A coalition of Republican state lawmakers are floating legislation targeting big tech companies. The “Tech Accountability Bill” is in response to unsubstantiated claims of censorship toward conserative voices and politicians on social media platforms. The bill would, among other things, compel tech companies to publish their moderation standards and allow users to opt-out of post […]
A Field Guide to Doing Nothing
Long, long ago, in 2019, artist Jenny Odell published the book How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, “a field guide to doing nothing as an act of political resistance” and an argument for reclaiming the most valuable thing we have: our attention. It became a New York Times bestseller and even landed on […]
Big Tech and the Future of Capitalism
The power of Big Tech only seems to be growing as the pandemic has shifted work, education, and social life online. Large tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google are both being praised for providing valuable services and publicly criticized for unjust labor practices, wealth hoarding, and allowing misinformation to spread on digital platforms. Today […]
Uncovering Unsafe Working Conditions in Amazon Warehouses
The team at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting made headlines last month with their findings from a year-long investigation into unsafe working conditions at Amazon warehouses. In this episode, we talk to data reporter Melissa Lewis to get a fuller picture of Amazon’s labor practices, including the effects of robots in the fulfillment […]
Living with Big Tech
The internet is dominated by five companies: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. And it’s not just online—these giant tech companies are behind a lot of the smart devices collecting information about us every day, from Amazon Echo to robot vacuums to even “smart” toothbrushes that many consumers are bringing into their homes. Today on […]
Podcast short: A LÜMp sum
The Capital Times reported on Monday that Madison concert promoter FPC Live took part in a $750,000 funding round for LÜM, a music-streaming app developed in Madison. LÜM is currently in its second test version and heading for a public launch later this summer. An earlier test version in 2018 left us with some questions […]
