Speaking at Web Summit in Lisbon this week, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair brought out a new report from the Institute which bears his name to address the turmoil of Western politics from the prism of the backlash against globalisation after the 20072008 financial crisis, the rise of populist movements and the effects technology is having on society, politicians and policymakers.
A policy framework designed for the offline world may well have served many people well for many decades, but in an age of exponential technology is it fit for purpose?
Platform companies like Facebook, aggregators like Google, Amazon and Uber have, says the Institute, stripped traditional gatekeepers of their power, delivered real progress for consumers and businesses, and increased many freedoms. But they have also brought significant economic upheaval and heightened cultural pressures, along with huge unknowns about the future.
This comes at a time when the Wests lead on technology is facing a clear and present challenge from determined Russian aggression and a concerted push from China to take a global lead in AI.
Blairs Institute makes it plain in its new report that the current set of regulations designed for legacy industries is a poor fit for the pace and scale of the Internet and a new approach, based on stronger accountability coupled with more freedom to innovate, might be the best way to align private incentives with the public interest.
Blair is calling for a new generation of regulator that can take an international outlook, have technical expertise comparable with the big tech companies and be fluent in the same fundamentals of Big Tech.
Tony Blair : Essentially what were saying is: theres no way big tech is going to avoid regulation, and regulation that will treat them almost like public utilities because of their power, their reach, and their impact.
Because, in the end, if youve got people, for example, changing their votes particularly in tight-run elections changing their votes on the basis of misinformation thats coming from a foreign government thats deliberately trying to destabilize your politics, then at least you should know about it.
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