Essays

Today’s streaming subscribers today may believe that their music and video consumption is more environmentally conscious than it has been in the past. After all, vinyl records, CDs, and DVDs have been replaced by cloud-driven services like Spotify and Hulu, eliminating the need for the bulky and wasteful technology that supported our viewing habits.

As the 2020 election cycle ramps up, voters can expect a flurry of targeted advertisements fueled by big data on their doorsteps, inboxes and social media feeds. While microtargeting based on demographic information is not a new trend in campaign strategy, campaigns traditionally relied on analyzing voter behavior within broader categories such as age or gender before big data was easily accessible.

As 2018 lies firmly behind us, CDEP Program Director Bastiaan Vanacker takes a look at some of the major digital ethics and policy issues of the past year that will shape the debate in 2019. January: Crucial Court Win for Section 230

In 1974, the Mary Tyler Moore Show aired an episode that became one of its most iconic moments. The classic episode featured inept anchorman Ted Baxter, played by Ted Knight, finally meeting his long-time hero, CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, whom at the time had been known as the “most trusted man in America.” Their meeting sparked big laughs and even bigger ratings.