Tech Talk: Patent Politics and Internet Governance for Media Development
CDT’s Tech Talk is a podcast where we dish on tech and Internet policy, while also explaining what these policies mean to our daily lives. You can find Tech Talk on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Google Play.
The awesome crew from CIMA and Article 19.
In this episode we talk about Patent Politics. Yes, intellectual property is incredibly political and today we find out how different approaches to patents in the United States and Europe can lead to very different policy outcomes, especially around controversial issues such as patenting life forms. Shobita Parthasarathy enlightens us with insights from her new book, Patent Politics: Life Forms, Markets, and the Public Interest in the United States and Europe.
And we welcomed folks from Article 19 and CIMA to discuss why global media development professionals should be engaging in the many internet governance bodies. Yes, if you care about a vibrant media sector in developing nations, you’re going to want to make sure you have a voice on how the greatest distributor of news – the internet – functions.
On September 15, 2026, the Center for Democracy & Technology and Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief along with the Wikimedia Foundation in Meta Platforms v. Bonta, challenging California’s SB 976.
Not All Guardrails Are Created Equal: Comparing Content Safety and Copyright Filtering
As courts and policymakers work through questions about chatbot liability, they should be wary of analogies that flatten meaningful technical differences. Copyright filtering and safety intervention share real challenges around ambiguity and evasion, but they diverge in what each control must assess, how each manifests over the course of a conversation, and how much can be verified from the outside.
CDT Joins Letter Defending First Amendment Rights Amid Attack on Center for American Progress
The Center for Democracy & Technology joined more than 150 civil society, advocacy, and nonpartisan organizations in a joint statement led by Nonprofits Together supporting the Center for American Progress amid a recent legal action by the Trump administration. The statement emphasizes that independent organizations have a First Amendment right to publish evidence-based analysis and critique government policies, regardless of which administration is in power.
Op-Ed: France’s Constitutional Council Ruling Tests the Limits of Social Media Bans
Read our analysis the legal and policy significance of the Constitutional Council’s decision on ongoing social media age restriction and age assurance debates ahead of the most-anticipated EU-wide approach on child online safety due by December 2026.