Future Knowledge
Future Knowledge explores the intersection of technology, culture, and information policy with leading authors, scholars, and experts. From copyright and open access to AI and digital preservation, we discuss the big issues shaping knowledge and creativity in the digital age. This podcast is brought to you by the Internet Archive and Authors Alliance.
Episodes
Mass Surveillance and the Loss of Fun
In this episode of Future Knowledge, Alexis Durante-Tierney and Helen Vogelsong-Donahue, hosts of the Born Digital podcast, explore how growing up under constant surveillance may be changing the way young people socialize, experiment, and have fun. From smartphones and social media to school surveillance and cameras in public spaces, they ask what happens when there’s no expectation of pr
Open for Whom?
As AI reshapes how information is created and accessed, libraries, publishers, and educators are confronting a new question: open for whom? In this live discussion, we explore the tensions between open knowledge and AI—from the strain on library infrastructure and concerns about AI training to the challenges facing Open Educational Resources. How can we address legitimate concerns about A
The Fight for the Public Record
The public record is the foundation of an informed democracy, but in the digital age, it is more fragile than ever. In this timely conversation, Merrilee Proffitt (Democracy’s Library at the Internet Archive), James Jacobs (Stanford University), and Christopher Marcum (Federation of American Scientists) examine the growing challenges of preserving government information in the digital age
Big Fiction
In Big Fiction, author and Emory University professor Dan Sinykin examines how decades of mergers and acquisitions have transformed the publishing industry, and how those changes have shaped what it means to be an author. Sinykin explores the rise of the “Big Five” publishing houses, the pursuit of blockbuster titles, and what the consolidation of publishing means for the books we read an
Reclaiming Fair Use
In Reclaiming Fair Use, copyright scholars Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi argue that fair use is not merely an exception to copyright law, but one of its core principles, enabling creativity, scholarship, journalism, education, and cultural participation. In this discussion they explain how fair use works in practice, dispel common misconceptions, and show how creators, educators, l
Vanishing Culture #6: What We've Learned with Vida Vojić & Alice Bridgwood
What does it mean to preserve culture in an age of disappearing websites, platform-controlled media, and fragile digital memories? In the final episode of our special six-part series on Vanishing Culture, Future Knowledge hosts Dave Hansen and Chris Freeland sit down with musician and series host Vida Vojić and producer Alice Bridgwood to reflect on the conversations, ideas, and lessons t
Vanishing Culture #5: A Language Worth Saving with Peter Scholing
Languages can vanish just as easily as books, websites, or archives, and when they do, entire ways of understanding the world can disappear with them. In the fifth episode of our special six-part series on Vanishing Culture, host Vida Vojić speaks with Peter Scholing of Biblioteca Nacional Aruba and the Coleccion Aruba digital heritage platform about the importance of preserving Papiament
Vanishing Culture #4: Keeping African Folktales Alive with Helen Nde & Laura Gibbs
Folktales are living records of culture, identity, and collective memory. In the fourth episode of our special six-part series on Vanishing Culture, host Vida Vojić speaks with writer and researcher Helen Nde, founder of Mythological Africans, and folklorist Laura Gibbs about the importance of preserving African folklore in the digital age. Together, they explore how stories help communit
Vanishing Culture #3: Saving Queer Memory with Brooke Palmieri
Queer history has often been overlooked, erased, or excluded from traditional archives. In the third episode of our special six-part series on Vanishing Culture, host Vida Vojić speaks with writer, artist, and archivist Brooke Palmieri about the vital role queer archives play in preserving memory, identity, and community. Drawing on his work with CAMP BOOKS and his research into LGBTQ+ hi
Vanishing Culture #2: The Stories Hidden in Cookbooks with Katie Livingston
Why preserve a cookbook? In the second episode of our special six-part series on Vanishing Culture, host Vida Vojić speaks with Katie Livingston, a doctoral researcher at Stanford University who studies domestic culture and women’s literature. Through the lens of family cookbooks, recipe collections, and food traditions, Katie explores why everyday cultural artifacts deserve preservation
Vanishing Culture #1: What We Stand to Lose with Luca Messarra
As more of our cultural heritage moves online, a troubling question is emerging: what happens when the things we create, share, and cherish simply disappear? In the first episode of our special six-part series on Vanishing Culture, host Vida Vojić speaks with author and humanities scholar Luca Messarra, author of the Internet Archive’s Vanishing Culture, about the growing threat of cultur
Transaction Denied
In Transaction Denied: How Financial Institutions Silence Dissent and Undermine Democracy, author Rainey Reitman examines the growing phenomenon of financial censorship, in which banks, payment processors, and credit card networks can restrict access to financial services based on speech, identity, or perceived risk. From voting rights organizations and educators to adult content creators
AI Tools, Not Gods
In AI Tools, Not Gods, policy researcher Caroline De Cock examines how myths about artificial intelligence—framing it as an all-knowing mind or an unstoppable force—have come to shape public policy and public understanding. By unpacking the narratives that dominate conversations about AI, De Cock argues for a clearer, evidence-based approach that recognizes AI for what it is: a set of hum
Law and Technology
In Law and Technology, legal scholar Ryan Calo explores one of the defining challenges of our time: how societies can govern rapidly evolving technologies before those technologies reshape laws, rights, and institutions. Rather than treating each new innovation as a completely unique problem, Calo argues for a more durable framework for thinking about technology policy that helps lawmaker
Preserving the Web in the Age of AI
As artificial intelligence reshapes how information is created, accessed, and controlled, a quieter crisis is emerging: the potential loss of the web’s historical record.In this episode, tech writer Mike Masnick, Mark Graham of the Internet Archive, and public interest tech and media lawyer Kendra Albert come together for a timely conversation on what it means to preserve the web in the a
Vanishing Culture
In Vanishing Culture, editors Luca Messarra, Chris Freeland and Juliya Ziskina bring together voices exploring what it means to lose access to our shared cultural record in the digital age. From disappearing websites and delisted music to fragile licensing agreements and platform shutdowns, the book traces how corporate control, technological change, and neglect are reshaping what survive
Data Cartels
In Data Cartels, legal scholar Sarah Lamdan exposes the shadowy industry built around collecting, packaging, and selling our personal data. She reveals how powerful companies hoard information and use aggressive tactics to maintain control—turning data into a commodity that can deepen inequality and restrict the democratic flow of knowledge. Heather Joseph, executive director of the Schol
The Secret Life Of Data
In The Secret Life of Data, authors Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert explore how the information we generate every day—email addresses, phone numbers, browsing habits, even biometric data—circulates through vast digital systems that shape our lives in ways we rarely see. Their book examines the hidden infrastructures of data collection, surveillance, and algorithmic decision-making, revea
The Apple II Age
In The Apple II Age, historian Laine Nooney tells the story of the computer that helped launch Apple, and reshape personal computing. Introduced in 1977, the Apple II became a cultural phenomenon not just because of its hardware, but because of the vibrant software ecosystem that grew around it, from classroom staples like The Print Shop to early games and creative tools that defined a ge
Searches
In Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, journalist Vauhini Vara explores how the technologies we use to understand the world—search engines, social platforms, and now AI systems—are also reshaping how we understand ourselves. Drawing from her own experience using chatbots to write about her sister’s death, Vara reflects on what happens when our most human questions, memories, and emotio
Privacy's Defender
For more than three decades, Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been at the center of the fight to protect privacy, free expression, and innovation online—taking on the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, defending encryption, and pushing back against efforts to weaken digital security in the name of safety. In her new book, Privacy's Defender
AI As Normal Technology
Computer scientist Sayash Kapoor joins legal scholar Kevin Frazier to discuss “AI as Normal Technology,” the paper he co-authored with Arvind Narayanan, arguing that artificial intelligence is not an apocalyptic superintelligence or miraculous cure-all, but a powerful, ordinary technology shaped by human institutions and incentives. Kapoor challenges today’s AI hype and panic, urging us t
The Catalogue Of Shipwrecked Books
Author Edward Wilson-Lee joins Brewster Kahle to uncover the astonishing true story behind The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books. Wilson-Lee chronicles the adventures of Hernando Colón, who sailed with his father Christopher Columbus before setting out to build a library of everything ever printed—a quest marked by shipwreck, mutiny, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.Grab your copy of
Publishing Beyond the Market
For years, the open access movement has promised a more equitable world for scholarship. But as more of our publishing infrastructure is shaped—or captured—by commercial incentives, a harder question keeps surfacing: if knowledge is openly available but controlled by the same market forces as before, has anything truly changed?In Publishing Beyond the Market, Samuel Moore challenges us to
Walled Culture
While major recording artists are sued for alleged plagiarism and most creators earn pennies for their work, media industry profits continue to soar. Libraries face mounting barriers to providing access to ebooks—often while being sued by the very publishers whose books they buy. In this episode of Future Knowledge, tech and culture writer Glyn Moody discusses his book Walled Culture: How
The Public Domain
What do jazz, gene sequences, and the World Wide Web have in common? They all reveal what’s at stake when our cultural commons shrinks. In this episode, James Boyle, author of The Public Domain, joins Molly Shaffer Van Houweling to explore why the public domain is essential for creativity, innovation, and a healthy information ecosystem. From surprising case studies to the “range wars” of
What Does 1 Trillion Web Pages Sound Like?
For this special holiday episode, we’re celebrating the Internet Archive’s milestone of 1 trillion web pages archived with something a little different: live music created just for the occasion.Join us for conversations with composer Erika Oba, composer Sam Reider, and cellist Kathryn Bates of the Del Sol Quartet, recorded around The Vast Blue We, the concert held at the Internet Archive
The Open Web at a Crossroads: A Conversation with Vint Cerf, Brewster Kahle, Cindy Cohn & Jon Stokes
What made the early web so thrilling, and how do we reclaim that spirit today? In this special episode, recorded at Georgetown University’s historic Riggs Library, leaders who helped build the internet and those fighting for its future come together to chart a path forward.Featuring Brewster Kahle (Internet Archive), Vint Cerf (Google), Cindy Cohn (EFF), and Jon Stokes (Ars Technica), and
Enshittification
The internet wasn’t ruined by accident—it was ruined on purpose. In this episode, Cory Doctorow joins us to break down enshittification, his term for the slow, deliberate process that transformed an open, vibrant web into something extractive, frustrating, and increasingly hostile to users. Doctorow explains how platform lock-in, predatory business models, and concentrated corporate power
Music and Copyright in the Era of Taylor Swift
In this conversation, Michael Menna and Anjali Vats unpack how copyright law really works for musicians outside the mainstream. While stars like Taylor Swift make headlines for reclaiming their masters, countless “fringe musicians” navigate a system that often privileges profit over creativity. Together, Menna and Vats examine the gap between copyright’s ideals and its realities—exploring
Building and Preserving the Web: A Conversation with Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Brewster Kahle
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, chat with Lauren Goode of Wired about the rise of the web, its continuing and explosive impact on society, and the importance of preserving the web for our cultural history.This conversation was hosted at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on 10/9/2025.Check out all
Wayback Machine at 1 Trillion
In 1996, the web was still young—a chaotic, creative frontier built one page at a time. That same year, the Internet Archive set out to preserve it all. Nearly three decades later, that audacious goal has reached a generational milestone: 1 trillion web pages preserved.Co-hosts Chris Freeland (Internet Archive) and Dave Hansen (Authors Alliance) talk with Mark Graham, director of the Wayb
After Disruption
Author Trevor Owens joins media scholar Shannon Mattern to discuss his book, After Disruption: A Future for Cultural Memory. Together, they explore how libraries, archives, and museums can reclaim their role in shaping a just and sustainable digital present. Owens argues that cultural memory institutions—long “disrupted” by tech-sector ideologies—must chart their own course forward by cen
Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture
How does copyright shape the music we love—and influence how it's made, distributed, and reimagined? In this episode, Jennifer Jenkins, author of Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture, is joined by legal scholar James Boyle for a conversation about how copyright law influences everything in our modern world from sampling and streaming to remix culture, and what that means for creators.
Preserving Government Information
Authors James A. Jacobs and James R. Jacobs join librarian Shari Laster to discuss their book, Preserving Government Information: Past, Present, and Future. From print to digital, they explore how gaps in preservation threaten accountability, research, and democracy itself—and what must be done to safeguard the public record in an age when vital materials can disappear with the click of a
The Library: A Fragile History
Authors Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen join historian Abby Smith Rumsey to discuss their acclaimed book The Library: A Fragile History—a sweeping exploration of how libraries have been built, destroyed, cherished, and reinvented over the centuries. From ancient archives to modern public libraries, they trace the people, politics, and passions behind the world’s great collections,
In Through the Side Door
Erin Malone, author of In Through the Side Door, joins designer and writer Abby Covert for a conversation about the women who helped pioneer user experience and interaction design. From the early days of desktop computing to today’s digital interfaces, Malone traces how women brought insights from design, psychology, and engineering to shape the way we interact with technology—often worki
Four Digital Rights for Memory Institutions
What rights do libraries, archives, and memory institutions need to preserve our digital heritage? In this episode, we explore the "Our Future Memory" campaign and the Statement on Four Digital Rights, a global call to action to secure the legal rights libraries and other memory institutions need in the digital age. Featuring voices from around the world, this conversation highlights the
Averting the Digital Dark Age
Recorded live at the Internet Archive Canada in Vancouver, this discussion features historian Ian Milligan, author of Averting the Digital Dark Age, in conversation with Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive. Guided by journalist Takara Small, the discussion explores Canada’s role in preserving our digital heritage—and why safeguarding born-digital history is more urgent than ev
The Internet Con
Author and activist Cory Doctorow joins us to discuss The Internet Con, his call to reclaim internet control from Big Tech. From locked-down platforms to the illusion of choice online, Cory lays out how interoperability can break corporate monopolies—and why reshaping the digital landscape starts with empowering users to leave, remix, and reimagine the internet on their own terms.Grab you
Live Dead
Author John Brackett (Live Dead) is joined by musician and Grateful Dead scholar David Gans to discuss how live recordings—both official and fan-made—shaped the sound, story, and enduring legacy of the Grateful Dead. This episode explores what these tapes reveal about audience, authenticity, and the cultural power of the “live” experience.Grab your copy of Live Dead: https://dukeupress.ed
Copyright, AI, and Great Power Competition
Authors Joshua Levine and Tim Hwang sit down with Lila Bailey to discuss Copyright, AI, and Great Power Competition. Together they explore how artificial intelligence is transforming copyright law—and how global powers are using IP policy as a strategic tool in the race for technological dominance.Grab your copy of Copyright, AI, and Great Power Competition: https://www.thefai.org/posts/c
The Copyright Wars
Historian Peter Baldwin joins copyright scholar Pamela Samuelson to unpack The Copyright Wars—a sweeping look at 300 years of trans-Atlantic copyright battles. From 18th-century publishing monopolies to today’s clashes between Big Tech, libraries, and the entertainment industry, this conversation reveals how history can illuminate the future of intellectual property in a digital world.Gra
Future Knowledge | Podcast Trailer
Launching in June 2025, Future Knowledge explores the intersection of technology, culture, and information policy with leading authors, scholars, and experts. From copyright and open access to AI and digital preservation, we discuss the big issues shaping knowledge and creativity in the digital age. This podcast is brought to you by the Internet Archive and Authors Alliance.
