Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
Today we’re launching both TechFreedom, a new digital policy think tank, and its first publication, The Next Digital Decade: Essays on the Future of the Internet—after the conclusion of the State of the Net conference. Watch the livestream below—12:45-5:30 pm Eastern / 9:45 am – 2:30 Pacific: Please join the conversation about the book by tweeting about [...]
Don Norman, a former Apple vice-president, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, and one of the world’s most influential designers, discusses his new book, Living With Complexity. Norman talks about differences between complexity, something being complicated, and simplicity, and suggests that people who bemoan “technology” don’t actually seek simplicity. He also discusses differences between designing a product and designing a system, using examples of iPods and iTunes, the Amazon Kindle, and BMW’s Mini Cooper — products whose success depended upon the success of larger systems. Norman also notes the difference between a forcing function and a nudge, explains how complicated rules can weaken security, and comments on sociable design in realspace and on the internet.
If you’re in for the State of the Net conference this week (or happen to live here), join us for a happy hour among tech policy peeps Tuesday afternoon at 6pm at Johnny’s Half Shell (400 N Capitol St). We’ll also toast the launch of TechFreedom, the new digital policy think tank we’re launching Wednesday [...]
The smartphone is arguably one of the most empowering and revolutionary technologies of the modern era. By putting the processing power of a personal computer and the speed of a broadband connection into a device that fits in a pocket, smartphones have revolutionized how we communicate, travel, learn, game, shop, and more. Yet smartphones have [...]
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell will be interviewed by veteran tech reporter Declan McCullagh of CNET in a “fireside chat” on tech policy at TechFreedom‘s half-day symposium to introduce its first publication: The Next Digital Decade: Essays on the Future of the Internet. TechFreedom is a new non-profit, non-partisan think tank. Our mission is to promote [...]
Today the Mercatus Center has released a short new paper I have authored on “Unappreciated Benefits of Advertising and Commercial Speech.” I begin the piece by noting that: Federal policy makers, state legislators, and state attorneys general have recently shown interest in regulating commercial advertising and marketing. Several new regulatory initiatives are being proposed, or are already underway, that could [...]
Via @csoghoian (who can be wrathful if you don’t attribute), Adobe buries the lede in its blog post about privacy improvements to the Flash player. They’re working with the most popular browser vendors on integrating control of “local shared objects”—more commonly known as “Flash cookies”—into the interface. Users control of Flash cookies will soon be [...]
Over at the Brain Pickings blog, Maria Popova has posted an amazing 1972 documentary based on Alvin Toffler’s famous 1970 book, Future Shock. The documentary, like the book, focuses on many of the themes we hear Internet optimists and pessimists debating all the time today: “information overload,” excessive consumerism, artificial intelligence and robotics, biotechnology, cryonics, [...]
My colleague Dr. Richard Williams, who serves as the Director of Policy Research at the Mercatus Center, has just released an excellent little primer on “The Impact of Regulation on Investment and the U.S. Economy.” Those who attempt to track and analyze regulation in the communications and high-tech arenas will find the piece of interest [...]
I’ve been bemused by a minor controversy about remarks Ryan Calo of Stanford University made to a New York Times reporter for this story on Internet privacy and government access. “When your job is to protect us by fighting and prosecuting crime, you want every tool available,” said Ryan Calo, director of the consumer privacy [...]
January 27, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
