The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley

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An insiders account of Big Techs power graband what can be done to stop it

Over the past decades, under the cover of innovation, technology companies have successfully resisted regulation and have even begun to seize power from governments themselves. Facial recognition firms track citizens for police surveillance. Cryptocurrency has wiped out the personal savings of millions and threatens the stability of the global financial system. Spyware companies sell digital intelligence tools to anyone who can afford them. This new reality where unregulated technology has become a forceful instrument for autocrats around the world is terrible news for democracies and citizens.

In The Tech Coup, Marietje Schaake offers a behind-the-scenes account of how technology companies crept into nearly every corner of our lives and our governments. She takes us beyond the headlines to high-stakes meetings with human rights defenders, business leaders, computer scientists, and politicians to show how technologiesfrom social media to artificial intelligencehave gone from being heralded as utopian to undermining the pillars of our democracies. To reverse this existential power imbalance, Schaake outlines game-changing solutions to empower elected officials and citizens alike. Democratic leaders canand mustresist the influence of corporate lobbying and reinvent themselves as dynamic, flexible guardians of our digital world.

Drawing on her experiences in the halls of the European Parliament and among Silicon Valley insiders, Schaake offers a frightening look at our modern tech-obsessed worldand offers a clear-eyed view of how democracies can build a better future before it is too late.

Author Bio

Marietje Schaake is international policy director at Stanford University Cyber Policy Center and international policy fellow at Stanfords Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Between 2009 and 2019, she served as a member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands. She writes a monthly column for the Financial Times on technology and governance.