Issue Position: Tech Platform

Issue Position

With the rise of the internet, apps, smartphones, and social media, new technology is radically changing the way we live--from how we communicate to how we shop, how we access government services to how those services are provided, not to mention how we earn a living and take part in a shifting economy. In many ways this technology represents both the physical and economic infrastructure on which our society runs. Unfortunately the State of New York has not kept up with these rapid changes, and has both failed to provide equal access to the benefits of this new technology to all New Yorkers, and failed to protect regular New Yorkers by properly regulating the predatory tech industry. It is important to act now to modernize New York State and achieve technological independence for the years ahead, so that innovation can be put to use for the widest public good. As State Senator I would:
Require that high-speed affordable internet access be made available to all New Yorkers, at the expense of the Internet Service Providers (cable companies), and I would provide State funding for the build-out of neutral, high-speed, publicly-owned and operated municipal/rural broadband infrastructure.
Advocate for the rights of "gig" and contract workers by extending them collective bargaining rights, minimum wage, and other attendant protections and guarantees.
Provide resources for the formation of "platform co-ops": apps to compete with Uber, Seamless, or TaskRabbit, but owned and operated by the workers providing services through them, to avoid extractive and exploitative conditions for both workers and consumers.
Help pass a modern NY-Electronic Communications & Privacy Act to reign in the electronic surveillance capabilities of law enforcement in conjunction with cable and social media companies.
Ensure that technology companies contracting with NY State abide by standards of algorithmic transparency and data privacy (e.g. requiring open-source code and bias screening), so we can be sure that no New Yorker is paying taxes to be discriminated against or spied upon.
Demand that tech companies pay their fair share in taxes. Instead of giving the tech industry tax breaks and incentives and getting little in return, these companies must contribute like the rest of us. We should then reinvest that money in public tech jobs, infrastructure, and tools that allow the State of New York to compete technologically with private companies and become self-reliant.

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