IIF Authors

Status: Will be live at 05/06/2019 15:15

FRT Episode 33: “Techlash” & Data Policy

Rob Atkinson, President of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), joins FRT to discuss the emerging “Techlash” reaction against technological change, and the impacts for current debates on data privacy and protection policies.

Rob identifies that the backlash against technology is both acute and broad, and that our society is in the midst of a “tech panic.” He considers this reaction in some ways to be a factor of exaggerated assumptions as to the rate and level of progress in some areas – that we perhaps assume the widespread adoptions of technologies like 5G and autonomous vehicles are more imminent that is actually the case, while under-appreciating the value of the conveniences already delivered.

With current debates in many jurisdictions on data privacy and protection, Rob emphasizes the need to not stifle the potential application of technologies such as machine learning, as well as the criticality for various national frameworks to be interoperable. These are importance considerations, and the subject of recent and upcoming publications by both the IIF and ITIF.