1 Tech is too important to be left in the hands of technologists. Intimidated by the complexity of technology, “civilians” have tended to let the “nerds” get on with things on their own. How did that turn out? Not so well. Technology needs to be regulated by technologists and a diverse cohort of non-engineers who can’t spell “Java.” Tech boffins may not like the sound of this, but we’ll get used to it.
2 Real freedom means ending data-based surveillance. To maintain authentic economic freedom, we have to recognize the rise of covert digital surveillance. It’s time to make it much harder — OK, impossible — to extract, mine, and sell our data and information without our true awareness and informed consent. The argument to use sensors, AI, and contact-tracing in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic is powerful, but by doing so, another step will have been taken toward the full compromise of the very notion of privacy.
3 Treat personal data like your reputation, not your disposable razor. Centralized data control is the taproot of winner-take-all internet businesses. Some are trying to wrest back control from the digital oligarchs, but that will be difficult. It’s up to each of us to recognize our personal data as a precious asset and treat it as such (rather than tossing it onto the web for the gain of others).
4 Is it safe? No, it is not. Wondering if you’ve been hacked? You have.
5 Get ready for the “splinternet.” Borders used to be drawn on maps. New borders will be drawn according to your IP address. Each region, country, state, or even city (or home) will have different views about the ideal technical, social, and economic model for the future. We need to be ready for different versions of the web, with vastly different conventions for privacy, tax, data, content, access, and more.
6 Follow — and manage — the money. Forewarned is forearmed, so simply being aware of how capital, growth, and economic power are changing will put us ahead. Be ready to participate in new regulations, tax policies, controls on capital markets, and more to protect wealth, innovation, and even our happiness.
7 Stop the brain hacks. Attempts to use technology + psychology to try to control us and extract value without our consent or knowledge need to be recognized for what they are: a violation of trust and ethics. This practice must be rooted out and shut down with regulation, law, and social convention so our activities, thoughts, and emotions are not hacked and tracked every time we log on.
8 Kick digital fentanyl. Tech gives us endless stimulation, a little drip of dopamine with every click, tweet, swipe, and like. It’s time to take steps to kick the addiction. Easier said than done, but step one is recognizing the problem.
9 Just breathe. Jacking into the web every day, every hour, may not be damaging, but it’s not benign. Community, friendship, faith, and mindfulness may seem quaint today, but the path to building healthy identities and minds in the modern age could be paved by actions and practices that have grounded us for millennia.
10 Learn from the rearview mirror. Our ancestors struggled to absorb their steam-powered disruption just as we are struggling with our new machines. We should hold up a mirror to the past to see many of the patterns repeating today as tech impacts capital, war, politics, society, labor, ethics, and more. By learning from the past, not repeating every mistake, we can guard against technology creating dark days ahead.
11 Be a “rules of the road” co-author. The velocity and direction of the next phase of the digital economy will be driven by many types of law, policy, and regulation: net neutrality, privacy, patent and IP law, taxation, data protection, industry regulation, AI ethics, labor laws, health data laws, job licensure, sharing economy regulation, etc. Even if it sounds mind-numbingly dull, this must happen, and it’s up to us to participate and help reset the governance structures of our new machines.
12 Show agency over your future. Waiting for “someone else” to figure this out for you — your family, your company, your country — is a mistake. If you’re a member of a democratic society, you have the right (obligation, really) to exercise authority over how you manage tech, use tech (don’t be a troll), and — critically — how you participate in the democratic process to govern tech. Sitting on the sidelines is for wimps. Don’t.
13 Recognize that “off” may sound enticing, but it’s unlikely. Can we turn off tech? Disconnect? Go dark? Maybe, but it’s not easy. For many of us, it’s simply not possible. (And what’s the fun in that?!) What we can do, must do, is reflect on how we want to engage with tech, decide what we want for our societies (and ourselves), and then act accordingly. Maybe we can’t turn it “off,” but we sure as hell can turn it down!
And here, further, and specifically, we recommend for consideration the following 10 tactics to be instituted without further delay. (Remember, we promised to begin to address the tough, controversial, and important questions!) These are framed within a US context, but they are relevant and applicable in many other countries.
1 Establish a Federal Technology Administration (FTA). This organization would sit supra to the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Akin to the Federal Drug Administration, it would have overall responsibility for creating relevant, contemporary legal frameworks and regulatory licensing for technology for the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries.
2 Within the FTA, establish a US Data Authority (USDAu). Akin to how the UK Atomic Energy Authority is a function of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, the USDAu would focus on establishing policies guiding the ethical use of data and algorithms in the commercial sector. It should be staffed with technologists and non-technologists.
3 Institute data ownership and portability legislation. Laws should mandate personally identifiable data and meta data to be the property of individuals, not the organizations that capture that data. Individuals must have the right to control their data, including porting it from one service provider to another. They must also have the right to entirely withdraw their data from a service provider.
4 Institute data and algorithm audit legislation. The USDAu should have the legal right to inspect the data social media providers have about their users, and how decisions made by algorithms are arrived at. These audits should be made available to the general public.
5 Prohibit political advertising on social media. Federal law should prevent any organized group from placing any form of political advertising on any social media platform.
6 Repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law should recognize that social media providers are publishers of information and should be held to the same standards as other types of publishers.
7 Prohibit use of social media by people under the age of 18. Akin to automobiles, weapons, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, marriage, and military service, social media should have a lower age entry barrier.
8 Establish Social Media User License (SMUL) legislation. Similar to driver’s education for cars, before being allowed to use social media at age 18, individuals and individuals within organizations should receive training and instruction on its safe operation, leading up to being granted a user’s license. This license should be revokable based on subsequent actions and offenses.
9 Establish federal protection of sovereignty against data incursion. The FTA would establish federal control mechanisms to intercept and screen out external data entering the US that is illegal, disruptive, and malign.
10 Overrule anonymity in for-profit social and media platforms. Anonymous speech in the US is rightfully protected by the First Amendment to ensure all opinions get a chance to be assessed. However, anonymity in for-profit social platforms and media channels has led to toxic troll armies, cancel culture, propaganda-as-news, and bot farms without accountability. The FTA should create a licensing program, akin to Twitter’s blue verified badge, for individual or organizational contributors to social media platforms. Any communications via for-profit social and media platforms must be tagged back to the SMUL owner. The FTA should also establish and manage a fully open “digital public square” that protects unfettered, and anonymous, free speech while filtering unprotected hate speech.