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Nancy Scola

Nancy Scola is a writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in Science Progress, Politics Magazine, AlterNet, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

Recent Articles

Is Net Neutrality Really a Job for the Regulators?

Nancy ScolaOct 27, 2009

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on net neutrality rules that revolve around the idea of “reasonable network management.” Princeton’s Ed Felten points out that this framework would leave regulators with enormous discretion to determine what constitutes permissible manipulation of the Internet by network providers and what would be verboten. Giving the FCC so much leeway has some digital rights advocates nervous.

Getting to the Clean Energy Equivalent of the Internet.

Nancy ScolaOct 27, 2009

There have, in the last few days, been two pilgrimages of high-ranking Washington officials to geek meccas that are worth noting, though only one of them made any real news. President Obama went to MIT to publicly state that denying climate change is now an extremist position. "The naysayers, the folks who would pretend that this is not an issue, they are being marginalized," Obama argued in Cambridge on Friday.

Radio for the People.

Nancy ScolaOct 26, 2009

We've reached the point in our American media evolution where it becomes sensible to ask, (a) where did Glenn Beck come from, and (b) how do we get him to go away? Passed out of the House and headed for a likely floor vote by winter break is community radio legislation that helps explicate the first and suggests an answer to the second. No, not the dread Fairness Doctrine. This is a plan to grow the radio dial, not babysit it.

The One Where I Introduce Myself.

Nancy ScolaOct 26, 2009

Hey and hello there, TAPPED fans. I'm Nancy Scola, and it is my tremendous pleasure to be your guest blogger for the week. Before we can move on to the fun stuff, some background on me. Prior to coming to my senses and embracing the writing life, I spent time working on the hands-on side of politics. A big chunk of it was spent working on Capitol Hill, for this guy. A smaller chunk went toward helping someone figure out whether or not he wanted to be president. He didn't. For the last year and a half, I've found a happy home at Personal Democracy Forum's techPresident, where I'm associate editor.

The Next Diplomatic Cable

Technology helped make Barack Obama president. Can it help Hillary Clinton save the world?

Nancy ScolaJul 23, 2009

"The man who saved Iran" might be the most hyperbolic thing blogged about Jared Cohen this summer, but not by much. The huzzahs that greeted the news that the 28-year-old State Department staffer called on Twitter to delay a service blackout during the height of the Tehran street protests threatened to obscure the true complexity of Foggy Bottom's new, technology-enabled approach to diplomacy. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke of it herself in a commencement speech at Barnard College on May 18. "With social-networking tools that you use every day to tell people you've gone to get a latte or that you're going to be running late," she said, "you can unite your friends through Facebook to fight human trafficking."

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