Public Knowledge

You’ve all seen the pictures. The West Coast is turning orange because of raging wildfires. Many were forced to quickly evacuate their homes, not knowing if they would have something to come back to. Hikers were stranded, not knowing if they would be rescued before burning alive because the winds shifted suddenly and the fire […]

This material crossposted from the author’s personal blog on Wetmachine. When I was growing up, I used to hear the nursery rhyme about the itsy-bitsy spider climbing the waterspout, getting washed out, and then doing the exact same thing again. Whereas most people I have encountered regard this little jingle as an ode to perseverance, […]

This post authored by Stephanie Nguyen, Researcher at Consumer Reports. Many thanks to Consumer Reports’ Justin Brookman and Maureen Mahoney for contributing to this piece.  A few weeks ago, Public Knowledge convened a panel discussion: How Do We Move Beyond Consent Models in Privacy Legislation? This event featured keynote speaker Senator Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) on […]

Some of my favorite movie moments are “reinforcement” scenes. Just when it appears the heroes are doomed, the music swells and unexpected allies arrive to save the day. You can probably picture the scenes: the resurrected Avengers arriving via portals in Avengers: Endgame or Gandalf and the Rohirrim’s grand entrance at Helm’s Deep. Many internet […]

Over the past couple of months, millions of people across the U.S. have protested the inequitable treatment that Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), particularly Black people, have faced throughout our nation’s history. Now, unlike previous racial justice movements, so much of how we connect, work, live, or engage is online. Digital platforms and technology […]

This blog post is part of a series on communications policies Public Knowledge recommends in response to the pandemic. You can read more of our proposals here and view the full series here. Many observers in the era of coronavirus are advocating that in order for life to “go back to normal,” contact tracing applications will have to […]

This blog post is part of a series on communications policies Public Knowledge recommends in response to the pandemic. You can read more of our proposals here and view the full series here. Medical experts agree that the most important thing we can do to support the efforts against the COVID-19 outbreak is a medical […]

I began working on privacy as a public policy issue in 2010 when Senator Al Franken started up the Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee on the Judiciary Committee. It was very difficult, because back in 2010, not many people cared about digital privacy. The questions back then focused heavily on “What is the harm?” […]

Late last year, while folks were carving up turkeys and shopping for holiday gifts, the Commerce Committees on both sides of Capitol Hill were busy introducing long-awaited privacy legislation. For years now, Public Knowledge has been calling for comprehensive federal privacy legislation to protect our fundamental right to privacy online that includes (among other things) […]

Today, June 11, marks the end of the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules. The agency created the rules in its landmark 2015 Open Internet Order, which prevented internet service providers from blocking websites, throttling connection speeds, or engaging in paid prioritization schemes to charge for “fast lane” access. The FCC, led by Chairman Ajit Pai, voted to repeal the rules in December 2017, ignoring millions of Americans who urged the agency to put people first by keeping the rules.