Voters that identify as moderate or conservative Democrats feel more positively toward tech (64%) than liberal Dems or any Republicans do
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Adam Kovacevich
@adamkovac
Founder and CEO, . Pro-tech Democrat focused on tech's progressive future. Also mstdn.social/@adamkovac
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Thanks to for having me on to talk social media regulation and the myth of a Democratic “techlash”
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New #Podcast!
@adamkovac of @ProgressChamber discusses partisan differences in the 'techlash', progressive tech regulation, and the 1st Amendment rights of platforms.
Check it out! 
socialmediaandpolitics.simplecast.com/episodes/tech-1
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“Meet Nimbee, the mascot who scorns bike lanes, development and change”
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Yet another example of how AI will revive old policy debates, this time on copyright.
Looking forward to the House and Senate Judiciary IP subcommittee hearings 🙂
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Turn Any Image royalty free using this AI hack.
Tool used - @ImgCreatorAI
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Fun fact: I sat next to Bono when I saw the Spiderman musical. The story and music were unmemorable but the effects and flying were definitely cool.
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Lastly, it was mentioned in 's story, but tech has shed 200k jobs since Jan '22, and I'd hope POTUS will make mention in SOTU of a digital jobs growth agenda.
We need to maintain US leadership in digital, AVs, EVs and advanced tech.
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I had to chuckle at a D aide saying mentioning 230 would upset the prospect for bipartisanship on privacy and antitrust bills.
Republicans turned almost every tech bill last year into anti-moderation bill, and Dems like sadly went along with it
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And when it comes to speech / content moderation / 230, basically Republicans are from Mars and Dems are from Venus.
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6. Lastly, what tech issues should Congress focus on? 3 takeaways:
- Lots of agreement on security and privacy being priority
- Lots of agreement on antitrust being low priority
- Rs and Ds view "free speech" and "fighting misinfo" inversely. No agreement on content mod
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OTOH, the three *least* popular tech policy ideas among midterm voters were:
- Eliminate 230
- Ban targeted ads
- Ban integrated tech services
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Privacy is absolutely at the top of voters' tech policy priority list - and it would be great for to push consumer privacy legislation
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5. Then, what tech issues do you want Biden Admin to focus on?
Top answers:
- Scams/malware
- Consumer privacy
- Data discrim
- Broadband
Bottom answers:
- Eliminate 230
- Ban targeted ads
- Ban integrated tech services
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Only 10% of midterm voters are demanding aggressive regulation of tech.
Most aren't libertarians either.
The majority favors consumer protections + more tech jobs + preserving tech services' usefulness
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4. We asked, how do you want Biden Admin to approach tech?
10% said "aggressive regulation" and 14% said "hands off."
But in the middle, 40% said "pass consumer protections but preserve services' usefulness" and 26% said "bring more tech jobs.
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Beltway types have convinced themselves that there's a pervasive "techlash."
But as shows, there is no techlash at all among Democratic voters:
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1. Pew surveys over the last three years show that there is no such thing as a "techlash" among Dem voters.
R voters have slipped -18 pts against tech, but Dem votes have remained consistently positive toward tech (58% approval)
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As I said at 's event, my concern as a Biden fan/supporter is that the Biden WH is misreading the Biden voter on the particulars of tech regulation
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Reed thinks tech issues also fit the "bridge" profile, likely driving Biden's WSJ op-ed and the inclusion of tech in this SOTU section
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Remember all the press gushing Biden got for his bridge event with McConnell? The WH likes positioning Biden as reasonable, bipartisan, above the fray...as a contrast to the Trump/MAGA clown show
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Noteworthy scoop from about tech in SOTU:
- Bruce Reed (longtime tech critic) driving, as part of "bipartisan possibilities" section
- Privacy and antitrust in; 230 currently out
My take on what's going on here...
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NEW: Biden will call for tougher regulation of Silicon Valley in his State of the Union address, which will touch on antitrust and privacy protections. w/ @tylerpager washingtonpost.com/technology/202
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. is right: if the US doesn't step up our rules for AVs, Chinese co's are going to lap us in this critical tech
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...but good luck with that. There are 172M US Amazon Prime members. They love the service.
When Congress tried to mess with Prime (through AICOA) it flopped. FTC should learn from that.
techjury.net/blog/amazon-pr
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What might they focus on?
❓Self preferencing? It serves customers, isn't illegal, and AICOA failed.
❓ Buy box policies? 's case flopped, and already has a case pending?
❓Store brands? Also not a problem...unless Costco's Kirkland is now too
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WSJ reporting that FTC preparing suit against Amazon, but over what? and FTC decided a long time ago on the 🎯 and has been looking for the case.
That's not the way this is supposed to work.
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Key point
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The company also highlights efforts to prevent data from “flowing out” of the United States, but this is an effort to obscure the fact that data does not need to move “out” of the United States to be leveraged by ByteDance and ultimately the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
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There are so many great episodes of Bluey, but “Pass the Parcel” is one of my favorites
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Amen ! We need to preserve America's lead in AVs over China, and ensure that we're creating thousands of new AV jobs here in the U.S.
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"Autonomous vehicles are here. And every day we do not have a federal framework in place for the safe deployment of AVs, we're risking falling behind the rest of the world."
True words from @RepDebDingell at this week's @EnergyCommerce hearing on U.S. competitiveness.
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Republicans:
We must investigate the "weaponization of the federal government" and the pressure they apply to private companies
Also Republicans:
We must apply pressure to DirecTV for dropping Newsmax
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This idea from makes a lot of sense.
FCC's clear authority over telecoms enabled them to act clearly/swiftly against Huawei but in tech the CFIUS process is probably too diffuse and slow.
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For movies, TV, and video games, we give parents & teens lots of info and let them decide.
No reason we can't do the same with social media.
Especially given that it can be a huge lifeline for kids who feel disconnected & alone.
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One thing I don't get about Common Sense Media: Its whole model is providing parents with really great, detailed review to help them make informed choices about movies, TV, games.
And yet, when it comes to social media, they scrap that nuance completely and just say "Bad"
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Did you miss the #TechPolicyGrind?
Class Four #ILPFoundry Fellow @Joseph_Catapano hosts a SPECIAL episode w/ @ProgressChamber’s @adamkovac & @NetChoice’s @CarlSzabo!
Our experts decipher if the US will ban #TikTok — tune into the #podcast to learn more:
ilpfoundry.us/podcast/will-t
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Scaremongering over autonomous vehicles has reached a pitch in San Francisco.
But the scariest thing on the roads in SF isn't the AVs, it's the drivers. Any serious analysis of AVs can't overlook their potential safety benefits compared to the status quo drivers have created.
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Inflation Reduction Act succeeding bigly at creating new domestic manufacturing jobs in EV battery making
axios.com/newsletters/ax #axiosam
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basically a degenerate party at this point. The bill gates microchip thing will probably be in the 2024 platform.
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In a sign of how toxic the conversation about the coronavirus vaccines has become within the GOP, Mr. Trump’s allies are building a file of “opposition research” on Mr. DeSantis that consists of videos of him praising the vaccine in its early days. nytimes.com/2023/01/31/us/
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Amazing. The most consequential advancement during the trump era is now an albatross. As if a Republican primaried Eisenhower in 56 by complaining about the highway system.
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In a sign of how toxic the conversation about the coronavirus vaccines has become within the GOP, Mr. Trump’s allies are building a file of “opposition research” on Mr. DeSantis that consists of videos of him praising the vaccine in its early days. nytimes.com/2023/01/31/us/
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Of course, NTIA is endorsing a change to law that would allow this. Let's hope federal and state policymakers recognize that consumers already have the choice of an open vs. closed smartphone environment and want to preserve that choice.
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It's worth noting that a federal judge explicitly concluded in the Epic v. Apple trial that Apple did have pro-consumer justification for its app store rules, and the govt couldn't force a change under existing law
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Reflecting on Apple-Epic ruling:
The court said you can bring your own water bottle into Disneyland, but Disneyland doesn’t have to become a public park. twitter.com/benthompson/st…
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Unfortunately, after doing a balanced job of summarizing the comments it received on all sides of the issue, NTIA's conclusion abruptly sides with Spotify, Match, and Epic -- ignoring consumer preferences altogether
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