1. Monthly archive
  2. July 2020

July 2020

Sponsor 

Knight Foundation

Date 
Tue, 07/07/2020 - 18:00

COVID-19 has had a profound effect on how communities connect. Shelter-in-place policies have shifted the majority of our social interactions online, driving the transition to the digital public square. What are the trends and opportunities for cities, planners and technologists as they seek to engage residents and support civic participation? A discussion of what civic participation looks like during a time of social distancing with NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology Fellow Mona Sloane and Warren Flood, Microsoft’s corporate affairs manager for Detroit.


Sponsor 

USTelecom

Date 
Tue, 07/07/2020 - 16:00 to 16:45

Access to, and the use of, modern networks, services and platforms, raise a host of critical issues in our nation’s quest for universal digital equity and inclusion. 

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and USTelecom’s Jonathan Spalter in a conversation on the impact of technology policy and social justice, including details and next steps for the Digital Opportunity Equity Recognition (DOER) program recently announced by Commissioner Starks.


Inside the Plot to Kill the Open Technology Fund

The Open Technology Fund is a US government-funded nonprofit, which is part of the umbrella group called the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also controls Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. OTF’s goal is to help oppressed communities across the globe by building the digital tools they need and offering training and support to use those tools. Its work has saved countless lives, and every single day millions of people use OTF-assisted tools to communicate and speak out without fear of arrest, retribution, or even death.

A weakened version of the EARN IT Act advances out of committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve a bill that would weaken Section 230 protections to ensure social media companies remove child abuse imagery from their platforms. The EARN IT Act is intended to curb the spread of child abuse images on social media, but has undergone a number of significant changes on its way to a full Senate vote.

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