{"id":264647,"date":"2019-02-07T19:13:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T00:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=264647"},"modified":"2023-11-08T20:41:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T01:41:14","slug":"government-cant-keep-up-with-technologys-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2019\/02\/government-cant-keep-up-with-technologys-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Tech\u2019s power growing at runaway speed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
\"\"

Susan Crawford (right) talked about how some of the biggest tech companies are building their own infrastructure.<\/p>

Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWork & Economy\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tBig Tech\u2019s power growing at runaway speed\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tBrett Milano\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Correspondent\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tPanel says government needs to upgrade approach to regulating some companies\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

How do you regulate a business you don\u2019t understand?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a problem the U.S. government has not resolved or even faced, said experts at a Harvard Kennedy School forum, and until it does, big technology\u2019s power \u201cto shape our politics and even our public policy\u201d will continue to grow unchecked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who\u2019s been paying attention to news in the past year or so has woken up to the power of digital platforms and large technology companies,\u201d said Nicco Mele<\/a>, director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and moderator of \u201cBig Tech and Democracy<\/a>\u201d on Wednesday evening. Just as bad, \u201cif you asked members of Congress to articulate the problem, you\u2019d get a wide range of views,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harvard Law School Professor Susan Crawford<\/a> said the largest tech companies are already powerful enough to have their own infrastructures, from Amazon\u2019s private internet service to the health care systems now in the works at Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at a time when the U.S. subway system is falling apart, Amazon is building a heliport. Health care, transit, communication \u2026 these are all essential for America, yet these giant companies can build around them.\u201d It illustrates something \u201cprofoundly wrong\u201d with American government, she said.<\/p>\n

Digital communication, especially, is \u201cthe most powerful and pervasive platform in the history of this planet,\u201d said Shorenstein senior research fellow Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017. But currently the companies controlling it \u201care making the rules in their own best interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\r\n

“We\u2019re not talking about bad people, but [tech companies] are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\nDipayan Ghosh<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n

\u201cIf you have this underlying infrastructure that is essential to the operation of the 21st century, shouldn\u2019t the public be represented in the rules of its operation?\u201d Wheeler asked. \u201cSo far we have been letting it take care of itself, feeling that we will break the magic if we touch this. Well, it is time to touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Significantly adding to the government\u2019s hands-off attitude has been the fact that digital savvy is scarce among members of Congress, the panelists pointed out. Only about 15 percent of the current Congress is technically trained, said Laura Manley<\/a>, director of the Technology and Public Purpose Project at the Belfer Center, and when they need to make decisions on technological oversight, their staff members are likely to go to tech lobbyists for information.<\/p>\n

Dipayan Ghosh<\/a>, the Pozen Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, pointed out that many tech companies make money selling data about their customers\u2019 use patterns, and have questionable records of respecting privacy rights. He noted that although Apple has said that it doesn\u2019t collect data from customers in the U.S., it has no qualms working with the Chinese government to collect data on its citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as though they follow human rights values consistently through all their business practices,\u201d Ghosh said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People don\u2019t even have to go online to have their data collected, said Ghosh, a former global privacy and public policy adviser for Facebook. When customers walk into a car dealership in Boston, he said, what they look at is tracked from the moment they come in, and their contact information is used to sign them up for a newsletter and then sold to a major data broker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would argue for a policy regime that treats those areas in a way that protects the American consumer,\u201d Ghosh said.<\/p>\n

The panelists said there are no easy fixes: pricey lawyers can find loopholes in regulations, and even without those, effective competitors to the major digital companies aren\u2019t likely to appear soon. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about bad people,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBut they are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

But responding to an audience question about how government can keep up, Crawford did have one solid recommendation: \u201cThe older people need to leave. It really is a generational issue at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Tech and Democracy\u201d was sponsored by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harvard Kennedy School experts offer views on why the U.S. government continues to grapple with the power of technology and its impact on democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131912104,"featured_media":264651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":29,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2022-05-16 11:40","document_color_palette":"crimson","author":"Brett Milano","affiliation":"Harvard 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government needs to upgrade approach to regulating some companies","centeredImage":true,"className":"is-style-full-width-text-below","mediaHeight":1667,"mediaWidth":2500,"backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/020619_Big_Tech_0812_2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Susan Crawford (right) talked about how some of the biggest tech companies are building their own infrastructure.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/020619_Big_Tech_0812_2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Susan Crawford (right) talked about how some of the biggest tech companies are building their own infrastructure.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/020619_Big_Tech_0812_2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Susan Crawford (right) talked about how some of the biggest tech companies are building their own infrastructure.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/business-economy\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tWork & Economy\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tBig Tech\u2019s power growing at runaway speed\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tBrett Milano\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Correspondent\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2019-02-07\">\n\t\t\tFebruary 7, 2019\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t4 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tPanel says government needs to upgrade approach to regulating some companies\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>How do you regulate a business you don\u2019t understand?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a problem the U.S. government has not resolved or even faced, said experts at a Harvard Kennedy School forum, and until it does, big technology\u2019s power \u201cto shape our politics and even our public policy\u201d will continue to grow unchecked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who\u2019s been paying attention to news in the past year or so has woken up to the power of digital platforms and large technology companies,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/nicco-mele\">Nicco Mele<\/a>, director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and moderator of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iop.harvard.edu\/forum\/big-tech-and-democracy\">Big Tech and Democracy<\/a>\u201d on Wednesday evening. Just as bad, \u201cif you asked members of Congress to articulate the problem, you\u2019d get a wide range of views,\u201d he said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Harvard Law School Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/hls.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/11154\/Crawford\">Susan Crawford<\/a> said the largest tech companies are already powerful enough to have their own infrastructures, from Amazon\u2019s private internet service to the health care systems now in the works at Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd at a time when the U.S. subway system is falling apart, Amazon is building a heliport. Health care, transit, communication \u2026 these are all essential for America, yet these giant companies can build around them.\u201d It illustrates something \u201cprofoundly wrong\u201d with American government, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Digital communication, especially, is \u201cthe most powerful and pervasive platform in the history of this planet,\u201d said Shorenstein senior research fellow Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017. But currently the companies controlling it \u201care making the rules in their own best interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>How do you regulate a business you don\u2019t understand?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a problem the U.S. government has not resolved or even faced, said experts at a Harvard Kennedy School forum, and until it does, big technology\u2019s power \u201cto shape our politics and even our public policy\u201d will continue to grow unchecked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who\u2019s been paying attention to news in the past year or so has woken up to the power of digital platforms and large technology companies,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/nicco-mele\">Nicco Mele<\/a>, director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and moderator of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iop.harvard.edu\/forum\/big-tech-and-democracy\">Big Tech and Democracy<\/a>\u201d on Wednesday evening. Just as bad, \u201cif you asked members of Congress to articulate the problem, you\u2019d get a wide range of views,\u201d he said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Harvard Law School Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/hls.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/11154\/Crawford\">Susan Crawford<\/a> said the largest tech companies are already powerful enough to have their own infrastructures, from Amazon\u2019s private internet service to the health care systems now in the works at Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd at a time when the U.S. subway system is falling apart, Amazon is building a heliport. Health care, transit, communication \u2026 these are all essential for America, yet these giant companies can build around them.\u201d It illustrates something \u201cprofoundly wrong\u201d with American government, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Digital communication, especially, is \u201cthe most powerful and pervasive platform in the history of this planet,\u201d said Shorenstein senior research fellow Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017. But currently the companies controlling it \u201care making the rules in their own best interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>How do you regulate a business you don\u2019t understand?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a problem the U.S. government has not resolved or even faced, said experts at a Harvard Kennedy School forum, and until it does, big technology\u2019s power \u201cto shape our politics and even our public policy\u201d will continue to grow unchecked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who\u2019s been paying attention to news in the past year or so has woken up to the power of digital platforms and large technology companies,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/nicco-mele\">Nicco Mele<\/a>, director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and moderator of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iop.harvard.edu\/forum\/big-tech-and-democracy\">Big Tech and Democracy<\/a>\u201d on Wednesday evening. Just as bad, \u201cif you asked members of Congress to articulate the problem, you\u2019d get a wide range of views,\u201d he said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Harvard Law School Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/hls.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/11154\/Crawford\">Susan Crawford<\/a> said the largest tech companies are already powerful enough to have their own infrastructures, from Amazon\u2019s private internet service to the health care systems now in the works at Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd at a time when the U.S. subway system is falling apart, Amazon is building a heliport. Health care, transit, communication \u2026 these are all essential for America, yet these giant companies can build around them.\u201d It illustrates something \u201cprofoundly wrong\u201d with American government, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Digital communication, especially, is \u201cthe most powerful and pervasive platform in the history of this planet,\u201d said Shorenstein senior research fellow Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017. But currently the companies controlling it \u201care making the rules in their own best interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/quote","attrs":{"value":"<cite>Dipayan Ghosh<\/cite>","citation":"Dipayan Ghosh","textAlign":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<p>\"We\u2019re not talking about bad people, but [tech companies] are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["<p>\"We\u2019re not talking about bad people, but [tech companies] are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"<p>\"We\u2019re not talking about bad people, but [tech companies] are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><cite>Dipayan Ghosh<\/cite><\/blockquote>","innerContent":["<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">","<cite>Dipayan Ghosh<\/cite><\/blockquote>"],"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\"We\u2019re not talking about bad people, but [tech companies] are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Dipayan Ghosh<\/cite><\/blockquote>"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cIf you have this underlying infrastructure that is essential to the operation of the 21st century, shouldn\u2019t the public be represented in the rules of its operation?\u201d Wheeler asked. \u201cSo far we have been letting it take care of itself, feeling that we will break the magic if we touch this. Well, it is time to touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Significantly adding to the government\u2019s hands-off attitude has been the fact that digital savvy is scarce among members of Congress, the panelists pointed out. Only about 15 percent of the current Congress is technically trained, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfercenter.org\/person\/laura-manley\">Laura Manley<\/a>, director of the Technology and Public Purpose Project at the Belfer Center, and when they need to make decisions on technological oversight, their staff members are likely to go to tech lobbyists for information.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dipayanghosh.com\/\">Dipayan Ghosh<\/a>, the Pozen Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, pointed out that many tech companies make money selling data about their customers\u2019 use patterns, and have questionable records of respecting privacy rights. He noted that although Apple has said that it doesn\u2019t collect data from customers in the U.S., it has no qualms working with the Chinese government to collect data on its citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not as though they follow human rights values consistently through all their business practices,\u201d Ghosh said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>People don\u2019t even have to go online to have their data collected, said Ghosh, a former global privacy and public policy adviser for Facebook. When customers walk into a car dealership in Boston, he said, what they look at is tracked from the moment they come in, and their contact information is used to sign them up for a newsletter and then sold to a major data broker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would argue for a policy regime that treats those areas in a way that protects the American consumer,\u201d Ghosh said.<\/p>\n<p>The panelists said there are no easy fixes: pricey lawyers can find loopholes in regulations, and even without those, effective competitors to the major digital companies aren\u2019t likely to appear soon. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about bad people,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBut they are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But responding to an audience question about how government can keep up, Crawford did have one solid recommendation: \u201cThe older people need to leave. It really is a generational issue at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cBig Tech and Democracy\u201d was sponsored by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.<\/i><\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cIf you have this underlying infrastructure that is essential to the operation of the 21st century, shouldn\u2019t the public be represented in the rules of its operation?\u201d Wheeler asked. \u201cSo far we have been letting it take care of itself, feeling that we will break the magic if we touch this. Well, it is time to touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Significantly adding to the government\u2019s hands-off attitude has been the fact that digital savvy is scarce among members of Congress, the panelists pointed out. Only about 15 percent of the current Congress is technically trained, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfercenter.org\/person\/laura-manley\">Laura Manley<\/a>, director of the Technology and Public Purpose Project at the Belfer Center, and when they need to make decisions on technological oversight, their staff members are likely to go to tech lobbyists for information.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dipayanghosh.com\/\">Dipayan Ghosh<\/a>, the Pozen Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, pointed out that many tech companies make money selling data about their customers\u2019 use patterns, and have questionable records of respecting privacy rights. He noted that although Apple has said that it doesn\u2019t collect data from customers in the U.S., it has no qualms working with the Chinese government to collect data on its citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not as though they follow human rights values consistently through all their business practices,\u201d Ghosh said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>People don\u2019t even have to go online to have their data collected, said Ghosh, a former global privacy and public policy adviser for Facebook. When customers walk into a car dealership in Boston, he said, what they look at is tracked from the moment they come in, and their contact information is used to sign them up for a newsletter and then sold to a major data broker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would argue for a policy regime that treats those areas in a way that protects the American consumer,\u201d Ghosh said.<\/p>\n<p>The panelists said there are no easy fixes: pricey lawyers can find loopholes in regulations, and even without those, effective competitors to the major digital companies aren\u2019t likely to appear soon. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about bad people,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBut they are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But responding to an audience question about how government can keep up, Crawford did have one solid recommendation: \u201cThe older people need to leave. It really is a generational issue at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cBig Tech and Democracy\u201d was sponsored by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.<\/i><\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cIf you have this underlying infrastructure that is essential to the operation of the 21st century, shouldn\u2019t the public be represented in the rules of its operation?\u201d Wheeler asked. \u201cSo far we have been letting it take care of itself, feeling that we will break the magic if we touch this. Well, it is time to touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Significantly adding to the government\u2019s hands-off attitude has been the fact that digital savvy is scarce among members of Congress, the panelists pointed out. Only about 15 percent of the current Congress is technically trained, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfercenter.org\/person\/laura-manley\">Laura Manley<\/a>, director of the Technology and Public Purpose Project at the Belfer Center, and when they need to make decisions on technological oversight, their staff members are likely to go to tech lobbyists for information.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dipayanghosh.com\/\">Dipayan Ghosh<\/a>, the Pozen Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, pointed out that many tech companies make money selling data about their customers\u2019 use patterns, and have questionable records of respecting privacy rights. He noted that although Apple has said that it doesn\u2019t collect data from customers in the U.S., it has no qualms working with the Chinese government to collect data on its citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not as though they follow human rights values consistently through all their business practices,\u201d Ghosh said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>People don\u2019t even have to go online to have their data collected, said Ghosh, a former global privacy and public policy adviser for Facebook. When customers walk into a car dealership in Boston, he said, what they look at is tracked from the moment they come in, and their contact information is used to sign them up for a newsletter and then sold to a major data broker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would argue for a policy regime that treats those areas in a way that protects the American consumer,\u201d Ghosh said.<\/p>\n<p>The panelists said there are no easy fixes: pricey lawyers can find loopholes in regulations, and even without those, effective competitors to the major digital companies aren\u2019t likely to appear soon. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about bad people,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBut they are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But responding to an audience question about how government can keep up, Crawford did have one solid recommendation: \u201cThe older people need to leave. It really is a generational issue at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cBig Tech and Democracy\u201d was sponsored by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.<\/i><\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\r\n\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\r\n","\r\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>How do you regulate a business you don\u2019t understand?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a problem the U.S. government has not resolved or even faced, said experts at a Harvard Kennedy School forum, and until it does, big technology\u2019s power \u201cto shape our politics and even our public policy\u201d will continue to grow unchecked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who\u2019s been paying attention to news in the past year or so has woken up to the power of digital platforms and large technology companies,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/nicco-mele\">Nicco Mele<\/a>, director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and moderator of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iop.harvard.edu\/forum\/big-tech-and-democracy\">Big Tech and Democracy<\/a>\u201d on Wednesday evening. Just as bad, \u201cif you asked members of Congress to articulate the problem, you\u2019d get a wide range of views,\u201d he said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Harvard Law School Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/hls.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/11154\/Crawford\">Susan Crawford<\/a> said the largest tech companies are already powerful enough to have their own infrastructures, from Amazon\u2019s private internet service to the health care systems now in the works at Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd at a time when the U.S. subway system is falling apart, Amazon is building a heliport. Health care, transit, communication \u2026 these are all essential for America, yet these giant companies can build around them.\u201d It illustrates something \u201cprofoundly wrong\u201d with American government, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Digital communication, especially, is \u201cthe most powerful and pervasive platform in the history of this planet,\u201d said Shorenstein senior research fellow Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017. But currently the companies controlling it \u201care making the rules in their own best interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\"We\u2019re not talking about bad people, but [tech companies] are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Dipayan Ghosh<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n<p>\u201cIf you have this underlying infrastructure that is essential to the operation of the 21st century, shouldn\u2019t the public be represented in the rules of its operation?\u201d Wheeler asked. \u201cSo far we have been letting it take care of itself, feeling that we will break the magic if we touch this. Well, it is time to touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Significantly adding to the government\u2019s hands-off attitude has been the fact that digital savvy is scarce among members of Congress, the panelists pointed out. Only about 15 percent of the current Congress is technically trained, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfercenter.org\/person\/laura-manley\">Laura Manley<\/a>, director of the Technology and Public Purpose Project at the Belfer Center, and when they need to make decisions on technological oversight, their staff members are likely to go to tech lobbyists for information.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dipayanghosh.com\/\">Dipayan Ghosh<\/a>, the Pozen Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, pointed out that many tech companies make money selling data about their customers\u2019 use patterns, and have questionable records of respecting privacy rights. He noted that although Apple has said that it doesn\u2019t collect data from customers in the U.S., it has no qualms working with the Chinese government to collect data on its citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not as though they follow human rights values consistently through all their business practices,\u201d Ghosh said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>People don\u2019t even have to go online to have their data collected, said Ghosh, a former global privacy and public policy adviser for Facebook. When customers walk into a car dealership in Boston, he said, what they look at is tracked from the moment they come in, and their contact information is used to sign them up for a newsletter and then sold to a major data broker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would argue for a policy regime that treats those areas in a way that protects the American consumer,\u201d Ghosh said.<\/p>\n<p>The panelists said there are no easy fixes: pricey lawyers can find loopholes in regulations, and even without those, effective competitors to the major digital companies aren\u2019t likely to appear soon. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about bad people,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBut they are being presented with the opportunity to make their own rules, and nobody has repealed the laws of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But responding to an audience question about how government can keep up, Crawford did have one solid recommendation: \u201cThe older people need to leave. It really is a generational issue at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cBig Tech and Democracy\u201d was sponsored by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":161310,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/10\/disrupting-city-hall\/","url_meta":{"origin":264647,"position":0},"title":"Disrupting city hall","author":"harvardgazette","date":"October 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvard Kennedy School and Law School experts say city life will be transformed by city governments that are plugged into technology.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/goldsmithcrawford_diptych_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/goldsmithcrawford_diptych_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/goldsmithcrawford_diptych_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100252,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/01\/shorenstein-center-welcomes-six-spring-fellows\/","url_meta":{"origin":264647,"position":1},"title":"Shorenstein Center welcomes six spring fellows","author":"harvardgazette","date":"January 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Six new fellows will join the Shorenstein Center this spring.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":151047,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/01\/so-who-owns-the-internet\/","url_meta":{"origin":264647,"position":2},"title":"So, who owns the Internet?","author":"harvardgazette","date":"January 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvard experts say a closely watched case now before the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., over the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s authority to regulate online access could have game-changing implications for how consumers and businesses experience the Internet.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/susan-crawford_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/susan-crawford_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/susan-crawford_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":261286,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2019\/01\/harvard-research-helps-prepare-policy-road-for-self-driving-cars\/","url_meta":{"origin":264647,"position":3},"title":"Paving the way for self-driving cars","author":"William Cannon","date":"January 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Two efforts at Harvard are helping state and city officials in Boston and around the nation frame their early policy thinking around autonomous vehicles.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/120318_Crawford_129_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/120318_Crawford_129_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/120318_Crawford_129_2500.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/120318_Crawford_129_2500.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":153715,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/03\/the-melding-of-technology\/","url_meta":{"origin":264647,"position":4},"title":"The melding of technology","author":"harvardgazette","date":"March 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Former MIT President Susan Hockfield discussed the power of technology\u2019s ongoing convergence during a session at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hockfield_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hockfield_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hockfield_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56658,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2000\/11\/street-vendors-often-define-urban-landscape\/","url_meta":{"origin":264647,"position":5},"title":"Street vendors often define urban landscape","author":"harvardgazette","date":"November 30, 2000","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The question is, how is public space to be created \u2014 by designers, by the state, or by the people who use it?\" asks Margaret Crawford, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Crawford believes that \"outlaw entrepreneurs\" are helping to restructure and revitalize the city, not destroy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131912104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264647"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264716,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264647\/revisions\/264716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264647"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=264647"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=264647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}