[P2P-F] pressure from major New America donor Google and its chairman Eric Schmidt ; Fwd: Civicist's First Post: Think Tanks

Fri Sep 1 07:11:05 CEST 2017

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Civic Hall <info at civichall.org>
Date: Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 8:41 PM
Subject: Civicist's First Post: Think Tanks
To: Michel <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>

August 31, 2017
<http://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=a90f4bdf43&e=222dfb6267>
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*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>
   .

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