An overview of tech issues on the ballot in November: the status of gig workers, warrantless phone searches, privacy rights, publicly-funded broadband, and more
Voters in states and cities across the country will decide some of technology's biggestquestions
The Markup
Context & Ripple Effects
This roundup lands mid-arc in the shift of tech policy away from Washington. With Congress stalled, [[a:969946|state and local governments have been passing their own laws on privacy, gig work, and anticompetitive conduct]] — and the November ballot extends that pattern one step further, taking decisions straight to voters instead of state legislatures.
The stakes are visible in where the money is going: platforms like Facebook, Apple, and Google have been [[a:1159866|lobbying heavily in state capitals such as Connecticut and Texas over consumer privacy bills]], while Amazon and Meta set records on federal lobbying. Ballot measures are the arena those players can't lobby directly into — only campaign against.
First-order effects
Voters directly settle gig worker classification, meaning rideshare and delivery platforms either lock in contractor status or face employee-benefit obligations in the states that pass reclassification measures.
Measures on warrantless phone searches, privacy rights, and publicly-funded broadband put law-enforcement search practices, consumer data rules, and municipal network funding up for a yes-or-no vote rather than legislative negotiation.
Second-order effects
Platform operators will pour campaign spending into opposing unfavorable measures, extending the state-level lobbying push already documented around privacy bills into direct-to-voter advertising.
Whatever passes becomes a template: other state and city governments watching these results gain ready-made statutory language for their own gig-work, privacy, and broadband efforts.
Third-order effects
If ballot-box lawmaking keeps working where legislatures stall, US tech regulation consolidates into a state-by-state patchwork that national platforms must build compliance around — with voter-approved measures harder to repeal than ordinary statutes.
Direct democracy on tech questions also shifts accountability toward public opinion rather than committee negotiation, raising the political cost calculus for every major platform's policy team.
The trend: Tech governance is migrating from a stalled Congress to state capitols and now directly to voters, making the ballot measure a recurring instrument of US technology regulation.
One of tech's most contentious issues is on the ballot in California. The passage—or failure—of the California Privacy Rights Act could have profound effects on federal privacy policy. @ashk4n explains in today's newsletter: https://www.getrevue.co/...
Few issues have divided privacy advocates more fiercely than Prop. 24, the California Privacy Rights Act. To understand what's at stake, I interviewed @ashk4n in today's newsletter: https://www.getrevue.co/...
Nothing is happening in Washington, but lots of tech policy is being made at the state level. Here are tech ballot measures to keep an eye on, ranging from facial recognition and police body cams to the right to repair your own automobile. https://themarkup.org/...
Also worth noting that the #CPRA / #Prop24 creates a dedicated data-protection agency tasked w/ enforcement *and* issuing guidance/regulations #yeson24 Not national - but my belief is that it'll serve as the national baseline if passed. More detail: https://www.getrevue.co/... ht…
New: Tech policy has stalled at the national level. What's on the ballot in state and local elections this November? Our roundup of ballot measures, from #Prop22 in California to #RightToRepair in Massachusetts: https://themarkup.org/...
This would tremendously curb waste volumes! 👏 “The goal of right-to-repair rules is to require companies to make their parts, tools & information available to consumers & repair shops in order to keep devices from ending up in the scrap heap.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
My first year at the @latimes, I did a feature on a California company that taught people how to fix their own iPhones. Even then, when devices were clunkier, it was getting tough to take them apart without damaging them. Now, it's almost impossible. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Fix, or Toss? The ‘Right to Repair’ Movement Gains Ground - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/... “If Americans would extend the life of their cellphones by one year, for instance, it would be the climate-saving equivalent of taking 636,000 cars off the road”
Smart points on the free press and the mythical pay for privacy arguments by opponents of Prop24. Also, it's worth noting this is likely Google and why CPRA is so important to locking them in as much as you can while antitrust catches up. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.c…
“Manufacturers of a wide range of products have made it increasingly difficult over the years to repair things. Now, a movement known as “right to repair” is starting to make progress in pushing for laws that prohibit restrictions like these.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
The (ill)economy of planned obsolescence & #ClimateAction ‘If Americans would extend the life of their cellphones by one year, for instance, it would be the climate-saving equivalent of taking 636,000 cars off the road’ https://www.nytimes.com/...
It should fall on manufacturers to make devices that last longer/are more durable. #PlannedObsolescence drives an obscene amount of waste. https://twitter.com/...
This is a great movement, but there are two problems: first, software updates, or lack thereof. Android devices are out of support after three years. Second, batteries: they have finite lives and are engineered to squeeze the most life out of them in the tiny space of the phone. …
Companies can still offer only the whole motherboards at expensive rates as opposed to smaller components that can be replaced. https://twitter.com/...