This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro

Ohio lawmakers made it very clear they wanted to protect children from online harms back in 2023, when they passed a law mandating that minors under the age of 16 could not use social media unless they obtained parental consent.

But just one month after the new law went into effect in 2024; a big tech advocacy group called NetChoice went to federal court and obtained a preliminary injunction keeping the law from going into effect, because, they argued; it violated children’s First Amendment right to free speech, guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Then, in 2025, a federal judge made that preliminary injunction permanent, barring it from going into effect–until now.

That’s because the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that NetChoice not only had no legal standing in the case, but also, that the companies they were representing were actually harming the children whose free speech they were purportedly trying to protect.

But will this new law actually do anything to really protect children from online threats associated with social media including cyberbullying, sexual predators, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and more?

To find out, and to explore some of complex legal issues surrounding the case; we talked with University of Akron Associate Law Professor, Jess Miers. Her professional background includes working in the tech industry, and she teaches classes on technology-related legal issues.

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Biography
Jess Miers is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Akron School of Law. A lawyer and technologist, Jess focuses on the intersection of law and technology, with recent research and scholarship centered on Generative AI. Jess is recognized as an expert in U.S. online intermediary liability law and has extensively written, spoken, and taught on issues such as online speech and Section 230, content moderation, intellectual property, and cybercrime.

Previously, Jess served as Senior Counsel and Senior Copyright Counsel for Chamber of Progress, a progressive tech trade association based in Washington, D.C., where, among many things, she helped build and lead the organization's recent AI initiative, "Generate and Create." During her time at Chamber of Progress, Jess authored numerous appellate amicus briefs, including a brief in the recent Supreme Court cases NetChoice & CCIA v. Moody & Paxton. Before joining Chamber of Progress, Jess was a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst at Google, where she oversaw state and federal content policy portfolios and collaborated with litigation teams on key online speech issues currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jess earned her Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2021, where she also received the Tech Edge J.D. Certificate. She holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from George Mason University and previously worked as a Software Engineer in Northern Virginia. Throughout her legal education, Jess worked at various organizations, including Twitter, TechFreedom, The UCLA Technology Law and Policy Institute, and Google, cultivating a deep expertise in Internet law and policy.

This week, we’re looking at the profound impact that technology is having on all of our lives; sometimes, in very unexpected ways.

From a social media ban for children under 16 in the UK, to President Trump’s order aimed at keeping foreign nationals from having access too Anthropic’s newest and most powerful AI models; we’re once again talking about people all over the globe are trying to grapple with tech forces seemingly beyond anyone’s control–including the people who make it.

We’ll also take a look at the surprising way both parents and children are using tracking apps, and some personal reflections on how using AI can both enrich and imperil our lives.

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I was inspired to write this story by the tumultuous events at CBS News last week, which resulted in the high profile firings of several key members of the 60 Minutes staff, including longtime correspondent, Scott Pelley.

The internal intrigue spilled out onto the world stage, when details leaked about the fiery staff meeting in which Pelley told his new boss that he wasn't qualified to run their team. Then, he did a lengthy podcast interview with the New York Times, in which he disputed the network's side of things, while spilling the tea and a whole ocean of emotions, about why this was such a shock, loss, and source of immense sadness.

Now, you can debate all day long about whether or not somebody who openly confronts their boss in a staff meeting has any right to quibble about what happens next, but what is undeniable; is that whenever you lose a job that you really love, or even hate but need to pay the rent; it will massively disrupt your life, least for awhile–and maybe longer–if you're not lucky.

But what if it isn't about luck at all?  What if happens by design, as we are seeing with big tech companies pushing business and government to replace human workers with AI?

What if the kinds of mass layoffs that have become commonplace in the tech industry over the past 18 months become commonplace enough in other business sectors to destabilize society, and tank the economy?

So, that's where today’s special guest, Time Worthy Media Founder, and Tech Journalist, Ian Sherr, comes in. 

He is both well-qualified, and uniquely positioned to offer insight on how industrial revolutions have affected society in the past, and how this new one might play out in the future. He also has some personal skin in the game, as one of his most recent gigs was with CBS News Radio, which  ceased to exist a couple of weeks ago, after the very same management team that fired Scott Pelley, shut down the company’s entire radio news division, which had been in operation for nearly 100 years.

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This week's story is about the interconnected web of global technology and energy production, disruption, and politics.

But more than that; it is about how Ohioans are caught up in that web, pushing back against it, trying to navigate it, and worrying about how it is affecting their everyday lives.

Listen now to hear about how the lack of oil flowing from the Middle East because of the war with Iran, is affecting Ohioans with higher gas prices, and the possibility that if state and federal politicians decide to enact "gas tax holidays"; that could mean less money for much needed bridge repairs in Ohio.

You'll also hear about a public hearing in the Ohio House which gave citizens the chance to speak out on what they believe will be the damaging effects of big data centers that power AI, how FirstEnergy is asking state regulators to approve rate increases over the next three years, and how they are already planning for a vast increase in the number of data centers in Ohio over the next decade.

But Ohioans are not only concerned about energy-guzzling data centers.

They are also worried about thousands of acres of farmland being turned into huge solar farms, as evidenced by a new decision this week from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Wind energy is also an issue both nationwide and in Ohio, and we'll show how federal government policy and funding priorities has pulled the plug on what over the past couple of decades had begun to look like a promising new way to provide clean energy in Northeast Ohio and more recently,  along the East Coast.

When you connect the dots; what you will see is that all the technological, political, and cultural developments you hear about every day  in the national news, actually are making a huge difference in the everyday lives of people who live very close to home.

Listen now to find out how individuals, communities, and groups, are trying to adapt to, fight, change, or at least in some way have an effect on massive pressure brought to bear by big government, big technology, and big energy trends.

You can dress them up, you can dress them down, and you can use them anywhere.

Drones are technology's new little black dress; delivering everything from bombs, to life-saving medicine,  and this week we're going to talk to some experts from Northeast Ohio who are helping train the students who will be the backbone of tomorrow's professional drone workforce.

Our featured guests are Dr. Manigandan "Mani" Kannan, who is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Akron, and Kent State University Assistant Aeronautics Professor, Jason Lorenzon.

Kannan, who is the Advisor for the U-A drone team, tells us they won second place two years in a row, in a prestigious national competition, beating out a number of much bigger, and more well-funded schools.

Lorenzon, who is also an Attorney, wrote the book, "Drone Law: The Past Present And The Future", a few years ago, on the laws that regulate how drones can be used in the United States, which he is the process of revising as both drone technology and public policy related to it, evolve.

Listen now as we set the stage with stories about how little drones are making a big difference in major military conflicts around the world, as well as helping to save lives here in the United States.