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The EU is about to make Facebook even worse
By Steven Hill, International Politics and Society, Feb 12, 2021
Big Tech media platforms are dangerous. But the EU’s proposed competition laws won’t fix it — and could make it worse
The European Union has earned a reputation as the world’s foremost regulator of Big Tech companies. Its latest salvo is the recently proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA).…
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How we can tame the wild west of Big Tech media?
By Steven Hill, Mercury News, Jan 27, 2021
Why do so many people, including both former President Donald Trump and new President Joe Biden, keep talking about getting rid of an obscure law called Section 230?
The short answer is that Section 230, part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, is the legal underpinning for one of the largest and most consequential experiments in American history.…
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How to avoid another 2020 election meltdown
By Steven Hill, Salon, Nov. 27, 2020
The U.S.’s embarrassing problems with something as basic as voter registration should serve as a wake-up call
Throughout the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the ghosts of 2000, hanging chads and Bush v. Gore were rapping loudly at the door.
For many members of the American public, voting has become a confusing ritual, even if one does not take the latest twist into account — a president who refused to accept that he lost the election.…
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The Red Mirage
By Steven Hill, The Globalist, October 13, 2020
What happens if Trump declares victory on election night, and tries to dispute any “late” uncounted ballots — both in the courts and in the free-for-all of public opinion?
So imagine this Nightmare Scenario: With so many more Biden supporters voting by mail in a close election, it is likely President Trump will be ahead on election night, based on partial returns in a number of battleground states (a scenario that has been called “a red mirage”).…
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How to Avoid Banana Republic Elections
By Steven Hill, Common Dreams, October 4, 2020
However this election turns out, a bipartisan effort should be mounted to make voting more efficient and secure.
Is the US about to hold another banana republic election? The ghosts of 2000, hanging chads and Bush v. Gore are rapping loudly at the door.…
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Kamala Harris’s Uber Test
by Steven Hill, American Prospect, August 19, 2020
The vice-presidential nominee did little as a state and local prosecutor as Uber and Lyft rose to prominence. Now California wants to force drivers to be treated as employees, and Harris appears to be on board—for now.
Family gatherings at Kamala Harris’s house are about to get a lot more interesting.…
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The Challenges of the Post-Coronavirus Workforce
By Steven Hill, Hans Böckler Stiftung, July 6, 2020
With millions of workers affected, the short-term shocks of the coronavirus pandemic have been unprecedented. But what will be the longer term impacts of new ways of working remotely or at-home? Will a more “distributed” workforce be a less unionized and less empowered workforce?…
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Amazon Workers Fight Back
By Steven Hill, Hans Böckler Stiftung, February 27, 2020
This past holiday season, Amazon workers in the US, Germany and the EU gave CEO Jeff Bezos his worst Christmas present – a growing workers movement.
The Christmas holiday in the United States is supposed to be a time of joy and celebration, a moment to honor values like sharing and charity.…
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California needs more ‘social housing’ to solve crisis
By Steven Hill, San Jose Mercury News and East Bay Times, January 26, 2020
San Jose and Oakland are classic examples of a supply/demand market failure that SB 50 will not solve.
The affordable housing crisis continues to humble California policymakers. Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill, SB 50, is the latest attempt, but it fails to recognize that a major reason for this crisis is not simply a lack of overall housing supply.…
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Forget SB 50 — San Francisco needs a bold plan for social housing
By Steven Hill, 48 Hills, January 9, 2020
European cities show how more than half the housing stock can be taken out of the private market — and it works.
State Senator Scott Wiener has reintroduced his housing bill, SB 50, which seeks to alleviate the housing crisis by forcing more density around transit corridors.…
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Golf courses…or affordable housing?
By Steven Hill, 48 Hills, Dec 17, 2019
Just one of San Francisco’s five public courses, which consume 1.5 percent of the city’s land, could provide affordable housing for 10,000 people.
Despite all the public concern over the affordable housing crisis, and an alphabet soup of ballot and bond measures in recent years intended to address it, San Francisco has achieved limited concrete results.…
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A Blow Against “Bogus Self-Employment” And Gig Economy
By Steven Hill, Hans Böckler Stiftung, Dec 11, 2019
A new pro-labor law in California closes worker misclassification loophole and inspires labor advocates around the world.
Workers in California recently received a major boost with the passage of a landmark labor law. The state of California passed Assembly Bill 5 (abbreviated AB5), that requires most companies, including app-based companies like Uber and Lyft, to treat “independent contract” workers as employees.…
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21st century California workers need portable safety net
By Steven Hill, San Jose Mercury News, July 18, 2019
Allowing companies to eliminate worker benefits unleashes a race to the bottom
As Uber and Lyft scramble to find a profitable business model, it’s not surprising that they are opposing California Assembly Bill AB5. If this law goes into effect, it would force them to treat their California drivers as employees rather than as so-called “independent contractors.”…