Help Create An Innovation Agenda For The Next Administration

Question

Darrell West of the Governance Studies program of the Brookings Institution is seeking to crowdsource ideas, feedback and insights into how the government can promote an innovation economy.  The results of this effort may go into an eventual report put out by West for new members of the next Administration.  Below this post, we've pre-loaded an initial list of 96 different possible agenda items, as prepared by West, for an innovation agenda, covering a variety of proposals touching on these topics:

• the building of digital infrastructure
• the promotion of entrepreneurship and economic development
• improving productivity in the private and public sectors
• improving education and workforce development
• strengthening creativity and invention
• improving university commercialization
• improving decision making through data analytics
• protecting digital assets
• harmonizing cross-border laws to promote the digital economy
• promoting socially responsible innovation

Now we need your help:

1. Read through the list of items listed below this post
2. Vote (up or down) on the items, based on the priority you believe they deserve
3. Comment on individual items, with suggestions, thoughts, information, clarifications, etc.
4. Respond to others' comments and discuss the various ideas being proposed
5. Add your own items if you feel there are ideas that are lacking from the initial 96 items

Together, we can help shape a powerful agenda for innovation.

Answer 1

Repeal the "safe harbor" provision of the DMCA, and make ISPs and websites subject to Common Carrier laws instead.  (This solves two serious problems at once: takedowns on accuastion alone without due process, and net neutrality.)

Comments

Would the downvoter(s) care to comment on what the problem is here?  This directly addresses the issues that people find most objectionable with recent bad legislative proposals such as SOPA and ACTA, and is the only way to do so.  As long as the concept of DMCA takedowns exist, people will continue to use it as a foundation to build further abuses upon.

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I will admit, I am somewhat wary of taking down the safe harbors. Even if the DMCA did not exist, they provide a useful function: as long as people do X, they are legal. Before the safe harbors, they could have been sued for anything, and it would have been a big problem as the web expanded after the 90s. So as bad as the DMCA is, and how often it is abused, it does have that one good point: as long as companies follow the rules they are more or less safe.

Of course, big content is regularly trying to destroy the usefulness of the safe harbors by attacking from other angles, but I digress.

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@major I didn't say to simply take down the safe harbors, but *also* to replace them with Common Carrier law.  This would provide the same protections for legal activity as the "safe harbor" provision currently provides, but without shackling it to the blatantly evil concept of DMCA takedowns.

It would do away with the concept of "secondary liability" once and for all, and as a side bonus, it would settle the question of network neutrality.  (If some carrier didn't want to play fair, they *would* be subject to secondary liability. This rearranges the relevant economic incentives to be better aligned with the interests of the users.)

Common Carrier status means that if a content owner has a problem with something online, they have to actually go to the trouble of proving in a court of law that a law has been broken.  This will cut way down on frivolous accusations, which are far too widespread. (Turns out that well over 50% of DMCA takedowns--and potentially as high as 90% or more--are bogus.) And it would require them to target the people who are actually causing trouble, not the sites and services that they're using.

Answer 2

 

Couple infrastructure projects with consumer programs that reduce market barriers to entry 

Answer 3

 

Foster network access models that reflect local and temporal scarcity of networked resources, rather than simple caps.

Comments

Unless "fostering" is giving massages and blowing kisses, this is probably business-model regulation that thwarts, and does not enhance, innovation.

Answer 4

 

Encourage students to take internships that develop entrepreneurship and encourage students to learn how entrepreneurship is compatible with social responsibility.

Answer 5

 

Develop Charter City Zones in low income areas that are free from certain kinds of government rules and regulations in return for economic development

Comments

"free from certain kinds of government rules and regulations" leaves a hole the goodyear blimp could get through.  Which "certain" rules and/or regulations?   Without knowing that, how do you expect someone to vote for or against this?

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@benbishop61 Hey Ben.  Good question.  I believe the suggestion is based on the somewhat detailed plans laid out by Paul Romer for this concept of "charter cities."  You can read the details here: http://chartercities.org/  It's tough to highlight all the details in a concise manner.  There's already an attempt in Honduras to do this by making one city subject to Canadian laws.  More on that here: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678751/paul-romer-on-hondurass-charter-cities

Answer 6

 

Use social media and customer ratings to identify problematic restaurants, businesses, or landlords

Comments

This is not a federal role. It's a Yelp role.

Answer 7

 

Fund K-12 science fairs in school districts across the country

Comments

Education policy is not a role of the federal government.

Answer 8

 

Develop websites showing average salaries of college graduates majoring in different subjects

Answer 9

 

Stimulate programs of “socially responsible licensing” and have agencies such as NIH adopt the models adopted at some universities, e.g. Berkeley, Stanford, and University of Washington.

Answer 10

 

Encourage health and education officials to improve data analytic capacities