May 31, 2023 • 8 mins
Doug Kelly discusses the American Edge Project and their mission to close the connectivity divide in the U.S., helping small businesses grow, and teaching users how to protect themselves on the web...
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Step aside here and talk with DougKelly with American Edge Projects, and that
is a coalition dedicated to the propositionthat American innovators are an essential part of
US economic health. Doug, welcome, good to have you on board.
Hey, thanks for having today.I appreciate it. He Hey, no
worries. So I think the originalpremise when I saw this, was about
(00:24):
protecting ourselves from hostile invaders of say, our Internet opportunities, and hackers and
all these other people can shut downthings, and obviously this would be disruptive
to everybody, not just the innovatorsin the world. Right. Amen,
Look, you know technology isn't justanother sector of the economy, right,
(00:47):
It's the very backbone of our nationalsecurity, of our economic prosperity, and
even the advancement of our values likefree speech and free expression. And the
US is in the neck and neckbattle with China for global technology leadership,
and it really matters which country winsthe future terry because look, at the
end of the day, China's viewof technology is it should be closed,
(01:10):
censoring, and used for control,and that's not America's view. Our view
is that the Internet should be free, open, accessible, and help bring
out the very best in people.I noticed like the disparity in the way
TikTok is administered here in America versusin China. You know, here,
obviously we know what TikTok can beused for nefarious reasons, but in China,
(01:32):
they maintain a tight hold on whattheir people are allowed to do and
utilize that. That's just one example. Yeah, you bring up a good
point there. You know, Chinahas a three part plan to take the
technology leadership edge from us. Andfirst, they're literally investing trillions of dollars
in building the advanced technology in thefuture. Right, so they're like,
(01:55):
let's build it here. But whatthey can't build, they steal from us.
About five hundred billion dollars a year. We lose each year in technology
to China, which has a veryactive government sponsored hacking effort. And the
third part of that plan is tomake the world more dependent on Chinese technology
because it gives a leverage power andcontrol. And look, we don't begrudge
(02:20):
the Chinese people at all, Right, it's the government that is the problem
in China. They're the ones thatare driving that train there. And so
our organization really tries to raise awarenessof everybody about the importance of accelerating American
innovation, about the importance of kindof pushing back against China's digital authoritarianism and
making sure that when it comes tobuilding the critical strategic technology in the future,
(02:46):
things like artificial intelligence, quantum computingfive and sixty, that they are
built here, that our supply changesare here, and that we're never dependent
on China or any other authoritarian governmentfor those critical services. Has this five
G pushback in certain areas like theywere talking about around airports for instance,
(03:07):
Has that limited America's in terms ofinnovation opportunity? No, But I'll tell
you what has is, you know, we get to each state is really
kind of addressing and aggressively trying toeliminate the digital divide. Right. I'm
from a rural part of the Michiganheck didn't we didn't get basic cable out
(03:29):
there for a long time, right, And there's other parts of states that
are really struggling with this digital divideof like they don't have really strong,
strong and fast connectivity. And whathappens then is kids can't do any type
of remote learning if they have thatsituation. Uh. Secondly, it's hard
to start a business when you don'thave really good, reliable connectivity, and
(03:51):
a lot of these rural areas,that's what these folks need to be able
to do, is to develop abusiness quickly and easily because they've got great
products that they make, but they'vegot to be able to get enought to
markets in flying new sources of revenuefrom you know, different spots across the
country. And so we want tomake sure that that digital divide and that
connectivity gap it's closed here because that'sreally what powers America's small businesses. It
(04:16):
hurts us here in this Commonwealth too. In the eastern part of this state.
There's been arguing over the distribution ofbroadband and so many other technological issues
over the last thirty years that westill haven't closed that divide here. So
we're we're well aware of the painof that situation and the drag that it
(04:38):
puts on a certain segment of thecommunity of all by just not having the
access. Well, and it's notfair, right, I mean, it's
a fundamental issue of fairness. Right. America is only as good is the
talent that we get on the field. Right, So if we're not able
(04:58):
to get. If we're not ableto get the town on the field from
the rural parts of our state's easternpart of Kentucky, then we're not going
to be able to thrive and beall that we can be is a nation.
And at the end of the day, there's three hundred and sixty thousand
small businesses in Kentucky, many ofthem in spots that you're talking about there.
They're dependent on the Internet to makesure they can find new markets to
(05:20):
get their products to customers. Andwe got to make sure that we're investing
in those areas so that we canreally become the country that we know we
can be. But right now,because we have gaps, we're not able
to hit it. You feel likewe are ahead of the hackers. The
people are always trying to take downthings, and I mean, I know
(05:41):
there's a hospital chain here locally therewas held hostage for some time recently where
they were talking about getting in,you know, clawing out employee records and
patient records. And I mean,are we as America behind on this defense
shield of fending off these attackers?Yeah? Yeah, Well, I'll tell
(06:02):
you our America's biggest tech companies arethe leaders in protecting us from those things.
Right, they develop a lot ofreally cool, sophisticated tools, But
at the end of the day,the bad guys are really innovative as well.
And so you know, we allhave a share in making sure that
we have terrific cybersecurity, that we'rebeing smart about which emails we open and
(06:24):
which ones we don't, and ifsomething seems to be too good to be
true, well it probably is.And so yeah, we're it's it's always
kind of a cat and mouse gamewith that carry but yeah, we're ahead.
But boy, there's sometimes when thisransomware happens that it really undermines what
we're what we're able to do.Is a country, what do you see
(06:46):
in the next couple of years interms of innovation digital innovation? Well,
like I said, we're in aneck and neck battle of China. Everybody
in this country's got a stake init, and it matters which country builds
a future. So I know youguys are really listened to by lawmakers there.
So I want to encourage your listenersto pick up the phone and call
(07:09):
the lawmaker and say, listen,you gotta stand up for American technology because
the technology of the future, artisticialintelligence, quantum computing. America has to
build those here, and we can'tlose that race to China. Because we
do, it's not only going tohurt our national security, arry it's also
going to surrender our economic prosperity becauseat the end of the day, these
(07:31):
technologies are gonna be worth trillions ofdollars. Does America want to sell those
of the world or do we wantto let China sell them to the world,
Like I know, eich side,I'm on yeah, And so we
need lawmakers to make smart policies thatinvest in America and don't punish American innovators
or do things that inadvertently help China'sagenda become the technology leader, like you
(07:58):
know, like I'm for Michigan,right, I said, And we American
manufacturing used to be the envy ofthe world. Short sighted policies undermine that
manufacturing and shift their edge over toChina, and we're not. We haven't
got that back yet. And soright now I see the same thing happening
with technology. You know, We'vebeen a long time leader. China is
(08:18):
doing everything it can to make thegains, but we have to avoid wrongheaded,
short term policies that undermine what we'reable to achieve here in technology,
and unfortunately, you know some inWashington, some of the states are talking
about doing things just like that.Doug Kelly, appreciate your insights and people
(08:39):
can find your group at American EdgeProject dot org. Thanks for the insight,
appreciate it. Hey, thanks somuch for having me take care of
all right, Doug Kelly
Step aside here and talk with DougKelly with American Edge Projects, and that
is a coalition dedicated to the propositionthat American innovators are an essential part of
US economic health. Doug, welcome, good to have you on board.
Hey, thanks for having today.I appreciate it. He Hey, no
worries. So I think the originalpremise when I saw this, was about
(00:24):
protecting ourselves from hostile invaders of say, our Internet opportunities, and hackers and
all these other people can shut downthings, and obviously this would be disruptive
to everybody, not just the innovatorsin the world. Right. Amen,
Look, you know technology isn't justanother sector of the economy, right,
(00:47):
It's the very backbone of our nationalsecurity, of our economic prosperity, and
even the advancement of our values likefree speech and free expression. And the
US is in the neck and neckbattle with China for global technology leadership,
and it really matters which country winsthe future terry because look, at the
end of the day, China's viewof technology is it should be closed,
(01:10):
censoring, and used for control,and that's not America's view. Our view
is that the Internet should be free, open, accessible, and help bring
out the very best in people.I noticed like the disparity in the way
TikTok is administered here in America versusin China. You know, here,
obviously we know what TikTok can beused for nefarious reasons, but in China,
(01:32):
they maintain a tight hold on whattheir people are allowed to do and
utilize that. That's just one example. Yeah, you bring up a good
point there. You know, Chinahas a three part plan to take the
technology leadership edge from us. Andfirst, they're literally investing trillions of dollars
in building the advanced technology in thefuture. Right, so they're like,
(01:55):
let's build it here. But whatthey can't build, they steal from us.
About five hundred billion dollars a year. We lose each year in technology
to China, which has a veryactive government sponsored hacking effort. And the
third part of that plan is tomake the world more dependent on Chinese technology
because it gives a leverage power andcontrol. And look, we don't begrudge
(02:20):
the Chinese people at all, Right, it's the government that is the problem
in China. They're the ones thatare driving that train there. And so
our organization really tries to raise awarenessof everybody about the importance of accelerating American
innovation, about the importance of kindof pushing back against China's digital authoritarianism and
making sure that when it comes tobuilding the critical strategic technology in the future,
(02:46):
things like artificial intelligence, quantum computingfive and sixty, that they are
built here, that our supply changesare here, and that we're never dependent
on China or any other authoritarian governmentfor those critical services. Has this five
G pushback in certain areas like theywere talking about around airports for instance,
(03:07):
Has that limited America's in terms ofinnovation opportunity? No, But I'll tell
you what has is, you know, we get to each state is really
kind of addressing and aggressively trying toeliminate the digital divide. Right. I'm
from a rural part of the Michiganheck didn't we didn't get basic cable out
(03:29):
there for a long time, right, And there's other parts of states that
are really struggling with this digital divideof like they don't have really strong,
strong and fast connectivity. And whathappens then is kids can't do any type
of remote learning if they have thatsituation. Uh. Secondly, it's hard
to start a business when you don'thave really good, reliable connectivity, and
(03:51):
a lot of these rural areas,that's what these folks need to be able
to do, is to develop abusiness quickly and easily because they've got great
products that they make, but they'vegot to be able to get enought to
markets in flying new sources of revenuefrom you know, different spots across the
country. And so we want tomake sure that that digital divide and that
connectivity gap it's closed here because that'sreally what powers America's small businesses. It
(04:16):
hurts us here in this Commonwealth too. In the eastern part of this state.
There's been arguing over the distribution ofbroadband and so many other technological issues
over the last thirty years that westill haven't closed that divide here. So
we're we're well aware of the painof that situation and the drag that it
(04:38):
puts on a certain segment of thecommunity of all by just not having the
access. Well, and it's notfair, right, I mean, it's
a fundamental issue of fairness. Right. America is only as good is the
talent that we get on the field. Right, So if we're not able
(04:58):
to get. If we're not ableto get the town on the field from
the rural parts of our state's easternpart of Kentucky, then we're not going
to be able to thrive and beall that we can be is a nation.
And at the end of the day, there's three hundred and sixty thousand
small businesses in Kentucky, many ofthem in spots that you're talking about there.
They're dependent on the Internet to makesure they can find new markets to
(05:20):
get their products to customers. Andwe got to make sure that we're investing
in those areas so that we canreally become the country that we know we
can be. But right now,because we have gaps, we're not able
to hit it. You feel likewe are ahead of the hackers. The
people are always trying to take downthings, and I mean, I know
(05:41):
there's a hospital chain here locally therewas held hostage for some time recently where
they were talking about getting in,you know, clawing out employee records and
patient records. And I mean,are we as America behind on this defense
shield of fending off these attackers?Yeah? Yeah, Well, I'll tell
(06:02):
you our America's biggest tech companies arethe leaders in protecting us from those things.
Right, they develop a lot ofreally cool, sophisticated tools, But
at the end of the day,the bad guys are really innovative as well.
And so you know, we allhave a share in making sure that
we have terrific cybersecurity, that we'rebeing smart about which emails we open and
(06:24):
which ones we don't, and ifsomething seems to be too good to be
true, well it probably is.And so yeah, we're it's it's always
kind of a cat and mouse gamewith that carry but yeah, we're ahead.
But boy, there's sometimes when thisransomware happens that it really undermines what
we're what we're able to do.Is a country, what do you see
(06:46):
in the next couple of years interms of innovation digital innovation? Well,
like I said, we're in aneck and neck battle of China. Everybody
in this country's got a stake init, and it matters which country builds
a future. So I know youguys are really listened to by lawmakers there.
So I want to encourage your listenersto pick up the phone and call
(07:09):
the lawmaker and say, listen,you gotta stand up for American technology because
the technology of the future, artisticialintelligence, quantum computing. America has to
build those here, and we can'tlose that race to China. Because we
do, it's not only going tohurt our national security, arry it's also
going to surrender our economic prosperity becauseat the end of the day, these
(07:31):
technologies are gonna be worth trillions ofdollars. Does America want to sell those
of the world or do we wantto let China sell them to the world,
Like I know, eich side,I'm on yeah, And so we
need lawmakers to make smart policies thatinvest in America and don't punish American innovators
or do things that inadvertently help China'sagenda become the technology leader, like you
(07:58):
know, like I'm for Michigan,right, I said, And we American
manufacturing used to be the envy ofthe world. Short sighted policies undermine that
manufacturing and shift their edge over toChina, and we're not. We haven't
got that back yet. And soright now I see the same thing happening
with technology. You know, We'vebeen a long time leader. China is
(08:18):
doing everything it can to make thegains, but we have to avoid wrongheaded,
short term policies that undermine what we'reable to achieve here in technology,
and unfortunately, you know some inWashington, some of the states are talking
about doing things just like that.Doug Kelly, appreciate your insights and people
(08:39):
can find your group at American EdgeProject dot org. Thanks for the insight,
appreciate it. Hey, thanks somuch for having me take care of
all right, Doug Kelly
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