How do organizations create a healthy culture? Mike Rognlien, a founding member of Facebook’s Learning and Development team, shares the lessons he learned from building and teaching culture at Facebook. After leaving Facebook, Mike wrote a book, This Is Now Your Company, that focuses on how people can take ownership in the workplace.  He also started his own consulting agency, Multiple Hats Management, where he provides coaching and learning to organizations, including training on implicit...

Privacy, competition, and tech policy discussions often center on protecting or benefitting the consumer - but which policies actually do it? Adam Kovacevich is Founder and CEO of the Chamber of Progress, a new center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future. Before founding the COP, Adam was a Senior Director of U.S. public policy at Google and has over 20 years of industry experience. In this episode of TBD, Adam and Matt discuss Section 230, competition...

Debates in tech policy are often dominated by a focus on a small handful of companies, but the tech sector encompasses a far broader group of companies of all sizes.  Kate Tummarello is the Executive Director of Engine, a nonprofit organization that works with a community of thousands of high-tech, growth-oriented startups across the nation to support technology entrepreneurship.  Kate is focused on ensuring that the voices of these startups are included in tech policy debates on issues like...

It’s daunting to leave behind the perks, resources, and stability of a steady job. But Nancy Scola, a former senior technology reporter at POLITICO, took a leap to pursue more independent and entrepreneurial projects. She currently publishes “Slow Build”, a newsletter exploring the intersection of technology and society, on Substack and teaches digital journalism at Georgetown University. In this episode, Nancy talks about what led her to her decision, how it gave her an opportunity to look...

Barry Lynn is the director of the Open Markets Institute, which aims to “address threats to our democracy, individual liberties, and our national security from today’s unprecedented levels of corporate concentration and monopoly power.” Barry has worked in this field for many years, but is probably best known for his work on concentration in the tech sector. In this episode of TBD, he and Matt discuss his new book, (Liberty from All Masters: The New American Autocracy vs. the Will of the...

Cheetie Kumar is a musician and a chef, and she owns the Raleigh-based restaurant Garland, the music venue Kings, and the cocktail bar Neptunes. In this episode of TBD, she and Matt sit down to talk about how she innovated as a chef and business owner to keep her businesses alive during COVID. As restaurants faced shutdowns, declining revenue, and health risks to their employees, Cheetie joined with other chefs to create the Independent Restaurant Coalition and advocate with policymakers for...

When people think about tech policy, they typically think about Washington or Silicon Valley.  But Victoria McCollough has spent the pandemic working on tech policy from her family’s beef cattle farm in Tennessee. Formerly, she served as the Director of Social Impact and Public Policy at Tumblr, and she recently started a new role at TikTok as the Head of Outreach and Partnerships for Trust and Safety in the Americas. In this episode, she and Matt discuss what it’s like doing tech policy work...

Suzan DelBene represents Washington’s 1st Congressional District. First sworn into the House of Representatives in November 2012, Suzan brings a unique voice to Congress with over two decades of experience in the tech industry. In March of this year, Representative DelBene introduced the Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act, legislation that would create a national data privacy standard. In this episode of TBD, she discusses the story behind this legislation, how her...

Jeff Farrah is the general counsel of the National Venture Capital Association.  He’s tracking this policy debate closely because he believes it could have a significant impact on the startups and venture capitalists he represents.  He came on the podcast to discuss the evolving debate about merger and acquisition policy, how the recent proposals in Congress could affect startups, and what he’s doing to make his case in DC.  Listen in. 

The Social Dilemma is a Netflix film about how technology is designed and regulated, and the implications of those design and regulation decisions on our lives and our choices. Jeff Orlowski directed the film, devoting several years to talking with people throughout the tech sector about the design of products and business models. In this episode, we talk about The Social Dilemma, what we can do to address the challenges it raises, and how making the film changed his own relationship with...

Apple and Facebook are at war. When Apple announced plans for its latest operating system updates, Facebook threatened to file an antitrust lawsuit, and Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg traded barbs in the press. The new operating system requires users to opt-in to certain types of data usage. Apple claims it’s protecting privacy; Facebook claims it’s threatening competition and the ad-supported business model. To get a better understanding of the two sides of the issue, Matt discussed it with...

What kinds of speech—political, controversial, or otherwise—should be protected? What kinds of speech should be censored? The ongoing content moderation debate has raised pressing questions about what kinds of speech can and should be regulated by companies and governments. Jillian York is the director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and an expert on free speech and censorship. In this episode, we talk about global free expression policies,...

If you’ve ever been a fan of college basketball, then you’ve probably heard of the Duke-UNC rivalry. It’s the stuff of legends. The infamous eight miles that divide these two schools make it impossible to live in the Triangle without picking a side. In non-COVID times, Duke Students camp out for months just to gain entry to this basketball game. Welcome to Krzyzewskiville – the tent village that can be found on Duke’s campus during the coldest months of the North Carolina winter. But how do...

CliamteVoice is a company whose mission is to “mobilize the voice of the workforce to urge companies to go ‘all in’ on climate, both in business practices and policy advocacy.” Bill Weihl founded this company in early 2020, and in their first year, they’ve already seen huge growth and impact. Bill’s history in this field is extensive - he set up the sustainability teams at both Google and Facebook, before leaving to start his own company. ClimateVoice is urging companies to be more active in...

If you work in tech policy, then you’ve probably read the words of Alexandra Levine. Every weekday morning at 6 AM, Politico's Morning Tech newsletter is delivered to subscribers, who read it to learn about the most important news in the field. Alex is the force behind Morning Tech, deciding each day what to cover and how to present it.  In this episode of TBD, Matt and Alex discuss the making of Morning Tech, how Alex sets boundaries in a 24-hour job, and the tech policy agenda of the Biden...

We’re in a moment of transition in tech policy.  With the start of a new administration and fallout from the Capitol riots, there is increasing pressure to enact sweeping reforms in tech regulation. Scott Wallsten and Thomas Lenard of the Technology Policy Institute recently published a set of 10 principles to guide tech policymaking in a Biden Administration.  In this episode, Matt speaks with Scott and Tom about the role tech played in the Capitol riots, overlooked factors in assigning...

After Pierce Freelon lost an election for a seat in the North Carolina state senate, he embraced the sudden “silence” in his life, brought on by the lost election, the onset of COVID, and the death of his father.  As one door closed, others opened: he released "D.A.D", a music album in memory of his father, and in August, he was appointed to the Durham City Council.  In this episode, Matt and Pierce discuss Pierce’s approach to parenting, how he’s tackling tough issues on the Durham City...

This month, we here at TBD celebrated our 1st birthday! 2020 has been one hell of a year, and even amidst all the chaos, we can't help but reflect on how technology has enabled us to continue living in a post-pandemic world. In this episode, we look back on some of our favorite highlights and interviews from the past year. Listen in, enjoy, and we'll see you next year. 

The Section 230 debate continues, and it seems like new legislation to reform the law is being introduced every week. This week, we spoke with Paul Barrett, who spent 30 years as a journalist before making the switch to policy.  He now works at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he serves as the deputy director for the Center of Business and Human Rights.  He recently published a paper outlining possible reforms for Section 230.  Listen in to hear Paul’s thoughts on Section 230 and his...

The UNICEF Perspective on Universal Internet Access

It’s been a tumultuous week, to say the least. Eight days ago, the polls closed on the 2020 election, and America watched with anticipation to see who would hold the White House for the next four years. What role did technology and tech platforms play in this election? What difference does it make having an incumbent president who tweets his thoughts on a regular basis, and who may refuse to leave his position of power? What reforms to tech policy can we expect in the next administration?...

What needs to happen in order to achieve a "better internet"? Chris Riley has dedicated his life and career to answering questions like this one. He delves deeply into the world of tech policy and works hard at finding solutions to some of the sector's toughest questions. In this episode, Chris and Matt reflect on Chris's time as Mozilla's public policy team lead, and also tackle such questions as to how the government should approach the tech sector. Listen in.  Other pieces by Chris...

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee published a 400-page report on the findings of a 16-month long investigation into the state of competition in the digital economy, especially the challenges presented by the dominance of the "big four" tech companies: Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook. In this episode, Matt is joined by Avery Gardiner, General Counsel and Senior Fellow for Competition, Data, and Power at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Together they discuss the findings of...

Access their paper here: https://shorensteincenter.org/new-digital-realities-tom-wheeler-phil-verveer-gene-kimmelman/