Yoel Roth. The subject was decentralized and federated social media, especially its implications for content moderation, and you can listen to the whole panel here on this week's episode.

Beeper And The Power Of Protocols Jan 17, 2024

Last month, we wrote about Apple's nonsensical attack on Beeper, a universal messaging app that exemplifies many of the things we talk about here on Techdirt, like adversarial interoperability and the value of embracing open protocols over walled platforms. This week, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky joins us on the podcast to talk about the app, the fight with Apple, and the power of protocols.

Could A Design Code Help Social Media Serve Society Better? Jan 09, 2024

We're back from the holidays, and it's time for a new episode of the Techdirt Podcast! This week, we're joined by Ravi Iyer, Research Director for the USC Marshall School's Neely Center and Managing Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute, to discuss a proposed "design code" that aims to make social media better serve society. Mike isn't entirely convinced by the approach, leading to a long discussion about all its ins and outs.

Content Moderation Games Dec 19, 2023

Many of you might know Andrew "K'Tetch" Norton as a Techdirt commenter, or from his work at TorrentFreak or for the Pirate Party, and some of you might know that he also runs his own podcast, Tetch Talk. Recently, Andrew asked Mike and I to join him on the podcast for a discussion about our content moderation games Moderator Mayhem and Trust & Safety Tycoon, and today we're posting a mirror of the full discussion for our last podcast of the year. See you in 2024!

Could Engineer Licensing Make AI Safer? Dec 13, 2023

There's plenty of discussion right now about what approach, regulatory or otherwise, could rein in the potential harms of AI systems. This week, we're joined by professor and researcher Chinmayi Sharma to discuss her brand new article that offers an interesting idea: professionalizing the AI field with engineer licensing and a malpractice standard. Read the article: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/setting-a-higher-bar-professionalizing-ai-engineering

Decentralizing Innovation Dec 05, 2023

We've got another cross-post episode this week! Recently, Mike joined the debut episode of the new Dot Social podcast from Flipboard CEO Mike McCue for a discussion about decentralized social media and the open social web, and the ways in which they are poised to spur widespread innovation. You can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode.

AI Is Going To Change More Than You Realize Nov 28, 2023

The world of generative AI has been changing rapidly, and that's not something that's going to stop any time soon. Today, we're joined on the podcast by Jonathan Ross, founder and CEO of Groq (no, not Elon Musk's new bot called Grok) — a company working on a new technology stack that drastically speeds up performance of AI models — to talk about all things AI, and the many ways it's going to change in the coming months and years.

Trust & Safety In Wartime Oct 31, 2023

As you hopefully know, we recently launched (and then released a podcast about) our new game, Trust & Safety Tycoon, which we created in association with the Atlantic Council's Task Force for a Trustworthy Future Web. This week, we've got two people from the Atlantic Council joining us on the podcast: Democracy & Tech Initiative Director Rose Jackson and DRFLab Senior Fellow and Managing Editor Andy Carvin. In the wake of current events in Israel, the conversation turned to a look at the unique challenges of trust and safety during times of global armed conflict.

Your Face Belongs To Us, With Kashmir Hill Oct 24, 2023

We've written plenty about facial recognition here on Techdirt, and especially the infamous Clearview AI. Now, journalist Kashmir Hill, who wrote the original New York Times story that told the story about the company's inception, has written a new book all about the subject: Your Face Belongs To Us. This week, she joins us on the podcast to discuss the whole story of Clearview AI, the rise of facial recognition, and the impact on privacy. Your Face Belongs To Us: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691288/your-face-belongs-to-us-by-kashmir-hill/

Trust & Safety Tycoon Oct 20, 2023

As you hopefully know by now, earlier this week we launched our new game, Trust & Safety Tycoon. It's a free, browser-based game (playable on desktop or mobile, though we recommend desktop for the best experience) that puts you in the shoes of the head of trust and safety at a rapidly growing social media platform, where you must face all the difficult decisions that entails. As we did for our past games Moderator Mayhem and Startup Trail, Mike, myself, and our game design partner Randy Lubin of Leveraged Play sat down after the release to record a podcast episode all about the game, our design process, and the reaction from players so far.

Open Sourcing The Trust & Safety Toolkit Sep 26, 2023

The trust and safety conversation tends to focus on the huge platforms, and the millions of smaller websites (some still quite big!) get ignored. But those websites have trust and safety needs too, and they use a lot of different tools to meet them. Most of these tools are proprietary, but there's a growing push to build more open source tooling for the purpose, which was discussed by Derek Slater in a recent Atlantic Council report. This week, Derek joins us on the podcast to talk about the problems that open source trust and safety tools can solve.

Liability, Speech & Marketplaces Sep 19, 2023

We've got a slightly unusual (at first glace) crosspost episode for you this week! Recently, Mike joined Dave Cooper, CEO and Founder of brand protection agency IPSecure, on the company's Owning The Buy Box podcast. As you probably know, we're pretty skeptical of brand protection companies here at Techdirt, but Dave has a history of heeding our criticisms and being thoughtful about policy and court rulings, enabling an interesting and insightful discussion about a recent legal decision and the brand protection space as a whole.

Link Taxes Are (Still) Bad Sep 12, 2023

Earlier this year, we had an episode looking at Canada's proposed social media link tax and the many ways it would be terrible. Since then, that link tax has become law (though not yet come into effect), and unsurprisingly proven that the dire predictions were correct. Also since then, the Cato Institute's Paul Matzko published an excellent paper on link taxes in general, and Paul joins us on this week's episode to discuss the many reasons that a link tax won't save the newspaper industry. Read the paper: https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/link-tax-wont-save-newspaper-industry Listen to our previous episode on Canada's link tax: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/04/04/techdirt-podcast-episode-349-link-taxes-are-bad-canada-edition/

Thinking About Decentralization Sep 05, 2023

We've got a another cross-post episode for you this week, on a subject near and dear to our hearts: protocols over platforms, and restoring decentralization online. Mike recently joined Danny O'Brien on the DWeb Decoded podcast to talk all about these topics, as well as tell a little story about Danny's role in the founding of Techdirt, and you can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode.

Social Media & Mental Health Aug 29, 2023

Social media isn't the first phenomenon to spark a moral panic about its impact on people's (and especially young people's) mental health, and it surely won't be the last — but for now, it's the star of the show. A lot of people will gladly latch on to, and casually misrepresent, any research that might strengthen their belief in social media's harms. But that doesn't mean there are no harms: it's just that good research needs to account for the complexity of the subject and social media's myriad impacts, good and bad. One person doing such research is Professor Andy Przybylski from the University of Oxford, who joins us on this week's episode for a more detailed and meaningful discussion about social media and mental health.

Gigi Sohn On Community Broadband Aug 15, 2023

If you didn't know who Gigi Sohn was before her stalled-out FCC nomination and the ridiculous smear campaign that came with it, you surely do by now. And if you read Techdirt, you know she's one of the most experienced and passionate experts around when it comes to broadband. This week, she returns to the podcast after quite some time to discuss her new role at the American Association for Public Broadband and the fight for more community-owned broadband in the US.

The YouTube Effect, With Alex Winter Aug 09, 2023

As you may recall, we weren't fans of The Social Dilemma, the documentary manipulated people with misinformation in the course of complaining about that exact practice. But now there's a much better and more interesting documentary in the space, and one that's worth your time: The YouTube Effect by Alex Winter. It takes a deep dive into the good and the bad of YouTube, and grapples with the fact that it has helped radicalize a lot of people. This week, Alex joins Mike (who still contests some of the points in the movie) on the podcast to discuss (and debate) the documentary and the role of YouTube in our culture. Watch The YouTube Effect: https://www.yteffect.com/

Can Interoperability Be Mandated? Aug 01, 2023

We've long believed in the power of online platform interoperability and the power it gives to users to curate their own experiences. One of the prime examples of this is Block Party, created by Tracy Chou, which has had to suspend its operations following ExTwitter's API changes. Tracy joined us on the podcast once before to discuss Block Party, and now she's back to talk about her new service, Privacy Party, as well as the broader topic of platform interoperability and whether it could be mandated with regulations.

Red Team Blues, Part Two (With Cory Doctorow) Jul 25, 2023

Okay, now we're getting back to the plan. Two weeks ago we featured an excerpt from the audiobook of Red Team Blues, Cory Doctorow's new (and excellent) novel, and promised that we'd soon be joined by Cory himself. And now, we deliver! Listen to this week's episode for a long and far-reaching conversation between Mike and Cory about the book and it's themes and subjects, plus plenty of interesting tangents. Red Team Blues: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/redteamblues

Social Media In Chaos Jul 18, 2023

Last week, we promised an upcoming episode featuring a conversation with Cory Doctorow — and that conversation has been recorded and is arriving next week! But we decided to take a brief intermission this week, since things in the social media landscape are changing so quickly. Mike recently appeared on The Neoliberal Podcast with Jeremiah Johnson to talk about the ongoing nonsense at Twitter, the dawn of Meta's Threads, the situation at Reddit, and all the other chaos engulfing the world of social media. You can listen to the entire conversation right here on this week's episode. The Neoliberal Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/social-media-in-chaos-ft-mike-masnick/id1390384827?i=1000621423264

Red Team Blues, Part One Jul 11, 2023

If you're a Techdirt reader, you're surely familiar with Cory Doctorow: we've written about him often, he's appeared on the podcast several times and, of course, he's a prolific science fiction author whose books brilliantly engage with many of the subjects we cover. Next week, if all goes according to plan, Cory will be joining us on the podcast once again to talk about his latest novel, Red Team Blues — so if you haven't read it yet, now's the time! And today we've got a special podcast feature to get you started: a chapter-long excerpt from the audiobook, available to listen in full on this week's episode.

FutureCast Jun 27, 2023

Recently, we announced our latest game project: FutureCast, created in partnership with the United Nations' Global Pulse group. It's a highly adaptable strategic forecasting tool that aims to explore "pathways of change" for different future scenarios by bringing together groups of stakeholders for a fun, insight-generating exercise. This week, we're joined by Minke Meijnders and Tiina Neuvonen from UN Global Pulse, as well as our game design partner Randy Lubin from Leveraged Play, to discuss how the game came to be and the many things you can do with it. Read about FutureCast: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/14/announcing-futurecast-a-new-game-framework-for-exploring-pathways-of-change/ Get the game materials: https://foresight.unglobalpulse.net/futurecast/

The Reddit Meltdown Jun 22, 2023

If you're a Techdirt reader, a Reddit user, or both, then you probably know all about the chaos engulfing the site as users and moderators of popular subreddits protest CEO Steve Huffman's recent changes to the site's API. This week, we're joined by Jay Peters from The Verge to talk about the situation, the protests, and Huffman's disastrous responses.

Decentralizing Content Moderation Jun 13, 2023

When talking about content moderation, it's easy to focus entirely on centralized platforms. But now, with the rise of more federated and decentralized systems like ActivityPub and Bluesky (and many others), it's becoming more and more important to talk about how content moderation works in a decentralized space. This week we're joined by Yoel Roth, the former head of Trust & Safety at Twitter and now a Tech Policy Fellow at UC Berkeley, to discuss the new and different content moderation challenges that decentralized platforms face.

Moderator Mayhem! Jun 06, 2023

Play Moderator Mayhem: https://moderatormayhem.engine.is/ Last month, in partnership with Engine, we launched our new browser game that puts you in the shoes of a frontline content moderation worker at a growing online platform: Moderator Mayhem. If you haven't tried it yet, you can play it in your browser on mobile or desktop. The response to the game has been great, and this week Mike is joined on the podcast by myself, our game design partner Randy Lubin of Leveraged Play, and Engine executive director Kate Tummarello who spearheaded the project, to discuss how we built Moderator Mayhem and the impact it's been having so far.

Utah's War On Porn May 09, 2023

We've been swamped with some big projects lately, and that put a bit of a dent in our podcast schedule. We've got a whole bunch of fresh new episodes lined up to record, so you can expect lots of original content soon — but to tide you over until then, this week we've got a cross-post of Mike's recent segment on The New Abnormal podcast, where he and host Andy Levy discuss Pornhub cutting off Utah in response to its age verification law, and some of the other "protect the children" efforts in Congress.

Save The Children (From State Social Media Laws) Apr 18, 2023

We've featured lots of coverage of the frankly insane deluge of "protect the children" type social media laws popping up in several states, and recently Mike was a guest on TechFreedom's Tech Policy Podcast, hosted by Corbin K. Barthold. You can listen to the whole conversation right here on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

The Data Transfer Initiative Apr 11, 2023

Data portability is an important front in the war for an open internet. A few years ago, it seemed like some major movement was coming, with the joint announcement of the Data Transfer Project from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter — but recently, news of any progress was running thin. That is, until now: the project has morphed into the nonprofit Data Transfer Initiative, with a real team led by new Executive Director (and returning podcast guest) Chris Riley, who joins us on this week's episode to discuss the push to liberate data and make it portable. The Data Transfer Initiative: https://dtinit.org/

Link Taxes Are Bad, Canada Edition Apr 04, 2023

Legacy media operations really, really want tech companies that send them traffic to pay them as well. From Rupert Murdoch's link tax in Australia to the very bad JCPA in America, these requirements are nonsensical and run directly counter to the core functioning of the internet. Currently, one of the biggest pushes for such a law is happening in Canada with the government's Bill C-18 — and it's certainly no exception. Nobody has been following C-18 closer than law professor and researcher Michael Geist, and this week he joins us on the podcast to discuss the status of the bill and why, like similar laws around the world, it's a very bad idea.

Sci-Fi & Silicon Valley Mar 28, 2023

Science fiction has always served as a source of inspiration for real technological progress. Sometimes that's great, but other times it enables abuse or leads people to make terrible assumptions that result in harmful decisions. This week we're joined by the hosts of the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct, authors Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, who recently began tackling this very subject, to discuss the relationship between Silicon Valley and science fiction. Our Opinions Are Correct - https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/

Why Is Congress So Wrong About Section 230? Mar 15, 2023

Misunderstandings (honest or otherwise) about Section 230 abound — across the political spectrum and, of course, in Congress. Each side believes weakening or eliminating the law will achieve its own distinct goals, and both sides are wrong. Following the most recent (but far from the first) very frustrating congressional hearing about Section 230, this week we're joined by TechFreedom's Free Speech Counsel Ari Cohn for a discussion about why and how congress constantly gets Section 230 so wrong.

Gaming Like It's 1927 Mar 07, 2023

Last week, we announced the winners of the fifth annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1927! We strongly encourage everyone to go check out all the submissions, but as in past years, I sat down with Mike and our game design partner Randy Lubin for an episode of the podcast all about the winning games in all six categories, as well as some of our favorite entries that didn't quite make the cut. Read about the winners: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/02/28/announcing-the-winners-of-the-5th-annual-public-domain-game-jam/ Check out all the entries: https://itch.io/jam/gaming-like-its-1927/entries

The Supreme Court Takes On 230 Mar 01, 2023

After all these years, the Supreme Court is finally weighing in on Section 230 in the Gonzalez and Taamneh cases, and the outcome could have a very significant impact. Our organization, the Copia Institute, filed an amicus brief in the case, as did many other parties. This week, we're joined by Jess Miers from the Chamber of Progress and lawyer Cathy Gellis (who wrote our amicus brief), both of whom attended the Gonzalez hearing in person, to discuss the status of both cases and what they could mean for the future of the internet.

The DoNotPay Story, With Kathryn Tewson Feb 21, 2023

If you've been reading Techdirt recently, you probably know all about supposed "AI Lawyer" service DoNotPay and the tireless investigation of the company undertaken by Kathryn Tewson, who has written a couple of Techdirt posts about the saga. This week, Kathryn joins us on the podcast for a long and entertaining discussion about the entire story (so far).

Congress v. Twitter Feb 14, 2023

We've got a double-header of cross-post episodes for you this week! Recently, Mike joined two different podcasts to discuss Congress's response to the Twitter Files and the dumpster fire of a hearing held by the House Oversight Committee: The New Abnormal podcast from the Daily Beast, and The Sunday Show podcast from Tech Policy Press. You can listen to both conversations back-to-back right here in today's extra-long episode.

Margaret Sullivan On The Future Of Media Jan 25, 2023

For a brief and interesting time, the New York Times employed a Public Editor to serve as a liaison with its readers. One of the most interesting of these was the fifth, Margaret Sullivan, who would go on to become a media columnist with the Washington Post and then, as of today, a weekly columnist for The Guardian. She also recently published a book, Newsroom Confidential, full of insight drawn from her years of journalism and media experience. This week, Margaret joins us on the podcast to talk about her many ideas and pieces of advice for the future of media. Newsroom Confidential - https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250281906/newsroomconfidential

In Defense Of The Global, Open Internet Jan 10, 2023

There have long been attacks on the global, open nature of the internet. Traditionally these came from authoritarian regimes looking to wall off portions of the internet and exert greater control of them, but lately we've also been seeing growing threats from democratic countries in the form of problematic laws and regulations. Recently, we wrote about an article by Global Network Initiative executive director Jason Pielemeier and Annenberg Public Policy Center research fellow Chris Riley that made a case in defense of the global, open internet, and this week both Jason and Chris join us on the podcast to look at the past, present and future of the internet around the world. In Defense Of The Global, Open Internet (Lawfare) - https://www.lawfareblog.com/defense-global-open-internet-0 Techdirt's Coverage - https://www.techdirt.com/2022/09/07/can-we-save-a-truly-global-internet/

The New Abnormal On Twitter Dec 20, 2022

It seems the madness just never stops on Elon Musk's Twitter, and it's almost impossible to keep up. Recently, Mike joined the Daily Beast's podcast, The New Abnormal, for a discussion with host Andy Levy about just what exactly is going on with Twitter under Musk's erratic leadership. The conversation first appeared as part of The New Abnormal's latest episode, and now you can listen to Mike's segment here on the Techdirt Podcast. The New Abnormal episode: https://www.thedailybeast.com/watching-the-last-jan-6-hearing-was-utterly-heartbreaking

Understanding Meta's Special Whitelist Program Dec 13, 2022

It's been a little over a year since we learned about Meta's "X-Check" program for whitelisting high-profile Facebook accounts from various content moderation efforts. Now, after a long wait, the Oversight Board has released the results of its review of the use of the tool, and there's plenty to dig in into. This week, we're joined by Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America and member of the Oversight Board, to discuss the details of the program and what the board has to say about it.

Scrutinizing "The Twitter Files" Dec 05, 2022

Last Friday evening, Elon Musk and Matt Taibbi dropped a non-bombshell on everyone, with the revelation of internal Twitter documents about the content moderation around Hunter Biden's laptop that showed... nothing particularly unusual or notable happened, and there's no evidence of government interference. Over the weekend, Mike was interviewed by Justin Hendrix for the Tech Policy Press podcast for a closer look at just what was contained in "the Twitter Files", and we've got the whole conversation for you here on this week's episode.

Will Elon Kill Twitter? Nov 23, 2022

This week, we have a special joint episode with The Neoliberal Podcast, discussing the question on a lot of minds: just what the hell is going on at Twitter now that Elon Musk is in charge? He's owned the company for less than a month, and it's already in chaos. Mike sits down with Neoliberal Podcast host Jeremiah Johnson to discuss why content moderation is so difficult at scale, whether Mastodon can be a real Twitter replacement, Elon's erratic and dumb moves, and the big question: whether or not Twitter might die. The Neoliberal Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-elon-kill-twitter-ft-mike-masnick/id1390384827?i=1000587263520

The DSA Is A Mess, But Will Now Rule The Internet Nov 01, 2022

There are big internet regulatory changes coming in the EU, with the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. Each is a huge bundle of new rules that could drastically change the future of the entire internet, and today we're focusing on the DSA, which is set to come into force in 2024. Emma Llansó from the Center for Democracy & Technology and Daphne Keller from Stanford's Cyber Policy Center join us on this week's episode to dig into the DSA and its many, many implications.

Can An Oversight Board Solve Infrastructure Moderation Questions? Oct 25, 2022

We've often talked about the importance of distinguishing content moderation at the infrastructure layer of the internet stack from that which happens on platforms at the edge, and this issue was brought to the forefront recently when Cloudflare took down Kiwi Farms. This week, we're joined by internet policy expert Konstantinos Komaitis to discuss an interesting, if admittedly imperfect, idea for approaching these tough questions: would infrastructure providers benefit from a third-party oversight board that handles content moderation decisions?

Can You Mandate Editorial Transparency? Oct 18, 2022

Amidst all the conversation around regulating social media, algorithmic amplification, and disinformation, one idea that tends to get a lot of broad support is mandating editorial transparency. After all, it sounds nice, since transparency is usually a good thing. But in fact, there are huge legal and conceptual problems with mandated transparency. Santa Clara Law's Eric Goldman has written papers on the constitutionality of the idea and an important Supreme Court case related to this question, and this week he joins the podcast to discuss why mandated transparency isn't as good (or as constitutional) as many people claim. Read the papers: The Constitutionality of Mandating Editorial Transparency - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4005647 Zauderer and Compelled Editorial Transparency - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4246090

Walled Culture Oct 12, 2022

One of the oldest and most important topics on Techdirt is copyright, and the many problems with the law both here and abroad. One of the best voices on the subject, here and in many other publications, is Glyn Moody, who recently released his book Walled Culture, that goes through the history of how legacy copyright industries have tried to harm the internet and gain ever greater control over the work of artists and creators. It's available as a free e-book under a Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication, and today Glyn joins the podcast to discuss the book and the long, often-sad story of copyright law around the world. Get the book: https://walledculture.org/the-book/

Celebrating 25 Years Of Techdirt Oct 04, 2022

As you probably already know, Techdirt recently marked its 25th anniversary and celebrated the occasion with an online party for our Insider subscribers. At the event, Mike was joined by Techdirt co-founder Dennis Yang for an interview conducted by Alex Feerst of Murmuration Labs, in which they looked back on the history of the site and took some questions from the audience. Now, you can listen to the full conversation on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

Kiwi Farms, Cloudflare, And Infrastructure Content Moderation Sep 27, 2022

When Mike wrote a post digging into some of the complex questions surrounding Cloudflare banning Kiwi Farms, there was plenty of backlash and disagreement — much of it thoughtful and well worth engaging with. Among the strongest critics was lawyer Mike Dunford, who composed a detailed Twitter thread that lead to a lengthy back-and-forth. This week, he joins us on the podcast to continue the conversation and discuss the welcome death of Kiwi Farms as well as broader issues of content moderation at the infrastructure layer.

Elon Musk Takes His Chances In The Court Of Chancery Sep 21, 2022

When the Elon Musk/Twitter drama landed in the Delaware Court Of Chancery, it thrust specialist publication The Chancery Daily into the spotlight, and they began offering up excellent explainers on this important court that most people knew very little about. The people behind the publication have decided to remain anonymous amidst the influx of attention, but today one of them joins us on the podcast to discuss just what's going on as Elon Musk takes his chances in a court that seems pretty immune to his reality distortion field.

Is AI Art The End For Artists? Sep 13, 2022

The explosion of AI-generated art has taken the internet by storm, and is poised to continue growing for a long time. In turn, that's sparked a lot of conversation (and a lot of backlash) about the impact on artists — but much of the controversy seems misguided or overblown. This week, we're joined by Rob Sheridan, an artist and designer who has embraced the power of these tools, to discuss what AI-generated art really means for artists.

The Problems With The California Kids' Code Sep 06, 2022

We've got one more cross-post episode this week. If you've been following Techdirt recently, you've surely heard about California's recently-passed bill, the Age Appropriate Design Code, and all its massive problems. Recently, Mike appeared on This Week In Google to discuss these problems, and you can listen to the whole conversation on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

Walled Culture Interview Aug 30, 2022

We've got a cross-post episode for you this week! Recently, Mike appeared on the Walled Culture podcast to discuss a wide range of topics including reflections on the SOPA/PIPA fight, ways to support creators, and the world of NFTs. You can listen to the entire interview on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

Broadband Competition Is Just A Click Away Jul 19, 2022

Read the report: https://copia.is/library/just-a-click-away/ Yesterday, we released a new report from the Copia Institute, written by Karl Bode, about the state of broadband competition and the great potential of an open access fiber model: Just A Click Away: Broadband Competition In America. On today's episode, Karl joins the podcast to dig into the details of the report and explain how a better future of US broadband is possible and attainable.

What Is Web5? Jul 12, 2022

As advocates of decentralization and a protocols-not-platforms approach to the web, there's a lot about the concept of Web3 that sounds appealing to us at Techdirt — but the details usually leave a lot to be desired. A new project called TBD from Block aims to move beyond all that, and while its invocation of "Web5" understandably invites skepticism, it's actually a lot more interesting. This week, we're joined by project lead Mike Brock to discuss how TBD and the concept of Web5 aims to grapple with the true potential of decentralization.

Revisiting The Question Of Proprietary Platforms For Media Companies Jun 22, 2022

We've got some great new discussions for the Techdirt Podcast... coming in a few weeks. But at the moment, amidst a very busy schedule on a variety of fronts, we're taking a short break to look back on a very old conversation: our 14th episode ever, from 2015, about media companies rolling out proprietary content management systems. Since we recently completed our own migration to Wordpress (the popular platform that was also a major component of that seven-year-old discussion) we thought it might be fun to revisit the question. So on this week's episode, Mike and I open with a bit of a retrospective followed by a replay of the original conversation in full.

Why Patent Quality Matters Jun 07, 2022

This week is Engine's second annual Patent Quality Week, focused on the many ways that the patent system allows low-quality patents to get through, the problems this causes, and what can be done about it. On this week's episode, we're joined by Abby Rives and Charles Duan for a discussion all about why patent quality matters.

What Is Platform Democracy? May 31, 2022

In discussions about content moderation, it's easy to get stuck in the mindset that there are only a few simple ways it could possibly work — but in fact there is plenty of room for exploring creative alternatives. One such idea examined in a recent paper by Aviv Ovadya, Technology and Public Purpose Fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center, is called "platform democracy". It's well worth discussing, and Aviv joins us on this week's episode to do exactly that. Paper: http://platformdemocracy.com/

There Are Both Smart & Dumb Ways To Improve Copyright May 24, 2022

The problems with copyright have been a subject of coverage here at Techdirt since the beginning, and for most of that time it has been largely a non-partisan subject. At the moment, however, that isn't so much the case thanks to Josh Hawley's war with Disney, which has created a situation where some copyright reform ideas that are conceptually good are mired in culture war issues, partisan politics, and unconstitutional nonsense. This week, we're joined by the Niskanen Center's Daniel Takash to discuss the problems with Hawley's copyright bill and copyright law in general.

Elon Musk Doesn't Understand Twitter May 17, 2022

It's no secret that Elon Musk's statements about his plans for Twitter have been confused to say the least. It has become abundantly clear that he doesn't know much at all about how a service like Twitter operates, especially when it comes to content moderation, and doesn't seem to have much interest in learning. On this week's episode, we're joined by Renee DiResta from the Stanford Internet Observatory to discuss just how little Elon Musk understands the platform he's supposedly planning to buy.

The Startup Trail May 04, 2022

PLAY THE GAME: https://startuptrail.engine.is/ Last week, in partnership with Engine, we launched our startup policy simulator game Startup Trail. The game puts you in the shoes of a founder trying to build a successful startup, and facing the many difficult policy decisions that entails without running out of money, losing all your users, or ending up with a company that has no innovative ability. This week on the podcast, Mike and I are joined by our game design partner Randy Lubin of Leveraged Play as well as Kate Tummarello and Abby Rives from Engine, for a discussion all about how the game came to be and what we hope people will learn from it.

The Real Beneficiaries Of Section 230 Apr 19, 2022

So much of the debate about Section 230 is based on an incorrect understanding of its procedural benefits, and the completely false idea that it's a special gift to "big tech". A new paper (which we wrote about yesterday) by Elizabeth Banker from the Chamber of Progress dives deep into the real benefits and beneficiaries of Section 230, and this week she joins us on the podcast to discuss how the law protects small companies, individuals, and free speech. Research Paper: https://progresschamber.org/new-report-details-impact-of-section-230-litigation-onsmall-online-providers/ Our Coverage: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/18/new-study-shows-section-230-protects-small-companies-much-more-than-big-ones/

Algorithmic Destruction Apr 12, 2022

People often talk about some kind of "right to deletion" as an approach to fixing online privacy issues. This construct can create problems, as we've seen with Europe's version, but newer proposals don't seem to consider these lessons. A recent paper by law professor Tiffany Li looks at another angle on the issue: how data deletion impacts algorithms and AI-trained models. This week, Tiffany joins us on the podcast to discuss this concept of "algorithmic destruction", and how policy makers are ignoring it. "Algorithmic Destruction" paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4066845

Predicting The Future Apr 05, 2022

Recently, Mike joined Jason Feifer on the Build for Tomorrow podcast for a discussion about predicting the future — and specifically about a prediction that Mike got very wrong. The episode includes interviews with several other guests on the subject, and we're featuring the whole thing this week on the Techdirt Podcast.

The Right To Repair Mar 15, 2022

Five years ago, we were joined on the podcast by author and law professor Aaron Perzanowski to discuss his book about the impact of copyright on property in the digital age, The End of Ownership. That book touched on the issue of repairing devices and the ways companies make it difficult, but his new book, The Right To Repair, puts this topic in the spotlight. This week, Aaron joins us to discuss the history and future of the right to repair around the world.

Gaming Like It's 1926 Mar 09, 2022

It took a little longer than usual, but we've finally announced the winners of the fourth annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1926! In this episode, Mike and I are joined by Randy Lubin (our partner in running the jam) to discuss the winners in all six categories, as well as some of our favorite entries that didn't quite make the cut. The Winners: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/03/09/announcing-the-winners-of-the-4th-annual-public-domain-game-jam/ The Entries: https://itch.io/jam/gaming-like-its-1926/entries

The United States Of Anonymous Mar 01, 2022

Nearly three years ago, we were joined by Professor Jeff Kosseff to discuss his then-new book about Section 230, The Twenty-Six Words That Created The Internet. Now, Jeff has a new book coming out, about another internet issue that is deeply misunderstood by many people: anonymity. The United States Of Anonymous releases in two weeks, and on today's episode Jeff joins us to discuss how the right to anonymity has shaped American values, politics, business, security, and discourse.

Regulating The Internet Feb 22, 2022

We've got another cross-post this week: Mike was recently a guest on the new Internet of Humans podcast by Jillian York and Konstantinos Komaitis, for a wide-ranging discussion about internet regulation issues today and where they might be headed. You can listen to the entire conversation on this week's episode.

EARN IT Is Still Bad Feb 15, 2022

More than a year and a half ago we were joined on the podcast by Riana Pfefferkorn, then the Associate Director of Surveillance and Cybersecurity at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and now a research fellow at the Stanford Internet Observatory, to discuss the disastrous EARN IT Act. As you probably know, EARN IT is back, and this week, Riana joins us once again to discuss why it hasn't gotten any better — and might in fact have gotten worse.

A Global History Of Free Speech Feb 08, 2022

We talk a lot about free speech in different countries, and about the history of free speech in the US — but what about the global history of this fundamental concept? A new book released today, Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media by Jacob Mchangama, tackles exactly this subject in great and insightful detail. This week, Jacob joins us on the podcast to discuss the sweeping story of free speech throughout the ages and around the world.

Remembering The SOPA Fight, With Rep. Zoe Lofgren Feb 01, 2022

As many of you know, last week we hosted an online event for the latest Techdirt Greenhouse edition, all about looking back on the lessons learned from the 2012 protests against SOPA and PIPA. Our special guest was Rep. Zoe Lofgren, one of the strongest voices in congress speaking out against the disastrous bills, who provided all kinds of excellent insight into what happened then and what's happening now. In case you missed it, for this week's episode of the podcast (yes, we're finally back with new episodes!) we've got the full conversation and Q&A from the event. The Techdirt Greenhouse: https://www.techdirt.com/blog/greenhouse/

Getting Out Of Control Dec 07, 2021

Our lives are lived at the intersection of vast systems (economic, technological, and beyond) that are incredibly complex and often chaotic, and it's hard to understand and embrace what author Neil Chilson's new book, Getting Out Of Control, calls "the emergent mindset." On this week's episode, Neil joins us to discuss his book and why you can't simply "control" complex systems.

Evolving Norms In The Governance Of Online Communities Nov 30, 2021

In last week's episode, we had a conversation with the creators and curators of the Knight Foundation's virtual symposium on Lessons From The First Internet Ages. This week, we've got the audio from the panel discussion at the symposium that Mike participated in along with Stanford's Daphne Keller and Harvard Law's Evelyn Douek, all about the ways that the governance of online communities has evolved and changed as the internet has matured.

Lessons From The First Internet Ages Nov 23, 2021

Earlier this month Mike participated in a content series and virtual symposium on Lessons From The First Internet Ages, hosted by the Knight Foundation, alongside several important figures from the history of the internet. On this week's episode, the creators and curators of the event — John Sands, Mary Anne Franks, and Eric Goldman — to reflect on the writings and conversations from the event and the lessons to be learned.

Missouri Hasn't Really Learned Its Lesson Nov 17, 2021

We've got a crossposted episode for you this week: Mike recently joined The Cato Daily Podcast with Caleb O. Brown for a discussion about the "hacking" fiasco in Missouri and the state's treatment of the journalists who exposed its huge data security flub. It's a shorter conversation than our usual podcasts, and you can listen to the whole thing on this week's episode.

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Facebook Nov 09, 2021

Facebook is under a lot of scrutiny lately, and for very good reasons! But the anger surrounding Facebook has also resulted in plenty of criticism that is misleading or downright inaccurate in its description of how the company operates and what it does — though Facebook itself carries some of the blame for that happening, too. The goal of fixing the problems with social media isn't helped by misrepresenting what those problems are, so this week we're joined by Gizmodo's Shoshana Wodinsky to discuss all the things people get wrong about Facebook.

The Facebook Papers & The Media Nov 02, 2021

The documents revealed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen are full of important information — but the media hasn't been doing the best job of covering that information and all its nuances. There are plenty of examples of reporters taking one aspect out of context and presenting it in the worst possible light, while ignoring the full picture. This week, we're joined by law professor Kate Klonick to discuss the media's failings in covering the Facebook Papers, and the unwanted outcomes this could produce.

Creating A New Social Media Ecosystem With Middleware Oct 26, 2021

It's another crossposted episode this week! Mike recently joined the Tech Policy Press podcast alongside Block Party founder Tracy Chou for a conversation about using middleware and interoperability to craft a new, less centralized online ecosystem. You can listen to the whole conversation on this week's episode.

Scarcity, Abundance & NFTs Oct 19, 2021

We've got a cross-posted podcast for you this week! Recently, Mike appeared on the Ipse Dixit podcast with host Professor Brian L. Frye — the inspiration for our Plagiarism Collection of NFTs and, previously, our OK, Landlord gear — for a wide-ranging discussion about scarcity and abundance in the digital age. You can listen to the whole conversation on this week's episode. Ipse Dixit - https://shows.acast.com/ipse-dixit

How Our Views Have Changed Over 300 Episodes Oct 05, 2021

Last week, we celebrated 300 episodes of the Techdirt Podcast with a live stream, for which we brought back original co-hosts Dennis Yang and Hersh Reddy. You can watch the stream on YouTube, but now it's time to release the episode as normal! The subject was simple, but led the conversation in all kinds of interesting directions: how have our views on technology issues changed and evolved since the podcast started? YouTube Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYOzagdwfkI

The Misinformation About Disinformation Sep 28, 2021

Disinformation continues to be a major topic of discussion across many fields, but a lot of what people believe about the subject is... questionable at best. One of the more thoughtful writers on the subject is Joe Bernstein from Buzzfeed News, whose recent cover story in Harper's brings a very different and valuable perspective to the debate. This week, he joins us on the podcast to discuss the glut of misconceptions and misinformation about disinformation. Harper's Article: https://harpers.org/archive/2021/09/bad-news-selling-the-story-of-disinformation/ Additionally, as we recently announced, we'll be celebrating our upcoming 300th episode of the podcast with a live stream featuring the return of the original co-hosts Dennis Yang and Hersh Reddy, including (hopefully, barring technical issues) the ability for viewers who back our Patreon to call in live and ask questions. The stream will happen on Thursday, September 30th at 1pm PT/4pm ET — stay tuned for more details on how you can watch the stream, and be sure to back our Patreon if you want a chance to call in! Live Stream Details: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210928/07392347648/this-thursday-watch-techdirt-podcast-live-become-patreon-backer-to-call-with-questions.shtml Techdirt Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/techdirt

The Impact Of "Shadowbanning" Sep 21, 2021

The concept of "shadowbanning" comes up a lot in content moderation discussions — often from people who are spreading nonsense. But various means of deprioritizing content have been employed by platforms for many years. This week, we're joined by Dr. Carolina Are, a researcher who recently released a paper on the subject, especially how it relates to nudity and censorship on Instagram. This week, she joins us on the podcast to discuss shadowbanning, how it works, and the impact it has. The Shadowban Cycle [Paper]: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2021.1928259 Additionally, we've got a special announcement: to celebrate our upcoming 300th episode of the podcast, we'll be hosting a live stream with the return of the original co-hosts Dennis Yang and Hersh Reddy, including (hopefully, barring technical issues) the ability for viewers who back our Patreon to call in live and ask questions. The stream will happen on Thursday, September 30th at 1pm PT/4pm ET — stay tuned for more details on how you can watch the stream, and be sure to back our Patreon if you want a chance to call in!

The Future Of Libraries Sep 07, 2021

The notion that if libraries didn't exist already, the publishing industry wouldn't allow them to exist at all is both a grim joke and a depressing truth, as continually evidenced by the opposition of publishers to seemingly unobjectionable technologies like controlled digital lending, which aim to allow libraries to carry their mission forward into the digital age. This week, we're joined by Jennie Rose Halperin, executive director of the Library Futures Institute, to discuss the institute's new paper on the subject and the legality of and opposition to controlled digital lending, and what it tells us about the future of libraries.

Internet Policy & The Canadian Election Aug 31, 2021

Canada is barreling towards a federal election, and if recent legislative proposals are any indication, the outcome will have huge implications for the future of the internet in the country. Between the recent Bill C-10 and the proposed online harms legislation (among other things), it's clear that plenty of Canadian politicians want to make drastic and draconian changes to how the internet is regulated. This week, I join Mike on the podcast along with Matt Hatfield, the Campaigns Director of OpenMedia (something like Canada's version of the EFF), to discuss the Canadian election and what it means for a variety of important internet policy issues.

What Oracle/Google Means For Copyright And Interoperability Aug 24, 2021

We've written a lot about the Oracle/Google case over API copyrights as it wound its way through the courts, but the Supreme Court ruling has such widespread implications that there is still plenty to unpack. This week, we're joined by two top experts on intellectual property — Berkeley Law's Pamela Samuelson and Stanford Law's Mark Lemley, who recently co-wrote a paper on the subject — to discuss in detail what impact this landmark case has on copyright and interoperability. Paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3898154

When Your Art Projects Keep Getting Cease & Desist Letters Aug 17, 2021

We're continually amazed that so many companies still think they can get away with abusing the law to take down parodies, satire, and criticism without invoking the Streisand Effect and making things worse on themselves. One person who has a lot of experience being on the receiving end of these foolish threats is artist and culture hacker Danielle Baskin, whose recent Brand-Aid project is just the latest in a series of works that drew the ire of Johnson & Johnson. This week, Baskin joins us on the podcast to discuss what it's like when your art is constantly hit with demands to cease and desist.

Understanding California's Digital Vaccine Records Aug 11, 2021

The pandemic has brought us face to face with important questions about (among many things) the roles of technology and government in our lives, and especially the intersection of the two. One interesting example that is worth exploration is California's new digital vaccine record system, and who better to discuss it with than the person who spearheaded the project: California's Chief Technology Innovation Officer Rick Klau, who joins us this week to discuss tech, government, and what happens when the two manage to work well together.

The Problem Of 'Jawboning' Aug 04, 2021

Most people are pretty clear on the fact that the First Amendment prevents the government from making rules about speech — but what about when government officials make informal demands or threaten retaliation related to speech? Such actions have been ruled to violate the First Amendment, but this practice — dubbed "jawboning" by this week's guest — raises messy legal edge-cases and grey areas. We're joined by University of Chicago Law Professor Genevieve Lakier, who recently authored an article for Lawfare on the subject, to discuss the legal history and status of jawboning and the problem of informal government coercion. Informal Government Coercion and The Problem of "Jawboning" by Genevieve Lakier: https://www.lawfareblog.com/informal-government-coercion-and-problem-jawboning

Free Speech, Elections, Vaccines, And Social Media Jul 27, 2021

Freedom of speech sits at the intersection of so many of the topics we write about here on Techdirt, and some of our favorite podcast guests are true experts on the subject. One such guest is UCI Law Professor and former UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression David Kaye, who joins us again for this weeks episode and a wide-ranging discussion about some of the most pressing and current free speech issues.

Patent Quality Week Jul 20, 2021

Although it's taken a bit of a back seat lately, the topic of patents has long been important here at Techdirt. Now that we're in the first ever Patent Quality Week, it's time to dig back in and talk about changing the patent system and turning it into something that enables good patents without allowing so many bad ones. So for this week's episode, we're joined by Engine's IP Counsel Abby Rives to talk about the inception and goals of Patent Quality Week, and how to fix our broken approach to patents.

Florida's Social Media Bill Fiasco, With State Rep. Anna Eskamani Jul 07, 2021

If you've been following our coverage of Florida's recent law about social media content moderation, you know it hasn't been going well — it was an insane bill that was quickly shut down by an injunction from a judge who could see how obviously unconstitutional it was. But the fight isn't over, so this week we're joined by Florida Representative Anna Eskamani, one of the most vocal critics of the bill in the state legislature, to discuss how this all happened and what's going to come next.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren Sees Problems On Every Page Of These Antitrust Bills Jun 30, 2021

We've been talking a lot about the huge effort in Congress to pass new antitrust laws targeting big tech companies, and all the issues these proposals have. This week, we've got an insider perspective on just what's going on with antitrust in the House: Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who called out many of the deficiencies in the bills during last week's marathon markup session, joins us for a discussion all about the many, many problems in all five proposed antitrust bills.

Regulating Amplification Is A Lot Harder Than You Think Jun 23, 2021

Even among people who recognize the problems with holding platforms liable for user speech, there's an understandable temptation to treat the act of content amplification and recommendation differently, since that's something the platforms do themselves. While you can see the logic to this idea, the fact is it's just as difficult and fraught with problems as other intermediary liability proposals. This week, we're joined by frequent guest Daphne Keller, Director of the Program on Platform Regulation at Stanford's Cyber Policy Center, to discuss her recent paper on the subject and why regulating amplification isn't the simple solution it might sound like. "Amplification and Its Discontents" by Daphne Keller: https://knightcolumbia.org/content/amplification-and-its-discontents Separately, this is the first time we've had a sponsor for the podcast! The Pessimists Aloud podcast is sponsoring today's episode. It's a new offering from the Pessimists Archive Twitter feed, which finds old articles that are skeptical of technology, which in retrospect turned out to be incorrect. The podcast takes those articles and has them artistically read (in an old-timey voice) aloud. We think fans of Techdirt will certainly enjoy the Pessimists Aloud podcast: https://anchor.fm/pessimistsaloud

How GirlCon Is Fighting To Empower Women In Tech Jun 15, 2021

It's no secret that the tech industry has lost much of the diversity that was present in its early days and grown into a male-dominated field rife with sexism and gender disparity. Today, many people are work to change this — and one such effort is the GirlCon, which is holding its fourth annual conference for women in tech from June 27th to 30th this year. On this week's episode, we're joined by GirlCon co-founder Kyla Guru and co-director Vidya Bharadwaj to discuss this year's event and the ongoing fight to empower the next generation of women in tech.

Welcome To Money City Jun 01, 2021

Earlier today, we announced the release of an open source playkit for Money City, our new game about the future of money that was designed and run for MozFest 2021. For this week's episode of the podcast, Mike is joined by two of the people who commissioned the game — Erika Drushka and Chris Lawrence from Grant For The Web — as well as our game design partner, Randy Lubin of Leveraged Play, to talk more about Money City and using games to explore serious topics and generate useful ideas. Money City Playkit: https://copia.is/projects/money-city/ Copia Gaming: https://copia.is/gaming/

How To Think About Cybersecurity May 25, 2021

The recent ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline has brought renewed public attention to cybersecurity issues. The field is always evolving, and the attack serves as a great starting point for understanding the current state of cybersecurity, so this week we're joined by three experts — Ross Nordurft and Alex Botting from Venable LLP, and Amy Mahn from the National Institute of Standards and Technology — to discuss the lessons from the pipeline attack, and how to take a risk management approach to cybersecurity.

Debating Section 230, With WIRED's Gilad Edelman May 18, 2021

It's no secret that we were not at all impressed with WIRED's recent cover story about Section 230. The resulting conversation sparked a Twitter debate with the story's author, Gilad Edelman, and we thought... why not bring it to the podcast? So on this week's episode, Gilad joins Mike to discuss and debate the story, our response, and Section 230.

The Facebook Oversight Board's Trump Decision May 11, 2021

Last week, the Oversight Board made its highest-profile decision yet: upholding Facebook's suspension of Donald Trump, though with the caveat that it needs clearer policy reasons to make the suspension indefinite. Unsurprisingly, a whole lot of people have a whole lot of opinions on this, and we wanted to learn more about the decision from the source. Julie Owono is an Oversight Board member and the Executive Director of Internet Sans Frontières, and she joins us on this week's episode to discuss how this decision was reached and what it means for Facebook.

Twitter, Free Speech, And Mob Behavior May 04, 2021

The past several years have done a lot to expose the failings of the "marketplace of ideas", as disinformation and harassment campaigns have shown an ability to spread and flourish despite ample amounts of counterspeech. This triumph of mob behavior, especially on Twitter, has challenged a lot of people's preconceptions about how free speech functions, and one person who has been exploring these issues is FIRE's Sarah McLaughlin, especially in two topical articles on her Substack. She joins us on this week's episode to discuss Twitter, free speech, and the challenge mob behavior presents to online discourse.

Beyond Blocking: Thinking Creatively About Content Moderation Apr 27, 2021

The way a lot of people talk about content moderation is disappointingly uncreative — most of all in the way they boil every decision down to the binary decision of "leave it up or take it down". But this framework is extremely limiting and doesn't reflect the way content moderation professionals work, and one person working to paint a better picture is Santa Clara Law Professor Eric Goldman. He joins us on this week episode to discuss the many different ways to approach difficult content moderation questions.

How Rights Went Wrong Apr 20, 2021

After a few cross-post episodes, we're back with a brand new conversation, and it's all about a big subject that intersects with the majority of what we cover here at Techdirt: rights. In his book How Rights Went Wrong, Columbia Law professor and Constitutional scholar Jamal Greene proposes a new way of thinking about rights and how they interact, and he joins this week's episode to discuss this paradigm-shifting idea that challenges many preconceptions about the subject.

Two Curious Cases Apr 13, 2021

It's one more podcast cross-post this week! A recent episode of the Institute for Justice's Short Circuit podcast dug into two very interesting legal cases: one that explores one of the more rarely-invoked pieces of Section 230, and another that tests the limits of the Fourth Amendment. Mike joined IJ attorney Josh Windham and host Anthony Sanders to discuss the cases themselves and what they mean for the law, and you can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode.

Section 230 & The PACT Act Apr 06, 2021

We've got another podcast cross-post for you this week! Mike recently joined the Cato Institute Daily Podcast to discuss the PACT Act — the more "serious" proposal for Section 230 reform that is still riddled with problems that will do damage to the entire internet. Listen to the full conversation withn Mike and Cato's Will Duffield on this week's episode.

Silicon Values, With Jillian York Mar 30, 2021

Despite all the nonsense that dominates so much of the public discussion on the subject, free speech in the age of big social media platforms is a vital topic with a lot of nuances, and there are many people with important perspectives on it. One such person is EFF Director of International Freedom of Expression Jillian York, whose new book Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism offers an exploration of the topic rooted in personal experience and years of activism — and she joins us on this week's episode to discuss the challenges and pitfalls of internet content moderation and its impact on free expression around the world.

The State Of Trust & Safety Mar 23, 2021

For some reason, a lot of people who get involved in the debate about content moderation still insist that online platforms are "doing nothing" to address problems — but that's simply not true. Platforms are constantly working on trust and safety issues, and at this point many people have developed considerable expertise regarding these unique challenges. One such person is Alex Feerst, former head of Trust & Safety at Medium, who joins us on this weeks episode to clear up some misconceptions and talk about the current state of the trust and safety field.

Lessons In Innovation From The History Of Fabric Mar 16, 2021

Textiles have been around for such a long time that we barely think about them. The making of fabric is one of the oldest crafts, and has played a major role in human civilization for thousands of years — and that might lead one to assume that there's nothing left to be learned from fabric's history. But they'd be wrong. This week we're joined by Virginia Postrel, whose book The Fabric Of Civilization: How Textiles Made The World is a fascinating look at how textiles have pushed and shaped the history of innovation, and how the story of fabric can teach us important lessons about today's biggest challenges around innovation.

How The Techlash Happened Mar 10, 2021

There was a time not too long ago when tech companies enjoyed broad public support and adulation. Now they face widespread opposition and criticism from almost all corners. The shift from one to the other has long been called the "techlash", but it's always been unclear where it really came from and how it happened, and especially what role journalists and the media played. This week, we're joined by Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt, author of the new book The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, for a deep dive into the story of the techlash phenomenon and how companies are reacting to the new dynamic.

Section 230 Matters, With Ron Wyden & Chris Cox Mar 02, 2021

Last week, we hosted Section 230 Matters, a virtual Techdirt fundraiser featuring a panel discussion with the two lawmakers who wrote the all-important text and got it passed 25 years ago: Chris Cox and Senator Ron Wyden. It was informative and entertaining, and for this week's episode of the podcast, we've got the full audio of the panel discussion about the history, evolution, and present state of Section 230.

Gaming Like It's 1925 Feb 24, 2021

We recently announced the winners of our third annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1925. Now, just like last year, we're dedicating an episode of the podcast to looking at each of the winners a bit closer. Mike is joined by Randy Lubin (our partner in running the jams) and myself (with some unfortunate audio issues that I apologize for), to talk about all these great games that bring 1925 works into the present day.

Regulating The Internet Won't Fix A Broken Government Feb 16, 2021

Questions of content moderation and intermediary liability have seeped into just about everything these days, and not just with regards to Section 230 but also a whole host of laws in the US and around the world. A lot of people seem to think that a long list of societal and political failings can be rectified by regulating content online, and don't talk about how these problems run deeper and have been around for a long time. One person who doesn't fall into this trap is Heather Burns from the Open Rights Group, and she joins Mike on this week's episode to talk about why regulating the internet won't magically fix everything else.

The Oversight Board Starts Overseeing Facebook Feb 09, 2021

The first batch of decisions about Facebook's content moderation from the recently-established Oversight Board has garnered lots of reactions, including many kneejerk ones — but there's plenty to discuss, so for this week's episode Mike is joined by Harvard Law's Evelyn Douek to talk about the decisions themselves and what they signal about the board as a whole.

A New Approach To Fighting Online Harassment Feb 02, 2021

The most important point we've repeatedly made about content moderation is that it's not simple, and there are always trade-offs — but this doesn't mean "do nothing" is a viable option. There are no perfect solutions, and that's why experimentation and innovation is important, especially when it comes to pressing moderation questions like those around abuse and harassment. This week we're joined by Tracy Chou, who is doing just this kind of innovation with her app Block Party, to talk about building new tools for fighting abuse and harassment online.

A Section 230 Roundtable Jan 26, 2021

We've got one more cross-post from another podcast this week, and the subject is still the law that's dominating the tech policy discourse: Section 230. Mike recently joined R Street's Shoshana Weissmann on the Daily Tech News Show hosted by Tom Merritt, for a roundtable discussion about the all-important online liability shield and its many, many vital applications that people typically fail to consider. You can listen to the whole discussion on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

In Defense Of Section 230 & A Decentralized Internet Jan 19, 2021

The podcast went on pause over the holidays and amidst the deluge of... events — but now we're back! And to kick things off, we've got a cross-post from Nick Gillespie's Reason podcast. Mike recently joined Nick for an interview about Section 230 and why a decentralized internet is better than a heavily-restricted one, and you can listen to the whole thing on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

The Future Of US Broadband Dec 08, 2020

The pandemic and associated lockdowns have underlined the incredible importance of broadband, and the many problems with it in America. This week, we're joined by Dane Jasper, CEO of Sonic — Mike's ISP, and one with a reputation for treating its customers well and speaking out against bad broadband policy and regulation — for an insider perspective on what's happening with US broadband in 2020, and where it might be going next.

A More Competitive Web, With Cory Doctorow & Daphne Keller Dec 01, 2020

This week, we're having another conversation about how more decentralized, interoperable, and competitive systems could help restore the original promise of the open web — and this time around we've got a pair of guests with perspectives that are related do, but distinct from, the protocols, not platforms idea that we talk about so much. Author Cory Doctorow has been discussing adversarial interoperability or competitive compatibility, while Stanford's Daphne Keller has been proposing magic APIs, and both join this week's episode to discuss what all these things are, how they differ and relate, and how they could save the web.

Is The Techlash Over? Nov 18, 2020

This week, we've got another panel discussion for you, with Mike joining Georgetown Law fellow Gigi Sohn and panel moderator Zach Graves of the Lincoln Network (both also former podcast guests) at the Reboot 2020 conference to discuss the "techlash" — the public opinion backlash against big tech — and try to figure out what exactly it is, and where it's going in the future.

An Open Protocol For Web Monetization Nov 11, 2020

Recently, Techdirt began a new monetization experiment with Coil. It's a system for making payments on the web, but it's not just another micropayment service layered on top of existing technology — it's part of a broader effort to create an open standard for web monetization based on the Interledger network protocol. This week, we're joined by Coil founder and Interledger co-creator Stefan Thomas to explain how an open protocol for payments could change business models on the web.

How Would You Regulate The Internet? Nov 03, 2020

There are countless debates raging over every aspect of internet regulation — questions of social media moderation, net neutrality, antitrust, copyright, privacy, and plenty more — and the election happening right now is going to have a huge impact on those debates. This week, we're joined by international policy expert and former European Parliament member Marietje Schaake for a long conversation that starts out focused on criticisms of Facebook and quickly expands into a far-reaching look at what the next generation of internet regulation might look like.

The Future Of Silicon Valley Oct 27, 2020

With the pandemic spurring a mass switch to remote working for many people, especially those at tech companies that were among the earliest adopters of the trend, discussions about the uncertain future of Silicon Valley have resurfaced. This week, tech reporter and VC partner Kim-Mai Cutler joins the podcast to discuss whether the pandemic-driven changes in how we work will drive a mass-exodus from California and threaten its status as an innovation hub.

A New Model For Independent Journalism, With Casey Newton Oct 20, 2020

The origins of Techdirt lie in a newsletter that Mike started over 20 years ago, and in all that time, the business models for online journalism have never stopped evolving and changing, especially when it comes to independent reporting. Now, newsletters are making a comeback with a new model, driven especially by writers flocking to the Substack platform. One such person is technology journalist Casey Newton with his new Platformer newsletter, and this week Casey joins the podcast to discuss his experience and what it can teach us about the future of independent journalism online.

The TikTok Order And What It Means For Innovation Oct 13, 2020

We've got another cross-post episode for you this week, featuring Mike's recent appearance on Robert Amsterdam's Departures podcast. The conversation touches on many aspects of internet regulation, Section 230, and related issues — but the main focus of discussion is one big mess: Trump's executive order about TikTok, and what it means for innovation.

Making A Better Internet Sep 29, 2020

This week, we're featuring another panel discussion that Mike participated in. At the recent DWeb Meetup, Mai Ishikawa Sutton moderated a discussion with Mike, Cory Doctorow, Jay Graber, and Amandine Le Pape with a focus on how to build a better, more decentralized web that isn't controlled by a few big tech firms. You can listen to the full audio of the panel on this week's episode.

Little Brother vs. Big Audiobook, With Cory Doctorow Sep 22, 2020

The third book in Cory Doctorow's Little Brother series is coming soon — but as usual, Cory is doing something different as part of the release. Fans and Techdirt readers know he's an outspoken opponent of DRM who makes sure all his work is available DRM-free, but that isn't so easy when it comes to audiobooks, where Audible's market dominance forces DRM onto everything. So while publishers eagerly picked up Attack Surface for printing, he retained the audio rights and is running his first-ever Kickstarter to release a nice non-DRM version. This week, Cory joins Mike on the podcast to discuss why he's doing it, what he's giving up, and the industry changes he hopes to inspire.

Threatcasting The Election Sep 16, 2020

Late last year, we designed Threatcast 2020: a brainstorming game for groups of people trying to predict the new, innovative, and worrying forms of misinformation and disinformation that might come into play in the upcoming election. We ran a few in-person sessions before the pandemic hit and ended our plans for more, then last month we moved it online with the help of the fun interactive event platform Remo. We've learned a lot and hit on some disturbingly real-feeling predictions throughout these events, so this week we're joined by our partner in designing the game — Randy Lubin of Leveraged Play — to discuss our experiences "threatcasting" the 2020 election, and our plans to keep doing it. We really want to run more of these online events for new groups, so if that's something you or your organization might be interested in, please get in touch!

Does Amazon Really Have A Data Advantage? Sep 02, 2020

There's a lot of talk about tech companies and antitrust these days, and a great deal of the focus falls on Amazon. But is antitrust law really the right approach, or even capable of achieving the results many people want? This week, we're focusing on one specific complaint that comes up a lot, about Amazon being both a marketplace and a seller in that marketplace and gaining various advantages including, supposedly, from the data it has access to. We're joined by Greg Mercer, founder and CEO of Jungle Scout, to talk about whether Amazon really has a data advantage, and how much it really matters.

Post-Pandemic Tech Aug 25, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and as it rages on we're learning a lot about technology's role in a situation like this — but it's also worth looking forward, and thinking about how tech will be involved in the process of repairing and recovering from the damage the pandemic has done. This week, we're joined by TechNYC executive director Julie Samuels to discuss the role of technology in a post-pandemic world.

The Key To Encryption Aug 18, 2020

This week we've got another cross-post, with the latest episode of The Neoliberal Podcast from the Progressive Policy Institute. Host Jeremiah Johnson invited Mike, along with PPI's Alec Stapp, to discuss everything about encryption: the concept itself, the attempts at laws and regulations, and more.

Don't Sweat The Copycats Aug 11, 2020

The standard operating procedure for most companies is to freak out about copycat products, and usually to use intellectual property laws to fight them tooth and nail — even at the expense of other aspects of the business that could use a lot more attention. Today, we're talking to the founder of a company that takes a more nuanced, less panicked approach: Dan Vinson is the creator of Monkii Bars, which launched with a Kickstarter that embraced and celebrated people making DIY copies, and he joins us this week to discuss a better way to think about copycats, and the advantages it brings.

Modeling The Pandemic Aug 05, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, nobody really knows what's going to happen — especially if kids start going back to school. Statistical models of the possibilities abound, but this week we're joined by some people who are taking a different approach: John Cordier and Don Burke are the founders of Epistemix, which is using a new agent-based modeling approach to figure out what the future of the pandemic might look like.

The Greenhouse Privacy Wrapup Jul 14, 2020

At the end of May, we launched the Techdirt Greenhouse — a new project to foster long-form conversations with a wide variety of experts about the most challenging and nuanced tech policy questions of our time. Since then we've been focusing on our first topic: privacy. Now we're wrapping that up and getting ready to launch a series of posts on our next subject, but first we wanted to sit down with one of our Greenhouse editors, Karl Bode, to look back on all the excellent pieces that we've published over the past few weeks. Check out the Greenhouse page here on Techdirt to catch up on the posts, then listen to the podcast for a wrapup of all the ins-and-outs of privacy policy challenges that our many great contributors brought to the project.

The Most Serious Threat To Section 230 Jul 07, 2020

Attacks on Section 230 are relentless and coming from all sides — so we've got another podcast all about the attempts to ruin the most important law on the internet. This week, we're joined by Riana Pfefferkorn, the Associate Director of Surveillance and Cybersecurity at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, to discuss what is currently the most serious threat of all: the latest incarnation of the disastrous and nonsensical EARN IT Act.

Trust & Safety Has A Posse Jun 30, 2020

As the debates about content moderation rage on, it is becoming increasingly clear that most people don't know a whole lot about how large internet platforms actually handle these decisions — namely, that they have teams of people who have been working and studying under the "trust and safety" umbrella for a long time. Recently, an association and related foundation were launched to help bring these experts into the public conversation, and this week we've got two of the founding board members — Adelin Cai and Clara Tsao — joining us on the podcast to discuss the actual process of addressing tough content moderation choices.

The Latest Attacks On Section 230 Jun 23, 2020

Last week, the attacks on Section 230 kicked into high gear with Senator Hawley's bill and the DOJ recommendations both coming out on the same day. As usual, the content of the bill and recommendations — and the discussion around them — is a huge mess, so this week we've got returning guests Emma Llansó and Cathy Gellis joining us to discuss just what's going on with Section 230 and what these proposals would do.

Pandemic Privacy Jun 09, 2020

COVID-19 has thrust old questions about privacy into the spotlight, often with new and different framing, and raised the big question of whether our conception of privacy needs to change entirely in the midst of a pandemic. On this week's episode, we're joined by reporter, analyst and investor Esther Dyson to discuss the challenging ethical quandaries raised by the pandemic. Also, as a bonus, Dyson (who is a former founding chair of ICANN) takes a moment at the beginning to respond to our recent episode with Mike Godwin.

Section 230 & Trump's Executive Order Jun 02, 2020

This week, we've got a special cross-post from 16 Minutes On The News — an excellent tech podcast by a16z that's well worth subscribing to. For the latest episode, host Sonal Chokshi interviewed Mike all about Section 230 and Trump's recent executive order about social media — and as you might imagine, it took a lot longer than 16 minutes! We've got the complete interview here on the Techdirt Podcast.

The .ORG Deal Post-Mortem, With Mike Godwin May 20, 2020

We're back! It's been a while since the last podcast, for obvious reasons, but today we've got a new episode following up on something we discussed with Mike Godwin in January: the Internet Society's proposed sale of the .org domain registry. That deal has since been cancelled, and some groups including the EFF assert that it showed ISOC can't be trusted to handle the registry, so this week Godwin joins us again to discuss what happened in more detail.

Protocols Versus Platforms, Part 2 Mar 10, 2020

Last week, we featured the first half of a panel discussion organized by Lincoln Network, all about the concept of open internet protocols versus proprietary walled-garden platforms. The panel is moderated by Marshall Kosloff and features Mike Masnick, Cory Doctorow, Ashley Tyson and Mai Sutton, and this week we've got the second half of the discussion plus the audience Q&A.

Protocols Versus Platforms, Part One Mar 03, 2020

Today on the podcast, we've got the first part of a panel discussion organized by Lincoln Network on a subject we've been talking more and more about around here: a return to an internet based on open protocols instead of closed platforms. The panel, which took place last week, is moderated by Marshall Kosloff and features Mike Masnick, Cory Doctorow, Ashley Tyson and Mai Sutton. In next week's episode we'll have the second half along with the Q&A at the end, but this week you can dive in to the first part of this wide-ranging discussion about protocols versus platforms.

The Fate Of HQ Trivia Feb 25, 2020

Remember HQ Trivia? A couple years ago it was taking the world by storm and raising a lot of interest, and not without reason: it looked like it was resurrecting a shared live experience that seemed to be dead in the on-demand era. We featured a discussion about it on Episode 146. But the company has faced a rocky road since then, and recently announced that it would be shutting down — although, after this podcast was recorded, a subsequent announcement suggested it might get a lifeline. Either way, it's worth looking at what happened, so erstwhile podcast co-host Dennis Yang — who was both an early adopter and, to this day, one of the dwindling regular players of HQ — has returned for this episode to discuss the fate of HQ Trivia.

Gaming Like It's 1924 Feb 18, 2020

Last week, we announced the winners of our second annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1924. The entries were so great this year that they deserve a close look, so this week myself and Randy Lubin — who was instrumental in conceiving, launching, and judging these jams — join the podcast to discuss all six of the winners from the game jam, and what makes them special.

Larry Lessig Defends His 'Clickbait Defamation' Lawsuit Feb 11, 2020

Last month I wrote a long post explaining why I could not support Larry Lessig's new lawsuit against journalists and the New York Times for what he referred to as "Clickbait Defamation." Lessig argued that a NY Times headline and lede was false, while I argued that it was a different interpretation, but not "false," and thus not defamatory. I also argued that his lawsuit was a SLAPP suit, potentially harming the individuals named. Larry wished to respond to my post and I invited him on the podcast to discuss. Larry is a Harvard Law professor. I am not. This immediately puts me at a disadvantage in arguing things in a live debate, and while I don't think either of us convinced each other of anything, l definitely understand his argument more clearly, though I still disagree with it. As I said in my intro to the podcast, I think it's worth reading all of the background information to understand what we're talking about, including: - Lessig's original Medium post: https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7 - The NY Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/business/lessig-epstein-ito-mit.html - Larry's response to the NY Times: https://medium.com/@lessig/on-the-careful-reading-of-the-new-york-times-editors-8f543418c1df - Larry's new ClickbaitDefamation.org website, including his legal complaint: https://clickbaitdefamation.org/ - My post about this case: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200113/18320443724/dear-larry-lessig-please-dont-file-slapp-suits.shtml Also, for the first time, we are providing a transcript with this podcast. This is an experiment. We have wanted to do transcripts for a while, but it is usually quite expensive and/or time consuming. In this case, given the likely interest in the discussion, we felt it was worthwhile. We are testing an automated transcript service, and while we've gone through it and tried to correct the errors, it is likely that some still made it through. We apologize for any such errors and will try to correct them if you alert us in the comments. You can read the transcript on Techdirt: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200211/11583043904/techdirt-podcast-episode-238-larry-lessig-defends-his-clickbait-defamation-lawsuit.shtml

How Privacy Laws Harm Criminal Defendants Feb 04, 2020

Privacy laws are often well-intentioned, but rarely without terrible unintended consequences. And some of these fly right under the radar, like the fact that various privacy laws have made it harder for defense teams in criminal trials to access critical information, even as law enforcement and prosecutors don't seem to face the same problem. This week, we're joined by Berkeley Law's Rebecca Wexler, who has been tracking this issue and working on an upcoming paper about it, to discuss how privacy laws are harming criminal defendants.

Talkin' Jomboy, New Media & Copyright Jan 28, 2020

If you're a baseball fan, you've probably heard of Jomboy (aka Jim O'Brien) by now. And if you're not, you still might have — because he's been getting attention by building a successful new media network online with his baseball explainer videos. And of course, that includes facing some familiar copyright and ContentID obstacles along the way. This week, Jomboy himself joins us on the podcast to discuss the experience, the challenges, and yes, the baseball.

The CES 2020 Post-Mortem Jan 21, 2020

Once again, it's time for the CES post-mortem! Unlike past years, Mike didn't make it to the 2020 show, but our regular guest and unrivaled CES veteran Rob Pegoraro is back with all the important details from the ground. Listen in to find out what new consumer tech, both expected and unexpected, the industry is pushing this year.

Mike Godwin Defends Selling .ORG Jan 15, 2020

We're back! It's been a lull over the holidays and we've gone a while without new podcast episodes, but now we've got several lined up for the coming weeks — and today we kick things off with a very interesting discussion. Many of you probably know about the controversy and concern over the Internet Society's sale of the .ORG domain registry to a private equity firm, but one prominent defender of the deal is ISOC trustee Mike Godwin, and today he joins us to explain his reasoning and try to convince Mike that the sale is a good idea.

Your Secret Consumer Score Dec 03, 2019

When Kashmir Hill last joined us on the podcast, it was to discuss her experiment with cutting big tech companies out of her life. This week she's back to discuss something even harder to escape, and subject of her recent article in the New York Times: the low-profile companies that track consumers and assign them secret scores, and the disturbing amount of power they wield.

Copying Is Not Theft Nov 12, 2019

We've said it before (and even put it on a t-shirt) and we'll say it again: copying is not theft, and intellectual "property" is anything but. In September, the Niskanen Center published an excellent paper exploring this issue and explaining why IP is a misnomer — and this week we've got one of the authors of that paper, Daniel Takash, to discuss in more detail why property is simply the wrong lens for looking at copyrights and patents.

Working Futures, Part Two Nov 05, 2019

GET YOUR COPY OF THE ANTHOLOGY AT https://workingfutur.es/ A few weeks ago, we sat down with some of the authors from Working Futures, our new anthology of short stories about the future of work. Today we're back with three new guests whose stories are featured in the collection: Andrew Dana Hudson, N. R. M. Roshak, and Randy Lubin (who helped design the scenario-planning game we used to spawn ideas for many of the stories). We hope you enjoy this second instalment in our discussion all about Working Futures and the intriguing, challenging stories therein.

Backpage v. The Feds Oct 22, 2019

We've written a lot about Backpage ever since it replaced Craigslist as the favorite target of grandstanding prosecutors, and especially since it was used to help pass FOSTA. Now history's being rewritten to claim FOSTA took Backpage down, despite that not being the order in which things happened. The biggest issue, though, is that taking down these sites makes it harder to fight sex trafficking — and the feds know it. This week, we're joined by Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown to discuss documents she recently obtained in which federal investigators repeatedly acknowledge that Backpage helped them do their job, and wasn't run by a bunch of criminals.

Pirate Shaming Lists Don't Work Oct 15, 2019

A couple of months ago, we were surprised when a WIPO employee showed up in our comments to defend the organization's new database of supposedly infringing sites against our many criticisms. In that post, we highlighted a Twitter thread from lawyer Rick Shera — who represented Mega — and this week, Shera joins us on the podcast to further discuss the inefficacy and negative impact of these kinds of pirate shaming lists.

Working Futures Oct 08, 2019

GET THE BOOK: http://workingfutur.es/ As we hope you know by now, last week we released Working Futures, an anthology of short stories about the future of work in our world of rapidly advancing technology, inspired by settings we developed with a specially-designed scenario planning exercise. For this week's special episode of the podcast, we've brought in three of the authors whose stories are featured in the book— Katharine Dow, Christopher Hooton, and James Yu — to talk about the process of developing future scenarios and, of course, about their stories.

Rep. Mark Takano On Tech In Congress Oct 01, 2019

With all the misconceptions, political projects, and flat-out panics about tech in Congress these days, it sometimes feels like any positive legislative progress regarding technology is impossible. But once in a while you find a lawmaker who is out there pushing smart bills about tech, such as one that aims to help solve this whole mess by restoring and redesigning the Office of Technology Assessment to help educate Congress in the digital age. This week, we're joined by Rep. Mark Takano to discuss his plans to bring tech literacy back to Congress.

The "Facebook Supreme Court" Sep 24, 2019

The latest big news in the ongoing discussion about social media moderation is the release of Facebook's official plans for its independent oversight board, which will review content moderation decisions in an attempt to bring some transparency and due process to the system. This week we're joined by returning guest Professor Kate Klonick, who was present as an observer at Facebook covering the entire planning process, to discuss the many interesting questions around what Facebook would probably prefer people stop calling the "Facebook Supreme Court".

Does Dynamic Pricing Deserve The Hate? Sep 17, 2019

"Dynamic pricing" is an idea that sounds efficient and effective in economic theory, but often collapses under the weight of customer anger when put into practice. But while that is true of some of the most egregious approaches, other forms of dynamic pricing are ubiquitous and largely accepted — in part because of how the systems work, and in part because of how they present themselves to customers. This week, we're joined by Perfect Price CEO Alex Shartsis to discuss the many facets of dynamic pricing, and whether it deserves the hate it gets.

Trying To Be Optimistic About The Internet Sep 10, 2019

The future of the internet is... uncertain. We've always been optimistic about what technology and innovation can achieve, and that hasn't changed, but right now it often feels like we're facing more new challenges and more reactions to them (including dangerous ones) than ever, and pessimism about the internet seems to be at an all-time high. This week we're joined by EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn, who recently wrote an essay (pdf link) about internet pioneer John Perry Barlow and how his famous tech optimism was more complex — and more aware of challenges — than it is often portrayed, to discuss a positive future for the internet, and how we get there. Cindy Cohn's Essay: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1341&context=dltr

Bedbugs & Beyond, With David Karpf Sep 04, 2019

By now, you likely all know the story of David Karpf's mild "bedbugs" joke that drew the personal, professional and journalistic ire of the New York Times' Bret Stephens. As it turned out, Karpf — a professor with expertise in media and political communication — was more than capable of responding to Stephens and talking about what was happening in a variety of media outlets, with far more insight than the Pulitzer-winning columnist himself, turning what started as a very silly incident into an exploration of very serious topics. So this week, David Karpf joins us on the podcast to talk about his experience, and what we can all learn from it.

Bringing Back The Internet's True Promise Aug 27, 2019

We've talked a lot about how many of the controversial, challenging problems that exist online could be addressed by refocusing on making the internet what it was always supposed to be: a network of open protocols, not a cluster of walled gardens. Mike's recent paper on the subject lays out the reasons in detail, and on this week's episode of the podcast we're joined by one of the people working towards that goal: Anil Dash, whose Glitch community aims to bring development back to the masses. Mike's Paper - https://knightcolumbia.org/content/protocols-not-platforms-a-technological-approach-to-free-speech Glitch - https://glitch.com/

What's Really In The FCC's Facebook Settlement, Part Two Aug 20, 2019

Last week, we featured part one of our discussion with lawyer Joshua de Larios-Heiman, about the details of the FCC's Facebook settlement, beyond the headline-grabbing fine. It was a long conversation that we cut off right in the middle, so be sure to listen to part one first and then come back for part two, in which we finish picking apart the settlement item by item. PART ONE: https://soundcloud.com/techdirt/whats-really-in-the-ftcs-facebook-settlement-part-one

What's Really In The FTC's Facebook Settlement, Part One Aug 13, 2019

Ever since the FCC announced its proposed settlement with Facebook, the headlines have focused on the largest-ever privacy fine that came with it — but few people paid attention to the many, many important details. This week, we've got the first half of a two-part podcast with lawyer Joshua de Larios-Heiman, who helps us go through the entire settlement from start to finish, and pick apart what it means.

A Policy Bootcamp For Technologists Aug 06, 2019

There's a new but growing desire, both within the tech industry and among onlookers, for more technologists to get involved in public policy and doing work to serve the public interest. Various plans to help make this happen are starting to appear, and an especially interesting one is the Aspen Tech Policy Hub, which aims to help establish a new generation of tech policy entrepreneurs using an incubator model in the vein of Y Combinator. This week, Mike is joined by director Betsy Cooper to discuss the Hub's resources and programs, its inaugural cohort of technologists, and what comes next.

Don't Panic Jul 23, 2019

Moral panics are nothing new, but they've taken on many new forms in the internet era, and their patterns have rubbed off on other kinds of techno-panics. This week, I join Mike on the podcast to discuss the way we talk about the potentially scary aspects of tech, how to spot a tech panic, and how to start changing the conversation into something more constructive.

Public Interest Tech, With Bruce Schneier Jul 09, 2019

Bruce Schneier is a name most Techdirt readers are very familiar with — he's a famous computer security expert who most recently has taken up the mantle of Public Interest Technologist, and been exploring exactly what that means. This week, Bruce joins us on the podcast to discuss how technologists can dedicate themselves to the common good.

Hawley's Bill Sucks: Let Us Count The Ways... Jun 25, 2019

Josh Hawley's bill that aims to force "political neutrality" on social media platforms has caused a lot of stir for something so obviously unconstitutional and doomed to failure. There are so many problems with the bill that we've got three experts this week — Daphne Keller, Jeffrey Koseff, and Aaron Mackey — to help dig into all the ways this attack on Section 230 sucks.

Experimenting With Twitch Jun 18, 2019

Live streaming is here to stay, and it seems to be getting more popular by the minute — but for many people, it still seems like a foreign land and evokes a cliched "I feel old" response. This week, Mike is joined by not-so-regular-anymore co-host Dennis Yang, who has been experimenting with Twitch, to get a beginner's perspective on the platform, the community, and the medium of streaming.

Blame Fox News Before Facebook Jun 04, 2019

In all the attempts to understand just what happened with the 2016 election, a lot of blame has fallen on the internet and especially on Facebook. The attention, which often focuses on the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Russian interference, is not unwarranted — but it often seems to lose track of the fact that Facebook is just one part of a broader media ecosystem, and not necessarily the most important one. This week, we're joined by Yochai Benkler of the Berkman Klein Center to discuss why Fox News, not Facebook, might deserve the lion's share of scrutiny.

What If Congress Actually Understood Technology? May 28, 2019

Once upon a time, there was something called the Office of Technology Assessment, charged with the critical if unenviable task of educating members of congress about issues related to technology. Since that seems like a pretty good thing to have, recently some people have been pushing to re-establish the office. This week, we're joined by two of those people — Daniel Schuman from Demand Progress and returning guest Zach Graves from the Lincoln Network — for a discussion about bringing back the OTA.

Breaking Facebook, With Mike Godwin And David Kaye May 21, 2019

The topic of what (if anything) to do with Facebook was hardly fading from public discourse anyway, but it received a bump when co-founder Chris Hughes called for the company to be broken up. This week, we've got two returning guests on the podcast with plenty to say on the subject — UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression David Kaye, and famed internet lawyer Mike Godwin — to discuss the many sides of the Facebook question.

Politicians (Usually) Don't Understand Technology May 07, 2019

The regulation of technology is an extremely important issue that impacts all our lives, but it tends to take a back seat in the world of mainstream politics, and when it does come to the fore, the lack of knowledge on display among elected representatives can be... disheartening, to say the least. In some ways that's starting to change as a generation of people who grew up with modern technology gets more and more involved in politics, but we're still a long, long way away from having a majority of tech-savvy (or even tech-literate) lawmakers. This week, we're joined by lawyer and pioneering law blogger Denise Howell to discuss the challenge of even determining whether a politician knows what they are talking about when it comes to tech.

Cory Doctorow On Anti-Circumvention (And More) Apr 30, 2019

Whether it's from his novels, or his work for the EFF and others, most of you probably know all about Cory Doctorow. He last joined the podcast two years ago to discuss his book Walkaway, and this week he's back to talk about his latest book, Radicalized — a collection of four novellas, the first of which is directly based on the issues with the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions. Check out the episode for a discussion about the book, anti-circumvention, tech companies, and more.

The Past & Future Of Section 230 Apr 23, 2019

Of all the laws we discuss here at Techdirt, probably none comes up as often or in relation to as many things as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It's not an exaggeration to describe it the way Professor Jeff Kosseff does in the title of his new book, The Twenty-Six Words That Created The Internet, offering a detailed history of this vital piece of law. This week, Jeff joins us on the podcast for an in-depth discussion about where Section 230 came from, and where it's going.

A Free Speech Chat With FIRE Apr 16, 2019

It's time for another special cross-post from a different podcast. Mike was recently a guest on the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's So To Speak podcast, for an interview about Techdirt, free speech, content moderation, and a range of other topics. If you didn't catch it there, you can listen to the whole interview here in this week's episode.

MEP Julia Reda Explains What's Next With The EU Copyright Directive Apr 09, 2019

Unfortunately, as you know by now, the EU Parliament approved the current (disastrous) version of the EU Copyright Directive, which is now on track to become the law of the land. It's not good, but things aren't quite over yet. For this week's episode, we've got returning guest MEP Julia Reda — who has been a key force opposing the terrible articles in the Directive — to talk about what happens now.

Charter Cities & Innovative Governance Apr 02, 2019

We're pretty optimistic about innovation here at Techdirt, but it isn't an automatic good thing all by itself: implementation and intention matters, and that means political entanglements and complicated questions about governance, and that calls for big, new ideas. This week, we're joined by Tamara Winter from the Center for Innovative Governance Research to discuss new experiments in government like charter cities and special autonomous zones. Also, learn more about: Shenzhen - https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/2501/564470PUB0buil10Box349496B01PUBLIC1.pdf?sequen Val D'Europe - https://www.economist.com/europe/2017/08/03/disney-has-built-a-pseudo-paris-near-paris The original vision for Disney World -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLCHg9mUBag&t=920s

The Surveillance State, With Marcy Wheeler Mar 26, 2019

We've been covering surveillance and the intelligence community for a long time here at Techdirt, but if you had to limit yourself to just one source on the subject, even we'd probably recommend you choose Marcy Wheeler. Following the recent news that the NSA has apparently shut down its bulk records collection program — the first exposed by Edward Snowden — Marcy joins us on this week's episode to discuss the surveillance state and why it might abandon Section 215.

The Failure Of High Tech Policing Mar 19, 2019

Sometimes people ask us why we write so much about the police on Techdirt. Though our coverage has grown somewhat beyond the boundaries of incidents directly involving technology, the reality is that the problems with law enforcement persistently intersect with the same technological and legal issues we've always discussed here. But this week the focus is squarely on cops and technology: Mike is joined by Matt Stroud, author of the new book Thin Blue Lie, as well as our own Tim Cushing, to talk about the failure of high-tech policing.

Crying Wolf Over Conservative Censorship Mar 12, 2019

You've heard the uproar — conservatives are being censored on social media! But... are they? The short answer is no. The long answer is this week's podcast, with Lincoln Network policy head Zach Graves joining us for a discussion about the misinformation, hyperbole and general ridiculousness surrounding supposed social media bias.

Delivery-Driven Government Mar 06, 2019

Lots of people have tried to sum up the differences between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. — but it isn't so easy to hone in on. Nevertheless, it's clear that at least some aspects of the west-coast tech approach could benefit a government that all-too-often appears incapable of accomplishing anything much. This week, we're joined by former US Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Code For America founder Jennifer Pahlka to discuss what the Hill can learn from the Valley.

Can Journalism Survive A Free Market? Feb 26, 2019

It's no secret that journalism outfits are struggling, and have been for some time. There are lots of competing ideas about why this is the case, and who to blame, but the ultimate question is the same: how do we fund good journalism going forward? This week, Mike is joined on the podcast by someone whose opinions on this question differ significantly from his own — Columbia Journalism professor and former online editor-in-chief of the Guardian Emily Bell — to talk about whether journalism can survive the free market, and what the alternatives are.

The (Big?) Business Of Podcasting Feb 19, 2019

We can hardly believe it, but as of this moment we've released 200 episodes of the Techdirt podcast! For this milestone, we've brought the increasingly-rare original team of co-hosts back together for a bit of a meta-episode all about podcasts — specifically, the recent news that Spotify has acquired Gimlet Media for the impressive and, to many, surprising sum of $230-million. Mike joined by Dennis Yang and Hersh Reddy to discuss what Spotify might be up to, and just how big the podcasting business really is.

From Apple To The ACLU, With Jon Callas Feb 12, 2019

Jon Callas has been at the forefront of computer security issues for a long time, most recently as the head of Apple's team of internal hackers that try to break into the company's own products. But just a couple of months ago, he made a change, and left Apple to work on tech policy at the ACLU. This week, he joins us on the podcast to discuss the new job, computer security policy, and the latest phase of the crypto-wars.

Life Without The Tech Giants Feb 05, 2019

One of the most common responses to various complaints about giant tech companies is that you can just not use their products and services. Many people have pointed out just how difficult that would really be, but Gizmodo's Kashmir Hill decided to try it for real: she cut Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple out of her life for a week each, followed by a week without any of them. Her report on that final, empty week is coming out soon, but in the mean time she joins us on the podcast to talk about what it's like to live without big tech.

The Grand Re-Opening Of The Public Domain Jan 29, 2019

As our readers surely know by now, 2019 is the first time in a long time that new works have actually entered the public domain in the US! The Internet Archive and Creative Commons hosted a celebration of this fact, and this week we're joined by IA's Lila Bailey and CC's Timothy Vollmer to talk about that event and the exciting possibilities of a re-opened public domain.

The CES 2019 Post-Mortem Jan 22, 2019

It's that time again! Mike spent the week before last at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, checking out all the latest technology that companies are most eager to show off, and now once again he's joined on the podcast by CES veteran Rob Pegoraro for the CES 2019 Post-Mortem.

The EU Endangers Free Speech Online... Again Jan 15, 2019

The latest in the EU's string of internet regulatory efforts has a new target: terrorist propaganda. Just as with past regulations, the proposed rules seem onerous and insane, creating huge liability for internet platforms that fail to do the impossible. This week, we're joined by returning guests Daphne Keller from Stanford's Center For Internet And Society and Emma Llansó from the Center for Democracy and Technology to discuss this most recent danger to online free speech in the EU.

Ninja Future, With Gary Shapiro Jan 08, 2019

Today, Mike is at the opening of the Consumer Technology Association's CES 2019 show — which means we'll have one of our CES post-mortem podcasts coming up soon! But before that, for this first episode of 2019, we've got a discussion with CTA CEO Gary Shapiro, whose new book Ninja Future takes a look at how people and businesses are dealing with innovation and rapid technological change.

Can Anyone Disrupt The Disruptors? Dec 18, 2018

Can Anyone Disrupt The Disruptors? by Techdirt

Section 230 And Political Bias Dec 11, 2018

We've got another panel discussion from the Lincoln Network's Reboot conference this week, all about the law on everyone's minds lately: Section 230 of the CDA. The debate includes law professor Eric Goldman, the EFF's Corynne McSherry, and Dr. Jerry A. Johnson from National Religious Broadcasters, offering up a wide spectrum of opinions on Section 230 and political bias.

Free Speech Disorder, With Mike Godwin Dec 04, 2018

Last week, we published a series of posts by Mike Godwin looking at Our Bipolar Free Speech Disorder And How To Fix It (check out part one, part two, and part three). But with a topic like this, there's always more to dig into, so this week we've got Mike Godwin joining the podcast to take a closer look at his ideas about free speech in the digital era.

Should We Break Up Big Tech? Nov 27, 2018

A few weeks ago, we featured a panel discussion with Mike and others at the Lincoln Network's Reboot conference on the podcast. This week we're doing something a little different and featuring another panel discussion from that conference, but one in which Mike wasn't involved. Instead, it's an interesting — and at times contentious — debate about one big question: do the big tech firms need to be broken up?

What The Hell Is Initiative Q? Nov 13, 2018

By now, there's a good chance you've received an invitation to join Initiative Q, and also a good chance that you took one look at it and thought "wow, this seems extremely sketchy." And indeed, there's little reason (other than hopefulness) to see the strange new proposed payment system as anything but a pyramid scheme. But it's got people talking, thanks in no small part to its viral marketing scheme, so this week's episode is all about trying to figure out just what Initiative Q really is.

Government, Activism & Silicon Valley Nov 06, 2018

In late September, Mike joined a panel at the Lincoln Network's Reboot conference to tackle the question "will rising activism limit government’s access to Silicon Valley?" along with Trae Stephens, Pablo E. Carrillo, with moderator Katie McAuliffe. For this week's episode, we've got the full audio from that panel plus an additional introduction from Mike with some thoughts after the fact. Enjoy!

AI, Free Speech & Human Rights Oct 30, 2018

As artificial intelligence technology marches onwards, it's raising a lot of complicated questions about free speech, privacy, and important rights. One person who's been thinking a lot about these questions is David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, who recently published a thorough report [pdf] on the subject. This week, David joins us on the podcast to discuss artificial intelligence and its implications for human rights.

Free Speech & Content Moderation (Panel Discussion) Oct 09, 2018

For this week's episode of the podcast, we're featuring a recent panel discussion from Mozilla's Speaker Series. Mike Masnick sat down with Guillaume Chaslot from Algo Transparency, hosted by Mozilla Fellow in Residence Renée DiResta, to talk about the challenges of online content moderation and its implications for freedom of expression. Enjoy!

Building New Senses (Plus The Possible End Of The World) Oct 02, 2018

This week, we've got a special cross-post from Rob Reid's excellent After On podcast. After a conversation between Mike and Rob about the possible end of the world, we pivot to the full episode of After On in which Rob talks to neuroscientist David Eagleman about his fascinating work using technology to create new human senses. We hope you enjoy it!

Life Insurance, Life Surveillance Sep 25, 2018

A major insurance company recently announced that it would offer discounts on life insurance to customers who wear activity trackers and log data showing they live a healthy lifestyle. This understandably freaked out some people, but there are interesting aspects to the idea as well. There's plenty to consider, so this week regular hosts Mike, Hersh and Dennis discuss whether this is an exciting innovation, a worrying expansion of surveillance culture, or both.

No Easy Answers For Content Moderation Sep 18, 2018

We've done it — we've solved the challenge of content moderation! (Checks notes). No, wait, sorry: we haven't. But what we have done is invited Kate Klonick, law professor and author of the excellent paper The New Governors: The People, Rules, and Processes Governing Online Speech, to join us for an in-depth discussion about how we got here and why there are no easy or simple answers for content moderation.

Anonymity In The Media & Online Sep 11, 2018

Anonymity is back in the news in a big way, especially since the New York Times published an explosive opinion piece by an anonymous White House official. Here at Techdirt — proudly one of the few blogs that still allows completely anonymous comments with no sign-up — we've talked about anonymity for a long time in the context of the internet. On this week's episode, Mike and regular co-hosts Dennis Yang and Hersh Reddy talk about the benefits, challenges, and overall importance of anonymous speech.

There's Always Something New To Learn About Copyright Sep 04, 2018

Copyright is a big, complicated monster of a law, composed of patchwork updates and shaped by international agreements — which is, in fact, the source of a lot of its problems. But fixing copyright means understanding it, so this week we've got a conversation with UCLA professor Neil Netanel, author of the new book Copyright: What Everyone Needs To Know, because there's always something new to learn about copyright.

Do Short-Term Profits Hurt Long-Term Innovation? Aug 28, 2018

Is the way companies are currently structured and operated conducive to long-term innovation? It's a tough question, but there are plenty of reasons to consider that short-term profit incentives might be getting in the way of better overall innovation strategies — and lots of possibilities for how we might rethink companies to change this. This week, the regular crew of Mike, Hersh and Dennis discuss how this problem could be addressed, and whether there's truly a problem at all.

Emoji & The Law Aug 22, 2018

Have you ever thought about the legal issues surrounding emoji? Don't worry, most people haven't. But they are myriad and interesting, with roots nearly two decades ago following the emergence of emoticons — and two people who definitely have thought a lot about it are Eric Goldman and Gabriella Ziccarelli, who join us on this week's episode to talk about the various intersections of emoji and the law.

Old Tweets & Your Permanent Record Aug 14, 2018

There has long been anxiety around the "permanent record" of the internet, and recent public shamings based on old tweets have brought that fear to the forefront for many people. But the mass deletion of old tweets also means throwing out huge amounts of potentially valuable information. Is there a technological solution? A cultural one? This week, we're joined by returning guests Cathy Gellis and Parker Higgins to discuss a proposal for fixing the problem without sacrificing the permanent record.

Why People Don't Trust Capitalism Anymore Aug 07, 2018

The tides of public opinion on economics seem to be shifting, and criticism of the very idea of free markets is on the ride. The conversation is messy, confusing, and transcends many traditional political boundaries — so we've got an expert source to help us dig in. EconTalk host Russ Roberts joins us to look at why so many people don't trust capitalism anymore.

The EU's Copyright Threat To The Open Internet Jul 31, 2018

We've got a crossover episode this week, all about the EU's disastrous moves on the copyright front. Mike recently joined the Building Tomorrow podcast to discuss the subject with Paul Matzko and Will Duffield, and now you can listen to it here on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

Building Communities Outside Facebook Jul 24, 2018

One thing we've talked about for a long time at Techdirt is the importance communities for media outlets, including our own. These days, it feels like a lot of media companies are giving up on this work altogether and outsourcing it to social media platforms — but that means foregoing some of the most powerful aspects of the internet. This week, we're joined by Josh Millard, who recently took over MetaFilter, to talk about building online communities and not relying on Facebook.

How Private Agreements Recreated SOPA Jul 17, 2018

One of the most dangerous aspects of SOPA and other copyright proposals is the idea of moving enforcement and liability further down the stack of technology that powers the internet, even all the way to the DNS system. Although SOPA's DNS-blocking proposals were heavily criticized and the bill ultimately defeated, the idea of deep-level copyright enforcement has lived on and been implemented without changes to the law. This week our returning guest, law professor Annemarie Bridy, discusses how private agreements have quietly recreated some of the worst aspects of SOPA.

Sci-Fi & Scenario Planning Jul 10, 2018

Eliot Peper is a novelist who uses thorough research and creative thinking to produce science fiction that can feel more like eerily-accurate prognostication. Exploring possible futures with real insight has always been one of sci-fi's greatest strengths, and this week Peper joins Mike on the podcast to discuss his work, methods, and ideas about tomorrow. Eliot Peper - http://www.eliotpeper.com/

Are Tech And Journalism Att Odds With Each Other? Jun 26, 2018

Between Elon Musk's proposal for a website ranking the credibility of journalists and Tim Draper blaming the collapse of Theranos on the press (not to mention Peter Thiel's attack on Gawker), it feels like there's a war brewing between Silicon Valley and journalism. Though the press has some major problems, it really seems like tech entrepreneurs are misunderstanding how it works and proposing some dangerous ideas. This week, we discuss the tensions between tech and journalism, and what will come from the proposals to address it.

Debating Steam's New Hands-Off Policy Jun 19, 2018

Recently, Valve sent waves through the PC gaming world by announcing an upcoming policy change for its Steam platform: it will no longer enforce specific content rules and will allow all games as long as they aren't illegal or "straight-up trolling". Though it's not exactly clear what this means, the reaction from the gaming press has been largely negative, and it's hard to say how the new policy will be implemented — so this week myself, Tim Geigner and Cathy Gellis join the podcast to discuss just what's going to happen on the biggest platform for PC games.

Are E-Scooters A Problem? Jun 12, 2018

The latest entrant on the decentralized transportation scene is the suddenly-ubiquitous electric scooters that are taking over San Francisco and other cities. Their appearance has triggered the inevitable controversy, with some saying they are ruining cities while others laud their convenience for urbanites. And, of course, a regulatory battle wasn't far behind. On this week's episode, we discuss the e-scooter trend and its many pros and cons.

MEP Julia Reda On EU's Dangerous Copyright Proposal Jun 05, 2018

As we've noted recently, the current copyright reform proposal being considered by the EU is full of extremely dangerous ideas, from mandated filters to a "link tax". This week, we're joined by European Parliament member Julia Reda to talk about the details of the regulatory process and the problems with the current proposal.

Rob Reid's Mind-Bending Podcast May 29, 2018

We've talked about author Rob Reid many times on Techdirt, and had him on the podcast once before. Now, in what started as a project to promote his latest novel, Reid is hosting a podcast called After On, which tackles some pretty crazy real-world topics — from alien life to mind-reading technology — befitting a science fiction writer. This week, he returns to our podcast to discuss what it's like interviewing big thinkers about mind-bending ideas.

CIA: Collect It All May 19, 2018

We're nearing the end of the Kickstarter campaign for CIA: Collect It All, our polished and fully-playable version of a formerly top secret card game used by the CIA to train new recruits. In this special Saturday edition of the podcast, the three of us working on the project — myself, Mike, and Randy Lubin of Diegetic Games — sit down to talk all about what players can expect from CIA: Collect It All. Our Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mmasnick/cia-collect-it-all?ref=2ivphk

How The Courts Created The Surveillance State May 08, 2018

The US has been something of a surveillance state since long before the Snowden revelations that showed the full extent of some of the NSA's activities. A lot of this is made possible — often unintentionally — by decades-old court decisions regarding technology. It's a problem. This week, reporter Cyrus Farivar — whose new book Habeas Data digs into this judicial history — joins us to discuss how courts created the surveillance state. Habeas Data - https://www.mhpbooks.com/books/habeas-data/

Is "Free" Bad? May 01, 2018

In the last few years, a lot of the conversation around technology in general has shifted its focus from excitement about the obvious benefits to concern about its downfalls and side effects. It even feels like there's a general sense that "technology is bad for society" in a lot of places. This comes with a lot of associated myths, including the prominent idea that "if you're not paying for something, you're the product being sold" — an idea that is, at best a massive oversimplification. So on this week's podcast we're discussing the changing cultural attitudes towards technology, especially free online services and the many myths and misunderstandings about how they operate.

Getting News Without Social Media Apr 25, 2018

Social media can be an extremely powerful tool for gathering, finding and sharing the news. It can also be... a bit of a disaster. It would be nice if such an important question had a simple answer, but they never do, do they? So this week, we're discussing and dissecting whether or not social media is "good" for the way we consume the news.

Teaching The Law Via Podcasts Apr 17, 2018

Law isn't simple, and truly learning about it takes more than a few short primers or even an in-depth guide or two — which makes it the perfect topic to explore via the medium of podcasts. This week, we've got a pair of guests who are doing exactly that: Ken White of Popehat fame, who recently launched the Make No Law podcast about First Amendment issues, and Elizabeth Joh, co-host of the What Trump Can Teach Us About Constitutional Law podcast. Instead of picking their brains about the law itself, we've got an episode all about their experience using podcasts to teach people about legal issues.

Can The Blockchain Save Publishers? Apr 10, 2018

After the recent launch of po.et, which aims to use the blockchain to create a new business model for digital media companies, Mike was... unconvinced. This led to a Twitter discussion with CEO Jarrod Dicker, which in turn led to a longer in-person conversation about the ideas behind the service and where it might go — and you can listen to the whole thing on this week's podcast episode.

How One Court Just Screwed Up Software Development Apr 03, 2018

We've already written about the insanity of the appeals court overturning Google's fair use victory against Oracle — but there's plenty to dig into regarding just how bad the ruling is. This week, we're joined by Pamela Samuelson, a law professor and co-director of the Center for Law & Technology at Berkeley, to discuss what the court just did to the world of software development.

Overreacting To Facebook's Mistakes Won't Solve Anything Mar 27, 2018

Facebook. Cambridge Analytica. Need I say more? There's plenty to discuss. Among them is the question of similarities between what happened and the Obama campaign — which is why we're lucky to be joined this week by Catherine Bracy, who led the Obama campaign's San Francisco tech office, and worked on its Facebook app, for a discussion about what really went down with Cambridge Analytica, and all the misinformation that's out there.

What Does It Mean For Social Media To Be Held Accountable? Mar 20, 2018

This isn't the first time we've discussed this on the podcast, and it probably won't be the last — disinformation online is a big and complicated topic, and there are a whole lot of angles to approach it from. This week, we're joined by Renee DiResta, who has been researching disinformation ever since the anti-vaxxer movement caught her attention, to discuss what exactly it means to say social media platforms should be held accountable.

How MoviePass Makes Money Mar 13, 2018

The apparent success of MoviePass raises a whole bunch of interesting business model questions — and privacy concerns about the data-harvesting portion of that business model add another layer of complexity. So this week, we're going back to a good old-fashioned formula for the podcast, and dedicating an episode to examining the company in detail and trying to figure out where it might be headed.

The Worst Of Both Worlds: SESTA & FOSTA Together Mar 06, 2018

It wasn't very long ago that we last discussed SESTA on the podcast, but now that the House has voted to approve its version of the bill with SESTA tacked on, it's unfortunately time to dig into the issues again. So this week we're joined by returning guest Emma Llansó from the Center for Democracy and Technology and, for the first time, law professor Eric Goldman to talk about why the combination of SESTA and FOSTA has resulted in the worst of both worlds.

Disrupting Google Feb 27, 2018

When a tech company is huge and dominant, it can feel like competing with them is impossible. Worse still, it can sometimes feel like innovating is impossible, since they might just step in and take over as soon as someone executes on a good idea. Once upon a time this was how startups felt about Microsoft, while today it's more likely to be Google or Facebook. But no company, no matter how mighty, is immune to being disrupted — and figuring out how is the subject of this week's episode.

Lies, Damned Lies & Audience Metrics Feb 20, 2018

In 2016, mostly out of frustration, I wrote a post about how traffic is fake, audience numbers are garbage, and nobody knows how many people see anything. My feelings haven't changed much, and neither has the digital advertising ecosystem. And since regular podcast co-host Dennis Yang runs a digital metrics company, it only made sense for us to hash it out on an episode all about audience measurement and how it shapes online advertising. 2016 Post: https://tdrt.io/fOt

Truth, Trust, Transparency & Tribalism Feb 13, 2018

A couple of weeks ago, Mike was in Washington, DC for the State Of The Net conference, where he participated in a panel called Internet Speech: Truth, Trust, Transparency & Tribalism. For this week's podcast, we've got the audio from that conversation with all sorts of interesting ideas about how people are dealing with fake news, trolls, propaganda and more.

An Interview With Rep Zoe Lofgren Feb 06, 2018

When it comes to many of the legislative issues of interest to us here at Techdirt, we've always been able to count on at least one voice of reason amidst the congressional chaos: Representative Zoe Lofgren from California. In addition to playing a critical role in the fight against SOPA, she continues to be a voice of reason against bad copyright policy, expansive government surveillance, and the broken CFAA, among many other things. This week, she joins Mike on the podcast for a wide-ranging discussion about these topics and more.

Free Speech & The Marketplace Of Ideas Jan 30, 2018

Last week, Mike sparked lots of conversation with his post about rethinking the marketplace of ideas without losing sight of the importance of the fundamental principles of free speech. Naturally, there's plenty more to discuss on that topic, so this week we're joined by Buzzfeed general counsel Nabiha Syed — whose recent article in the Yale Law Journal, Real Talk About Fake News, offered a thorough and insightful look at free speech online — to try to cut through all the simplistic takes on free speech and talk about where things are going. Mike's post: https://tdrt.io/gCy Nabiha's article: https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/real-talk-about-fake-news

Facebook Won't Save Democracy Jan 23, 2018

In the midst of the political chaos in America and the world at large, a whole lot of attention has been turned to Facebook and its role in modern democracy. The social network has responded by announcing another round of news feed changes, the true impact of which (if any) remains far from clear. This week, we're joined by Mathew Ingram from the Columbia Journalism Review to talk about Facebook's changes, and whether we can or should expect them to fix anything.

The CES 2018 Post-Mortem Jan 16, 2018

Mike was at CES 2018 last week, and now for the third year in a row we've got our special episode of the podcast dedicated to looking at the best (and worst) innovations on show. As usual, he's joined by long-time CES veteran Rob Pegoraro — so without any further preamble, here's the CES 2018 Post-Mortem.

Barbies v. Bratz Jan 09, 2018

If you've been reading Techdirt for more than five years, you probably remember the conclusion of Mattel v. MGA — and if you've been reading for more than thirteen years, you might even remember when it started. This epic legal battle over intellectual property went through nearly a decade of rulings and reversals, and the resulting story is a fascinating one that ties in a lot of the topics we discuss here at Techdirt. It's also the subject of the new book You Don't Own Me by law professor Orly Lobel, who joins us on this week's episode to revisit this particular law opera and what it says about the wider world of IP.

The Lost Art Of Productive Debate Dec 19, 2017

Even those of us who believe that the internet is overall a tremendous positive force when it comes to discourse and culture can admit that, in many parts of the online world, having constructive and substantive conversations is... difficult. And that issue has most certainly come to the fore in the last couple of years. So this week, we're joined by author Barry Eisler (one of our first and most frequent podcast guests) to tackle the challenge of framing important debates in productive ways, and actually getting somewhere with them.

Games That Tell Stories Dec 12, 2017

Gaming is changing the nature of storytelling. Video games of course — but also the modern rise of board games, tabletop RPGs and other forms of analog gaming. A good game does more than just arbitrarily pair play with a veneer of narrative, it marries the mechanics and the ideas to enable interesting new ways of conveying and exploring complex ideas. This week, we're joined by game designer Randy Lubin to discuss how games can tell stories in a way nothing else can.

Can A Trivia App Resurrect Appointment Viewing? Dec 05, 2017

Normally, we wouldn't dedicate a whole episode of the podcast to talking about a single app — but every now and then something small comes along that contains innovations worth exploring. So this week, we're taking a look at the hit trivia app HQ, which is one of the first new things in recent memory to gain real momentum with "appointment viewing".

Tom Wheeler Reacts To Trump's FCC Nov 28, 2017

If you're a Techdirt reader or just a general regular on the ol' internet, our topic this week — the current situation with net neutrality and the FCC — needs little introduction. And we've got two very special guests joining us to discuss it: former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler (author of the rules that Ajit Pai is currently undoing) and his former advisor Gigi Sohn (who joined us on the podcast in February to predict pretty much exactly what is now happening). There are few people as qualified to talk about these issues, so enjoy this week's episode looking at Trump's FCC and the future of the internet as we know it.

The Perils Of Internet Platform Regulation Nov 14, 2017

We've been talking about internet platform regulation for a long time, but in the past year these issues have gotten a huge amount of increased focus — for a bunch of fairly obvious reasons. But a lot of people who are fairly new to the issue tend to make a lot of questionable assumptions and jump to some problematic conclusions, so this week we're joined by someone who has been studying these questions for many years — Annemarie Bridy, a law professor at the University of Idaho and Affiliate Scholar at the Stanford University Center for Internet and Society — to discuss the complicated consequences of various attempts to regulate online platforms.

No Easy Answers: Facebook & The Election Nov 07, 2017

I don't think I need to say much to introduce this week's topic — we're all well aware of the conversation about Facebook's role in the presidential election, including questions of filter bubbles, fake news, foreign influence, and so on and so on. As is always the case in situations like this, a lot of people seem to be looking for easy answers, and easy places to point fingers of blame, so in this week's episode we're discussing why it's just not that simple.

Who Still Needs A Personal Computer? Oct 24, 2017

As smartphones and other mobile devices have gotten smarter and smarter, they've taken over more and more of most people's general computing needs, and the importance of the classic personal computer has waned. And so for some time the question has been: will the PC ever go away entirely? That's our topic this week as we try to figure out who really needs a PC these days, and when and if that will change.

Donald Trump, Howard Stern... And Copyright Oct 17, 2017

This episode was supposed to come two weeks ago when the news was a little fresher, so by now you almost certainly know all about the copyright claims on Donald Trump's appearances on the Howard Stern show. Though delayed by an outage at our cloud recording provider, the episode is still an interesting listen, with frequent Techdirt contributor Cathy Gellis joining the podcast to discuss the deeper question of whether copyright truly even exists on the interviews in the first place. Sorry for the delay, and we hope you enjoy it!

WTF With Tim O'Reilly Oct 10, 2017

The rapid forward march of technology has long bred two leading camps of onlookers: the techno-optimists and the techno-pessimists. Honest people on both sides, however, must admit that technological innovation has had both positive and negative effects. Internet legend Tim O'Reilly is one of the people who think a lot about these issues, and his new book WTF? What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us — which discusses in detail the world that we are building with technology — was released today, and we're pleased to have him join us on this week's episode to talk about the book and the future of innovation.

How Scandalous Are Facebook's Ad Scandals? Sep 26, 2017

Facebook is under a lot of scrutiny these days over its advertising and content moderation systems, especially since the high-profile revelation of Russia-backed ads during the election. But are things being blown out of proportion? And what, exactly, is to be done? This week we dig in to Facebook's ongoing advertising scandals, and debate what they really mean.

When Godwin's Law Met The Streisand Effect Sep 19, 2017

Last Friday on Techdirt, we posted video from the World Hosting Days, in which Mike Masnick sat down for a talk with Mike Godwin — a.k.a. the originator of "the Streisand Effect" meeting the creator of "Godwin's Law". As promised, we've got the audio from the event for this week's podcast, so if you haven't watched the video (or you just want to revisit it) tune in for a fun discussion about the history and changing meaning of these now-famous terms. Watch the video: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170915/16541938217/when-godwins-law-met-streisand-effect.shtml

Customize Everything! Sep 12, 2017

While the 20th century was defined by mass production, since the digital revolution there has been talk about what might be the main trend of the 21st century: mass customization. Today, we're starting to see customizable mass-produced offerings pop up in a number of spaces such as apparel, and this week we discuss whether mass customization is finally approaching critical mass.

Pokémon Gone? Aug 29, 2017

Just over a year ago, when Pokémon Go was taking the world by storm, we dedicated an episode of the podcast to discussing what made it so successful, and ended up with some differing predictions about what its future would be. Now, with the hype long and truly over but the game still far from dead (though just how far is up for debate), it's time to revisit the subject and figure out who, if anyone, was right about the future of Pokémon Go. Hear the original episode: https://soundcloud.com/techdirt/is-it-the-pokemon-or-the-go-that-matters

20 Years Of Techdirt Aug 22, 2017

Can you believe it? Tomorrow is our 20th anniversary! Techdirt has come a long way since Mike started it as a newsletter on August 23rd, 1997, and this week's episode of the podcast is a celebration and exploration of that history. Mike and Dennis are joined by Medium's Alex Feerst acting as moderator/interviewer to discuss the past 20 years of Techdirt.

The Problems With SESTA And Why Section 230 Matters Aug 15, 2017

Recently, we've been writing about SESTA, Congress' latest attack on Section 230 of the CDA, and helping to organize a campaign against it. But there's still a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation out there regarding the bill, so this week we're joined by Daphne Keller from Stanford's Center For Internet And Society and Emma Llansó from the Center for Democracy and Technology to dig deeper into the problems with the bill and why protecting Section 230 is vital.

These Scammers Picked The Wrong Guy Aug 08, 2017

If you're a fan of the Reply All podcast, then you're probably still processing the story they told in a recent two-part episode about the insane lengths that host Alex Goldman went to track down a phone scammer. If you haven't heard the story, and you think you've seen all there is to see on the "messing with scammers" front... well, you're in for a surprise. We strongly suggest you listen to the Reply All story first — then listen to our conversation with Alex about the whole saga on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast. Reply All Episode 102, "Long Distance" - https://gimletmedia.com/episode/long-distance/

Is There Any Smartphone Innovation Left? Aug 01, 2017

Smartphones have been one of the most world-changing innovations of our time — and for a long time, smartphone design was a hotbed of innovation. But more recently that innovation seems to have stagnated. So where does this technology go next? That's the subject of this weeks episode, in which we try to figure out whether smartphone innovation is still happening.

Is The Economy More Important Than Democracy? Jul 25, 2017

The economy is important — very important. But is that because it matters in and of itself, or because it's the engine for achieving the things we really do care about? Here at Techdirt we've always been strong advocates of the free market, but we've never been absolutists about things like regulation, and we believe it's very important to explore these issues in detail. This week on the podcast we're joined by James Allworth, co-host of the Exponent podcast and author of a recent post entitled Prioritizing Economics is Crippling the U.S. Economy, to discuss entrepreneurship, democracy, the economy and more. Read the article: https://medium.com/@jamesallworth/the-slow-decay-of-americas-entrepreneurial-society-f9aeb6145891

Is It Bad If Facebook Copies Everything Snapchat Does? Jul 18, 2017

You may have heard the joke: the best way to do product design for Facebook is to get a job at Snapchat. We've all seen how, after failing to buy the company, Facebook has wasted little time in building its own versions of most of Snapchat's key features. So... is this a problem? That's the subject on this week's episode, were we discuss the ins and outs of this kind of copying and what it might mean for the future of social media.

Rob Reid On Writing & Publishing A SciFi Novel In 2017 Jul 11, 2017

If you read our post yesterday, you know that Techdirt friend Rob Reid is releasing his latest novel, After On by publishing the first near-half of the book for free on Medium ( https://medium.com/s/after-on/ ). As promised, today we're joined by Rob on the podcast for a discussion about the book, the launch, and what it's like to publish science fiction in 2017. And don't forget to get your copy of the book at http://amzn.to/2sWUBRE

Patent Trolls, With Cloudflare's General Counsel Jun 27, 2017

As we reported last month, CDN provider Cloudflare has decided to hit back against patent troll Blackbird Technologies with an aggressive strategy. Leading this charge is Doug Kramer, Cloudflare's General Counsel, who joins us this week to discuss the current situation with Blackbird and the broader patent landscape.

Copyright, Music & 'Theft' Jun 20, 2017

This week's episode is all about copyright and culture, with a pair of the best guests you could ask for on the subject. Almost ten years ago, law professors Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins released a comic book about copyright called Bound By Law, and now they are back with a sequel: Theft: A History of Music. This week, James and Jennifer join us to discuss the new comic and the history of copyright and music (with lots of fair use music snippets to demonstrate the legacy of 'theft')! You should also be sure to check out the comic itself! You can download a digital copy for free of course, but for those who want to get their hands on the beautiful paperback edition, we've got a limited time offer for Techdirt fans: you can get it for only $8.99 at Createspace (that's 40% off!) when you use the discount code 2FESBPRQ within the next two weeks. It's also available on Amazon with a free Kindle edition included when you buy.

Talking Freedom Of Information With A "FOIA Terrorist" Jun 13, 2017

We've made FOIA requests several times over the years, with varying results — but there are others out there who have dedicated their careers to understanding and using the FOIA process. One such person is Jason Leopold, a Buzzfeed reporter and FOIA litigator who was dubbed a "FOIA terrorist" by the government. He joins us this week on the podcast to discuss the ins and outs of Freedom Of Information.

Re-Decentralizing The Web Jun 06, 2017

One of the fundamental strengths of the internet has always been its decentralization, but over time we've seen a bunch of different forces start to distort this setup. This week, we're joined by Jamie King, director of Steal This Film and host of the Steal This Show podcast to discuss the ongoing efforts to restore the decentralization of the web.

This week we've got a special crossover episode with our friends at TechFreedom. Mike joined their Tech Policy Podcast recently to discuss notice and takedown systems and the future of internet copyright, and we're cross-posting the conversation as an episode of the Techdirt Podcast too.

No, The MP3 Isn't Dead May 23, 2017

When the "death of the MP3" started being reported, we were among the very few blogs that said umm, no — but the deluge of eulogies for the still-thriving format has been overwhelming and quite surprising. This week I join the podcast to discuss why the MP3 isn't dead, and how so much of the tech press got it so wrong.

Truth And Fiction With Cory Doctorow May 16, 2017

Most Techdirt readers are already familiar with Cory Doctorow, whether via his EFF work, the BoingBoing blog, his novels, or all of the above. This week, he joins us on the podcast to discuss his new book Walkaway and much, much more.

The Crypto Wars May Never End May 09, 2017

The current instalment of the crypto wars hit full stride with the clash between Apple and the FBI, but in truth the tension over encryption has been around for a long time — and it doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon. As our readers know, Tim Cushing has been following these developments closely, and this week he joins the podcast for a discussion about encryption, law enforcement and "going dark".

The Surveillance State May 02, 2017

In the post-Snowden era, we don't have to tell you how important it is to stay engaged with (and vigilant about) the surveillance state in America. Jennifer Granick is the Director of Civil Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, and author of the new book American Spies — and this week she joins us for an in-depth discussion about the surveillance state today. Of course, shortly after we recorded this podcast, the NSA made major changes to one of its surveillance programs, so Jennifer returned to record an addendum examining this latest news, so make sure you listen to the end!

Does Pharma Really Need Patents? Apr 27, 2017

It doesn't take many stories of people suffering due to unaffordable medicine to make you question the state of pharmaceutical patents, but the arguments in their defense are loud and frequent. Most are variations on the same theme: without the promise of a monopoly, important drugs would never be researched and developed. But does this argument truly hold up? It's come up as a tangent in previous episodes of the podcast, but this week we're dedicating a full episode to questioning the popular defenses of pharma patents and looking for a better way forward.

The Evolution Of The Office Apr 18, 2017

We've talked before about how the very nature of work is changing thanks to technology, with telecommuting being an obvious trend — but despite some early predictions about the death of the physical office, the reality is offices have been evolving and changing thanks to technology and innovation too. This week, we discuss co-working spaces and other trends in the evolution of offices.

Why This ISP Supports Net Neutrality, Privacy Rules And More Apr 11, 2017

Since Congress threw out new privacy rules for ISPs that were supposed to come into effect soon, there's been a renewed uproar on all sides of the debate about internet regulation. While the big ISPs generally want to be able to do as they please, there are smaller service providers out there that fully understand and embrace the need for privacy, net neutrality and more. One such ISP is Sonic, and this week we're joined by CEO Dane Jasper to discuss why these rules are a good thing.

The Truth About VPNs Apr 04, 2017

For a long time now, "use a VPN" has been the default online privacy advice — but is it really so effective? Following the recent VPN boom that came on the tails of Congress scrapping new ISP privacy rules, a few security experts have stepped forward to explain how VPNs aren't all they're cracked up to be, and choosing and using one isn't as easy as many articles and social media posts suggest. Among them are this week's guests, Kevin Riggle (who provided a quick and dirty primer with the key suggestion that most people are safer not using a VPN) and Kenn White (who assembled a list of VPNs he deems "terrible" and not without good reason, recommending a roll-your-own solution instead). They join us to dig deeper into the reality of VPNs and hopefully help some people make better choices.

The End Of Ownership Mar 28, 2017

The basic impetus behind DRM is obvious: a frantic, misguided desire to make digital products behave like physical ones. But the truth is DRM goes far, far beyond that, restricting all sorts of activities that are intrinsic to the idea of "owning" something. Two people who have thought a lot about this are law professors Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz, authors of the new book The End Of Ownership. This week, Aaron and Jason join the podcast to discuss the book and the worrying status of DRM today.

Alexa, Play This Podcast Mar 21, 2017

Always-on, voice-operated assistants are on the rise, and most of the industry seems to have agreed that Amazon's Alexa is at the top of the pack. Podcast host Dennis Yang was and is an early adopter of these devices, so this week he's brought along Alexa, Google Now and Siri as guests for a discussion about the future of this technology.

Will Regulations Ground Drone Innovation? Mar 14, 2017

The rise of drones in both the personal and commercial spheres has happened with stunning speed, and its created a whole bunch of hard-to-answer regulatory questions. This week we're joined by Notifleet's Siggi Hindrichs to discuss the current state and future of drone regulation by the FAA.

When A Typo Breaks The Internet Mar 07, 2017

From its humble origins as an online bookseller that many people worried might not survive, Amazon has grown into a critical piece of the web's backbone via its Amazon Web Services platform. Last week's S3 outage made this painfully clear, and understandably raised lots of concerns — especially after it was revealed that the whole thing was caused by a typo. So this week we're discussing whether something needs to be done, and what that might be.

The Miracle Of Booking Flights Feb 28, 2017

The finding and booking of flights is a massive and elaborate global mechanism that contains both fascinating technology and useful secrets. This week, we're joined by Adam Fletcher, co-founder of Gyroscope Software and an architect of Google's airline reservation system, to talk about all the technology behind commercial air travel today.

Luck In Silicon Valley, With Robert Frank Feb 21, 2017

Innovation isn't easy, but success in Silicon Valley involves a bigger dose of luck than a lot of entrepreneurs seem prepared to admit. Chance gets left out of the economic equation all too often, and this week we're joined by Mike's own Econ 101 professor from Cornell, Robert Frank, to discuss the role of luck in the world of entrepreneurs and innovation.

The New FCC Feb 14, 2017

Net neutrality is at risk. The FCC under Ajit Pai is clearly intent on destroying it, and this is quickly turning into a fight for the future of the internet. This week, we're joined by Gigi Sohn, one of former chairman Tom Wheeler top advisors at the FCC and now a fellow at the Open Society Foundation, to discuss what's happening at the FCC and what needs to be done in response.

Autonomous Cars Are Accelerating Feb 07, 2017

The adoption of self-driving cars is rapidly changing from science fiction to present reality. We had a preliminary discussion on the subject here on the podcast a couple years ago, but today we're digging more deeply the impact this is having, especially on policy. R Street Institute senior fellow Ian Adams joins us as a special guest this week for a discussion about the many implications of this accelerating technological shift.

Changing Government Starts With You Jan 31, 2017

For obvious reasons, politics and government are on just about everyone's mind at the moment, prompting a vast range of reactions and opinions. A lot of people who share a desire for change are divided not only by what form they think that change should take, but by what methods they think should be employed to achieve it. Former Senate staffer and long-time Techdirt friend Jennifer Hoelzer recently wrote a column entitled Your Government Won't Change... Unless You Do and this week she joins us on the podcast to delve further into this idea and what it means for optimists, cynics, pragmatists and everyone else.

An Office In A Bag Jan 24, 2017

After years of working on the go, Mike has the mobile office down to a science — and wherever he sets it up, nearby gadget geeks have plenty of questions and comments. So this week we're joined by Espree Devora, host of the podcasts Women In Tech and We Are L.A. Tech, for a fun discussion about today's high-tech offices-in-bags.

The CES 2017 Post-Mortem Jan 17, 2017

Last year, we got a lot of positive feedback on our episode taking a look at the Consumer Electronics Show with the help of journalist Rob Pegoraro. So this year, we've brought Rob back for another look at the highs and lows of CES.

The Pros And Cons Of Pros And Cons Jan 10, 2017

On the surface, the idea of "pro and con" debates seems like a good way to ensure an issue is fully explored. But is it truly a productive approach? This week, we debate the nature of debates and possible alternatives to the adversarial approach.

Is The Internet Of Things The Future, A Total Mess, Or Both? Dec 20, 2016

The internet of things has been taking plenty of flack ever since the first time someone floated the idea of a connected fridge or some-such in the 90s — but despite the knee-jerk instinct to scoff at some things, the truth is there are all sorts of interesting possibilities emerging from all these "pointless" connected devices. Of course, there are also some serious security concerns... This week, we discuss IoT and what the ever-increasing presence of such devices means for the future.

Can We Really Colonize Mars? Dec 13, 2016

Elon Musk got plenty of attention recently for announcing his plans to colonize Mars. But that's not exactly a new idea — so we wondered if it was really a different, exciting and realistic plan, or just a reiteration of the standard far-flung dream. To answer that question, we brought in three experts: Amy Shira Teitel (a space and flight historian and creator of YouTube's Vintage Space videos), JPL's Fred Calef (a Mars geologist and "keeper of the maps" for Mars rovers), and the New Space Intiative's Tanya Harrison (who worked on Curiosity and several other Mars missions). The result was a fascinating discussion about Mars and whether or not we're actually headed there any time soon.

Where Do You Get Your News? Dec 06, 2016

The news industry has been in an ongoing state of upheaval ever since the dawn of the internet. In addition to the many ways that technology changes reporting and publishing, there has also been a profound effect on how people find their news. This week, we step away from the big debate about echo chambers and filter bubbles, and talk about evolving news-finding habits and what they mean for the industry.

Supporting Creators, With Patreon Founder Jack Conte Nov 30, 2016

It's our 100th episode! And to celebrate, we're not only talking with Patreon founder Jack Conte, we're announcing that the Techdirt Podcast is now on Patreon too!

Debating The Facebook Filter Bubble, With Mathew Ingram Nov 15, 2016

Though the notion of the Facebook "filter bubble" has been around for a while, it's picked up a huge amount of steam following the election of Donald Trump — perhaps just a little too much steam. While Techdirt has long been of the opinion that pointing fingers at Facebook is misguided, there are plenty of people who disagree. This week, we're joined by one such person — long-time media commentator and senior editor at Fortune Mathew Ingram — for a lively debate about just how much of a problem the filter bubble really is, and how you'd go about solving it.

Is There A Better Way To Pick A President? Nov 08, 2016

Well, today's the day. By tomorrow there will be a new President of the United States, and a large segment of the population claiming that they were robbed by the system. But immediate anger aside, that system is hardly above criticism: the Electoral College has had all sorts of unanticipated and often undesirable effects on democracy, and a wide variety of alternatives have been proposed. This week we discuss the question: is there a better way to pick the president?

Can Tech Be Trusted Without Antitrust? Nov 01, 2016

Monopolies are one of the areas that even the most staunchly anti-regulation folks often agree there is a role for government intervention. In the world of tech, multiple big antitrust fights have broken out and continue to rage in both America and the EU — but how effective is this kind of regulation and how often should it really happen? This week, we discuss whether or not there is a role for antitrust in the world of technological innovation.

Death Knell For Software Patents Oct 25, 2016

Software patents have been dubious since their inception — not just in principle, but legally too. Past rulings have called their validity into serious question, and now an opinion from a prominent pro-patent judge has called for people to admit that they simply shouldn't exist. This week, we discuss what this opinion means for the (hopefully short) future of software patents.

A Presidential Tech Policy Wish List Oct 18, 2016

We wanted to do an episode all about examining the tech policy platforms of the 2016 presidential candidates, but that proved impossible since one candidate's is vague and noncommittal while the other's doesn't exist at all. Since a nuanced discussion about robust tech policy platforms was probably a bit much to hope for from this election anyway, for this week's episode we're discussing what a great presidential tech platform should look like under less absurd circumstances.

The Headphone Jack Apocalypse! Oct 11, 2016

Yup, we're doing it — we're tackling the much-derided controversy over Apple's decision to remove the analog headphone jack from the iPhone! I join this week's episode myself as a guest host, and in truth none of us really think it's any kind of "apocalypse" — but none of us are huge fans of the move either. We discuss the questionable technical advantages, the looming spectre of DRM, and more.

Pardon Snowden Oct 04, 2016

Edward Snowden deserves a pardon. We all know it — even if you believe he deserves to stand trial, the only option right now is an unfair trial on Espionage Act charges in which he'd be blocked from presenting a meaningful defense. A pardon from those charges is the only just choice. This week, we're joined by Trevor Timm, co-founder of the Freedom Of The Press Foundation, and returning guest Parker Higgins to discuss why Edward Snowden deserves a pardon, and the campaign to get him one deserves your support.

Passwords Suck; What's Next? Sep 27, 2016

Data breaches that expose passwords are pretty much a fact of life at this point — and the effects are multiplied by the fact that many, many people reuse passwords no matter how much they know they shouldn't. As such, there's a big push to move to password managers, two-factor authentication, and even biometrics — because the simple fact is the password sucks. This week, we're discussing what if anything will succeed in replacing it.

Is Facebook Moderation A Necessary Evil? Sep 20, 2016

Facebook's efforts to moderate content that appears on the social network have run into numerous problems, most recently with a famous war photo and a bunch of blog posts. Some have made absurd demands in response, such as giving old-school media editors special posting privileges, while others have objected to the idea of Facebook censoring any content whatsoever. But is that objection realistic? This week, we discuss the complicated question of Facebook moderation, and what the company's role can and should be.

Is Capitalism Over? Sep 13, 2016

As technology ushers more and more things towards the realm of "post-scarcity", an inevitable conversation has arisen around the very roots of capitalism and what this rapid change means for our economic systems at the most fundamental levels. But the answer is far from simple — is capitalism dying? Can it evolve? Is the whole question being framed incorrectly? This week, we discuss the notion of a post-capitalist world, what it might look like, and how close it actually is.

Inside A Really Good Kickstarter Campaign Sep 06, 2016

Not all Kickstarter campaigns are created equal. Even the mostly-good ones that eventually satisfy their backers are often plagued with delays and poor communication. But once in a while, there's a campaign that runs smoothly, communicates openly, and delivers a great product on time as promised — and Minaal is one company that pulled off such a campaign to launch its line of travel bags. This week, we're joined by co-founder Jimmy Hayes to discuss how they pulled it off and what their experience can teach us about other campaigns and the broader crowdfunding ecosystem.

The Gawker Debate Aug 30, 2016

Gawker's gone, and that's that. And yet, whenever we've expressed concerns over the billionaire vendetta that brought it down, we've faced a huge amount of pushback from people who had problems with the site and its reporting practices. This week, we're joined by Parker Thompson aka Startup L. Jackson for a friendly debate about whether the Gawker shutdown really is a big deal.

An Interview With Kim Dotcom's Lawyer Aug 23, 2016

Ira Rothken is on the front lines of many major legal battles relating to copyright and piracy, including defending Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and, most recently, taking up the defense of Kickass Torrents operator Artem Vaulin. This week, Ira joins us on the podcast to discuss the ins and outs of these and other cases where the entertainment industry has come down hard on consumers and innovators.

Have Platforms Killed The Open Internet By Replacing Protocols? Aug 16, 2016

The internet is built on a solid foundation of open protocols: TCP/IP, HTTP and SMTP especially, plus more modern entrants like RSS and BitTorrent. But even those aren't so new anymore, and it seems like the era of the open protocol might be coming to an end, supplanted by the drive to create proprietary closed platforms. This week, we discuss whether the open protocol is dead, and what that means for the future of the open internet.

Is Your Algorithm Racist? Aug 09, 2016

Algorithms have become a powerful force in the world, but for all the impressive good they do, they sometimes show some worrying tendencies. Algorithms that discriminate are a problem that nobody's found a solution for yet. This week, we discuss why some algorithms appear to be racist, and whether there's anything that can be done about it.

Is It The 'Pokémon' Or The 'Go' That Matters? Aug 02, 2016

Pokémon Go is an undeniable phenomenon, and the first mass-appeal hit from the world of augmented reality — a technology people have been expecting would transform gaming for years. That leaves a big question, though: is its popularity a sign of the future for AR, or is the game an isolated phenomenon that owes more to the popularity of its brand? This week, we discuss what we can learn from Pokémon Go, and whether we can truly learn anything at all.

'Disruption' Is Not An Excuse For Lying Jul 26, 2016

Silicon Valley has produced lots of disruptive technologies — ways to solve problems by upending entrenched industries and, often enough, routing around protectionist regulations. But not all regulations are meaningless, not all industries are easy to disrupt, and sometimes "fake it until you make it" becomes plain old lying. This week, we discuss what happens when "disruption" goes wrong.

Chatbots: Fad Or The Future? Jul 19, 2016

Chatbots have been around for a very long time in some form or another, but now they appear to be making a comeback — or at least attempting one. This week, Mike and regular co-host Dennis (who is working on a chatbot startup) are joined by special guest Veronica Belmont to discuss the potential of chatbots and just how much skepticism is warranted.

Senator Wyden On The Expansion Of FBI Surveillance Jul 12, 2016

It should surprise nobody that the FBI is seeking even broader digital surveillance powers by changing the warrant requirements and expanding the power of national security letters. If you're a regular Techdirt reader, it also won't surprise you to learn that Senator Ron Wyden is working hard to hold the line against this kind of expansion. This week, we're joined by Senator Wyden to discuss what the FBI is up to and what the public needs to know about it.

Can Direct Democracy Work? Jul 05, 2016

Technology has made "direct democracy" — letting citizens vote on specific, granular issues instead of just electing representatives — more viable than ever, but does that mean it's a good idea? This week, we discuss the ins and outs of direct democracy, including a special addendum on the surprising results of the Brexit referendum.

What's Next For Net Neutrality? Jun 28, 2016

Net neutrality has a long and complicated history, and despite some recent victories, that story is far from over. This week, Mike is joined by resident broadband expert Karl Bode to discuss what's next for net neutrality, and what we need to do to fight for it.

What's Next For Online Video? Jun 21, 2016

Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Twitch — online video is still booming. But it also still struggles under the weight of exclusive deals and content silos, and it feels like there's still plenty of innovation to be done. But where will that innovation come from? This week, we discuss the future of online video.

The Link Between Credit And Surveillance Jun 14, 2016

Both surveillance and the digitization of money are heavily-discussed topics, but the intersection between the two often goes overlooked. Historically, credit agencies have been trailblazers in the world of surveillance, and today we face the fact that the government can use payment providers and other financial tools as a means of enforcing its wishes. On this week's episode, we're joined by lawyer and writer Sarah Jeong, who recently wrote a four-part series on the subject, to discuss the past and future of credit, money, surveillance and the way they work together.

Tech Policy Goes Local Jun 07, 2016

The conversation around tech policy has traditionally happened at the federal level, but more recently we've seen a change in that trend, and some of the most interesting experiments — both good and bad — have started happening in state and municipal arenas. This week, we're joined by Tech:NYC Executive Director Julie Samuels to discuss why this is happening and what it means.

What Happened At The Oracle Google Trial? May 31, 2016

Over the past few weeks, a jury heard the second round of the copyright fight between Oracle and Google over whether Google's use of the Java APIs in Android constituted copyright infringement, or whether it was fair use. In the end, the jury went with fair use. Reporter Sarah Jeong watched the entire trial from the courtroom and joins us on the Techdirt podcast this week to discuss both the legal details and the various oddities of this particular trial.

Why Is Tesla So Successful? May 17, 2016

Consumers looking for an electric car have several options to consider, but the buzz and excitement around Tesla continues to dwarf everything else. It's hardly unfounded, but the scale of the company's success is staggering, and there's no single reason for it. This week, we discuss that simple question: just why is Tesla so successful?

Is There Enough Demand For The On Demand Economy? May 10, 2016

The "gig economy" of on-demand peer-to-peer services like Uber has been gaining traction, but not every company is faring so well. In some areas, the rush of entrants has outstripped demand and left on-demand providers struggling to stay afloat. This week we discuss what happens when there's not enough demand for an on-demand platform, and what it might mean for the sector as a whole.

The Tough Choices Platforms Make May 03, 2016

Back in March, Mike moderated a panel at RightsCon on the subject of intermediary liability and the delicate balancing act that platform providers have to play on that front, with lawyers from Meetup, Change.org, and Medium. This week, in lieu of a regular podcast episode we've got a recording of that discussion, which delves deeply into some of the difficult choices companies like this have to make.

Should Internet Companies Sway Elections? Apr 26, 2016

Recently, some Facebook staffers raised an interesting question: should the social media giant employ its significant power to stem the rise of Donald Trump? This week, we discuss that notion and the broader question: should the internet companies that influence so many aspects of our communication and information gathering pursue political goals?

Is It Futile To Draw Borders On The Internet? Apr 19, 2016

In a world defined by borders for thousands of years, the global nature of the internet has caused all sorts of confusion and absurdity. Geographically restricted content, fuzzily defined jurisdictions, libel tourism — these are all symptoms of a border-filled world coming to terms with a borderless network. Since attempts to carve up the internet along geographical lines aren't likely to stop anytime soon, this week we ask the question: are such attempts futile, and could online borders really serve any purpose to begin with?

Free Culture And Aaron Swartz (Part Two) Apr 12, 2016

Last week we were joined by Justin Peters, author of the new book The Idealist all about Aaron Swartz, free culture and digital activism. The first half of the discussion focused on that broader context, and this week we continue with a closer look at Aaron himself.

Free Culture And Aaron Swartz (Part One) Apr 05, 2016

Anyone even remotely interested in free culture, the internet and copyright surely knows the name Aaron Swartz — but only some truly understand what made him tick, and why he was considered so special and important in that world. This week and next, we're joined by Justin Peters, author of The Idealist, a new book that takes a close look at Aaron himself as well as the internet culture that gave rise to his attitudes and activism, which is the focus of this first half of the discussion.

The Great Encryption Debate: Should There Be Back Doors? Mar 29, 2016

Anyone who reads Techdirt knows our opinion on encryption: stronger is better, and giving the government (or anyone else) a back door is a dangerous idea. We've decried a lot of the stupid arguments that we've heard in favor of back doors — usually coming from technologically clueless politicians and law enforcement officers — but that doesn't mean we aren't open to considering some smart ones. This week, we've invited Albert Wenger (who you may recall from a discussion about basic income way back in Episode 16) to share his pro-backdoor position and engage in some friendly debate.

Why Are There So Many Messaging Companies? Mar 22, 2016

If you want to send someone a message online today, you've got a hell of a lot of options. Far from the erstwhile IM dominance of ICQ, today there are messaging platforms of every shape and size, a blurring of the lines between messaging and social media, and messaging components incorporated into almost everything. This week, we ask a simple question: why so many, and what are they all for?

Net Neutrality, Zero Rating & The Games Internet Providers Play Mar 15, 2016

The battle for net neutrality seemed like it was over — but the regulations left a loophole open. Unsurprisingly, ISPs quickly started exploiting it, offering "zero rating" services to do an end-run around true net neutrality. Last week's guest Marvin Ammori joins us again this week, to discuss the true and imperfect state of net neutrality, and the many games internet providers play.

Apple, The FBI & You Mar 08, 2016

I don't think I need to reiterate how important the battle over the future of encryption is. It's not new, but rather the latest clash in a fight that has been raging for years, and the high-profile example of the San Bernardino attacker's iPhone has cast a spotlight on it. This week, we're joined by longtime Techdirt friend Marvin Ammori to dig into the details of this issue, its potential consequences, and its context in the history of encryption.

Hacking The Patent System Mar 01, 2016

We all know the patent system is riddled with problems, and badly in need of reform. But reform comes slow — really, really slow. So some tech companies have been doing what they do best: innovate. They are finding ways to get around the biggest problems of the patent system without waiting on go-nowhere legislative reform efforts. This week we're joined by Julie Samuels, President of the Board at Engine, to discuss the innovation-based approach to navigating the patent system and changing patent culture.

The Best/Worst Time To Be A Content Creator Feb 23, 2016

There's something notable and odd about the conversation around content creation in the digital age: a stark divide between the camp that believes the sky is falling, and the camp that believes things are better than they've ever been. This week, we discuss the question of which narrative is correct... or is it neither? Or both?

Barry Eisler On Publishing, Keanu Reeves And More (Part Two) Feb 16, 2016

Last week, we shared the first half of Mike's interview with Barry Eisler at the Commonwealth Club of California. This week, we've got the second half of that discussion, which pivots from national security and the surveillance state to Barry's novels, his experiences publishing them, and the time he met Keanu Reeves.

Barry Eisler On Truth, Fiction And The Surveillance State (Part One) Feb 09, 2016

Those of you who've heard our previous episodes with Barry Eisler know that he has a unique insight into many of the topics we discuss here at Techdirt, stemming from the wide variety of perspectives he's had in his past: as an operative for the CIA, as a tech industry lawyer, and now as a bestselling author (his new book, The God's Eye View, explores a plausible future inspired by the Snowden revelations). Recently, Mike conducted an interview with Barry at the Commonwealth Club of California, and on this week's podcast we've got the first half of that interview, with a fascinating discussion about the truth (and fiction) of the modern surveillance state.

Does The Internet Create More "Winner Take All" Companies? Feb 02, 2016

The digital world is increasingly giving rise to "winner take all" industries, where a market is all but dominated by one company and, sometimes, a single smaller competitor. Since innovation is so often driven by competition and hindered by monopolies, this is a worrying trend — but its true extent, and its implications, are hardly clear. This week, we discuss various winner take all situations and what they mean for the future of innovation.

Just How Bad Is The TPP? Jan 26, 2016

There are lots of criticisms of free trade agreements, especially the fact that they go far beyond "free trade" — but the Trans-Pacific Partnership truly takes the cake. This week, we're joined by Maira Sutton, the EFF's Global Policy Analyst, to discuss the many problems with the TPP. Tellingly, this episode is nearly twice as long as usual.

Can Silicon Valley Help "Disrupt" ISIS? Jan 19, 2016

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about cooperation between the government and the technology industry in the fight against terrorism, radicalization and, specifically, ISIS. A lot of this talk consists of the hugely problematic requests we discuss here regularly, like compromising encryption and cooperating with mass surveillance — but is that all there is to it? This week, we discuss what role Silicon Valley actually could play in combating ISIS.

The CES Post-Mortem Jan 12, 2016

After a few weeks off for the holidays, we're back! And as anyone on the internet can't ignore, CES 2016 has just wrapped up. Our own Mike Masnick was there, and today he's joined by journalist and long-time CES veteran Rob Pegoraro for a post-mortem of the event and this year's crop of new products.

How Much Surveillance Is Acceptable? Dec 22, 2015

Welcome to the last podcast episode of 2015! For the whole year (and since long before that) Techdirt has been speaking out against surveillance and government invasion of privacy, to the point where it might seem like we give no consideration to the legitimacy of any kind of surveillance. But that's not necessarily true, so this week we're approaching things from the other side and discussing the limits of reasonable and acceptable surveillance.

It Ain't Easy To Give Away $45 Billion Dec 15, 2015

There's been a lot of back-and-forth recently over Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, combining widespread praise with a lot of disappointment in the details and the fact that he isn't really "giving away" $45 billion. There's a lot to be said on both sides of this question, and this week we're discussing the new initiative and the wide variety of reactions to it.

Why Intermediary Liability Is The Most Important Question Online Dec 08, 2015

Last week, we spoke with Daphne Keller of Stanford's Center For Internet And Society about the collision between privacy and free speech in the EU. Much of this discussion involves the question of "intermediary liability" — how and when service providers are held liable for the actions of their users. This week, Daphne is back for a broader look at intermediary liability, and why it's one of the most important questions for the future of the internet.

The EU Has Set Privacy & Free Speech On A Collision Course Dec 01, 2015

Privacy and free speech aren't fundamentally opposed, but they do have a tendency to come into conflict — and recent developments in Europe surrounding the right to be forgotten have brought this conflict into focus. This week, we're joined by Daphne Keller of Stanford's Center For Internet And Society to discuss the collision between these two important principles.

Bubbles, Busts & Unicorns Nov 17, 2015

Ever since the bubble and bust of the 90s, Silicon Valley observers have been wondering if and when history will repeat. Lately, some have been pointing to the trend of "unicorn" companies as evidence that we might be heading down that road again, while others have made the case that the fear is overhyped. This week, we discuss the elusive unicorn and what it means for the future of the tech industry.

Our Podcast About Podcasts Nov 10, 2015

Fifty episodes! Having skipped just two weeks in the past, this marks one whole year of the Techdirt Podcast! In honor of that, we're taking on a very relevant topic that we haven't yet discussed: the medium of podcasting itself.

A Whirlwind Tour Of Current Policy Issues In Tech Nov 04, 2015

Today, we've got something a little different: a podcast crossover podcast with the folks from the a16z. Last week, Mike joined Julie Samuels from Engine on the a16z Podcast hosted by Sonal Chokshi to discuss a long list of important policy issues related to technology and innovation, and for those of you who aren't already following that podcast, we're cross-posting the episode here as part of the Techdirt Podcast as well. Enjoy!

Our Hacking Laws Are A Mess Oct 27, 2015

If you're a Techdirt regular, you probably know that there are some serious problems with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Drafted in 1986 with extremely broad language, the CFAA has grown into an easily abused law that lets prosecutors go after people for minor activities that don't meet any reasonable definition of hacking or computer fraud. This week, we discuss the utter mess that our hacking laws have become, and look into ways they might be fixed.

Trademarks: Intellectual Property Or Consumer Protection? Oct 20, 2015

Trademark law often gets lumped in with patents and copyright under the "intellectual property" banner, but in fact it's a different kind of law with an entirely different heritage. That said, it's not without its dangers, so this week we're discussing the intent and extent of trademark law and its impacts both positive and negative.

Things We Got Wrong Oct 13, 2015

Over the past 15+ years, Techdirt and its team has made plenty of predictions and prognoses about various aspects of the world of tech — which means we've made plenty of mistakes. This week, our podcast is dedicated to discussing some of those poor predictions and figuring out what we can learn from them.

No, You're Not The Product Oct 06, 2015

There's a common refrain regarding services these days that "if you're not paying for it, you're the product" — but this notion is at best an oversimplification, and at worst outright untrue. This week, we look at the far more complex and diverse reality of how free services relate to their users.

Why The Freedom To Tinker Matters Sep 29, 2015

Last week, iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens joined us to discuss DMCA anti-circumvention exceptions, but that's just one specific facet of a broader issue: the freedom to repair, modify, reverse-engineer and generally tinker with the technology you own. This week Kyle is back to discuss why the freedom to tinker is a vitally important right — and one that is constantly under threat.

Why Do We Let An 86 Year Old Librarian Decide Who's Allowed To Innovate? Sep 22, 2015

One of the many strange and problematic features of modern copyright law is the DMCA anti-circumvention exception system, wherein the Librarian of Congress makes unilateral decisions about what you can and can't do with software and products that include DRM and other protections. This week we're joined by Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit and a long-time champion of the right to repair and tinker, to discuss the ins and outs of this system, and what is (or isn't) coming in the next round of exemptions.

Adblocking Wouldn't Be A Problem If Ads Didn't Suck So Much Sep 15, 2015

Lots of publishers freak out about the existence of adblockers. Some seek ways to get around them, others simply complain. This might seem like a situation where the desires of publishers and the desires of readers are irreconcilably opposed — but is that truly the case? This week, we discuss the popular reactions to adblocking and the look at the real problem with online advertising: the quality of the ads themselves.

Privacy Policies Have Nothing To Do With Privacy Sep 08, 2015

Privacy policies are ubiquitous online, and often required by law, but what are they really for? People don't read them, and when they do they have a tendency to misunderstand them, such as with the recent flare-up over poorly-contextualized changes to Spotify's policy. Plus, there's a built in incentive for companies to write their policies as broadly as possible to avoid accidentally violating them, further stripping them of all purpose. This week, we discuss a simple question: are privacy policies an altogether stupid idea?

Is Silicon Valley Only Building Tech For The Rich? Sep 01, 2015

Technological innovation is solving all sorts of problems, from major issues to minor inconveniences — but one criticism that often comes up is that Silicon Valley has a "by rich young white men, for rich young white men" culture, with most of its efforts focused on solving problems for a small, affluent minority. This week, Catherine Bracy returns as we try to understand this common complaint, how valid it is, and what can be done about it.

Technology's Impact On Democracy Aug 25, 2015

From e-voting and online petitions to broad new avenues of communication between politicians and the public, technology is changing democracy, and has the potential to do so even more. This week we're joined by Catherine Bracy, the Technology Field Officer for Obama For America in 2012, to discuss the current and future impact of rapidly changing technology on the democratic process and whether these impacts have been "good" or "bad".

Yes, There Are Business Models That Don't Need Intellectual Property Aug 18, 2015

Time and time again, we hear the claim that without copyright and/or patents there is no way for creators to make money, or even any reason for anyone to create anything at all. This is obviously absurd on many levels, but in today's episode we look at the most immediate and practical ones: the many business models that aren't based on intellectual property, and approaches to incentivizing creativity and innovation that don't involve locking things down.

Humble Bundle Deserves More Credit For Its Many Innovations Aug 11, 2015

When people talk about today's most innovative technology and media companies, the discussion tends to orbit the usual suspects: Apple, Google, Facebook et al. But there's one small company that we've long believed deserves far, far more attention for its multitude of smart innovations: Humble Bundle. This week, we discuss the many subtle but extremely meaningful choices that have grown the Humble Bundle from a simple experiment into a revolutionary form of distribution, and wonder why the company doesn't get more credit as an innovator. This week we're also unveiling our brand new podcast theme song written, produced and recorded by long-time Techdirt friend Dan Bull.

In Defense Of Copying Aug 04, 2015

We live in a world that venerates "ideas" but ignores the fact that even the best idea is worthless if it's poorly executed. In turn, people who "copy" ideas are often demonized, even when it's their superior execution that is responsible for their success. But the truth is that copying is a critical part of innovation and progress, and the instinct to ignore or refute that idea has left us without many clear measurements of its impact — not to mention lots of bad policy, and a highly problematic "ownership culture" when it comes to ideas and creative output.

Kevin Smith On How To Be Yourself And Make A Living Jul 28, 2015

Long-time Techdirt readers know that we're big fans of Kevin Smith, not just for his films and podcasts but also for his many innovative approaches to business, distribution and creativity in general — and we're proud to say that he is also a pretty big fan of Techdirt. This week, he joins us on the podcast to discuss the experience of striking out on your own path as a creator while countless voices from the status quo try to tear you down — and the rewards that come when you manage to ignore those voices and be unapologetically yourself.

Apple Versus Google Jul 21, 2015

A few years ago, there was no reason to see Apple and Google as direct competitors — but thanks to the mobile space, all that has changed. Now the two tech giants are going head-to-head in a contest for the mobile device market share, but their approaches to this race remain very different. This week, we discuss the nuances of this competition and what these two different approaches can teach us about business models and innovation.

Reddit And The Challenges Of Building A Business Out Of A Community Jul 14, 2015

Reddit is a prime example of the explosive growth of online communities — and recently it's become a prime test case for the huge challenges such growth brings, especially for those who are trying to use it as the foundation for a successful company. This week we discuss some of those challenges that sit at the intersection of community and business, both in terms of popular examples like Reddit and personal experiences as both members and builders of online communities.

Are Smart Watches The New Calculator Watches? Jul 07, 2015

Smart watches are among the hottest gadgets du jour, but do they live up to the hype? Their adoption hasn't been even remotely on par with smartphones, and reactions from those who have used them are mixed — but that doesn't mean they're useless or have zero appeal. So, does this dubious trend have a future, or are smart watches a dumb idea?

Closing In On Virtual Reality Jun 30, 2015

The promise of virtual reality has been teasing us since the late 60s, and yet it never seems to arrive in a fully realized form. Recently, however, VR (and its cousin, augmented reality) is back in a big way, with flagship products like the Oculus Rift and Microsoft Hololens taking the spotlight, backed up by dozens of other contributions. To discuss this exciting trend, we're joined by erstwhile Techdirt writer Carlo Longino who, along with regular co-host Dennis Yang, attended this year's E3 conference and tried out a bunch of new offerings on the VR market.

Does Distance Matter In The Digital Age? Jun 23, 2015

The internet has changed the parameters for how people can interact. Today, all sorts of work and socialization can be done over distances that were previously impossible, and the rise of telecommuting has been no surprise. And yet there are still a lot of imperfections in the system, and a lot of ways that the internet doesn't quite seem to close the gap as much as we'd like it to. In this week's episode, we ask the question of how much face-to-face communication still matters in the digital age, and what the future holds for long-distance interactions.

Autonomous Vehicles Will Change Everything Jun 16, 2015

Last week, we were joined by Upshift founder Ezra Goldman to discuss the future of mobility in a world of on-demand services like Uber. This week, Ezra is back to help us fill in the other big piece of the transportation puzzle: autonomous vehicles, and their potential to change just about everything.

Is Car Ownership On The Way Out? Jun 09, 2015

The explosive rise of Uber, ride-sharing programs, and other on-demand mobility services has led many to wonder if the whole concept of car ownership is on its way out, at least for city-dwellers. This week we're joined by Upshift founder Ezra Goldman, who recently wrote a manifesto for the future of mobility and helps us delve far beyond a surface analysis of transportation trends.

The Rise Of The On-Demand Economy Jun 02, 2015

There are a lot of startups out there trying to become the "Uber of..." something, from valet parking to food delivery to dog-walking. But as much as this might look like mere bandwagon-hopping, it actually represents a fascinating and potentially important trend: the emergence of a new, highly efficient and flexible economy based around individuals offering on-demand services.

Silicon Valley's Secret Ingredient May 26, 2015

Many people have tried to figure out what factors contributed to making Silicon Valley a center of rapid innovation, usually so that they might replicate it elsewhere. But most of these efforts focus on superficial aspects and miss the most important feature of Silicon Valley's culture: the open and free flow of ideas, information and talent. This week, Mike, Dennis and Hersh discuss their personal experiences with Silicon Valley and their observations about what really makes it so special.

Last week, we discussed the many misconceptions that run rampant in the public understanding of copyright. This week, the EFF's Parker Higgins returns for part two of the conversation, looking at how to begin addressing and moving past these false facts.

Copyright is one of the most important fields of law in the digital age, and also one of the most widely misunderstood. The EFF's Parker Higgins joins us to discuss to most common misconceptions about how copyright works, and how it's been abused.

Is AirBnB Good Or Bad For Cities? May 05, 2015

AirBnB has become a massive, popular service despite many people balking at its introduction. But in the big picture, what effect is it having on the urban centers where it thrives?

Are Smaller Online Media Players Doomed In The Age Of Buzzfeed? Apr 28, 2015

Following the recent shutdowns of GigaOm and San Francisco's The Bold Italic, we ask a critical question: how can smaller online media players survive in this age of goliaths like Buzzfeed?

How The Patent System Can Be Fixed Apr 21, 2015

Last week, Hersh Reddy helped us navigate the many ways in which the patent system is broken. This week, we turn our attentions to the ways in which it might be fixed, whether by small changes or sweeping reforms. For music, we've got more of Destroy All Patent Trolls by https://soundcloud.com/jonathanmann (CC-BY).

How The Patent System Is Broken Apr 14, 2015

Hersh Reddy, co-host of the podcast, is a patent attorney with a computer science degree and a long history of working in the tech industry. In this first half of a double episode, he discusses the many ways in which the patent system is broken, and how it got that way. This week's music is Destroy All Patent Trolls by https://soundcloud.com/jonathanmann (CC-BY).

From Lulz To Activism, With Gabriella Coleman Apr 07, 2015

Gabriella Coleman is back this week to discuss the astonishing and still-recent shift in the digital world towards real, widespread political engagement on issues like privacy and surveillance.

The Many Faces Of Anonymous, With Gabriella Coleman Mar 31, 2015

People (especially those in the news media) love to talk about Anonymous, often making bold, sweeping and generally inaccurate proclamations about the group's nature and goals. Gabriella Coleman, on the other hand, has spent years closely studying and engaging with Anonymous in the real world, and developing a nuanced understanding of the nebulous phenomenon. Her new book Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous provides insider details about Anonymous that you won't find anywhere else, and she joins us to discuss it on this week's episode.

Musicians Making Money, With Composer Adam Fong Mar 24, 2015

Adam Fong discusses his thoughts, both as a composer and as the founder and director of the Center for New Music in San Francisco, on the changing opportunities for musicians to make money. The music on this week's episode is Adam's own composition, Five Times Remembered.

Rethinking Work, Income & Leisure: Albert Wenger On Basic Income Mar 18, 2015

Recently, there's been a growing discussion around the concept of a basic income guarantee and its potential to completely change how we think about work, income and leisure. Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures joins us this week to discuss the potential of this revolutionary idea.

What's It Like To Drive For Uber And Lyft? Mar 09, 2015

Techdirt co-host Dennis Yang has been trying his hand as a driver for both Uber and Lyft. He shares his experiences, and sparks a discussion about the role and future of these services.

Do You Need A Proprietary Platform To Be A Serious Media Company Today? Mar 03, 2015

Techdirt has long operated on a homegrown content management system, but while we've been considering a switch to something open like Wordpress, many other media companies have been building their own proprietary platforms. What are the pros and cons of each approach?

Fair Use Protects Culture From Copyright, Not The Other Way Around Feb 24, 2015

It's Fair Use Week, so we're discussing this often-misunderstood counterpoint to copyright law that is in fact one of the most critical safeguards of our evolving shared culture.

Former CIA Employee Barry Eisler Explains Why You Shouldn't Trust The CIA Feb 17, 2015

Barry Eisler is back, this time in his capacity as a former CIA employee with insight into the intelligence community's inner workings and culture. This week's music is The NSA Hates This Song by Dan Bull.

Barry Eisler Dissects The Publishing Industry Feb 10, 2015

Bestselling author Barry Eisler discusses the evolving culture and business model of publishing with Mike Masnick and Dennis Yang. This week's music is D.I.Y. MySpam by Jayme Gutierrez.

Is Cybersecurity A Real Issue Or Government Boondoggle? Feb 03, 2015

Cybersecurity has become a big, vague buzzword. But what are the actual underlying issues, and are they really as serious as they're made out to be? Mike Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang discuss.

Is Muni Broadband A Monopoly Killer Or A Killer Monopoly? Jan 27, 2015

What if cities provided broadband alongside services like water and garbage pickup? Mike Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang discuss the potential pros and cons.

Threats To Internet Freedom, Recorded Live At BitTorrent Jan 20, 2015

A panel discussion about threats to internet freedom with the creators of the documentary Killswitch, moderated by Mike Masnick at the BitTorrent office.

Terms Of Service Are The New Constitution: Do They Need A First Amendment? Jan 15, 2015

With so much communication happening on private platforms, is the First Amendment sufficient to protect the ideals of free speech? Mike Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang discuss.

Should Kids Be Forced To Learn Coding? Or Economics? Or Stats? Jan 08, 2015

Does education need an overhaul for the information age? And what would that entail? Mike Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang discuss.

The Internet From Space! Dec 18, 2014

Mike Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang discuss satellite internet and other big ideas about connectivity in Episode 5 of the Techdirt Podcast.

In Defense Of Advertising Dec 11, 2014

Mike Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang look beyond the kneejerk reaction that "all advertising is bad" in Episode 4 of the Techdirt Podcast.

Amanda Palmer And The Art Of Asking Dec 03, 2014

Amanda Palmer drops by to discuss her new book The Art Of Asking with Mike Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang in Episode 3 of the Techdirt Podcast.

Privacy And User Control, With Brad Burnham Nov 20, 2014

Michael Masnick interviews Brad Burnham about strategies for solving the privacy problem in episode two of the Techdirt Podcast.

Can You Increase Privacy By Increasing Surveillance? Nov 12, 2014

Michael Masnick, Hersh Reddy and Dennis Yang discuss the paradox of privacy in the digital age.

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