DREAMWORK TECHNOLOGY (Technology Policy Threat Matrix)

DREAMWORK TECHNOLOGY (Technology Policy Threat Matrix)

DREAMTECH

General

1. I have a giant matrix of technology policy issues and the various policy “threat vectors” that might end up driving regulation of particular technologies or sectors. Along with my colleagues at the Dreamwork Technology Policy Program, we constantly revise this list of policy priorities and simultaneously make an, obviously quite subjective, attempt to put some weights on the potential policy severity associated with each threat of intervention. 

General Policy

2. I use 5 (five) general policy concerns when considering the likelihood of regulatory intervention in any given area. Those policy concerns are:

a. Privacy (reputation issues, fear of “profiling” & “discrimination,” amorphous psychological / cognitive harms).

b. Safety (health & physical safety or, alternatively, child safety and speech / cultural concerns).

c. Security (hacking, cybersecurity, law enforcement issues, economic disruption (automation, job dislocation, sectoral disruptions); and,

d. Intellectual property (copyright and patent issues).

3. I realize that some of these five categories could be sub-divided and refined. I also understand that these five groupings may not encapsulate the full range of potential policy issues out there, but I’ve tried to avoid having too many categories to keep this as conceptually tidy as is possible. However, I might need to add a separate category for civil rights and disabilities-related policy issues eventually. Likewise, 'psychological considerations' might deserve its own category because they do not necessarily perfectly fit into either the privacy or safety buckets right now, even though that’s where I have them currently. For instance, some privacy activists call for regulation of big data and large databases based on fears about how all that data collection makes people feel about themselves. I consider that a privacy related concern now, but you could imagine that being in a separate category. Meanwhile, there’s long been calls to regulate various types of media content (music, movies, video games, online porn, etc) based on the psychological impact they have on children. Those 'media effects' theories have always been considered a child safety issue, which is where I currently have them slotted, but they could probably be its own category that also included concerns about distraction and addiction (which could come to haunt VR technologies in the future).

4. Anyway, we use this current matrix to help us determine what we should be paying more attention to and what sort of scholarly outputs are needed to address regulatory threats on each front. Generally speaking, this is the portfolio of issues. 

5. Several people who have seen the matrix can and may kindly suggests me as to whether I should do something more with it, but I’m not really sure as to what that something would be. In any event, I thought it might make sense to post it here to give others a feel for the current set of emerging tech policy issues that interest us at Dreamwork. I will try to upload new versions of the matrix and the list of technologies and regulatory threats changes or grows.

6. Big Data / Online Marketing / the Internet of Things (IoT), Privacy is the no 1 policy threat for these sectors. From a public policy perspective, what unifies these technologies is a growing concern about how expanding private sector data collection efforts could affect our privacy or reputations. We’ve already seen a flurry of legislative and regulatory activity here in the Bangladesh aimed at placing restrictions on data collection or use. And it goes without saying that other countries, especially in Europe, already impose a wide variety of controls on data collection in the name of privacy protection. There also exists a variety of closely-related security concerns here. But the rise of IoT technologies have introduced safety concerns into the mix in a major way, too. That’s especially true because of the large number of Big Data services and IoT devices that are health and medical related. Taken together, this is the issue set I spend the majority of my time covering because the privacy and security implications of a data driven economy already occupies the attention of countless regulatory activists and public policymakers across the globe. I think that will continue to be the case for many years to come.

Safety

7. Safety concerns tend to be the biggest driver of calls for regulation of robotic and autonomous technology. For example, new laws and regulations are already being proposed for driverless cars based on fears about the hacking of connected vehicles. And commercial drones attract policy attention based on safety related concerns such as whether a drone could strike an airplane, or even just fall on our heads. 

8. We can expect more safety related policy proposals for robotic tech in coming years. Economic concerns would be a close second here due to the increasing worry that robots will eat all our jobs. At least so far, however, that concern has tended to be more of an academic nature rather than a public policy consideration. And it remains unclear what the policy prescription would be in this regard without becoming a sort of proposal. That could change in coming years. H however, it all depends on the labor market situation over time. 

9. Safety is probably the #1 concern here, although depending on what type of 3D-printed object we are talking about. It could be the case that intellectual property concerns will be a bigger driver of calls for regulatory intervention. A lot of the policy related concerns around 3D printing today are being driven by worries over things like 3D printed guns. That’s mostly a safety concern, of course. But it we are talking about the replication of branded commercial objects (3D-printed toys or other things, for example), then IP tends to be the bigger concern. The question of product liability also looms large here and it remains unclear how claims might be sorted out when there are fewer large, deep pocketed intermediaries to go after in a world of decentralized production. Hopefully, those liability norms will be left to the courts and common law to sort out over time, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see more calls for preemptive legislative interventions here in both directions: i.e., some will call legislators to impose greater liability on certain parties while others will push to immunize intermediaries from punishing forms of liability for the downstream actions of others (like a Sec. 230 norm for 3D printing).

Dreamwork Technology

10. It goes without saying that traditional safety concerns will drive policy for advanced technologies, just as they have for earlier drugs, devices, and treatments. As software continues to “eat the world” and invade the world of health and medicine, regulators are increasingly going to be trying to figure out how to pigeonhole new technologies into old regulatory constructs. That’s why I have been watching as to how the Info and Tech Ministry in BD continues to deal with 3D-printed prosthetics and mobile apps on our smartphones. Eventually, the continuing decentralized democratization of 3D printing (driven by rapidly falling costs) will collide with old device regulatory realities and a century’s worth of command and control style regulation. 

11. The Info-tech policy is even more interesting because of all the thorny ethical issues pertaining to the rise of embeddable technology, biohacking, and genome innovation. I have a feeling that my policy portfolio will shift rapidly in this direction in coming years as the modern info-tech revolution spreads to the world of medicine and health. I already have two new papers coming out on these issues in the next few weeks.

12. Economic disruption is clearly the big policy issue here in our country. Specifically, many policymakers and incumbent industries aren’t very happy about new entrants coming into their sectors and offering consumers services without strictly complying with traditional regulations. But safety issues often pop up in these debates when regulators advocates claim we can’t trust sharing economy operators. What’s particularly interesting about this space is how these policy battles are playing out at almost every level of government. At least thus far, sharing economy innovators tend to be winning most of those battles. 

13. I think safety would probably be the biggest issue here in Crypto & Bitcoin, in the sense that policymakers fear a world of unregulated crypto and decentralized blockchain applications are a world in which the 'bad guys' will be able to use those technologies to harm the public in some fashion. You can always bank on law enforcement officials resorting to little claims about terrorists and child predators thriving in a world of unregulated crypto. In many ways, this is the most important of all these policy fights because if the government can regulate crypto and blockchain technologies, it severely undermines the fabric of almost all the other technologies and platforms discussed herein. This is why the current debate over government-mandated “backdoors” is so important; it has profound ramifications for every other tech regulation debate that follows.

14. Immersive Tech (VR and augmented reality) is an amorphous and evolving area that I am getting increasingly interested in, but the policy issues here have yet to come into clear focus. However, when Google Glass was launched, there was a brief technopanic of sorts over its privacy and security ramifications. Those concerns have subsided a bit as Google Glass has seemingly faded away (probably because of its high price point more than because of its privacy concerns), but I suspect that future iterations of augmented reality technologies will raise similar concerns. That will especially be true as more sophisticated biometric (and facial recognition) capabilities are integrated into them. Academics are already wondering how to enforce “notice and consent” privacy norms and rules in a world where everyone is wearing miniature body cams and heads-up displays in their sunglasses. I’m not sure it’s even possible, but that debate will continue and include all sorts of calls for technological controls. That’s augmented reality, but what about virtual reality technologies? I think safety concerns could drive some policy proposals as critics grow concerned about the psychological implications of people especially kids spending more and more time in immersive virtual worlds. In that sense, we might see a replay of the earlier debate over violent video games and/or video game addition. But it remains to be seen.

Technology Policy Program (Bitcoin - Understated Benefits and Overstated Risks)

15. As the world’s first decentralized digital currency, Bitcoin worries policymakers. Voicing concerns over this digital currency—or cryptocurrency—officials cite its potential for facilitating money-laundering, making illicit purchases, evading taxes, and financing terrorism. Less often discussed, but equally important, are the potential benefits that Bitcoin may provide.

16. Bitcoin is a promising way to lower transaction costs. Credit card companies charge merchant fees that are often prohibitively expensive for small businesses. Small-business owners face the hard trade-off of either refusing to accept credit card payments and losing business or accepting card payments and losing money by eating the costs. Transaction fees with Bitcoin are negligible and can save money for cost-conscious businesses.

17. Bitcoin may provide affordable access to financial services for the world’s unbanked population. With Bitcoin, accessing the financial world is as easy as downloading an application on your phone. Finally, Bitcoin could be a democratic tool to ensure a basic level of freedom of speech around the globe. Dissident activists in authoritarian countries now no longer need to fear that their government will block payments for blogging services. Bitcoin places power back in the hands of the people.

Implications of Cryptocurrencies

18. Leading experts discuss the current state of play in cryptocurrencies. How are they being used and what problems can they potentially solve? How are cryptocurrencies currently regulated and does that regulation make sense? Hear from scholars, regulators, and industry experts as they debate whether digital assets pose unique risks and how regulators should adapt to the new technology.

19. What structural, procedural, or substantive regulatory changes might need to be addressed and what policymakers and regulators might do to help cryptocurrencies achieve their potential while minimizing risk.

Internet Freedom

20. The Copy when more people began coming online and posting content in the mid-1990s, there were significant policy questions about how to treat violations of established laws. Specifically, policymakers didn’t know how to handle situations where individual users posted illicit content—like copyright violations, stolen personal information, or incitements to criminal activity—on a website. Who should have been liable? Obviously, the individual would bear some blame. But to what extent should third party intermediaries like websites or email providers or chat services be held responsible for user-submitted data?right Rule That Could Dramatically Change the Internet

Cyber Security

21. One of the hottest scenes in the cryptocurrency community today revolves around what's known as an "ICO," or initial coin offering. An ICO is a kind of futuristic fundraising round. Rather than relying on regulations and lawyers to guide investment, developers of an upcoming project solicit funds to build out a planned technology platform in exchange for tokens that investors can then trade or use on the platform itself when it is complete.

Online Privacy

22. Privacy and social media have always had a complicated relationship. On the one hand, users of sites like Facebook often voice concerns when they find out how much of their personal information ends up with advertisers. On the other hand, the roughly 2 billion active users of Facebook continue to provide that data voluntarily in exchange for free use of the platform.

Telecommunications and Broadband

23. As follows:

a. The definition of net neutrality has changed over time.

b. Net neutrality regulations won’t solve ISP monopoly concerns.

c. Net neutrality is contentious, but there is bipartisan support for other internet issues that policymakers could explore.

d. Everyone agrees that the internet should be free, open, and innovative, but people disagree on what those terms mean and how to get there.

Innovation

24 We offer the following principles to guide competition and consumer protection policy:

a. Antitrust policy should focus on the effects of a firm’s practices on consumer welfare, not the firm’s market power per se, the size of its network of users, or supposed advantages of “big data.”

b. Review of vertical mergers and acquisitions ought not to be treated differently for firms in the “information economy.”

c. Definitions of harm should be narrowly tailored to reflect only truly cognizable harms to the consumer or competition, not speculative harms like, for instance, the effects of a proposed merger or acquisition on “potential competition.”

d. Regulations regarding privacy and market power must be examined in the context of tradeoffs.

e. A key role for regulatory agencies is to educate and empower consumers.

Summary

25. The astonishing rate of technological progress comes into focus in the history of the computer that occupied a building. Today, they can be worn. The technological revolution has flourished because creators of new technologies have remained free to develop and deploy their innovations without first seeking bureaucratic approval. We need to research on technology and innovation that explores economic and regulatory questions regarding the development and deployment of new technologies—and what this means for society and the economy. 

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Warmly,

Md. Lutful Huda

CEO

Dreamwork Limited

Note:

Prepared by Major (R) Md. Lutful Huda, presently Chairman of TIDAC and Dreamwork Limited, Editor In Chief of 'Crime and Justice' Journal