Interview, Fireside Chat
a16z Podcast | Making the Case for Permissionless Innovation
- Benefits of the "permissionless innovation" approach are projected to continue yielding best-case scenarios, provided policymakers avoid basing public policy on hypothetical worst-case outcomes.
- Abandoning the permissionless approach for a precautionary principle-based policy risks causing innovators to relocate, thereby diminishing the United States' global competitive edge.
- "Global innovation arbitrage" is expected to increase in the coming years, with companies shifting operations to jurisdictions offering more hospitable regulatory environments for genetic testing, drones, and driverless cars.
- Regulators are predicted to increasingly rely on best practices, industry guidance, and multi-stakeholder processes as indirect methods to influence innovation without enacting formal laws.
- Governments are expected to issue documents containing "privacy and security by design" guidance for emerging sectors including the Internet of Things, wearable technology, biotechnology, and 3D printing.
- Uncertainty regarding liability and penalties for innovators who deviate from established best practices is anticipated to persist in the near future.
- Innovators are expected to offer diverse solutions tailored to a diverse citizenry to address privacy and safety concerns rather than accepting uniform "one size fits all" approaches.
- A technological revolution in the medical profession and healthcare technology sectors is predicted to mirror the media and communications revolution driven by the internet.
- The FDA is expected to continue monitoring mobile medical applications on smartphones, maintaining its current "light-handed approach."
- The FDA may expand its involvement to specific spaces beyond mobile apps, though significant difficulty is acknowledged regarding the regulation of general-purpose technologies like 3D printing.
- Washington is anticipated to generate significant concern regarding immersive technologies, specifically focusing on psychological risks such as getting lost in or distracted by virtual and augmented reality.
- The cryptography and Bitcoin sectors are deemed "very ripe for policy consideration," with substantial regulatory efforts currently underway at state and local levels.
- An active debate in Washington regarding encryption is expected to unfold, driven by law enforcement and national security communities demanding easier access to data.
- Legal challenges against privacy and security rules in the U.S. are predicted to become significantly harder without the First Amendment framework that historically aided speech-based internet battles.
- Policymakers are expected to demand "hands-on experience" with new technologies from Silicon Valley before deciding on regulation for the field.