Due to Coronavirus, May Be Time to Rethink Techlash, Some Say
Three experts Wednesday lent support to revisiting the growing phenomenon of skepticism about technology. Their view has gained steam in recent weeks as technology companies and their platforms, products and services are being heavily depended upon by those staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not all are on board with their view.
Tech performance during the coronavirus might prompt rethinking whether "techlash" against the industry, partly fueled by concerns about the size of some tech companies and by privacy concerns (see 1908190021), is justified, according to participants in a TechFreedom podcast.
"We’re all in a period of rethinking tech and tech policy," Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten said on the podcast,released Wednesday. Before COVID-19, "sentiment had sort of turned very negative against tech," he added. But the crisis "is reminding us of all of the things that tech does well," the economist said. "Once this is over, I think there is going to be a resetting of lots of people’s beliefs." Podcast host and TechFreedom Director-Civil Liberties Ashkhen Kazaryan said she hopes "that after we pass through the pandemic, and hopefully with as little damage as we can, everyone can reassess" techlash. She suggested a "start from a very neutral, unbiased place again."
It "remains to be seen" if the industry can surmount techlash, but tech and broadband companies "have reminded people about all the reasons we like innovation," Wallsten emailed us, and "that those companies have been crucial to promoting innovation. That had gotten lost in the techlash debate." He said such debates "will change to focus more on inequalities that prevent everyone from benefiting." Privacy debates will be "more precise, focusing on different types of data and how the costs and benefits of data sharing and availability differ by type of data and use," he said.
TPI Senior Fellow Sarah Oh, also interviewed on the podcast, told us later that "COVID-19 has revealed the benefits of economies of scale in larger tech firms in capacity, privacy, and security." So, she emailed, "techlash against big firms seems like a secondary concern."
Companies and their tech are doing "incredible work fighting the coronavirus," emailed Kazaryan. "Hopefully it reestablishes some good faith in technology and tech companies. I’m not calling for a hall pass, I’m asking for everyone to come to the table when this is over and have an open mind and a transparent conversation about the future of technology regulation."
However, "Big Tech tales that the Coronavirus Crisis somehow will mitigate their Techlash problem," wrote Precursor President Scott Cleland, "totally miss the mark." Such a view doesn't understand "that the crisis is not good and not about tech," he wrote March 27. "They miss that to whom much is given, much is expected."
The industry's view that its benefits absolve it from regulatory and other accountability is "delusional," Cleland told us. "This is how the internet platforms view the world, that they are special." Cleland's comments, which he said were his personal views, weren't in response to what the podcast participants said specifically but to the anti-techlash view generally. He summarized this as "kind of this herd belief among the internet platforms that if they do good, they get away with anything bad." Cleland was president of ISP group Netcompetition, which he noted stopped operations Dec. 31, 2018.
Other groups with tech-industry concerns including Open Markets Institute didn't comment right away.