Nicol Turner Lee

A conversation about equity and what it takes to make effective AI policy taped before a live audience at MIT Technology Review’s annual AI conference, EmTech Digital.We Meet:Nicol Turner Lee, director of the Center for Technology at the Brookings InstitutionAnthony Green, producer of the In Machines We Trust podcastCredits:This episode was created by Jennifer Strong, Anthony Green, Erin Underwood and Emma Cillekens. It was edited by Michael Reilly, directed by Laird Nolan and mixed by Garret Lang. Episode art by Stephanie Arnett. Cover art by Eric Mongeon. Special thanks this week to Amy Lammers and Brian Bryson.

Nicole Turner-Lee, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Digitally Invisible, discusses the FCC's recent decision to cut funding for school-bus Wi-Fi and library hotspot lending. She highlights the detrimental effects this will have on marginalized communities, exacerbating the digital divide. Turner-Lee emphasizes the vital role of shared connectivity for veterans and jobseekers, and shares personal stories that illustrate the real barriers many face in accessing the internet. Without federal support, crucial local programs may not survive.

Nicol Turner Lee, a Senior Fellow at Brookings, digs deep into the chilling realities of surveillance in our lives. She emphasizes how opting out of government monitoring is nearly impossible and the role of tech companies in this dynamic. The discussion reveals how data brokers sell personal information and the implications of surveillance technologies on activism, particularly among students. Turner Lee also highlights the risks activists face and offers strategies to protect digital privacy in an increasingly monitored society.

Nicole Turner-Lee, a Brookings senior fellow researching tech policy and equity, breaks down California’s new Delete Request and Opt-Out Platform (DROP). She explains how DROP aims to curb data broker sales and restore user control. Discussion covers limits of the tool for stopping spam, privacy versus personalization trade-offs, and how California’s move could shape national policy.

Nicole Turner-Lee, a Brookings Institution senior fellow on tech policy and digital equity. She explains California’s DROP tool and the Delete Act. She outlines what kinds of brokered data can be removed and the law’s limits. She discusses trade-offs between personalization and privacy and whether other states might copy this approach.