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Tech Week: The Right To Be Forgotten And The Open Internet

Protesters hold a rally to support net neutrality at the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington, D.C.
Karen Bleier
/
AFP/Getty Images
Protesters hold a rally to support net neutrality at the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington, D.C.

It's that time again! Just as we do every weekend, let's take a look back at the week's big technology headlines from NPR and beyond.

ICYMI

Drone Week, Part Two: Our tech reporting team's exploration of commercial drones continued this week, with a story from Aarti Shahani on how Hollywood is using them and skirting the law, and Laura Sydell's piece on how drones don't sit so well with a large chunk of Americans.

Forget Me Please: In a decision that sparked all kinds of open questions, the highest court in Europe decided that search engines like Google must remove from search results content that private citizens find harmful. It's a much lower burden for removal than what currently exists now. Aarti reported that it could leave a legal mess since each of the EU's 28 countries could interpret the decision differently.

The Big Conversation

Net Neutrality Vote: The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to approve a preliminary proposal that would let Internet service providers like Comcast and Time Warner create paid "fast lanes" for content providers. But the FCC will first take public comments on the proposal until July. How does this play out? The New York Times' David Carr writes that it could create an interesting face-off between the Silicon Valley powers (who are against the FCC plan) and the Beltway establishment that backs the proposal.

Curiosities

Ames Tribune: ISU design professor envisions virtual reality lives for farm animals

One man's plan to make Oculus Rift ... for chickens.

Center for Public Integrity: Tech super PAC startups could tap billions

A for-profit university with big backers like the founders of Google is wading into the world of superPACs.

The Atlantic: What The Death of Homepages Mean For The Future of News

Some news about news.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Elise Hu is a host-at-large based at NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Previously, she explored the future with her video series, Future You with Elise Hu, and served as the founding bureau chief and International Correspondent for NPR's Seoul office. She was based in Seoul for nearly four years, responsible for the network's coverage of both Koreas and Japan, and filed from a dozen countries across Asia.
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