The Nebraska Governance and Technology Center invites the University community to join them on April 22, 2022 for a conference on State-level Issues in Technology, Regulation, and Economic Development, led by the Center's director Gus Hurwitz.
This event is the first in a new initiative to work with regional policy makers, enforcement officials, and academics to study the relationship between technology, regulation, and economic development at the state and local level. Over the past decade the technology industry—especially the part of it thought of as "Big Tech"—has gone from being widely viewed with favor to being a target for both the political right and left. At both the federal and state level legislators and regulators are trying to pass laws and use litigation to constrain Big Tech.
This conference will explore the "big picture" forces driving this change in regulatory attitudes. From there, it will take a deeper look at "on the ground" issues that are likely more to individuals and businesses within the states. Such issues include understanding the range of attitudes that citizens and consumers have about technology, the specific concerns driving those attitudes about different types of technology, and the effects that regulation can have on technological innovation.
Our discussion will feature a lunchtime keynote address by Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, who has been a leader in state antitrust and consumer protection efforts relating to the technology sector. And the morning will start with a keynote presentation from Professor Shannon McGregor in which she will share insights from a recent large-scale Knight/Gallup study of Americans' views on the digital public square.
This event is the first in a 2-year program housed in the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center to work with policy makers, enforcement officials, and academics to study the relationship between technology, regulation, and economic development at the state and local level.
Registration and additional details can be found here.