---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Civic Hall <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 8:41 PM Subject: Civicist's First Post: Think Tanks To: Michel <[email protected]> August 31, 2017 <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=a90f4bdf43&e=222dfb6267> [image: First Post] <http://civichall.us9.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=d85ac307aa&e=222dfb6267> *Micah L. Sifry* *Think Tanks* - *Schmidt Hits the Fan: Ken Vogel*'s story <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=50a5570dbe&e=222dfb6267> in The New York Times (which broke yesterday but is on today's print front page) about the New America Foundation's decision to push out scholar *Barry Lynn* and his Open Markets initiative, allegedly due to pressure from major New America donor Google and its chairman *Eric Schmidt*, who chairs the think tank's board, has generated a lot of coverage. - Here is New America CEO *Anne-Marie Slaughter*'s statement <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=eb590c8622&e=222dfb6267> on the controversy. She insists that the parting was not due to pressure from Google, but rather "[Lynn's] repeated refusal to adhere to New America's standards of openness and institutional collegiality," and that until recently they were working together to try to reach an amicable separation. - In addition, New America has released the full text <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=e2998f2c52&e=222dfb6267> of three emails from Slaughter to Lynn that were quoted only in part in Vogel's story. The emails make clear that their relationship was complicated. They also make clear that Open Markets, which in recent years has developed a very strong critique of platform monopolies like Google, had become a troublesome component of New America, and that given New America's strong relationship with Google sooner or later something was going to give. - Keep in mind that the flashpoint for the controversy was a congratulatory note <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=376dbf6ff0&e=222dfb6267> that Lynn posted on New America's website this past June, congratulating European Commission regulators for imposing a $2.7 billion fine on Google. That's billion. - *Matt Stoller*, one of the fellows at Lynn's Open Markets program, flatly states <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=7912b58082&e=222dfb6267> in the Huffington Post that "Google had our group kicked out of our parent think tank." - An unnamed Google spokesperson told <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=77ae18cb86&e=222dfb6267> *Sam Biddle and David Dayen* of The Intercept that “Eric [Schmidt] never threatened to cut off funding to New America and that we had no role in eliminating the Open Markets Initiative.” The spokesperson added that she would not deny Schmidt’s “displeasure” with the Open Markets team, “but displeasure and pressure are two totally different things — he did not imply pressure on NAF re: Open Markets. To characterize it that way would be totally inaccurate.” - In the Atlantic, *Alexis Madrigal* says <http://civichall.us9.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=849f597f74&e=222dfb6267> Slaughter's statement about Lynn's repeated refusal to adhere to New America's standards "is how educated people say 'He was an asshole.'" He also notes, cogently, "The scale of Silicon Valley money and Washington money are so different that the introduction of the former into the latter is almost comical. You’ve got companies amassing tens of billions of dollars in cash with mechanics that are linked to particular regulatory and tax regimes. And those regimes are held up by people who measure donations in the tens or hundreds of thousands." - Writing for the Monkey Cage in the Washington Post, *Henry Farrell* puts the controversy <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=acead55927&e=222dfb6267> in the context of "The Ideas Industry <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=7e460c602b&e=222dfb6267>," Daniel Drezner's new book, which argues that "the key sources of policy ideas are increasingly beholden to big funders, who very often have their own financial interests." Separating the controversy from the particular individuals involved, he notes, "Participating in the production of ideas requires resources, which may shape or even compromise the ideas that one wants to spread. Getting the resources while retaining the necessary independence to keep the ideas credible is hard." (I'd add—if you do have to dance with big donors, try to not be overly dependent on any single giver.) - As Farrell notes, "A recent paper by *Lina Khan*, who works with Open Markets, has electrified discussions over U.S. anti-trust policy and whether it is capable of restraining actors such as online retail giant Amazon." On Twitter, Khan says <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=d7905427f4&e=222dfb6267> she is "sad for what New America's decision to expel Open Markets means for New America [and that] New America's decision is proof of concept of our work." - The Khan paper, "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=8992967c78&e=222dfb6267>", is really good, by the way. - Here is the new Citizens Against Monopoly <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=9d0da58030&e=222dfb6267> website, the temporary new home of the Open Markets program. Joining Lynn, Kahn and Stoller is *Zephyr Teachout*. Impressive how quickly they got that site up. Methinks that far from being suppressed, the crew at Citizens Against Monopoly has used their fight with New America and Google like a perfect ju-jitsu artist. - *Jonathan Taplin*, the author of the book “*Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy*," points out <http://civichall.us9.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=ae2ad494bf&e=222dfb6267> in The New York Times that Congress will soon be taking up privacy legislation and possible modifications to the "safe harbor" provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, both topics that Google and other tech platforms have intense interests in. - *Trump watch*: A new Fox News polls finds <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=6e1bf33425&e=222dfb6267> that 56% of Americans believe the president is "tearing the country apart." Just 33% say he is "drawing the country together." - Back in 1984, President *Ronald Reagan* told <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=2631638219&e=222dfb6267> Israeli Prime Minister *Yitzhak Shamir *that he had shot footage of Nazi concentration camps as they were liberated when in fact he spent World War II working in Culver City making movies for the armed forces and had processed some footage of camps being liberated. Now President Trump tweets <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=3fe36394de&e=222dfb6267> after visiting Houston that he saw the "horror and devastation" of Hurricane Harvey first hand (though he never met any actual victims) and his press secretary explains <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=e875b23d6c&e=222dfb6267> that this is because he talked to state and local officials who are handling the disaster. - *The scariest thing you will read today*: New York Times columnist *Charles Blow* writes <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=73ef25a0bb&e=222dfb6267> that Trump is "raising an army." - Life in Facebookistan: You can't block CEO Mark Zuckerberg from your timeline, "even if he were harassing you," tweets <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=7b27deba7d&e=222dfb6267> the EFF's Jillian York. "The gods sit on their pedestals," she adds. - *This is civic tech: Angela Shah* reports <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=5c6e54f80f&e=222dfb6267> for Xconomy on how Houston's civic tech organizations and hackers are banding together, using Slack and building resources to help people find shelters and supplies. - Writing for Bloomberg View, data scientist *Cathy O'Neill* updates us <http://civichall.us9.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=ddea057d11&e=222dfb6267> on efforts by researchers to test algorithms for bias. - *Attend*: Thursday, September 7, in Washington, we'll be celebrating the launch of a new book edited by Tiago Peixoto and yours truly, titled "*Civic Tech in the Global South: Assessing Technology for the Public Good.*" Published as a partnership between Personal Democracy Media and the World Bank, the book offers a broad inventory on the state of civic tech outside the industrialized West, with a focus on case studies in Brazil, Uganda and Kenya. For more details and to RSVP, click here <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=16b87133ad&e=222dfb6267> . - *Apply*: The New Democratic Institute is looking to hire <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=c7398ae18f&e=222dfb6267> a senior partnerships manager, based in Silicon Valley. - *Your moment of zen*: Sad piano in Houston <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=0da90d3e1b&e=222dfb6267> . <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=74d6452e59&e=222dfb6267> <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=daeffabe24&e=222dfb6267> [image: Forward to a Friend] <http://us9.forward-to-friend1.com/forward?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=48ffe3eb7e&e=222dfb6267> ------------------------------ [image: Civic Hall] <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=4ba94cb013&e=222dfb6267> <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=59c500649a&e=222dfb6267> *Copyright © 2017 Civic Hall, All rights reserved.* 118 West 22nd Street, 12th Fl, New York, NY unsubscribe <http://civichall.us9.list-manage1.com/unsubscribe?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=9c16fc5171&e=222dfb6267&c=48ffe3eb7e> update subscription <http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/profile?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=9c16fc5171&e=222dfb6267> You are receiving this email because you've subscribed to First Post -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens