# Personal Democracy Forum NYC: Regulating with Data

By [The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman](https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman) · 2016-06-21

pdf, pdf16, policy, regulation-2-0, talks-decks-graphics

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At this year's [Personal Democracy Forum](http://go.personaldemocracy.com/), the theme was "[the tech we need](http://civichall.org/civicist/pdf16-the-tech-we-need/)". One of the areas I've been focused on here is the need for "regulatory tech".  In other words, tools & services to help broker the individual / government & corporation / regulator relationship. In a nutshell: we are entering [the information age](http://worldaftercapital.org/), and as such our fundamental models for accomplishing our goals are changing.  In the case of regulation, that means a shift from the industrial, permission-based model to the internet-native, accountability based model.  This is an issue I've written about [many many times](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22regulation+2.0%22+site%3Anickgrossman.xyz&ia=web) before. In order for this transition to happen, we need some new foundational technologies: specifically, tools and services that broker the data sharing relationship between government and the private sector.  These can be vertical services (such as [Airmap](http://airmap.com) for drones), or horizontal tools (such as [Enigma](http://enigma.media.mit.edu)). You can see the video of the talk (10min) here: And the slides are here: The timing is apropos because here in New York State, the senate & assembly just passed a bill [banning advertising for short-term apartment rentals](https://skift.com/2016/06/17/airbnb-loses-political-battle-in-new-york-as-legislature-passes-advertising-law/).  This is a very very coarse approach, that declines to regulate using an accountability-based model rather than a permission-based model.  Now of course, this particular issue has been fraught for a long time, including [claims that Airbnb manipulated the data](http://fortune.com/2016/02/11/airbnb-listings-research-data/) it shared with NYS regulators.  But that situation is in fact a perfect example of the need for better tools & techniques for brokering a data-based regulatory relationship.

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*Originally published on [The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman](https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman/personal-democracy-forum-nyc-regulating-with-data)*