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Sep 11, 2018

 

Francella Ochillo: Latinos and Tech Policy -- The Policy Year Ahead (Ep. 153)

Francella Ochillo joined Joe Miller to talk about the tech policy issues the National Hispanic Media Coalition is most focused on during the policy year ahead.

Bio

Francella Ochillo (@Francella202) is the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s (NHMC) Vice President, Policy and General Counsel. Francella brings a unique combination of litigation and community activism experience to NHMC. At the Department of Justice, she worked on securities fraud investigation teams, prosecuting banks for corporate misconduct under the False Claims Act and Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act. Meanwhile, she maintains her commitment community engagement in various roles at the YMCA, a non-profit devoted to strengthening communities.

Even though Francella has called the District of Columbia home for the past ten years, she is originally from New Orleans and still loves jambalaya. She has a B.S. degree in Marketing from Morgan State University where she graduated with honors from the School of Business. She earned her J.D. from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois where she excelled as a moot court competitor and went on to represent the City of Chicago in Administrative Hearings. Francella is currently a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Resources

National Hispanic Media Coalition

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Noble

Human and Machine: Rethinking Work in the Age of AI by Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson

News Roundup

Google under heat

Google is under heat after the company left its seat vacant at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian election interference. Donald Trump has led the charge against the tech company, accusing it, Facebook and Twitter of having an anti-conservative bias. Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, wasn’t happy when Google offered to send its General Counsel, Kent Walker to testify. He wanted company founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page to appear. Although Google’s seat was empty at the hearing, it sent written testimony from Mr. Walker.

Outcry against Google’s lack of a physical presence at the hearing was bipartisan. The Committee’s top Democrat -- Senator Mark Warner – said that he was deeply disappointed that Google didn’t appear.

Washington is now abuzz wondering how this will affect how Congress will consider potential regulations that would affect the company. Back in July, Google was the subject of the largest antitrust fine in European Union history -- $5 billion -- for illegally tying Chrome to its Android operating system, among other things—a decision the company is appealing.

Twitter permanently bans Alex Jones

Twitter has decided to permanently ban conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The company said that Jones violated its abusive behavior policy.

Justice Department investigates whether tech companies stifle conservative viewpoints

The Justice Department has announced that it will be investigating whether platforms like Google, Facebook and Twitter stifle free speech. DOJ spokesman Devin O’Malley made the announcement as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wrapped up their Senate Intelligence Committee testimony on Wednesday.

Politics sends NASDAQ down 161 points

These political issues sent the NASDAQ composite on a 4 day losing streak, which it recovered from slightly on Monday. Overall, though, the NASDAQ is down about 161 points since the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter bans Myanmar military accounts

Google, Facebook, and Twitter have banned dozens of accounts belonging to Myanmar military officials. The company banned the officials for spreading hate speech and misinformation against Rohingya and other Muslims in Myanmar. Reuters reports that the decision came hours after the United Nation’s reported that the Myanmar military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent”.

President Trump asks Apple to shift production back to U.S.

Finally, President Trump urged Apple on Twitter last week to shift production back to the United States from China. The president threatened tariffs and offered tax incentives, including a zero percent tax rate, if the company moves its production operations to the U.S.