Better Tech: Putting People First in Cyberspace

How to fix the tech we depend on to empower, rather than endanger, the people who use it.

From an award-winning pioneer in data infrastructure and leader in tech policy, lauded by the Library of Congress, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Newsweek.

Technology powers our world. But we often give it the upper hand, treating tech solutions as right by default and accepting online risk as the price we have to pay. Rampant security breaches, unwanted surveillance, predators, and misinformation are just a normal part of cyberspace. But what if tech was designed and managed to empower and protect the people who use it? In Better Tech, Francine Berman explores this question and argues that for society to advance and humanity to thrive, technology must put people first.


Berman focuses on the riskiest and most essential technologies—social media, AI chatbots, search engines—all of which serve as digital critical infrastructure. She argues that the risk-mitigation strategies for critical infrastructure like roads, bridges, food systems, and the electrical grid can also be used for cyberspace because we should be able to expect that our technology is similarly safe, dependable, and trustworthy. Better Tech goes beyond identifying the problems of technology and provides an actionable playbook of responsible design, development, use, and regulatory strategies that can be used by everyone from policymakers to students and general readers to reduce technology’s risks and advance the public good.

Francine Berman is Director of Public Interest Technology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.