MEDIA LIBRARY – News, papers, books, and podcasts on the dynamics of Big Tech and regulatory capture.



KEY READINGS 
from our research on The Revolving Door



Erin O’Toole’s Plan For Gig Workers Was ‘Carbon Copied’ From Uber’s Corporate Lobbyists, Press Progress, September 2021

How Accounting Giants Craft Favorable Tax Rules From Inside Government, Jesse Drucker and Danny Hakim, The New York Times, September 2021

Lobbying “from within”: A new perspective on the revolving door and regulatory capture, Stéphanie Yates and Étienne Cardin-Trudeau, Canadian Public Administration, June 2021

Web of familiar faces connects government with online giants, Vito Pilieci, Post Media – Ottawa Citizen, May 2018


Read our research on
THE REVOLVING DOOR





KEY READINGS
from our research on Academic Capture



The Steep Cost of Capture, Meredith Whittaker, Interactions, November – December 2021

Academic Capture: Private Funds + Public Interests, Vass Bednar, Regs to RichesJanuary 2021

When Scholars Collaborate With Tech Companies, How Reliable Are the Findings?, Noam Scheiber, The New York Times, June 2020

The Invention of Ethical AI: How Big Tech Manipulates Academia to Avoid Regulation, Rodrigo Ochigame, The Intercept, December 2019


Read our research on
ACADEMIC CAPTURE





RECENT HEADLINES



Tech money in civil society: whose interests do digital rights organisations represent?, Jake Goldenfein and Monique Mann, Cultural Studies journal, Volume 36, March 2022

A Google billionnaire’s fingerprints are all over Biden’s science and technology office, Alex Thompson, Politico, March 2022

Big Tech’s support for Canadian universities risks compromising research integrity, Vass Bednar, The Globe and Mail, January 2022

Who will regulate the regulators? Big Tech and their influence on government policy, Rachel Parent, Post Media – National Post, January 2022

Canada is sleepwalking into bed with Big Tech, as politicos float between firms and public office, Liisa Ladouceur from FRIENDS, Toronto Star, January 2022

The dark side of social media: What Canada is — and isn’t — doing about it, Rachel Gilmore, Global News, January 2022

Think Facebook’s bad news? Meta’s man in Ottawa would like a word, Martin Patriquin, The Logic, December 2021

Canadians should be outraged at the CRTC for reversing its decision on wholesale internet rates, George Burger, Toronto Star, June 2021

Is Canada Ready for the Platform Regulation Debate?, Blayne Haggart and Natasha Tusikov, CIGI Online, June 2021

Who’s really got Ottawa’s ear? Paid consultants are everywhere in Ottawa. This so-called ‘shadow public service’ offers expert analysis at a pretty penny—and never has to worry about pesky accountability, Shannon Proudfoot, Maclean’s, April 2021

Liberal privacy bill fails to curtail surveillance economy or protect Canadians, Jim Balsillie, Post Media – National Post, March 2021





THE CAPTURE SCENE



Carleton’s new election-integrity scholar comes from Facebook. The NDP says that’s like Dracula overseeing the blood supply, Carl Meyer, National Observer, January 2020

In Toronto, Google’s Attempt to Privatize Government Fails—For Now, Bianca Wylie, Boston Review, May 2020

Influencing the Internet: Lobbyists and Interest Groups’ Impact on Digital Rights in Canada, Megan Beretta, in Citizenship in a Connected Canada: A Research and Policy Agenda, edited by Elizabeth Dubois and Florian Martin-Bariteau, June 2020, revised November 2020

The Grey Hoodie Project: Big Tobacco, Big Tech, and the threat on academic integrity, Mohamed Abdalla and Moustafa Abdalla, Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, September 2020, revised April 2021

How is tech lobbying shaping federal policy?, Megan Beretta, Policy Options, February 2019

Foreign tech giants have more than tripled their lobbying since Justin Trudeau became prime minister, Murad Hemmadi, The Logic, July 2019

NDP and Conservatives accuse Justin Trudeau of favouring ‘Silicon Valley data giants’ over Canadian tech firms, Murad Hemmadi, The Logic, July 2019

How Canadian money and research are helping China become a global telecom superpower, Steven Chase, Christine Dobby, Robert Fife and Sean Silcoff, The Globe and Mail, May 2018

Canada’s spy agency cautions universities about research ties with Huawei, Steven Chase, Robert Fife and Sean Silcoff, The Globe and Mail, December 2018

Uber hires former Ontario PC president to lobby Ottawa, Alex Ballingall, Toronto Star, May 2017

Uber boosts its Ottawa lobbying team, Beatrice Britneff, iPolitics, July 2017

The women in Harper’s inner circle: The women of power and influence next to the PM, Jennifer Ditchburn, Maclean’s, February 2013

The Shadow Public Service: The swelling ranks of federal government outsourced workers, David Macdonald, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, March 2011







PODCAST PEANUTS



How Facebook Bought-Off Canada For Peanuts, Jesse Brown and Fenwick McKelvey, Canadaland, January 2018





EUROPEAN LENS



UK urged to review lobbying rules after former privacy chief joins law firm, Vincent Manancourt, Politico, December 2021

The lobby network: Big Tech’s web of influence in the EU, Max Bank, Felix Duffy, Verena Leyendecker and Margarida Silva, Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobby Control, August 2021

How Google quietly funds Europe’s leading tech policy institutes, Laurie Clarke, Oscar Williams and Katharine Swindells, The New Statesman, July 2021





WASHINGTON WAYS



Tech Oversight Project launches to push for anti-trust legislation in Silicon Valley, Cat Zakrzewski, The Washington Post, January 2022

Corporate America launches massive lobbying blitz to kill key parts of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion economic plan, Tony Romm, The Washington Post, August 2021

Lobbyists for Silicon Valley Giants Like Facebook Find Glory Days Are Over, Julie Bykowicz and Brody Mullins, The Wall Street Journal, June 2021

A Test of the Revolving Door Hypothesis at the FCC, William T. Gormley Jr., American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 23, No. 4, 1979





NOTABLE BOOKS



Industry Unbound: The Inside Story of Privacy, Data, and Corporate Power, Ari Ezra Waldman, Cambridge University Press, 2021

Preventing Regulatory Capture: Special Interest Influence and How to Limit It, Daniel Carpenter and David A. Moss, Editors, Cambridge University Press, 2013

Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why, Frank Baumgartner, Jeffrey Berry, Marie Hojnacki, Beth Leech and David Kimball, University of Chicago Press, 2009







ABOUT US


Regulatory Capture Lab is a new collaboration between the Centre for Digital Rights and FRIENDS. Together we are building a clear, research-informed picture of how decision-making works in Canada, to document the crossover between public offices and corporate interests, and to stimulate debate about power and influence in Canadian digital policy. Contact us at info@regulatorycapturelab.ca.


            

Research support for this project was provided by students from McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program. Graphic art by Michèle Champagne. Edit by No Media.

Read our privacy policy.


ABOUT US


Regulatory Capture Lab is a new collaboration between the Centre for Digital Rights and FRIENDS. Together we are building a clear, research-informed picture of how decision-making works in Canada, to document the crossover between public offices and corporate interests, and to stimulate debate about power and influence in Canadian digital policy.

Contact us at info@regulatorycapturelab.ca.








Research support for this project was provided by students from the McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program. Graphic art by Michèle Champagne. Edit by No Media.

Read our privacy policy.