The Google Public Policy Fellowship connects students passionate about the internet & tech w/ public interest orgs at the forefront of the biggest tech policy debates—including OTI!

Want to spend this summer with the OTI team? Apply by 12 PM ET on Thursday, April 9!

https://bit.ly/41PDMG0

Don’t miss @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social’s piece for @techpolicypress.bsky.social unpacking how the new #AI legislative framework from the White House approaches AI harms.

Trump’s AI Policy Framework Leaves Most Vulnerable Exposed The framework appears to suggest certain harms are an acceptable cost, writes Sydney Saubestre from New America’s Open Technology Institute.

The national #AI policy framework seems to suggest some harms are an acceptable cost, writes OTI's @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social for @techpolicypress.bsky.social. That is a choice—a choice on whose reality gets treated as a policy problem & whose gets treated as an externality. https://bit.ly/40THRJf

POLITICO Policy Outlook: Powering 6G The next generation of mobile communications technology — commonly known as 6G — promises to unlock a bold new digital future. From autonomous systems to robotics to artificial intelligence, technolog...

#ICYMI: @michaelcalabrese.bsky.social, director of @newamerica.org's Wireless Future program, joined @vivekchil.bsky.social & @lindsaygorman.bsky.social for @politico.com's panel "The Geopolitics of 6G." www.politico.com/events/2026/...

Why Weakening Encryption Hurts Women and Gender Minorities Encryption is sometimes called “privacy’s best friend,” yet some policymakers are undermining it under the guise of preventing misogynistic violence.

As government surveillance mechanisms increase, we are reminded why encryption needs to be protected.

For women and gender minorities, encryption offers a crucial layer of safety.
https://bit.ly/4c1cQd5

Protect Data to Preserve Public Trust: Know Your State’s Rights New resources to help state data holders and users navigate federal pressure and mounting requests.

@newamerica.org's OTI has created new resources to help state #data holders & users navigate federal pressure & mounting requests. www.newamerica.org/oti/blog/protect-data-to...

Rounding out our posts for #DataPrivacyWeek, we're excited to share the zine OTI worked on with @nirhealth.bsky.social! Check out OTI's blog that further breaks down #privacy practices illustrated in the zine. www.newamerica.org/oti/blog/top...

When governments collect, share & use our data, they must do so while prioritizing our #privacy & the truth. Read some of OTI's publications from last year to learn more.

➡️ https://bit.ly/4bj5EZu
➡️ https://bit.ly/3NFFaHN
➡️ https://bit.ly/4bfk4K9

#DataPrivacyWeek

Sen. Markey, Rep. Lee Reintroduce Legislation to Mandate Civil Rights Offices in Federal Agencies that Manage Artificial Intelligence | U.S. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts Bill Text (PDF) Washington (January 15, 2026) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the...

OTI is pleased to endorse @markey.senate.gov's & @repsummerlee.bsky.social's bill centering rights & fairness in the federal government's development, use & oversight of #AI tools. www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-r...

An Open Technology Institute thread:

Today’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on protecting children & teens online is focusing on nearly 20 bills. OTI is glad that our leaders continue to prioritize the well-being of kids online! Below are our takes on some of these bills ⬇ (1/8)

@bencasselman.bsky.social's covered how this shutdown has impacted our data. Some of it, he & Rebecca Davis O'Brien say, "will probably never be produced, a permanent gap in understanding that could have lasting consequences."

This plays into "data theatre." foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/22/u...

In a new brief from OTI, former policy fellow @matt-steinberg.bsky.social & OTI director @premmtrivedi.bsky.social propose targeted interventions to address the privacy & security challenges of #AI agents.

Read now: www.newamerica.org/oti/briefs/a...

AI Is Moving Into Physical Products, And Out of Regulatory Reach | TechPolicy.Press Matt Steinberg discusses how AI wearables and toys blur the line between products and speech—raising urgent regulatory gaps in privacy and child safety.

Recent OTI Policy Fellow @matt-steinberg.bsky.social published a @techpolicypress.bsky.social piece emphasizing that the "more physical #AI becomes, the more it slips through the frameworks we’ve tried to build." Learn more: www.techpolicy.press/ai-is-moving...

This reporter helped expose the falsity of ICE's narrative on the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez. His work is a perfect example of why we don't have secret police.

Journalists have a constitutional right to cover protests and their aftermath. Release @peoplesfabric.com immediately.

Thrilled to step into this role.

Don't miss OTI's 15th yr anniversary, which will feature fascinating forward-looking panels & lightning talks.

Well this will be impossible to operationalize. Also, pretty clearly a First Amendment violation, since it's conditioning federal contracts on speech that is unrelated to the contract performance. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/whit...

🚨 Today, @publicknowledge.bsky.social joined 21 other public interest, civil rights, labor, and digital rights groups in a letter urging FCC Chair Brendan Carr to pull an item from the FCC's July Open Meeting agenda for violating the Administrative Procedure Act.

Privacy, Technology, and Protecting Democracy: A Conversation with Daniel Solove An event unpacking how policy professionals from different fields should understand privacy and its relationship to healthy democracies.

[JULY 24] @daniel-solove.bsky.social, author of On Privacy and Technology, will unpack how policy professionals from different fields should understand privacy & its relationship to power, society & healthy democracies. OTI's @premmtrivedi.bsky.social will host the discussion.

RSVP ⬇️

Looking forward to this conversation with @daniel-solove.bsky.social !

The “TikTok Ban” Was Never Just About TikTok A separation between our government and Big Tech will be crucial to defending democracy—both nationally and globally—for years to come.

The #TikTokBan was never just about #TikTok.

No “deal” would make it ethical to promote protectionist tech policies under the guise of #NationalSecurity — and there is no substitute for true #DataPrivacy reform, writes VP of our programs @lcoral.bsky.social. www.newamerica.org/oti/blog/the...

SCOTUS’ Decision to Uphold the Texas Age Verification Law Jeopardizes Everyone’s Online Privacy and Security, Says OTI OTI responds to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a Texas law that requires certain websites to verify age.

"By lowering the bar for assessing the constitutionality of online age verification mandates, the #SupremeCourt puts Americans’ #privacy and #security at risk," says Open Technology Institute's @premmtrivedi.bsky.social in response to the #SCOTUS decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton.

OTI Welcomes SCOTUS Ruling Upholding the Constitutionality of the Universal Service Fund OTI’s response to this morning’s SCOTUS decision, which reverses a July 2024 Fifth Circuit ruling and upholds key aspects of the USF.

Today’s #SCOTUS decision in
FCC v. Consumers’ Research—which reverses the 5th Cir. & upholds key aspects of the #UniversalServiceFund (#USF)—is “a step in the right direction toward closing the #DigitalDivide." Open Tech Institute @newamerica.org statement: www.newamerica.org/oti/press-re...

Quiz: What Does DOGE Know About You? The Department of Government Efficiency has unauthorized access to millions of Americans’ data. Take New America’s quiz to see how much of your data is at risk.

I just took a quiz on how much of my personal data DOGE can access. The results aren’t pretty. Take it now to discover how much of your sensitive info is now exposed. #HandsOffMyData www.newamerica.org/oti/briefs/q...

How We Lost the Internet—and How We Might Win It Back Big tech and governments have hijacked the internet. Here’s how we can take it back and build a more democratic digital future.

We’ve watched the internet become a tool of corporate dominance, surveillance, and control.
But it doesn’t have to stay that way.
This piece for the Thread @newamerica.org explores what went wrong—and how we can rebuild a more democratic digital future.
👉 www.newamerica.org/the-thread/h...

Senate Commerce's version of the budget bill out tonight requires states to not enforce their AI rules for 10 years under the moratorium to receive federal broadband subsidies under BEAD www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...

Big Beautiful Reconciliation Bill Will Upend States’ Bottom-Up AI Governance and Create a Regulatory Vacuum A 10-year ban would prohibit states from enforcing already-passed laws and passing new laws regulating AI models.

The House Republican tax bill would ban (& bulldoze) state efforts to regulate #AI, halting timely and innovative policy work in a very high-stakes issue. Really important commentary from @shalinjyotishi.bsky.social and An-Me Chung at @educationwork.newamerica.org: www.newamerica.org/education-po...

I successfully pushed the Biden administration to clamp down on how data brokers use your private data. Now it's the latest casualty in the Trump administration's efforts to help companies turn a profit at the expense of consumers.

The mayor of an American city exercising his constitutional rights being detained by force by armed, masked federal officers wielding batons.

"Blatant censorship at a critical time": @thewire.in says its website blocked by Indian government