Driving Digital Equity: What OTI Accomplished in 2024

The Open Technology Institute (OTI) has been steadfast in providing policy recommendations, conducting research, and hosting convenings to ensure a world in which every person can access and maximize the benefits of open and secure technologies. This year, the program has worked toward that vision by shaping artificial intelligence (AI) governance, protecting the right to privacy, bolstering security, and supporting all Americans in garnering affordable access to the internet.

Since 2021, OTI has produced research and developed principles that promote transparent, fair, and democratically accountable uses of AI. In 2023, the program conducted an in-depth analysis of the White House’s Executive Order on AI use at federal agencies, emphasizing the need for a rights- and risk-based framework to governing the tech that balances innovation with accountability. Throughout 2024, we advocated for this distinct approach, countering the predominantly risk-focused frameworks proposed by industry and many governments.

In addition, OTI moved beyond the oversimplified and popular hype or doom narrative surrounding AI by contextualizing the technology through global, social, environmental, and policy lenses. We also closely monitored global AI governance trends, including those emerging from the EU and other countries.

As long-standing advocates for using open-source technology for community-driven, bottom-up problem solving, OTI researched and encouraged the development of a strong open-source AI ecosystem in the United States. Public interest organizations must ensure that the benefits of AI are not limited to leading companies running profit-driven, closed models of AI; a strong open-source ecosystem is paramount to fostering innovation, competition, and equity. This year, OTI not only published a report on why openness in AI is key to ensuring the tech serves democratic values and the public interest, our recommendations were included in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) July 2024 report. NTIA’s publication reflects OTI’s analysis and recommendations, emphasizing the importance of open models to innovation, competition, community benefits, cybersecurity, and national security.

OTI has used different avenues to strengthen privacy and data security protections and to advocate for responsible uses of data that serve the public interest. OTI has long pushed for a strong federal privacy law and, in response to the American Privacy Rights Act’s (APRA) emergence this year, OTI quickly signaled its directional support of the legislation and worked closely with Congressional offices to improve it. Our policy director’s Senate testimony, for example, highlighted how stronger data minimization and data security standards can safeguard American consumers. We also broke new ground by proposing a systematic cost-benefit framework for valuing privacy and data use, further enriching the field.

Amid ongoing advancements in cryptographic technologies, OTI actively supported the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) development of post-quantum cryptography standards. We emphasized the importance of these new standards, spotlighting how cyber attacks enabled by quantum computers will make all existing encrypted data vulnerable.

OTI critically examined legislative trends concerning online safety for children, many of which overlooked certain youth voices and the broader implications of proposed measures. U.S. legislators introduced more than 60 state and federal bills requiring new or more robust parental consent/controls, age restrictions, age verification, or safety-by-design measures—many aimed at social media. However well-intentioned, these bills neglect to consider the perspectives of the youth on the problems they face, adequately define the problems to be solved, or the implications of the solutions they want implemented. To fill this knowledge gap, OTI has been both focused on the challenges of age verification as a means to achieve safety, as well as the broader challenges of online safety for kids.

Building on the $62.5 billion allocated for connectivity in the 2021 infrastructure bill, OTI has worked to ensure affordable internet access and meaningful internet adoption going forward. This year, we’ve set the stage for upcoming debates around the scope and funding of the Universal Service Fund (USF). We explained its crucial role in helping Americans get connected and published a brief on lessons learned from recent affordability programs to educate and engage policymakers who will decide the USF’s fate. This work is especially timely as the new administration begins to consider the future of the USF and the Supreme Court is set to review a Fifth Circuit ruling on its constitutionality.

After 15 years of advocating for Broadband Nutrition Labels, OTI celebrated their public debut and continue to push for making sure the labels are clear, easy to find, and support research. These labels empower consumers with clear and accessible information about their internet services and are key to helping Americans with garnering internet access that is affordable. We helped inform top-tier publications covering the labels’ debut, including the Washington Post and the New York Times Wirecutter, to help increase public awareness of them. Pushing for these labels to exist is only half the battle; it’s equally important to make sure Americans know they can use these labels to inform their internet service purchases.

OTI’s longstanding support for the FCC’s authority to protect broadband consumers bore fruit when the agency voted to reclassify broadband internet access as a Title II service. The FCC’s order, which strengthens protections against discriminatory Internet Service Providers’ (ISP) practices and enhances broadband transparency, cited OTI 68 times. This win was the culmination of the influence stemming from our event, our comments, and in meetings solo with policymakers and with coalitions. Our arguments defending reclassification were featured in mainstream outlets and assorted industry press outlets. As in the past, we also defended the order in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals as an intervenor. While the fate of the order remains in question in the Sixth Circuit and in an incoming Administration’s reconfigured FCC, the principles of a free and open internet—where users decide where they go and what they do online, unfettered by gatekeepers⁠—remains a cornerstone of OTI’s policy work.

As we look ahead, OTI remains dedicated to advancing digital equity, robust privacy and security protections, and AI governance that centers human rights. The internet affordability crisis requires sustainable solutions to close the digital divide, including reforming the Universal Service Fund to ensure all Americans can access affordable internet. Privacy and responsible government data use must be a national priority by pushing for a strong federal privacy law and improving federal data practices through data minimization, interoperability, and privacy-enhancing technologies. Finally, we will look to existing AI governance frameworks, such as the AI Bill of Rights and Executive Order 14110, to identify the paths to promoting innovation, safety, competition, and accountability, while ensuring AI development serves the public interest. These efforts would position the United States to lead on critical digital issues while protecting consumers and fostering trust—creating a digital future where technology serves the public good.