Stay ConnectedPodcast of the Technology Policy Institute of Washington, D.C.
The Technology Policy Institute is a think tank that focuses on the economics of innovation, technological change, and related regulation in the United States and around the world. Our mission is to advance knowledge and inform policymakers by producing independent, rigorous research and by sponsoring educational programs and conferences on major issues affecting information technology and communications policy.
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Michael Beckerman currently serves as Vice President and head of US public policy at TikTok, a position he has held since March. He previously was the founding President and CEO of the Internet Association, a Washington, DC based trade association, representing global internet companies. Prior to that, he served for 12 years in increasingly responsible staff positions on Capitol Hill, ending as the Deputy Staff Director and Chief Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees America's internet policies. Michael is also active in the DC angel investing community where he's invested in several startups. This interview with Michael Beckerman was recorded on Monday, July 27th. A lot has changed for TikTok since, with the President’s threat to ban the app if TikTok doesn’t divest it’s US opererations from it’s parent company before September 15th. The contents of the interview are still release and so we’re bringing it to you now on August 5th.
Jay Bhattacharya is a professor of medicine at Stanford University. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research, a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and at the Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute. He holds courtesy appointments as professor in economics and in health research and policy. He directs the Stanford Center on the Demography of Health and Aging. Dr. Bhattacharya’s research focuses on the economics of healthcare around the world with a particular emphasis on the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations. His peer reviewed research has been published in economic, statistics, legal, medical, public health, and health policy journals. He holds an MD and PhD in economics from Stanford University.
Alexandra Givens is President and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Prior to CDT, Alexandra taught at Georgetown Law School where she founded the Institute for Technology Law and Policy and led Georgetown's Tech Scholars Program. She was also a founding leader of Georgetown's Initiative on Tech and Society. She previously served as Chief Counsel for IP and Antitrust on the Senate Judiciary Committee working for its then Chairman and Ranking Member, Senator Patrick Leahy. She developed legislative and oversight strategy on matters, including patent reform, federal trade secrets legislation, net neutrality, First Amendment issues surrounding online speech, access to medicines, and oversight of mergers and antitrust policy. She began her career as a litigator at Cravath, Swaine, and Moore in New York City and taught for five years as an adjunct professor at Columbia University School of Law. She holds a B.A. from Yale and a J.D. from Columbia. She serves on the board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve foundation and is a mayoral appointee on DC's Innovation and Technology Inclusion Council.
Eric Goldman is a professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law. He co-directs the High Tech Law Institute. He's on a short list of North American IP thought leaders and has been named an IP Vanguard by the California State Bar's IP section. His research and teaching focuses on internet, IP and advertising law topics. And he has been blogging on these topics for many years. This past fall, the Knight Foundation granted his research center funds to continue his work on legal issues raised by online content, Section 230, and content moderation. Professor Goldman is a leading thinker on the ways in which technology transforms our democracy.
Robert Shea served as a commissioner on the Evidence Based Policy Commission. Prior to that, he chaired the National Academy of Public Administration, which puts out a lot of great publications on public administration, of all things. He did some distinguished service at OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, and he worked for several years, probably more than he cares to admit, on the Hill. He's currently a principal at Grant Thornton.
Samm Sacks is the Cyber Policy Fellow at New America and a Senior Fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. Her research focuses on emerging information and communication technology policies globally, particularly in China. Her work covers issues ranging from the US-China technology relationship, the Chinese government's tech ambitions, China's cybersecurity regulatory environment, and the global expansion of Chinese tech companies. In fact, she has worked on Chinese technology policy issues for over a decade, both with the US government and in the private sector, and now at New America and the Yale Law School. She is currently working on a book titled Data and Great Power Competition.
Carl Shapiro is Professor of the Graduate School at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley. He's also the Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy Emeritus at the Haas School of Business. Carl was a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors during 2011-12. And prior to that, he was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics at the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, a position he also held during 1995-96. Josh Wright is a university professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he's also Executive Director of the Global Antitrust Institute and holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Economics. He was a Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission from 2013 to 2015. We're here to discuss antitrust and competition policy. During the last few years, antitrust has become a very hot topic. Moving from the confines of technical conferences, ABA conferences, economic conferences, to the front pages.
Amy Davine Kim is the chief policy officer for the Chamber of Digital Commerce. Prior to joining the chamber, she advised financial institutions, blockchain based companies, marketplace lenders, investors and innovators regarding compliance obligations under financial services laws. In particular, she has advised on the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering requirements and the regulations and sanctions programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets control. During her career, Amy has also advised companies on cross border, anti-bribery, and trade related compliance matters. She has advised investors and hedge funds, private equity funds, and real estate funds. She's also assisted companies in advocating before the US Congress and other US government agencies. Amy holds a bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University and her law degree from University of Notre Dame Law School. Thanks Amy for coming on the program.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser was sworn in as the state's 39th Attorney General on January 8th, 2019. Before running for office, he served as the Hatfield Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Colorado Law School where he founded the Silicon Flatiron Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship and co-chaired the Colorado Innovation Council. He's also served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice and Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation in the Obama administration's National Economic Council. He served in President Bill Clinton's Department of Justice as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the antitrust division, advising on telecommunications matters. And before that he had also served as law clerk to Justice Byron White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme court. And everybody who knows Phil knows he's a force of nature in keeping so many things running and writing so much and contributing to so many aspects of law and economics and technology.
Yasheng Huang is the Epic Foundation professor of international management and faculty director of action learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His previous appointments include faculty positions at the University of Michigan and Harvard Business School. Yasheng is currently involved in a number of research projects which sound fascinating in four broad areas. A book project titled the Nature of the Chinese State. Second, creating a complete database on historical technological inventions in China and collaboration with researchers at Tsinghua University. Also a project on food safety in China in systematic risk management approach and research on venture finance, production of scientific knowledge and work of the future in China. He has published numerous articles in academic journals and the media and 11 books in English and Chinese.
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