Gigi Sohn

About

Gigi Sohn is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow & Public Advocate. She is the host of the "Tech on the Rocks Podcast." Gigi sits on the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Gigi is one of the nation’s leading public advocates for open, affordable and democratic communications networks. For thirty years, Gigi has worked across the country to defend and preserve the fundamental competition and innovation policies that have made broadband Internet access more ubiquitous, competitive, affordable, open and protective of user privacy. Most recently,…

Media

Bloomberg TV: Biden’s Relationship with Big Tech Will Be Different This Time Around

Silicon Valley won't so easily regain the favored status it held when president-elect Joe Biden last spent time in the White House. Gigi Sohn, distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and former counselor to the chairman of the FCC, speaks with Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde,…

Posted on November 10, 2020November 13, 2020 by Kip Roderick

News

Los Angeles Times: As the TRump era comes to an end, what happens to Big Tech?

In the days before the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, President Trump was on Twitter — doing battle with Twitter. As the incumbent tweeted through the slow vote-tallying process that would ultimately end in his loss, Twitter had covered much of Trump’s timeline with warning labels cautioning that…

Posted on November 8, 2020November 13, 2020 by Kip Roderick

Writing

PROMARKET: The Trump FCC Can’t and Shouldn’t Be the Internet Speech Police

The debate over whether Section 230 needs to be updated is an important one. But the proper venue for that debate is in Congress. Not only does the FCC lack the legal authority to regulate internet platforms, doing so would be at odds with the precedent it set when repealing…

Posted on November 5, 2020November 5, 2020 by Gigi Sohn

News

Daily Dot: Either way, 2020 could end the net neutrality fight forever

Shortly after Donald Trump was elected president, then-Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member Ajit Pai took aim at dismantling net neutrality rules—setting in motion a battle that would run throughout the next three-and-a-half years. That’s not to say that Pai waved a wand and killed off net neutrality. Since the controversial repeal, there have been court battles, legal decisions, activism, and attempts…

Posted on November 3, 2020November 4, 2020 by Kip Roderick

News

Wired: The Tech Antitrust Problem No One is Talking About

Americans pay more for broadband internet service and have fewer choices than consumers in other countries. After years of building political pressure for antitrust scrutiny of major tech companies, this month Congress and the US government delivered. The House Antitrust Subcommittee released a report accusing Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook of monopolistic…

Posted on October 29, 2020November 2, 2020 by Kip Roderick

Media

Tech on the Rocks: Rage Against the Machines: Is our Election Technology Safe and Secure? (Part 2)

With the most consequential election in a generation just days away, we continue to ask ourselves: are state and local governments ready for this? With recent cyber intrusions from adversaries such as Russia and Iran, a historic surge in early voting, and fears about post-election disinformation on social media, there’s…

Posted on October 28, 2020November 2, 2020 by Kip Roderick

Media

Trump FCC again puts industry interests over those of public safety, low-income Americans

This morning the FCC majority will approve an order that purports to address the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's remand in Mozilla v. FCC. The court ordered the FCC to address the impact of its Restoring Internet Freedom Order and specifically the Order’s reclassification of broadband Internet access service as an…

Posted on October 27, 2020October 27, 2020 by Gigi Sohn

Media

Tech on the Rocks: Rage Against the Machines: Is our Election Technology Safe and Secure? (Part 1)

The 2020 election is less than two weeks away. One of the biggest questions that remain unanswered is whether or not our U.S. election infrastructure is prepared for any potential cyberattacks from hackers, both foreign and domestic. In part 1 of our two-part episode: Rage Against the Machines: Is our…

Posted on October 20, 2020October 21, 2020 by Kip Roderick

News

Bloomberg: Trump Foes Fume Over FCC’s Efforts to Rein in Twitter

A U.S. Federal Communications Commission decision to review a liability shield for Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. fulfills the wishes of President Donald Trump and his conservative allies, yet has prompted questions about the agency’s authority and political motivations. With less than three weeks before the American election, the FCC’s…

Posted on October 16, 2020October 19, 2020 by Kip Roderick

News

Vox Recode: What the FCC can and can’t do to Section 230

The Trump administration is once again trying to force social media platforms to do its bidding. This time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been tapped to use a law called Section 230 to prevent websites from moderating content in a way that many conservatives believe is biased against them. Despite the…