Blake Dowling, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Blake DowlingJune 2, 2018

Technology can be your best friend and your worst enemy. Have you ever “replied all” to an email when you meant to reply just to the person who sent it to you? Has your phone ever pocket dialed your high-school sweetheart or the FBI? The “oops factor” in tech is always looming, so make sure […]

Blake DowlingMay 19, 2018

Net neutrality is back in the news. There are 2 sides to the issue and everyone is weighing in. Except for the guy from now shall be known as “Shopping Center Man,” found at the 59-second mark of this WCTV News segment from Thursday night in Tallahassee. When asked what is net neutrality, he says […]

Blake DowlingMay 12, 2018

Last night, I was watching a Celtics game. Late in the half, during a timeout, there were back-to-back commercials — each a message of apology. Wells Fargo was very sorry they created millions of fake accounts to cook the books; Facebook is very sorry about, I guess, lots of things. Wells Fargo’s message was pretty […]

Blake DowlingMay 5, 2018

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has been a vocal advocate and champion for the victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Last year in our state, a Coral Cables man was arrested for human trafficking. The headlines are all over the state — from Miami, to Boca to Tallahassee … One common element in many […]

Blake DowlingApril 28, 2018

Last week, I had an opportunity to visit Pebble Beach outside Carmel, California. As I basked in the glory of the extraordinary West Coast scenery, I just couldn’t stop thinking about Cambridge Analytica and its micro-targeting techniques, as well as the disruptive and deceptive Internet Research Agency and the trail of havoc and misinformation created […]

Blake DowlingApril 14, 2018

Do you use Facebook for your business, lobbying firm, campaign for not running for Mayor or just personal use? If so, read on. Have you seen an endless stream of news about the social media site? Such issues as pay-to-play for who sees what posts, ad prices going way up, millions of users data lost […]

Blake DowlingMarch 31, 2018

Atlanta’s situation is grim. What happens when your local government’s technology is crippled? Nothing good. In the blink of an eye, it can happen to your business, association, or administration. A click on the wrong email, and you better get out the jelly, because you are toast. City employees were told to turn off their […]

Blake DowlingMarch 24, 2018

Legislation, innovation and deployment of autonomous vehicles hit a significant roadblock this week. A very tragic incident in Arizona involving a self-driving Uber vehicle and a pedestrian killed the pedestrian. The goal of self-driving vehicles is to make our lives easier and roads safer. Self-driving cars do not get drunk or speed, so the 40,000 […]

Blake DowlingMarch 20, 2018

Have you heard of Cambridge Analytica or psychometrics? I weighed in on the topic in 2017 after the election. Psychometrics follows online traits and data collection from social media versus old-school methods of gathering information like a questionnaire. The goal of gathering this info is to develop predictive models of behavior so that you might […]

Blake DowlingMarch 10, 2018

Last week, I took to the road and Friday afternoon had me in Gainesville meeting with the Florida School Boards Association and NEOLA, where I attended a policy seminar on critical technology issues hosted by the Alachua County School District. It was a great chance for the audience to hear from experts on social media, […]

Blake Dowling

Blake Dowling: Oops

Blake Dowling: Net neutrality redux

Blake Dowling: All apologies

Blake Dowling: Backpage and the fight against human trafficking

Blake Dowling: Latest in political campaign tech

Blake Dowling: Where does Facebook go now?

Blake Dowling: Ransomware cripples city

Blake Dowling: After Uber tragedy, safety is job one for self-driving cars

Blake Dowling: Facebook’s brand takes another beating

Blake Dowling: Internet safety, social media and schools