Andy Liu, Mudd ‘23 Despite opposition from organized labor groups, the most expensive ballot measure in California history won by a comfortable margin last Tuesday, with voters approving Prop 22 by a 58-42 margin. Prop 22 classified rideshare and delivery drivers as contractors rather than employees. This exempted corporations such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash,…
Scotland Carter (SC ’24) The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938 in response to the growing number of workplace abuses during the Great Depression. Before 1938, the federal government had not regulated workplace conditions for employees in either the public or private sectors: there was no minimum wage, overtime pay, or working…
Andy Liu (HMC ‘23) Last Sunday night, five full days after results were expected, the controversial Iowa caucuses finally produced a winner, as Pete Buttigieg narrowly edged out Sen. Bernie Sanders in state delegate equivalents. While the results are still subject to change, the public opinion of Iowa as an unmitigated disaster will not. Historic…
Soksamnang Lim (PO’23) The recent Iowa Caucus marks a significant milestone in America’s transition into a digital democracy, defined as the use of information and communication technology in political and electoral processes. However, the Caucus’ delayed results from the poorly tested polling app demonstrate the growing role of technology within America’s election process and the…
By Andy Liu (HMC ’23) This June, the tech community was taken by storm when Facebook announced it would be launching Libra, a new cryptocurrency in 2020. In the four months since, the proposed currency has faced staunch opposition from both politicians and power players in the tech industry, such as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. This…
By Aden Siebel (PO ’21) With an increasingly complex field of technological privacy and ethics concerns, government regulation of tech giants has made surprising progress. International lawmakers have implemented significant policy and punished these companies, and while the U.S. federal system has been slower, Congress has increasingly threatened executives and called for industry reform. This…
By Andy Liu (HMC ’23) The European Union has a reputation for stringent data rights regulations, with the 2018 passing of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) further strengthening personal data rights and data protection across member states. However, a recent ruling in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in a case between Google and CNIL, a…
By Izzy Davis (PO ’22) In its burgeoning state, YouTube was characterized as the “wild-west” of online video, known for everything from anthropomorphized oranges to viral videos of people eating spoonfuls of cinnamon, with no shortage of controversial content. While a romanticized view of the democratic free-for-all that was once YouTube, the stark difference between…