Technically Optimistic

The way we use and understand data is rapidly evolving. So what does the future hold? Will backlash against surveillance capitalism result in protections that empower people to take control of their data? What’s going on with the new American Privacy Rights Act that’s currently moving through Congress? Raffi talks to experts about how we can understand — and help shape — the future of data, exploring new policy, digging into the concept of “digital doubles,” and assessing how data collection might play a role in coalition-building and reform.  Guests include Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA); Brandon Pugh, policy director at the R Street Institute; author and internet activist Cory Doctorow; actor and SAG-AFTRA member Clark Gregg; and Amy Bach, CEO of Measures for Justice. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The data boom has had an outsized impact on India and the Global South. This episode explores how the data economy has changed life on the ground in South Asia — and for tech workers in the US. What does the future of caste look like for the South Asian diaspora, and in the tech world at large? What can be done to mitigate the harms of caste discrimination? How can tech help resource marginalized populations, enable social mobility, and design a more sustainable, empowered future?  Raffi speaks with caste and technology scholar Murali Shanmugavelan; anthropologist Sareeta Amrute; Manu Chopra, CEO of Karya; Pratik Rajurkar, educator and co-founder of Polymath AI; and United Nations under-secretary-general, Amandeep Singh Gill. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether we like it or not, the kids are online — and they’re being tracked just like the rest of us. Who’s after their data, and why? We examine the harms minors face online — from how tech companies profit off addictive usership, to the consequences of social media on kids’ mental health and emotional development — and we explore some new proposals for how to protect their privacy. Are more parental controls the answer? Will newly-proposed laws be the key? Or will these bills cause more harm than good? In this episode, Raffi is joined by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); author Rosalind Wiseman; Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen; research fellow Tiera Tanksley; Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media; and Manmeet Dhindsa, attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New technologies, such as facial recognition, are being used by law enforcement to identify, locate, and convict people. Powered by data gathered from across the internet, these imperfect programs can sometimes get it wrong, resulting in wrongful arrests. Are these surveillance systems making us safer, or just the opposite? How can we conceptualize the relationship between data and criminal justice? Does the Fourth Amendment protect us from data-driven policing? And how can we maintain our own “cyber hygiene” to keep our data secure?  In this episode, Raffi talks to experts about these new technologies as they relate to our civil liberties, laws, and values. Guests include Kashmir Hill, New York Times privacy reporter and author of the book Your Face Belongs To Us; Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard professor and faculty director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society; Jennifer Lynch, general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation; Jen Easterly, Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; and Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA). To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Digital surveillance is becoming increasingly threatening to the reproductive rights of women and pregnant people in America after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Behavioral data collected from apps can be used to catalog — and criminalize — our health care choices. In this “wild west” surveillance economy, who is responsible for safeguarding our privacy? Could more and more of our data be weaponized against us in this same way? How can technology be harnessed to help protect privacy, rather than further jeopardize it?  Host Raffi Krikorian talks to people working to protect reproductive freedom in an ever-changing landscape. Guests include Sue Dunlap, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles; Melanie Fontes Rainer, Director of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights; Kevin Williams, VP of digital products at Planned Parenthood; Amy Merrill, digital director and co-founder of Plan C; and Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA). To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Modern political campaigning has become a massive data operation. In the US, candidates from both parties frequently use data to try and better understand voters, in hopes of swaying them on election day. But how, exactly, is voter information being acquired, analyzed, and employed to influence voters? Do modeling and targeting really move the needle? And how are political campaigns a microcosm of the data economy, illuminating how data can transform society?  In this episode, Raffi talks to election veterans, data specialists, and former colleagues from his time as CTO at the Democratic National Committee, to talk about how data is utilized in campaigns. Guests include Dan Wagner, CEO of Civis Analytics; political consultant Max Wood; Lindsey Schuh Cortes, CEO of TargetSmart; and Tara McGowan, former political strategist & publisher of COURIER. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When social media is at its best, we get genuine human connection, built-in audiences, and exciting avenues for creativity and exchange. But our current social platforms are built on a surveillance model, where our data is used to predict our behavior, show us ads, and train the algorithms that keep us perpetually on the platform. It’s time to explore a new vision for social media, where we don’t have to give up on privacy in order to connect.  In this episode, Raffi talks to prominent critics of existing social media — and the people actively reimagining it, with truly private messaging, hyperlocal communities, and renewed sense of control over our own social data. Guests include Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, whose 2021 leaks made national news and put the social media giant in the Congressional spotlight; scholar and internet activist Ethan Zuckerman; Meredith Whittaker, the president of the Signal Foundation; Flipboard co-founder Mike McCue; and Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How has our data become the world’s most valuable resource? What privacy tradeoffs are we making when we engage with personalized apps, recommendations, and always-connected smart devices? Is our personal data being used to make things better, or to make tech giants even more powerful? And what do “cookies” have to do with all this?  Host Raffi Krikorian chats with experts about data’s role in AI, “big data” and the data economy, surveillance capitalism, and much more. Guests include AI researcher Amba Kak, executive director of the AI Now Institute; data scientist Chris Wiggins, co-author of How Data Happened; media scholar, tech writer, and internet activist Ethan Zuckerman; engineer and inventor of the cookie Lou Montulli; and Harvard professor Jonathan Zittrain. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at us@technicallyoptimistic.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The second season of Technically Optimistic is all about your data. Who’s taking it? What are they doing with it? And how can you gain back some control? Join host Raffi Krikorian, CTO of Emerson Collective, down this road. It’s going to lead to some predictable places — like AI and social media — but also to stories about health care, political campaigning, and criminal justice reform. Subscribe now! New episodes are coming soon. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Monday, October 30th, Biden signed a landmark executive order on artificial intelligence safety and security. It was timed strategically, released the same week as VP Harris gave a speech at a UK AI summit. And, in the absence of any Congressional action, Biden’s document represents the most comprehensive and official policy of the United States on AI at the moment. So, what’s in the executive order? Host Raffi Krikorian speaks with journalist Courtney Rozen, who covers the White House and tech policy for Bloomberg, and Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a Brown University computer science professor who co-wrote the influential Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights in 2022. Sign up for the Technically Optimistic newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com To learn more about Technically Optimistic: emersoncollective.com/technicallyoptimistic For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/persons/raffi-krikorian Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Email us with questions and feedback at technicallyoptimistic@emersoncollective.com. Subscribe to Emerson Collective’s newsletter: emersoncollective.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As AI rapidly advances, how do we balance speed and safety? Justin Hendrix is the CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press, a nonprofit media and community venture covering the intersection of technology and democracy. Through his reporting and research, he’s got a lot to say about the global developments in AI regulation, including the AI Act in the EU, emerging efforts in the US, and the implications for the future of US-China relations. On September 8th, Hendrix sat down with host Raffi Krikorian for a live Fellows Friday virtual event hosted by Emerson Collective. This episode is an edited recording of that event. Sign up for the Technically Optimistic newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com To learn more about Technically Optimistic: emersoncollective.com/technicallyoptimistic For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/persons/raffi-krikorian Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Email us with questions and feedback at technicallyoptimistic@emersoncollective.com. Subscribe to Emerson Collective’s newsletter: emersoncollective.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Timnit Gebru is a co-author of one of the most influential research papers on AI from this decade, which coined the term “stochastic parrots” to describe large language models. Following her very public departure from Google in 2020, Gebru founded the Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute, an organization that describes itself as doing independent, community-rooted work, free from the pervasive influence of Big Tech. She’s now DAIR’s executive director. And recently, she was selected as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI — like several other guests you hear from in season one of this show. Gebru sat down with host Raffi Krikorian for a wide-ranging and deep conversation about AI, touching on things like the obfuscation around its capabilities, what Big Tech hopes we don’t pay attention to, and the importance of imagining alternative possible futures. To learn more about Technically Optimistic: emersoncollective.com/technicallyoptimistic For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/persons/raffi-krikorian Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer.  Email us with questions and feedback at technicallyoptimistic@emersoncollective.com. Subscribe to Emerson Collective’s newsletter: emersoncollective.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices