Our guest on ST is Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, a professor of internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford
May 26, 2021
Is there a workplace topic more interesting right now than the near-term future of the office? This time last year, many of us would have been willing to bet that the office had no future at all. That prognosis quickly gave way to discussions about the efficacy of plexiglass dividers and air-filtration upgrades. Then it was on to reimagining the office as collaborative space, designed to bring people together rather than spacing them six feet apart.
And now the discussion is all over the place. Where you work today (or come September, or starting in 2022) might depend on your industry, your company culture, your manager, or your situation at home. There are presumptive bellwethers, but no clear trends. And to Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, this is an excellent sign.
This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.
When a police officer recently asked the Cleveland Plain Dealer to remove his name from articles about a crime he committed years ago on the job, editor Chris Quinn wasn’t sure what to do. Ever since the Ohio newspaper began its “right to be forgotten” program in 2018, one of the first in the country, Quinn and a committee of editors have considered hundreds of petitions like this one. Eighty percent of the time, Quinn said, they grant the requests, deciding that forever preserving the story online does more harm to the subject than it provides value to the community.
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The Digital Markets Act could open the door to breaking up large tech companies. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The executive branch of the European Union released two sweeping legislative proposals on Tuesday that will have major global consequences for Big Tech introducing massive new fines and opening the door to breaking up companies.
The European Commission presented proposals for the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act on Dec. 15, laying out a regulatory framework that will require new responsibilities for digital platforms and change how they fit into the market.
The two acts must be approved by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers before they take effect.