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, […]

The Free Expression Forum at Public Knowledge is an ongoing series of dialogues about the importance of free expression online to artists, entrepreneurs, and content creators. It highlights how policy decisions impact this important value and how the community of diverse online voices must stand up to preserve it as technology develops. This first forum […]

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 […]

After recent Black Lives Matter protests, Americans rushed to libraries to request books on history, politics, and anti-racism. There were immediate shortages of certain books, with up to six month waits for commonly recommended titles. This happened throughout the entire system — even electronic books had long queues to check out. This is, in part, […]

As workplaces begin to reopen, one question seems top of mind: How do I ensure that my employees aren’t sick? In a rush to answer this question, tech companies claiming to have the answer have begun marketing surveillance measures to track an employee’s risk for coronavirus infection. Unfortunately, it’s uncertain how effective these unproven technologies […]

A discussion about why consent doesn’t protect consumers & other frameworks that could be used in federal privacy legislation.

A discussion on policy solutions to connectivity barriers.

American Indian Tribes, Alaskan Native Villages, and the Hawaiian Homelands have some of the worst access to broadband in the United States. According to the Federal Communications Commission,  36% of housing units on Tribal lands do not have access to broadband; on non-Tribal lands, this number is only 8%. Tribes face hurdles to accessing the […]