Month: September 2022

Announcing the Third Policy Hackers Cohort

September 30, 2022 | Zach Graves

We’re excited to announce Lincoln Network’s third cohort of Policy Hackers: ten tech professionals from around the country who are passionate about bridging the gap between innovators and policymakers. Fellows will remain in their current roles while engaging with policy experts, lobbyists, academics, and government officials throughout the year-long program. The programming is aimed at

September 27, 2022 | Dan Lips

This piece was originally published in The Hill. National security leaders routinely warn that the United States faces growing cyber threats. Managing risks will require expertise in the public and private sector to improve security. But there are currently more than 700,000 open cybersecurity positions across the country. That includes nearly 39,000 open government jobs. Federal and

Keep Politics Out of Money

September 27, 2022 | Robert Bellafiore

This piece was originally published in City Journal. The Currency of Politics: The Political Theory of Money from Aristotle to Keynes, by Stefan Eich (Princeton University Press, 344 pp., $35) Political neutrality has come under attack in recent years. For neutrality’s critics, rules that allegedly exist to protect speech, property, or civil rights actually serve

September 22, 2022 | Richard Reisman

This piece was originally published in Tech Policy Press. Today, the futures of both democracy and the internet lie at crossroads. These futures are intertwined in complex and critical ways, with each threatened from within, and by one another. While debates over the extent of the internet’s contributions to democracy’s degradation will continue for many years

September 16, 2022 | Jonathon Hauenschild

As Congress returns from the August and Labor Day recess, competition policies may be high on the priority list, with Sen. Klobuchar reintroducing the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act and likely lobbying Sen. Chuck Schumer for a vote on her American Innovation and Choice Online Act. Before considering legislation, though, Congress should take a close

September 14, 2022 | Geoff Cain

Click here to download a PDF of the full testimony. Social Media’s Impact on Homeland Security Chairman Peters, Ranking Member Portman, and Members of the Committee: It is an honor to be invited to testify here on social media’s impact on national security. Today, I will talk about one of the greatest technological threats facing

September 13, 2022 | Jonathon Hauenschild

This piece was originally published in Newsweek. Social media platforms are having a tough time. First, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt released a trove of documents strongly suggesting the companies coordinated with the government to suppress information about COVID-19. Then, Google announced it would not list Truth Social in its Play Store due to “insufficient content moderation” practices, particularly those terms prohibiting violent

Screen Test

September 9, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in Return. For years, Americans and Europeans have been warned of the growing power and reach of Russian information warfare. From the Brexit referendum to the election of Donald Trump, there was hardly an important election Putin hadn’t hacked. Western experts had warned for years about hybrid warfare, blending disinformation, astroturfed

China Is Buying the Farm

September 9, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Wall Street Journal. Alarms went off in Washington when the Fufeng Group, a Chinese agricultural company, bought 300 acres of land and set up a milling plant last spring in Grand Forks, N.D. The plant is a 20-minute drive from an Air Force base that, according to North Dakota Sen.

September 8, 2022 | Jonathon Hauenschild

With the Federal Trade Commission’s recent effort to block the merger between Meta and fitness app developer Within, the Democratic leadership of the FTC is showing its preference for playing politics rather than protecting consumers. The Commission argues that the merger would give Meta a dominant position in the market for “dedicated VR fitness apps.”

September 8, 2022 | Lars Schönander

Click here to download a PDF version of the paper. Executive Summary The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to collect data on foreign investor ownership of American agricultural land. However, data collection has long been crippled by poor management and compliance. Decades of neglect of the AFIDA program have

You Are Already in the Metaverse

September 6, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in Unherd. The metaverse is going to change everything. And it’s already here. But what the hell is it? In 2021, it seemed that every major technology executive took a stance on the metaverse, a new concept for the internet. Mark Zuckerberg went so far as to change his company’s name