Welcome to the Techdirt podcast! Each week (-ish, no promises), we'll post an episode here on Techdirt, or you can subscribe via Soundcloud, RSS or iTunes. Each episode begins with an essay, followed by a discussion, covering topic areas that are less news driven and instead more about larger ideas/concepts that we think are worth discussing. Enjoy!

Techdirt Podcast Episode 232: Copying Is Not Theft

from the it-just-isn't dept

Tue, Nov 12th 2019 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

We've said it before (and even put it on a t-shirt) and we'll say it again: copying is not theft, and intellectual "property" is anything but. In September, the Niskanen Center published an excellent paper exploring this issue and explaining why IP is a misnomer — and this week we've got one of the authors of that paper, Daniel Takash, to discuss in more detail why property is simply the wrong lens for looking at copyrights and patents.

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Filed Under: copying, copyright, daniel takash, intellectual property, patents, podcast

3 Comments

Techdirt Podcast Episode 231: Working Futures, Part Two

Techdirt

from the spec-fic dept

Tue, Nov 5th 2019 1:40pm — Leigh Beadon

A few weeks ago, we sat down with some of the authors from Working Futures, our new anthology of short stories about the future of work (pick up your copy from Amazon in ebook or paperback format!) Today we're back with three new guests whose stories are featured in the collection: Andrew Dana Hudson, N. R. M. Roshak, and Randy Lubin (who helped design the scenario-planning game we used to spawn ideas for many of the stories). We hope you enjoy this second instalment in our discussion all about Working Futures and the intriguing, challenging stories therein.

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Filed Under: fiction, podcast, sci-fi, work, working futures

1 Comment

Techdirt Podcast Episode 230: Backpage v. The Feds

Legal Issues

from the worse-than-we-thought dept

Tue, Oct 22nd 2019 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

We've written a lot about Backpage ever since it replaced Craigslist as the favorite target of grandstanding prosecutors, and especially since it was used to help pass FOSTA. Now history's being rewritten to claim FOSTA took Backpage down, despite that not being the order in which things happened. The biggest issue, though, is that taking down these sites makes it harder to fight sex trafficking — and the feds know it. This week, we're joined by Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown to discuss documents she recently obtained in which federal investigators repeatedly acknowledge that Backpage helped them do their job, and wasn't run by a bunch of criminals.

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Filed Under: evidence, intermediary liability, section 230
Companies: backpage

11 Comments

Techdirt Podcast Episode 229: Pirate Shaming Lists Don't Work

from the among-many-problems dept

Tue, Oct 15th 2019 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

A couple of months ago, we were surprised when a WIPO employee showed up in our comments to defend the organization's new database of supposedly infringing sites against our many criticisms. In that post, we highlighted a Twitter thread from lawyer Rick Shera — who represented Mega — and this week, Shera joins us on the podcast to further discuss the inefficacy and negative impact of these kinds of pirate shaming lists.

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Filed Under: brip, copyright, podcast, rick shera, wipo
Companies: mega

5 Comments

Techdirt Podcast Episode 228: Working Futures

Culture

from the meet-the-authors dept

Tue, Oct 8th 2019 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

As we hope you know by now, last week we released Working Futures, an anthology of short stories about the future of work in our world of rapidly advancing technology, inspired by settings we developed with a specially-designed scenario planning exercise (pick up your copy from Amazon in ebook or paperback format!) For this week's special episode of the podcast, we've brought in three of the authors whose stories are featured in the book— Katharine Dow, Christopher Hooton, and James Yu — to talk about the process of developing future scenarios and, of course, about their stories.

Follow the Techdirt Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via iTunes or Google Play, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on Techdirt.

Filed Under: future of work, working futures

Techdirt Podcast Episode 227: Rep. Mark Takano On Tech In Congress

Politics

from the teaching-lawmakers dept

Tue, Oct 1st 2019 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

With all the misconceptions, political projects, and flat-out panics about tech in Congress these days, it sometimes feels like any positive legislative progress regarding technology is impossible. But once in a while you find a lawmaker who is out there pushing smart bills about tech, such as one that aims to help solve this whole mess by restoring and redesigning the Office of Technology Assessment to help educate Congress in the digital age. This week, we're joined by Rep. Mark Takano to discuss his plans to bring tech literacy back to Congress.

Follow the Techdirt Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via iTunes or Google Play, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on Techdirt.

Filed Under: evidence, mark takano, ota, source code

Techdirt Podcast Episode 226: The 'Facebook Supreme Court'

Predictions

from the or-whatever-you-call-it dept

Tue, Sep 24th 2019 1:40pm — Leigh Beadon

The latest big news in the ongoing discussion about social media moderation is the release of Facebook's official plans for its independent oversight board, which will review content moderation decisions in an attempt to bring some transparency and due process to the system. This week we're joined by returning guest Professor Kate Klonick, who was present as an observer at Facebook covering the entire planning process, to discuss the many interesting questions around what Facebook would probably prefer people stop calling the "Facebook Supreme Court".

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Filed Under: content moderation, facebook oversight board, kate klonick, oversight board
Companies: facebook

3 Comments

Techdirt Podcast Episode 225: Does Dynamic Pricing Deserve The Hate?

Business Models

from the market-questions dept

Tue, Sep 17th 2019 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

"Dynamic pricing" is an idea that sounds efficient and effective in economic theory, but often collapses under the weight of customer anger when put into practice. But while that is true of some of the most egregious approaches, other forms of dynamic pricing are ubiquitous and largely accepted — in part because of how the systems work, and in part because of how they present themselves to customers. This week, we're joined by Perfect Price CEO Alex Shartsis to discuss the many facets of dynamic pricing, and whether it deserves the hate it gets.

Follow the Techdirt Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via iTunes or Google Play, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on Techdirt.

Filed Under: dynamic pricing, podcast, techdirt podcast
Companies: perfect price

13 Comments

Techdirt Podcast Episode 224: Trying To Be Optimistic About The Internet

Innovation

from the and-sometimes-succeeding dept

Tue, Sep 10th 2019 1:55pm — Leigh Beadon

The future of the internet is... uncertain. We've always been optimistic about what technology and innovation can achieve, and that hasn't changed, but right now it often feels like we're facing more new challenges and more reactions to them (including dangerous ones) than ever, and pessimism about the internet seems to be at an all-time high. This week we're joined by EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn, who recently wrote an essay (pdf link) about internet pioneer John Perry Barlow and how his famous tech optimism was more complex — and more aware of challenges — than it is often portrayed, to discuss a positive future for the internet, and how we get there.

Follow the Techdirt Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via iTunes or Google Play, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on Techdirt.

Filed Under: cindy cohn, eff, internet, john perry barlow, podcast

5 Comments

Techdirt Podcast Episode 223: Bedbugs & Beyond, With David Karpf

Overhype

from the what-a-week dept

Wed, Sep 4th 2019 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

By now, you likely all know the story of David Karpf's mild "bedbugs" joke that drew the personal, professional and journalistic ire of the New York Times' Bret Stephens. As it turned out, Karpf — a professor with expertise in media and political communication — was more than capable of responding to Stephens and talking about what was happening in a variety of media outlets, with far more insight than the Pulitzer-winning columnist himself, turning what started as a very silly incident into an exploration of very serious topics. So this week, David Karpf joins us on the podcast to talk about his experience, and what we can all learn from it.

Follow the Techdirt Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via iTunes or Google Play, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on Techdirt.

Filed Under: bedbugs, bret stephens, david karpf, godwin's law, journalism, podcast, streisand effect

6 Comments

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Tuesday
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 222: Bringing Back The Internet's True Promise (0)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 221: What's Really In The FTC's Facebook Settlement, Part Two (0)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 220: What's Really In The FTC's Facebook Settlement, Part One (0)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 219: A Policy Bootcamp For Technologists (0)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 218: Don't Panic (0)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 217: Public Interest Tech, With Bruce Schneier (4)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 216: Hawley's Bill Sucks: Let Us Count The Ways... (13)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 215: Experimenting With Twitch (4)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 214: Blame Fox News Before Facebook (7)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 213: What If Congress Actually Understood Technology? (2)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 212: Breaking Facebook, With Mike Godwin And David Kaye (3)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 211: Politicians (Usually) Don't Understand Technology (4)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 210: Cory Doctorow On Anti-Circumvention (And More) (5)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 209: The Past & Future Of Section 230 (0)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 208: A Free Speech Chat With FIRE (10)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 207: MEP Julia Reda Explains What's Next With The EU Copyright Directive (2)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 206: Charter Cities & Innovative Governance (5)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 205: The Surveillance State, With Marcy Wheeler (4)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 204: The Failure Of High Tech Policing (6)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 203: Crying Wolf Over Conservative Censorship (63)
Wednesday
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 202: Delivery-Driven Government (0)
Tuesday
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 201: Can Journalism Survive A Free Market? (8)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 200: The (Big?) Business Of Podcasting (3)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 199: From Apple To The ACLU, With Jon Callas (7)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 198: Life Without The Tech Giants (12)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 197: The Grand Re-Opening Of The Public Domain (6)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 196: The CES 2019 Post-Mortem (0)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 195: The EU Endangers Free Speech Online... Again (4)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 193: Can Anyone Disrupt The Disruptors? (1)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 192: Section 230 And Political Bias (5)

Techdirt Podcast Episode 232: Copying Is Not Theft

from the it-just-isn't dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 231: Working Futures, Part Two

from the spec-fic dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 230: Backpage v. The Feds

from the worse-than-we-thought dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 229: Pirate Shaming Lists Don't Work

from the among-many-problems dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 228: Working Futures

from the meet-the-authors dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 227: Rep. Mark Takano On Tech In Congress

from the teaching-lawmakers dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 226: The 'Facebook Supreme Court'

from the or-whatever-you-call-it dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 225: Does Dynamic Pricing Deserve The Hate?

from the market-questions dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 224: Trying To Be Optimistic About The Internet

from the and-sometimes-succeeding dept

Techdirt Podcast Episode 223: Bedbugs & Beyond, With David Karpf

from the what-a-week dept

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