2021-SOTN

Covid Panel Image
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New Panel: When Words Can Kill: The COVID Infodemic’s Impact IRL

Presidential de-platforming, Parler, and insurrection are getting all the disinfo headlines lately. But consider the mortal implications of COVID vaccine disinformation. Experts predict that large swaths Americans will refuse the vaccine because of misinformation, resulting in scores of deaths in America.

There’s an urgent need to tackle widespread misinformation about its safety, efficacy and deployment – and help prevent its dissemination online. The State of the Net panel, “When Words Can Kill: The COVID-19 Infodemic’s Impact IRL” will feature experts spanning tech, government and academia to discuss whether the incoming Biden administration can shore up efforts to address this existential threat to public health.

This panel will follow keynote remarks by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who, along with Senator Mark Warner, recently warned the Biden COVID task force focus on this deadly issue.

SPEAKERS
Renee DiResta
Technical Research Manager
Stanford Internet Observatory
Dr. Joan Donovan
Research Director 
Harvard Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
Dr. Diana S. Grigsby-Toussaint, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Brown School of Public Health
Ana Santos Rutschman, S.J.D.
Advisor
Biden Campaign COVID-19 Innovation Committee
Davey Alba
Technology Reporter
New York Times
MODERATOR
Register
Geopolitical
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Geopolitical Internet Forces and Biden: Sepulveda, Strayer, & Mehlman Discuss

“The New Geopolitics Of The Internet: How Will The Biden State Department Navigate Them?” Panel
Dear <<First Name>>,

The State of the Net Conference is around the corner and we’ve assembled a panel of experts to make sense of the new geopolitical forces shaping Internet policy.

Two former ambassadors, one of DC’s top strategic thinkers, and a Fletcher School professor will debate how sovereign governments are seeking to exert more control over Internet technologies and how the incoming Biden Administration should tackle these issues. Issues include Huwaei, EU DSA, USMCA’s 230, TikTok ban, Privacy Shield, and more.

We’ll announce more speakers and panels on a rolling basis. Follow us on Twitter @SOTN for updates. Registration is now open.

SPEAKERS
Bruce P. Mehlman
Founder 
Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas
Daniel Sepulveda
Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda
Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy
MediaMath
Ambassador Robert Strayer
Executive Vice President, Policy
Information Technology Industry Council (ITI)
Josephine Wolff

Josephine Wolff
Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Policy
The Fletcher School of Tufts University
Register
More speakers to be announced shortly.

The New Geopolitics Of The Internet: How Will The Biden State Department Navigate Them?
Increasingly sovereign governments are seeking to exert more control over Internet technologies. Long ago the Internet enmeshed the terrestrial globe with little respect for national borders. Now governments are trying to exert control over Internet companies at all levels of the stack. Intermediary liability laws like the European DSA are becoming more common and the Trump Administration has sought to ban certain smartphone apps in the U.S. Governments are increasingly wary of Internet infrastructure technologies manufactured in foreign countries. Social media companies are now under enormous pressure regarding their users’ speech. The few existing intergovernmental agreements on Internet policy such as the USMCA’s Section 230 language and the EU-US’s Privacy Shield are under enormous strain. Our panel will try to make sense of the new geopolitical challenge.
Rep Eshoo and Charlotte Willner
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Rep. Eshoo on COVID disinfo & TSPA’s Charlotte Willner on Trust & Safety behind-the-scenes

Misinformation is going to be a huge focus at the the State of the Net Conference this year. We’re thrilled to announce that Representative Anna G. Eshoo and Charlotte Willner, the new Founding Executive Director of the Trust & Safety Professional Association, will keynote the conference on issues related to content moderation and misinformation. Representative Eshoo will discuss the critical importance of heading off COVID-19 vaccine disinformation online and beyond and Willner will share the TSPS’s goals and plans in this critical sector.

Register
Rep Eshoo and Charlotte Willner
como
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Panel: You Thought 2020 Was Tough For Content Moderation? Welcome To 2021

The developments of yesterday and today made an already challenging content moderation environment all the more difficult. We had already planned on a heavy Section 230 and content moderation focus at the State of the Net Conference on January 26 & 27. Pandemic and election misinformation made 2020 incredibly hard for moderation content on platforms. But just a few days into 2021, we seem to be in frighteningly unfamiliar territory. 

We’ve assembled the best experts on content moderation to help explain the enormous challenges that 2020 and, now, 2021 have heaped upon free expression online. Our panel, “You Thought 2020 Was Tough For Content Moderation? Welcome To 2021,” will feature Jamal Greene of the Oversight Board and professor at Columbia Law. Other panelists include Joan Barata of Stanford and Nora Benavidez of PEN America. Tiffany Li, MSNBC columnist and renowned law professor, will moderate. 

We will have a lot on both content moderation and Section 230 and we’ll announce more speakers and panels on a rolling basis.

Register
Speakers Image

The enormous challenges of moderating content and enabling free expression on the Internet became even more challenging in 2020. Internet companies, government officials, and leading experts dealt with election and voter misinformation at enormous scale. Just as the New Year rang in the new decade, the pandemic made content moderation a life and death challenge for everyone. Those challenges piled on top of the existing challenges everyone has already been working to address. Early in 2021 content moderation experts all felt a sickening feeling as an angry mob stormed the Capitol Building to overturn an election. Our panel of experts will discuss the efforts to manage content and expression online and where we are now.

Save The Date
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Save The Date Jan 26 & 27 2021 | The Transition of Internet Policy

We’ll explore all the tech policy transitions at the 17th Annual State of the Net Conference on January 26 & 27, 2021. It is the must-attend tech policy event to start the new year. Save the date! 

Save The Date

A new Administration promises to usher in new Internet policies from government and from industry itself. We’ll dive into the most pressing policy issues. Congressional and federal leaders will engage with stakeholders on issues such as broadband, consumer privacy, content moderation, election security, artificial intelligence, and many more.

As always, State of the Net will be your first look at the new players and the new issues that will take center stage in 2021. This conference is unique for its diverse blend of perspectives and provocative thinkers. As policy debates become more polarized, State of the Net is the most important stakeholder gathering which brings together key players who disagree (respectfully). That’s the point.

Past keynote speakers include White House CTOs Aneesh Chopra, Megan Smith, and Michael Kratsios, Senators John Thune, Roger Wicker, and Amy Klobuchar, UBER Founder/CEO Travis Kalanick, advocate Max Schrems, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, and many others. Want to know more? Find out more by looking at recent past speakers here and our 2020 recap here.

Stay tuned for speaker announcements…

Make sure you follow @SOTN and use the hashtag #SOTN2021 on Twitter for conference updates!

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