Tech Freedom

Bonnie Glick is the Director of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. As Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2019-20, Glick served as the Deputy for all U.S. policies and as the Chief Operating Officer of the agency. There are two ways to think about the concept of “tech freedom.” One is to focus on intent and capability. On this view, free tech is that which isn’t designed and cannot easily be used to coerce, censor, or oppress. Another approach is to consider provenance. Tech from sources with accountable governance and transparent ownership is freer than technology that originates in a more opaque or corrupt environment. In practice, these ideas amount to something similar, because tech with trusted provenance tends to be more ...