Dec 24, 2019
Bio
Dylan Gilbert (@dgilbert_PK) is Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge where he advocates for the public interest with a focus on government affairs. His core work includes privacy, copyright reform, and a variety of telecommunications and platform-related issues. Prior to joining the Public Knowledge team, Dylan clerked at the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, and America’s Public Television Stations. Dylan also has over a decade of experience working in the music industry as a performer, producer, and music supervisor.
Dylan holds a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and a B.A. from The College of William and Mary. In his free time, Dylan enjoys playing jazz piano and hitting errant golf shots at the driving range
Resources
Making Sense of the Termination Right: How the System Fails Artists and How to Fix It by Dylan Gilbert, Meredith Rose and Alisa Valentin (Public Knowledge, 2019)
Facebook and Twitter remove accounts tied to a fake pro-Trump network
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram removed hundreds of accounts , pages, groups and Instagram accounts operated by individuals in Vietnam and the U.S. The accounts used artificial intelligence to evade detection and create fake profile see in order to spread misinformation. Facebook connected all of the accounts to The Epoch Times, a Chinese site operated by the Falun Gong which has been supportive of President Trump. Twitter also removed 88,000 accounts on Friday alone which the company tied to Saudia Arabia.
Unanimous Senate Approves Robocall Legislation
Every once in awhile, it’s nice to see some bipartisanship. The Senate last week unanimously approved Robocall legislation which will require phone carriers to block annoying robocalls free of charge. The bill also requires companies to verify that phone calls are coming from real numbers. It’s called the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence or TRACED Act. It now heads to the president’s desk for signature which Congressman Mike Doyle expects to happen within a week.
Airbnb bans 60+ white supremacists
Using data it collected from its user verification process, which included cross referencing its readership against the leaked SQL database of the now-defunct violent white extremist group Iron March, Airbnb banned more than 60 of its users, mostly guests rather than renrters, for their ties to Iron March. Gizmodo has more.
France has fined Google $167 million for anti-compettive conduct
France has fined Google some $167 million for anti-competitive conduct. The country asserts that Google controls some 90% of the online advertising market. Earlier this year, France began collecting a 3% company from firms that provide digital services to France-based customers.
Reveal News reports on debilitating worker injuries at Amazon
Reveal News published an article last week examining worker injuries at Amazon where, especially during the holiday season, workers are injured bending and lifting in an effort to reach a company goal of sending out 1 million orders out per hourdd. That translates to one item per 11 seconds for each employee. Moving at this breakneck speed, workers are increasingly injured, often keeping them out of work indefinitely. You can find that story in the show notes.
The New York Times releases extensive report on location data collection
The New York Times released a must-read report on how companies and entities we’ve never heard of, much less given consent to, are constantly collecting our location data, telling full stories about where we go, whom we’re with, and what we’re doing. It’s a long read, so definitely something to check out over the holidays.