igital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology and Its Future

Explore the pressing global issues surrounding the regulation of technology with Anu Bradford, the Henry L. Moses Distinguished Professor of Law and International Organization at Columbia Law School, in her insightful lecture, "Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology." Bradford, also the Director of Columbia’s European Legal Studies Center and a Senior Scholar at the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business at Columbia Business School, offers an in-depth look at the growing influence of technology in international markets and the complex strategies nations are deploying to create effective technology regulation frameworks.
As governments around the world grapple with the immense power of digital platforms, they are being forced to reconsider traditional approaches to regulating technology. Bradford explores how countries across the globe are taking varying paths to manage data privacy, the role of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity threats, and the monopolistic control of tech giants. This battle to regulate technology highlights the importance of balancing innovation with public safety and ethical standards.
Bradford delves into key questions such as: Who controls data? How can governments create a balance between fostering technological innovation and enforcing technology regulation that protects citizens? How does technology regulation differ across regions like the European Union, the United States, and emerging markets? In particular, she provides insight into the European Union’s stringent regulations, including GDPR, and how they contrast with the more laissez-faire approach of other regions.
As the world becomes increasingly digital, the need for effective and coordinated technology regulation is crucial to ensure fair competition and safeguard society's values. Bradford’s presentation discusses both the present and future challenges in regulating technology, examining legal, ethical, and economic perspectives. She emphasizes that the battle over regulating technology is not just about controlling tech companies but also about defining the future of data privacy, national security, and even democracy itself.
Part of the Ten Years Hence Lecture series, sponsored by the Eugene Clark Distinguished Lecture Series endowment, this lecture is essential viewing for anyone interested in the intersection of law, technology, and global governance.