Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, observed, “A small number of platforms dominate communications, and they have devised techniques to minimize opposition. In other countries, where private industry has largely captured regulatory and legislative bodies, protections of privacy and against AI-based discrimination, for example, or mitigation of social problems will be difficult as long as they are not aligned with industry interests.” Henning Schulzrinne, Internet Hall of Fame member and former chief technology officer for the Federal Communications Commission, commented, “In certain countries, the state will make sure that there is no social and civic innovation, at least any that fundamentally threatens the existing power arrangements. And governments don’t have the expertise they need to regulate in ways that will be effective or work out well.” That said, current trends don’t bode well. If governments and citizens can take back some of that power and build up the talent and vision to create civic innovation, we’ll see the kind of social innovation we need. tech companies basically write the rules of the road. Mark Surman, executive director of Mozilla Foundation and co-founder of Commons Group, wrote, “Right now, the big U.S. Our continued use of/dependence on the technologies they provide props up these organizations, allowing them to continue to engage in activities that undermine the fabric of our society in a variety of subtle and not-so-subtle ways.” These are anti-competitive practices that stifle innovation they are anti-social practices that inhibit the development of new social norms. Increasingly, these activities are mediated by a small number of economically and politically powerful companies that actively squash competition, undermine and jettison open standards and protocols and resist regulation. People are pretty locked into the tools they use to live, work and socialize. Jonathan Morgan, senior design researcher for the Wikimedia Foundation, said, “I’m mostly concerned with the role of digital platform owners and technology providers as stiflers of innovation. And governments don’t have the expertise they need to regulate in ways that will be effective or work out well. Market capitalism in today’s digital realm has led to a small number of large players who are driven by driving up profit. Those in control of digital systems and platforms are highly motivated to remove or subsume any threats to their dominance. Some respondents were critical of today’s digital form of market capitalism, which has created an environment that is proving to be problematic on many levels. The comments are organized under five subthemes: Those in power seek to maintain it those in power have no incentive to change government regulation could address these problems surveillance capitalism is coming to a head and technology can be a catalyst for advocacy against abuses of power. It includes predictions about the types of innovations that may emerge to counter abuses or imbalances in power. This chapter includes comments selected from those made by all respondents, regardless of their answer to the main question about the impact of technology on innovation by 2030. While some respondents are greatly concerned about the ways in which tech companies’ capitalist interests may affect social and civic innovation in the next decade, others expect that tech and social evolution will allow the public more opportunities to advocate for change. Some said well-meaning individuals in positions of power do not understand the issues faced by the general public that relies upon digital platforms and systems. These experts highlighted the discrepancies they see in regard to who has access to power and who controls the instruments of power. Many of the experts in this canvassing said power dynamics play a key role in technology development and social and civic innovation and have substantial impact in regard to broad societal issues.
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