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The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley
From the insider who—according to The New Yorker—offers a “forceful critique...of Big Tech’s steady erosion of democracy,” a detailed account of Big Tech’s power grab and what must 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 technologies—from social media to artificial intelligence—have 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 can—and must—resist 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 world—and a clear-eyed view of how democracies can build a better future before it is too late.
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 technologies—from social media to artificial intelligence—have 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 can—and must—resist 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 world—and a clear-eyed view of how democracies can build a better future before it is too late.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published September 24, 2024
128 people are currently reading
1606 people want to read
About the author
Marietje Schaake
5 books22 followersMarietje Schaake is a Fellow at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center and at the Institute for Human-Centered AI. She is a columnist for the Financial Times and serves on a number of not-for-profit Boards as well as the UN's High Level Advisory Body on AI. Between 2009-2019 she served as a Member of European Parliament where she worked on trade-, foreign- and tech policy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
November 24, 2024
This is not a bad book. But with all the praise I had seen, I expected a lot of new insights and information. But unless you haven't been paying attention the last ten years, you are unlikely to learn much.
September 13, 2024
De macht van Big Tech is al jarenlang toenemend onderwerp van discussie en kritiek, ook in Nederland. Toch weten weinig mensen dat een Nederlandse vrouw, Marietje Schaake, op steenworpafstand van Silicon Valley op Stanford University één van 's werelds meest gerespecteerde, invloedrijke en daadkrachtige criticasters van de tech-bedrijven is geworden.
In dit uitstekend geresearchte en met vaart en overtuiging geschreven boek neemt Schaake de lezer mee langs talloze voorbeelden van - en confrontaties met - de alomvattende greep van zowel bekende, grote maar ook kleine, obscure tech-bedrijven overal ter wereld.
Uit Iran, Kenia, de VS, Nederland, Nieuw-Zeeland en nog veel meer plekken deelt ze verhalen en anecdotes die de macht van bedrijven tot leven laten komen, en hun ondermijning van democratische en rechtstatelijke basisprincipes aan de kaak stelt.
Maar naast diagnoses stelt Schaake ook een breed pakket van maatregelen en oplossingsrichtingen voor om de controle over technologie en de bedrijven erachter beheersbaar te maken.
In dit uitstekend geresearchte en met vaart en overtuiging geschreven boek neemt Schaake de lezer mee langs talloze voorbeelden van - en confrontaties met - de alomvattende greep van zowel bekende, grote maar ook kleine, obscure tech-bedrijven overal ter wereld.
Uit Iran, Kenia, de VS, Nederland, Nieuw-Zeeland en nog veel meer plekken deelt ze verhalen en anecdotes die de macht van bedrijven tot leven laten komen, en hun ondermijning van democratische en rechtstatelijke basisprincipes aan de kaak stelt.
Maar naast diagnoses stelt Schaake ook een breed pakket van maatregelen en oplossingsrichtingen voor om de controle over technologie en de bedrijven erachter beheersbaar te maken.
February 2, 2025
Leerzaam boek dat verder weet te kijken dan het gebruikelijke gemopper op grote techbedrijven alleen. Als oud-politica weet Schaake beter dan andere auteurs aan te wijzen waar overheden moeten ingrijpen.
Veel geleerd over de verwevenheid van techbedrijven met China en de perverse consequenties daarvan. Dit was ook mijn eerste kennismaking met de India stack.
Nuttig, leerzaam boek.
Veel geleerd over de verwevenheid van techbedrijven met China en de perverse consequenties daarvan. Dit was ook mijn eerste kennismaking met de India stack.
Nuttig, leerzaam boek.
June 8, 2025
The Tech Coup is an insightful examination of how technology, especially AI and digital infrastructure, is being weaponized to entrench authoritarianism and corporate overreach while undermining democracy. Through vivid case studies—from NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware enabling zero-click surveillance, to Elon Musk’s unilateral decision to restrict Starlink access near Crimea—the author shows how the tools meant to empower can just as easily be used to suppress. I loved how the chapters were arranged logically as well as the great number of examples from various parts of the world with respect to different technologies. The depth of the research in the book was definitely evident in the quality of the writing.
The narrative explores the alarming asymmetry between the rising influence of tech corporations and the diminishing regulatory power of democratic institutions. Companies like Facebook, Clearview AI, and Palantir operate with little oversight despite their deep involvement in public functions. Governments not only rely on private infrastructure—like microchips, undersea cables, and cloud infrastructure —but are increasingly outsourcing law enforcement, election tech, and even policy advice to firms with opaque motives. The book draws attention to practices like Uber’s Greyball evading regulators and Microsoft’s extensive lobbying through academia and policymaking circles, revealing how influence is often bought, not earned. It also illustrates the deep rooted and pervasive nature of these partnerships across different spheres such as policy think tanks, academia and standards organizations.
Particularly incisive is the critique of outdated legal frameworks—like Section 230 of the U.S. CDA—which allow platforms to moderate content without accountability, enabling them to shape public discourse while evading responsibility. As authoritarian regimes from China to India leverage these technologies to stifle dissent and tighten control, the book raises critical concerns about the erosion of fundamental rights like free speech, press freedom, and public recordkeeping.
Despite its stark warnings, the final chapters offer hope—proposing tangible ways to rebalance power between governments and tech giants, emphasizing transparency, democratic oversight, and stronger public institutions. This is a timely, well-researched, and deeply important read for anyone interested in the future of democracy in the digital age. A very well written book.
The narrative explores the alarming asymmetry between the rising influence of tech corporations and the diminishing regulatory power of democratic institutions. Companies like Facebook, Clearview AI, and Palantir operate with little oversight despite their deep involvement in public functions. Governments not only rely on private infrastructure—like microchips, undersea cables, and cloud infrastructure —but are increasingly outsourcing law enforcement, election tech, and even policy advice to firms with opaque motives. The book draws attention to practices like Uber’s Greyball evading regulators and Microsoft’s extensive lobbying through academia and policymaking circles, revealing how influence is often bought, not earned. It also illustrates the deep rooted and pervasive nature of these partnerships across different spheres such as policy think tanks, academia and standards organizations.
Particularly incisive is the critique of outdated legal frameworks—like Section 230 of the U.S. CDA—which allow platforms to moderate content without accountability, enabling them to shape public discourse while evading responsibility. As authoritarian regimes from China to India leverage these technologies to stifle dissent and tighten control, the book raises critical concerns about the erosion of fundamental rights like free speech, press freedom, and public recordkeeping.
Despite its stark warnings, the final chapters offer hope—proposing tangible ways to rebalance power between governments and tech giants, emphasizing transparency, democratic oversight, and stronger public institutions. This is a timely, well-researched, and deeply important read for anyone interested in the future of democracy in the digital age. A very well written book.
March 9, 2025
The lives of most people worldwide are dominated by information technology in an inescapable way—even the poorest people (or perhaps especially the poorest people) need their smart phones to survive. Beyond just the end devices, the back end processing and telecommunications connections that technology companies control are integral to what happens on people's phones, including yours. In this book, Marietje Schaake presents in both intricate and overarching detail how the tech companies have taken over everything—from individuals' personal experiences to the governments that people assume are protecting them. Although it's been an open secret that corporate foxes have been having their way with the chickens in the public hen house for multiple decades, Schaake provides decisive illustrations of how this situation in the area of technology is especially detrimental to the economy and to public safety and welfare.
The author identifies four specific technological manifestations that need to be curbed: commercial spyware, data brokerage, facial recognition technologies, and crypto-currencies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an increasingly relevant technology that requires regulation to keep it from running amok to dangerous effect—especially as AI aggregates vast amounts of private data for processing in Large Language Models (LLM). Schaake names some of the companies and corporate executives who are unjustly profiting off of their theft and illicit use of private information, and illustrates how they have captured governments for their own advancement at the expense of the public interest. The profit motive also overrides any scruples about dealing with authoritarian governments, and in yielding to their demands that the tech companies become tools of autocratic oppression.
Schaake demonstrates how government service can provide better technology deliveries without unacceptable dependency on private entities, and suggests the way to do that is to build a public stack—that is, build a public tech infrastructure through civic initiatives (after all, the Internet itself originated from public research). The Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI) provides good directions to the way forward. The DFI is a global initiative signed by 61 nations promoting an open, free, secure, and inclusive internet, which reflects a collective commitment to counter digital authoritarianism and uphold democratic principles in the digital space.
However, as Schaake aptly points out, governments cannot be trusted to do the right thing on their own—new coalitions of people are needed to reverse the tech coup, and recover from the corruption of the current order. As part of doing that, we'll need to free those caught in the cult of right wing ideology and its associated false emotional manipulation—although they may want a Daddy to set things straight, what they get instead is an alcoholic father who abuses his family to satisfy his own whims and those of his following (who are not you). Even authoritarian governments have to bend to public pressure—we have the road map, let's start driving.
The author identifies four specific technological manifestations that need to be curbed: commercial spyware, data brokerage, facial recognition technologies, and crypto-currencies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an increasingly relevant technology that requires regulation to keep it from running amok to dangerous effect—especially as AI aggregates vast amounts of private data for processing in Large Language Models (LLM). Schaake names some of the companies and corporate executives who are unjustly profiting off of their theft and illicit use of private information, and illustrates how they have captured governments for their own advancement at the expense of the public interest. The profit motive also overrides any scruples about dealing with authoritarian governments, and in yielding to their demands that the tech companies become tools of autocratic oppression.
Schaake demonstrates how government service can provide better technology deliveries without unacceptable dependency on private entities, and suggests the way to do that is to build a public stack—that is, build a public tech infrastructure through civic initiatives (after all, the Internet itself originated from public research). The Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI) provides good directions to the way forward. The DFI is a global initiative signed by 61 nations promoting an open, free, secure, and inclusive internet, which reflects a collective commitment to counter digital authoritarianism and uphold democratic principles in the digital space.
However, as Schaake aptly points out, governments cannot be trusted to do the right thing on their own—new coalitions of people are needed to reverse the tech coup, and recover from the corruption of the current order. As part of doing that, we'll need to free those caught in the cult of right wing ideology and its associated false emotional manipulation—although they may want a Daddy to set things straight, what they get instead is an alcoholic father who abuses his family to satisfy his own whims and those of his following (who are not you). Even authoritarian governments have to bend to public pressure—we have the road map, let's start driving.
March 28, 2025
Provided evidence for the trends we’ve all been seeing and didn’t make me feel any better tbh (although I think it tries to)
January 23, 2025
The Tech Bros are hellbent on being the sole power base of the world. How did they get here and what can we do about it. This book goes a long way to attempt to answer these questions. Given Elon Musk's successful move into the heart of US govt and the quick brown nosing by Zuckerberg and Bezos, it is going to be much harder to stop this coup. The outcome if we don't doesn't bear thinking about.
March 5, 2025
Heel goed en heel verontrustend. Wel een punt aftrek voor de Nederlandse vertaling - die had wat mij betreft wel wat swingender gekund. Hoewel dat niet makkelijk zal zijn met deze zware kost, dat snap ik ook.
January 19, 2025
Het idee dat bedrijven zichzelf beter kunnen reguleren dan de overheid speelt volgens mij breder dan bij de tech sector. Vaak is het in de vorm van een goed iniatief dat buiten de wetgeving valt. Het kan soms lijken of bedrijven daarmee willen zeggen: ‘Zie je, wij hebben geen regels nodig’. Alhoewel ik graag een anarchistisch gedachtegoed zou delen, betwijfel ik in hoeverre dat in een kapitalistische wereld mogelijk is.
Quotes:
‘Deze bedrijven bouwen platforms voor het houden van verkiezingen, bepalen wat in appstores voor het publiek beschikbaar is en begeven zich aan de frontlinies van oorlogen om te beslissen wie toegang krijgt tot internet. Daarmee zijn deze bedrijven en hun leiders inmiddels medeverantwoordelijk voor zaken die vroeger alleen democratische staten aangingen, en in sommige gevallen hebben ze daar zelfs meer zeggenschap over dan staten. Toch zijn er geen verkiezingen waarin consumenten hun mening kunnen geven over het beleid van bedrijven; CEO’s kunnen niet worden gekozen (of weggestemd) door het publiek; NOS politiek doet geen verslag van de interne besluitvormingsprocessen van deze bedrijven. De beslissingen die ze nemen in het algemeen belang zitten opgesloten in een fort van allerlei beschermende maatregelen voor de private sector.’
‘Vanaf 2024 moeten alle mobiele apparaten, waaronder miljoenen telefoons, tablets, digitale camera’s, headsets en video-gameconsoles, één uniforme oplader gebruiken. In 2026 worden ook laptops aan de lijst toegevoegd. Eenvoudige regels als deze zorgen ervoor dat het leven voor iedereen gemakkelijker wordt, technologie betaalbaarder is en onnodige verspilling vermindert.’
Quotes:
‘Deze bedrijven bouwen platforms voor het houden van verkiezingen, bepalen wat in appstores voor het publiek beschikbaar is en begeven zich aan de frontlinies van oorlogen om te beslissen wie toegang krijgt tot internet. Daarmee zijn deze bedrijven en hun leiders inmiddels medeverantwoordelijk voor zaken die vroeger alleen democratische staten aangingen, en in sommige gevallen hebben ze daar zelfs meer zeggenschap over dan staten. Toch zijn er geen verkiezingen waarin consumenten hun mening kunnen geven over het beleid van bedrijven; CEO’s kunnen niet worden gekozen (of weggestemd) door het publiek; NOS politiek doet geen verslag van de interne besluitvormingsprocessen van deze bedrijven. De beslissingen die ze nemen in het algemeen belang zitten opgesloten in een fort van allerlei beschermende maatregelen voor de private sector.’
‘Vanaf 2024 moeten alle mobiele apparaten, waaronder miljoenen telefoons, tablets, digitale camera’s, headsets en video-gameconsoles, één uniforme oplader gebruiken. In 2026 worden ook laptops aan de lijst toegevoegd. Eenvoudige regels als deze zorgen ervoor dat het leven voor iedereen gemakkelijker wordt, technologie betaalbaarder is en onnodige verspilling vermindert.’
December 31, 2024
There's a funny meme making the rounds about how China excels at 5/6G & batteries, and the US in AI and other advanced tech, while the EU excels at regulation. While this may have much truth in it, it doesn't take away from the fact that someone needs to be thinking in terms of how to put guardrails on tech related industries to prevent personal rights infringement, as well as other negative externalities. Good that we have people like Schaake thinking about such issues in the EU as others even in the US and China should be following in their lead.
February 11, 2025
Het rijtje tech-miljardairs op Trumps inauguratie was een prima cover geweest voor dit boek, maar het was al uitgegeven. Hele goede timing dus! Tech leiders hebben niet het mandaat noch het morele besef om de macht uit te oefenen die ze hebben gekregen. Het is na dit boek helemaal duidelijk dat Tech democratie geen goed heeft gedaan, ondanks de belofte die daar toch duidelijk in zat. Het is nu aan de overheid om de regulatie beter vorm te geven, en aan ons om die kant op te stemmen.
December 29, 2024
It's convincing in its description of the risks that we face, but it doesn't offer a credible solution that counters the oligarchy's control of the situation. She is an articulate authority on the subject, and writes well, even about the most arcane details that are important to comprehending how multi-faceted this tsunami is.
January 23, 2025
Read for a Technology Policy course.
Pros: Accessible case studies to understand democracies' overreliance on technology companies and the problems stemming from this overreliance; easy-to-understand descriptions of undersea cables, data centers, etc.
Cons: A tad on the long side and somewhat repetitive; 7 chapters dedicated to problems vs. 1 chapter dedicated to solutions was underwhelming
Pros: Accessible case studies to understand democracies' overreliance on technology companies and the problems stemming from this overreliance; easy-to-understand descriptions of undersea cables, data centers, etc.
Cons: A tad on the long side and somewhat repetitive; 7 chapters dedicated to problems vs. 1 chapter dedicated to solutions was underwhelming
February 7, 2025
The Tech Coup: How Silicon Valley Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do About It
The most current book that comes to mind is “The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley” by Marietje Schaake. The tech coup is happening as we speak, and before it’s too late, we must act on Marietje Schaake’s recommendations. 
The most current book that comes to mind is “The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley” by Marietje Schaake. The tech coup is happening as we speak, and before it’s too late, we must act on Marietje Schaake’s recommendations. 
November 7, 2024
Marietje Schaake's book 'The Tech Coup' is a must-read for anyone who is concerned, and/or enthusiastic about the inevitable technological development. To transform development into progress, steady, consistent, (inter)nationally aligned regulation is needed; something that is often lacking now. Insightful book!
November 9, 2024
Ja hoor, we hebben weer een mooie reden om nog pessimistischer te zijn over de toekomst! :-)
January 3, 2025
good quick read for tech governance enthusiasts
Inspired me from not obliged with the Big Tech, still reading book from Kindle and using gmail accounts. Absurd 😆🤣
Inspired me from not obliged with the Big Tech, still reading book from Kindle and using gmail accounts. Absurd 😆🤣
January 26, 2025
A bit longer than it needs to be, but otherwise a helpful compilation of arguments for tech governance.
January 26, 2025
This book is amazing in so many ways. It is written in a way that people with deep technical skills will enjoy it, because it is accurate in all aspects of the technology discussions. It is also written on a level that I think even most lawmakers and economists will understand. Even if the author no longer is a member of the EU parlament, she is living proof that some lawmakers understands our challenges better than wesometimes may think. The examples in the book are spot on what challenges we are facing, and the importance of regulations. As the author points out, regulations do not only protect the people, but it often also helps the sector to grow to a usage level that would not be possible without regulation. Reading this book, and following the author on different forums make me proud to be a EU-citizen. This book is a must read for all lawmakers. But most importantly I think it is important for people that takes democracy for granted to read this book.
December 16, 2024
Een boek dat iedereen die in de digitalisering werkt moet lezen. Goed geschreven, veel onderwerpen pakt Schaake aan en legt duidelijk uit welke risico’s digitalisering in zich kan dragen voor bijvoorbeeld dedemocratisering.
December 22, 2024
How are democratic societies being impacted by Big Tech? Deeply, says the author; so much, that they are occupying the public space with no legitimacy nor accountability. But she has ideas on how to react and calls everyone to join the fight against the "coup" by Big Tech.
Read
January 1, 2025Está muy bien para quienes son ajenos al tema, pero si has estado al tanto de ello, te parecerá repetitivo porque ya conoces los casos que presenta.
February 23, 2025
De afzonderlijke verhalen en anekdotes ken je misschien al, maar goed om de grotere patronen tot je te nemen. Met een handelingsperspectief, al voelt dat ook utopisch.
April 4, 2025
Must read voor iedereen die zich zorgen maakt over de alsmaar toenemende macht van de grote technologiebedrijven en het gebrek aan democratische controle erop.
Met voorstellen hoe die controle beter kan, zonder alle nuttige & noodzakelijke maatschappelijke toepassingen van moderne technologie incl AI in de weg te staan.
Met voorstellen hoe die controle beter kan, zonder alle nuttige & noodzakelijke maatschappelijke toepassingen van moderne technologie incl AI in de weg te staan.
August 17, 2025
Rating a book about big tech, on an app owned by, big tech…
August 27, 2025
A must read. Everyone should be keeping up with what’s happening online vs the world. This is the book you want to start with.
March 5, 2025
Insightful, thought-provoking, bold, revolutionary. It shifts you from thought to action in a decisive way.
September 29, 2024
Een mooi maar ook een bijzonder belangrijk boek in de moderne gedigitaliseerde wereld. Marietje Schaake beargumenteert aan de hand van een breed scala voorbeelden hoe tech steeds meer bevoegdheden naar zich toe heeft weten te trekken, hoe overheden daar van afhankelijk zijn geworden, en hoe ze zich telkens weer weten te bemoeien met wet- en regelgeving voor de sector.
Deze gevaarlijke ontwikkelingen onderstrepen hoe er haast een stille machtswissel plaatsvindt tussen ondemocratische techgiganten -die allerminst democratische waarden voorop stellen- en overheden. Marietje Schaake noemt dit dan ook met rede een 'Tech Coup', en wijdt 7 hoofdstukken aan een gedetailleerde probleemomschrijving, om vervolgens hoofdstuk 8 te wijden aan mogelijke beleidsmatige oplossingen. Elke beleidsmaker zou deze aanbevelingen sterk moeten overwegen.
Het boek is gemakkelijk om te lezen (dus ook voor de niet-technici), is overtuigend, en uitermate relevant. Veel dank aan Marietje Schaake voor het schrijven van dit werk; weinig anderen hadden zo erudiet en met ervaringskennis over dit onderwerp kunnen schrijven.
Deze gevaarlijke ontwikkelingen onderstrepen hoe er haast een stille machtswissel plaatsvindt tussen ondemocratische techgiganten -die allerminst democratische waarden voorop stellen- en overheden. Marietje Schaake noemt dit dan ook met rede een 'Tech Coup', en wijdt 7 hoofdstukken aan een gedetailleerde probleemomschrijving, om vervolgens hoofdstuk 8 te wijden aan mogelijke beleidsmatige oplossingen. Elke beleidsmaker zou deze aanbevelingen sterk moeten overwegen.
Het boek is gemakkelijk om te lezen (dus ook voor de niet-technici), is overtuigend, en uitermate relevant. Veel dank aan Marietje Schaake voor het schrijven van dit werk; weinig anderen hadden zo erudiet en met ervaringskennis over dit onderwerp kunnen schrijven.
June 15, 2025
An interesting book that provides a good overview of the ubiquitous influence of American Big Tech companies. Using many examples, Schaake illustrates how more and more government activities have been outsourced to Big Tech companies, effectively shifting political power to non-elected company officials. For those following the strategic autonomy scene, there are not as many new insights as expected though.
December 27, 2024
Here's an excerpt of my review--read the whole thing here https://theconnector.substack.com/p/o...
“We must not…shy away from building sharp tools for fear they may be turned against us.” Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, from his oped in The New York Times, July 25, 2023
I started reading The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley, a terrific new book by an old friend of mine from Personal Democracy Forum days, Marietje Schaake, with one goal: I wanted to have something intelligent to say about it beyond simply plugging it.
Schaake served as a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019, where she took her passion for human rights and curiosity about technology and turned herself into one of that body’s leading voices for internet freedom. In that role, she did pioneering work tackling the rise of spyware (the use of technology to spy on and harass dissidents in many countries), fought to defend Europe’s relatively aggressive approach to regulation of Big Tech, rubbed shoulders with and saw through the claims of the blockchain bros at Richard Branson’s Necker Island, led the European team observing the 2017 elections in Kenya (where over-reliance on faulty electronic voting systems made by a French company led to a complete political disaster) and kept a vigilant eye on many of the other ways companies like Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google were pushing countries and communities around. After leaving the parliament, Facebook tried to get her to join its Oversight Board, but she had the good sense to see through that charade and instead joined the Real Facebook Oversight Board along with a coterie of other independent experts.
As an elected official herself, Schaake also had an insider’s experience of how major tech platforms try to insinuate themselves with politicians across the spectrum by offering them free help on their campaigns, and she has a healthily jaundiced view of how Big Tech has lobbied itself into a cozy position with the powerful in many national capitols. Unlike most politicians, she understands the difference between a server and a waiter and can tell when she is being bullshitted. Her book takes the reader up through 2023 and recent efforts in the United States, where she is now based, to develop guardrails for the development and use of AI and also to address TikTok’s influence on American society.
Running throughout The Tech Coup is Schaake’s well-grounded concern that the tech barons, their whiz kid engineers, and their products are moving much faster than democratic governments and their representatives can thoughtfully respond. “For too long our political leaders have been in the grip of an overly optimistic and self-centered view of new technologies,” she writes.
“We must not…shy away from building sharp tools for fear they may be turned against us.” Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, from his oped in The New York Times, July 25, 2023
I started reading The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley, a terrific new book by an old friend of mine from Personal Democracy Forum days, Marietje Schaake, with one goal: I wanted to have something intelligent to say about it beyond simply plugging it.
Schaake served as a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019, where she took her passion for human rights and curiosity about technology and turned herself into one of that body’s leading voices for internet freedom. In that role, she did pioneering work tackling the rise of spyware (the use of technology to spy on and harass dissidents in many countries), fought to defend Europe’s relatively aggressive approach to regulation of Big Tech, rubbed shoulders with and saw through the claims of the blockchain bros at Richard Branson’s Necker Island, led the European team observing the 2017 elections in Kenya (where over-reliance on faulty electronic voting systems made by a French company led to a complete political disaster) and kept a vigilant eye on many of the other ways companies like Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google were pushing countries and communities around. After leaving the parliament, Facebook tried to get her to join its Oversight Board, but she had the good sense to see through that charade and instead joined the Real Facebook Oversight Board along with a coterie of other independent experts.
As an elected official herself, Schaake also had an insider’s experience of how major tech platforms try to insinuate themselves with politicians across the spectrum by offering them free help on their campaigns, and she has a healthily jaundiced view of how Big Tech has lobbied itself into a cozy position with the powerful in many national capitols. Unlike most politicians, she understands the difference between a server and a waiter and can tell when she is being bullshitted. Her book takes the reader up through 2023 and recent efforts in the United States, where she is now based, to develop guardrails for the development and use of AI and also to address TikTok’s influence on American society.
Running throughout The Tech Coup is Schaake’s well-grounded concern that the tech barons, their whiz kid engineers, and their products are moving much faster than democratic governments and their representatives can thoughtfully respond. “For too long our political leaders have been in the grip of an overly optimistic and self-centered view of new technologies,” she writes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews