Episoder
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Last week, I analyzed a new lawsuit brought by University of Massachusetts Amherst professor Ethan Zuckerman and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The lawsuit would loosen Big Tech’s grip over our internet experience if successful. In this conversation, I’m joined by , the creator of the tool Unfollow Everything, which is at the center of the lawsuit. Louis and I discuss:
* What it’s like to be bullied by a massive company;
* Why this lawsuit would be so consequential for consumer choice and control over our online experience;
* The tools Louis would build to democratize power online.
That’s it for this edition of Untangled.
Charley
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit untangled.substack.com/subscribe -
Hello, welcome back to the podcast edition of Untangled. If someone forward you this link, it was probably my sister. Give it a listen — she knows what she's talking about. Then, if you're so inclined, become a subscriber.
👉 Two things before we get into it. First, you can now listen to Untangled directly on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Second, if you haven't yet decided what you're going to get me for Christmas (I get it, I'm really hard to shop for), just forward this email to 10 friends and kindly ask that they smash the subscribe button. I mean, this gift isn't even affected by the supply chain — it's a Christmas miracle!
And now, on with the show.
This month I offered up some unsatisfying solutions for a big fat problem: Facebook. On Twitter, Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain called it "a brisk and thoughtful piece weighing different futures for social media." Who ever said Twitter wasn’t the absolute best? And Rose Jackson, Director of the Democracy & Tech Initiative at the Atlantic Council referenced it in her thoughtful testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee. Untangled made it to Congress, y'all.
While writing the piece, I knew I wanted to speak with Daphne Keller. Daphne directs the Program on Platform Regulation at Stanford's Cyber Policy Center, lectures at Stanford Law School, and before all of that, she was an Associate General Counsel at Google. That's deep academic, legal, and private sector expertise all in a single human!
Daphne has thought deeply about the problem of amplification and the practical challenges to implementing the solution of "middleware services.” In this conversation, we dive into both. Along the way, we also discuss:
* How the private sector and civil society misunderstand one another when it comes to platform governance.
* Why everyone seems to hate Section 230 and why regulating speech is so hard.
* Why regulating reach is ... just as hard.
Listen all the way to the end to learn the one thing Daphne would tell her teenage self about life.
If you like the podcast, please do all the things to make it go viral - share it, review it, and rate it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the second monthly series of Untangled. For next month, I’ve decided to write about something we’re all not at all tired of reading about: the metaverse! 😬
More soon,
Charley
Credits:
* Track: The Perpetual Ticking of Time — Artificial.Music [Audio Library Release]
* Music provided by Audio Library Plus
* Watch: Here
* Free Download / Stream: http://alplus.io/PerpetualTickingOfTime
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit untangled.substack.com/subscribe -
Manglende episoder?
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You came back! That warms my writerly heart. If someone forwarded you this email, definitely thank them - they just get your wonky sensibility. Then, if you’re so inclined, become a subscriber.
👉 One more thing before we get into it - if Untangled arrives in your Promotions tab, consider moving it to your Primary tab. If you do it once, our algorithmic overlords will take it from there.
And now, on with the show.
This issue of Untangled is a little different - I made a podcast, y’all 🙌. You can listen to it on Substack or wherever you get your podcasts.
As you might recall, this month I wrote about decentralization and how power operates in crypto. Then I spoke with law professor Angela Walch about one interesting albeit imperfect solution: treating software developers as fiduciaries. To round out this series, I wanted to dive deep into crypto governance. Is it adding to the concentration of power or helping to democratize and diffuse it? Are there models that actually lead to more equitable outcomes? How do the economic incentives of any crypto project constrain or shape its governance?
I'm thrilled that Nathan Schneider joined me on today's episode to discuss these questions. Nathan is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the author of many books and papers, including, most recently a paper called "Cryptoeconomics as a limitation on governance." I highly recommend it.
In our conversation, Nathan:
* Defines cryptoeconomic governance and outlines its possibilities and limitations.
* Discusses what co-ops and crypto projects have to learn from one another.
* Shares his perspective on how crypto governance can invigorate democracy.
If you like the episode, please do all the things to make it go viral - share it, review it, and rate it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the first monthly series of Untangled. Next month, I've decided to give you a series of unsatisfying solutions for a big fat problem: Facebook. Yes, yes... I can hear you laugh-crying already.
Until then 👋
Credits:
* Track: The Perpetual Ticking of Time — Artificial.Music [Audio Library Release]
* Music provided by Audio Library Plus
* Watch: Here
* Free Download / Stream: http://alplus.io/PerpetualTickingOfTime
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit untangled.substack.com/subscribe
