Open Technology Initiative

This is the premier episode of The Sidebar, the weekly podcast from the New America Foundation that looks at what's in and what's underlying the news. This week, host Pamela Chan talks with Tamar Jacoby, Katherine Zoepf and Dan Meredith about Syria, privacy and immigration.

Entrepreneurs, businesses, NGOs, and governments exalt mobile technology as a game-changing tool to fight global poverty. But what if our eagerness to connect the world is inadvertently exacerbating the global economic divide?

How does social media change how statecraft is practiced in the 21st century? Who’s participating and why? What have been some lessons learned from the pioneers who have logged on to listen and engage? Join us for this Social Media Week event as three representatives from the U.S. Department of State will share case studies and professional experiences gleaned directly from the virtual trenches. Alexander Howard, Government 2.0 Washington Correspondent for O'Reilly Media, will moderate.

The Open Technology Initiative at New America Foundation (OTI) seeks a research associate to support the research and advocacy work of the program’s policy team. OTI formulates policy and regulatory reforms to support open architectures and open source innovations. Its policy work also promotes affordable, universal, and ubiquitous communications networks through partnerships with communities, researchers, industry, and public interest groups.

 

...James Losey of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, thinks we have to look further back to “the battle over piano rolls, radio, the VCR, cable, MP3 players, TIVO…” to understand what’s going on. “Media industries need to innovate, not seek to control the Internet.”

 

Guided by an army of "geeks with a conscience," a network of digital activists, working mostly in the shadows, is emerging to challenge the restrictions of repressive governments around the world. Sascha Meinrath is part of that army.

Original article

James Losey discusses today's Internet blackout to protest the PROTECT IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act.

We begin with an update on SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act that Wikipedia is protesting by going dark tonight at midnight for 24 hours. James Losey, a policy analyst with the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative joins us to discuss the dire implications to Internet freedom if this bill passes.

Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative, once told Al Jazeera that it is "quite feasible" to access a mobile operating centre remotely, thus able to install backdoors, install software to monitor or ...