Will Rinehart
Tech LiberationFront
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Will:
How Do You Value Data? A Reply To Jaron Lanier’s Op-Ed In The NYT
Jaron Lanier was featured in a recent New York Times op-ed explaining why people should get paid for their data. Under this scheme, he estimates the total value of data for a four person household could fetch around $20,000. Let’s […] → Read More
Would A Federal Broadband Program Help Rural Areas?
Executive Summary Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed a federal grant program to expand rural access to broadband Internet, but this kind of proposal ignores the economics of broadband and rural communities. Most people in rural areas already live in population centers with strong access to broadband internet, and past government efforts at broadband expansion were … → Read More
There are good reasons to be skeptical that automation will unravel the labor market
When it comes to the threat of automation, I agree with Ryan Khurana: “From self-driving car crashes to failed workplace algorithms, many AI tools fail to perform simple tasks humans excel at, let alone far surpass us in every way.” […] → Read More
The Precedents for Forcing Neutrality on Tech Platforms
The Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act would face challenges both constitutionally and politically. → Read More
What Is Being Done to Combat Robocalls?
Complaints over the number of unwanted telephone calls from solicitors and scammers are pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Congress all to act. For its part, the FCC is set to adopt a rule later this week on “Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls.” This rule isn’t … → Read More
DETOUR Act Gives Sweeping Powers to FTC
Senators Mark Warner and Deb Fischer recently introduced a bill seeking to “prohibit the usage of exploitative and deceptive practices by large online operators and to promote consumer welfare in the use of behavioral research by such providers.” In plain language, the Deceptive Experiences To Online Users Reduction, or DETOUR, Act seeks to reduce nefarious … → Read More
Rural Broadband Isn’t Like Rural Electrification, It Is So Much Harder
Many have likened efforts to build out rural broadband today to the accomplishments of rural electrification in the 1930s. But the two couldn’t be further from each other. From the structure of the program and underlying costs, to the impact […] → Read More
Four Reasons Why Senator Warren's Public Utility Proposal Will Backfire
Breaking up tech companies would be a difficult and technically messy process. There wouldn’t be more competition or better options for consumers, but the destruction of viable and important businesses. → Read More
An Esoteric Reading of LM Sacasas
After reading LM Sacasas’ recent piece on moral communities, I couldn’t help but wonder if the piece was written in the esoteric mode. Let me explain by some meandering. Now, I am surely going to butcher his argument, so take […] → Read More
The Kids Are Going To Be Alright
Catchy headlines like “Heavy Social Media Use Linked With Mental Health Issues In Teens” and “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” advance a common trope of generational decline. But a new paper in Nature uses a new and rigorous analytical method […] → Read More
Primer: How to Understand and Approach AI Regulation
Executive Summary Countries and firms across the globe are racing to capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI). To ensure that the United States can capture the gains from this new technology, policymakers should recognize several things: Premature regulation is likely to be deleterious to innovation and progress in AI; Large firms have taken the lead on … → Read More
If you’re worried about net neutrality, put your reputation on the line and make a prediction about the future
It is now been a year since network neutrality rules supported by Title II were officially repealed, marking the end of the Obama-era legislation. Writing in Wired, Klint Finley noted that, “The good news is that the internet isn’t drastically […] → Read More
Smarter Together, to What Ends? A Review of AIQ
Education alone won’t dispel fear of artificial intelligence. → Read More
Text Messaging Should Be Under Clear and Minimal Regulation
At their next Open Meeting on December 12th, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is set to formally classify text messaging under the Communication Act’s Title I designation, a move that would put the service under a light-touch regulatory regime. In reaction to the proposed clarification, The Washington Post’s editorial board echoed critics and said the … → Read More
Three Short Responses To The Pacing Problem
Contemporary tech criticism displays an anti-nostalgia. Instead of being reverent for the past, anxiety about the future abounds. In these visions, the future is imagined as a strange, foreign land, beset with problems. And yet, to quote that old adage, […] → Read More
Opt-In Mandates Shouldn't Be Included In Privacy Laws
Executive Summary Many in the United States are pushing for a comprehensive privacy regulation that requires websites to only gather data after individuals’ opt-in, and they contend that an opt-in requirement will better educate people about what companies are doing with their data. An opt-in regime does not give users more information than an opt-out … → Read More
Is There a Kill Zone in Tech?
Recently, Noah Smith explored an emerging question in tech. Is there a kill zone where new and innovative upstarts are being throttled by the biggest players? He explains, Facebook commissioned a study by consultant Oliver Wyman that concluded that venture […] → Read More
Book Review: Cathy O’Neil’s “Weapons of Math Destruction”
To read Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction (2016) is to experience another in a line of progressive pugilists of the technological age. Where Tim Wu took on the future of the Internet and Evgeny Morozov chided online slactivism, O’Neil […] → Read More
In Defense of Techno-optimism
Many are understandably pessimistic about platforms and technology. This year has been a tough one, from Cambridge Analytica and Russian trolls to the implementation of GDPR and data breaches galore. Those who think about the world, about the problems that […] → Read More
The Government Should Not Ban Mergers and Buyouts
In an effort to curb the market power of the largest tech companies, some legislators and public policy experts have proposed banning mergers and acquisitions for companies above a certain size. Senator Amy Klobuchar is most visible in this effort, as she has introduced a bill that would effectively ban any company with a market … → Read More