Dr. Alisa Valentin: The Unifying Power of Social Justice (Ep. 178)
Dr. Alisa Valentin: The Unifying Power of Social Justice (Ep. 178)
Alisa Valentin of Public Knowledge joined Joe Miller to discuss her approach to building a constructive dialogue at the intersection of tech and social justice.
Bio
Alisa Valentin (@alisavalentin) is the Communications Justice Fellow at Public Knowledge where she works on various policy issues through a social justice lens, including digital inclusion, artificial intelligence, privacy, and intellectual property.
Prior to joining Public Knowledge, Alisa completed her Ph.D. at Howard University. Her dissertation research focused on grassroots advocacy for digital inclusion in Philadelphia. Alisa has also published research on media ownership and diversity and presented at several national and international communications conferences. During her doctoral program, she served as a legal intern for Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at the Federal Communications Commission and a legislative fellow for Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke in the United States House of Representatives.
In addition to her work at Public Knowledge, Alisa serves as an adjunct professor at DC area colleges and universities where she teaches communications and women’s studies courses.
Resources
#TechPolicySoWhite by Alisa Valentin (Public Knowledge, 2019)
News Roundup
Facebook failed to block 20% of New Zealand shooter videos
Facebook failed to block some 20% of videos showing the shooting in New Zealand, including videos that praised the shooting. That’s some 300,000 videos. The company reports though that it did manage to take down some 1.2 million videos related to a white supremacist’s massacre of 50 worshippers at 2 mosques in Christchurch.
Arlington approves Amazon incentives
Arlington County, Virginia has approved $23 million in incentives for Amazon to put its second headquarters in Crystal City. Protestors attended an Arlington County board meeting to oppose the vote saying the county should focus on affordable housing before Amazon. Opponents are also concerned about traffic congestion and school overcrowding.
The Arlington chapter of the NAACP also opposed certain aspects of the incentive package. But the County board unanimously approved the incentives with a 5-0 vote. So again—just like in Queens—very superficial engagement by Amazon to reach out to the local community or even include them in negotiations. It’s just extremely poor stakeholder engagement – and they do it because they can.
Facebook reinstates Warren ads calling for tech breakup
Facebook has reinstated Senator Elizabeth Warren’s ads calling for a breakup of the social media giant along with Google and Amazon. A company spokesman says it removed the ads because they violated a policy regarding the use of Facebook’s logo … even though the whole point of that type of policy is obviously to prevent ads going up that criticize the company.
Apple defends is app store policies against Spotify
Finally, Apple is defending its app store policies against Spotify after Spotify filed a complaint against Apple in Europe for allegedly engaging in anticompetitive behavior by setting its cost to carry the Spotify app in the app store too high. Apple currently charges 30% for anything sold in the app store. Apple says Spotify is simply seeking to avoid paying the same fee everyone else pays.
Events
Federal Trade Commission
Hearing on Competition and Consumer Protection in U.S. broadband markets
Constitution Center
400 7th St. NW
9AM-5:45pm
Wed., 3/20
Public Knowledge/Georgetown/Goodfriend Group
Algorithmic Exclusion and Data Deserts
Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., NW
3:30-5:30PM
Monday, 10/25
https://www.georgetowntech.org/datadeserts
Founded in September 2015, the WashingTECH Tech Policy Podcast is the oldest, consistently-updated, Washington, D.C.-based podcast focused on the top tech law and policy debates driving the tech and communications sectors.