Month: November 2022

Bipartisan Recommendations to Reform the House Rules

November 29, 2022 | Zach Graves

Click here to download the full report in PDF format. Introduction At the beginning of each Congress, lawmakers in the majority have the opportunity to set priorities and implement operational and institutional reforms through the House rules package. This report is the result of many conversations with congressional experts on what we believe are ideas that can

November 29, 2022 | Evan Swarztrauber

This piece was originally published in Multichannel News. Ever since the Titanic sank, the U.S. government has regulated the airwaves within its borders. After the Titanic’s distress signal was drowned out by amateur radio operators, Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912, putting an end to the era of a “cacophony of competing voices, none of

November 29, 2022 | Dan Lips

This piece was originally published in the Federalist Society blog. In the recent election, Americans elected a narrowly divided Congress. That means that lawmakers will need to work together on bipartisan legislation if they want to address the nation’s challenges. With the highest inflation in 40 years and ballooning federal debt payments, lawmakers have a responsibility

November 21, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published in American Affairs. Once a technology star, Zhao Weiguo rose fast and fell hard. For the last eight years, Zhao’s semiconductor manufacturer, the Tsinghua Unigroup, had fanfare, ambition, large-scale state backing, and an affiliation with China’s most prestigious institution of higher learning, Tsinghua University. All this made Zhao the face and

November 21, 2022 | Luke Hogg

This piece was originally published in Cointelegraph. On Nov. 11, while the rest of the country was celebrating Veteran’s Day, Sam Bankman-Fried announced that FTX — one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume — had filed for bankruptcy. Lawmakers and pundits quickly latched onto the rapid disintegration of FTX to call for more regulation

November 18, 2022 | Geoff Cain

Click here to download a PDF of the letter. We write as U.S. foreign policy and national security professionals concerned about countering the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s malign influence to support the inclusion of the Establishing New Authorities for Businesses Laundering and Enabling Risks to Security (ENABLERS) Act in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal

November 17, 2022 | Luke Hogg

This paper was originally published in the CPI TechREG Chronicle. The concentration of the Internet economy behind the walled gardens of a select few companies has led policymakers across the political spectrum to call for congressional action. However, most legislation proposed thus far takes an overly punitive approach to Big Tech that is unlikely to create

November 16, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published in The Free Press. The midterm elections of 2022 were many things—a shocker for Republicans, the possible end of Donald Trump, a win for centrist Democrats. Overlooked is the fact that they were also a big turning point for TikTok, the Chinese social-media platform. TikTok is not only the most trafficked

November 16, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published in the Wall Street Journal. On Feb. 22, 2019, a man calling himself Matthew Chao knocked on the door of the North Korean embassy in Madrid, with a gift for the embassy’s highest-ranking official. The North Korean worker who answered the door escorted the visitor inside and went to fetch

November 15, 2022 | Zach Graves

Click here to download the full report in PDF format. About the report The start of a new Congress can be a significant opportunity for operational reform and modernization. This is particularly true for the House of Representatives, which come January will elect its Speaker and officers, and adopt new rules and protocols. This gives members, and intra-party

The Unmasking of Manipulative AI

November 10, 2022 | Deepesh Chaudhari

The potential for automated influence operations, in which AI systems are designed to manipulate humans, is real and deserves our attention. As AI systems proliferate in creating media and interactive experiences, the opportunities for manipulative persuasion and harmful social consequences will increase. In particular, machine learning (ML) progress in text and video generation could dramatically

The Future of Twitter is Open, or Bust

November 7, 2022 | Richard Reisman

This piece was originally published in Tech Policy Press. Elon Musk owns Twitter. Or rather, whatever is left of it after today’s massive layoffs. It’s hard to see any future for the company at this point, particularly as its twin challenges of content moderation and revenue sustainability are deeply intertwined. As a business, Twitter is facing substantial financial obstacles,

November 4, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in UnHerd. Elon Musk has promised that Twitter’s lords and peasants system (i.e. verification) will be coming to an end. The new CEO said that verified “bluecheck” users would now be subject to a monthly fee of $8. Discussion of the proposal exploded with (broadly) media-adjacent people saying that the changes would effectively destroy Twitter and (broadly)