Virtual Library

Our virtual library is an online repository of all of the reports, papers, and briefings that IST has produced, as well as works that have influenced our thinking.

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Podcasts

TechnologIST Talks: Looking Back and Looking Ahead: Deep Dive on the New Cybersecurity Executive Order

Carole House, Megan Stifel, and Steve Kelly

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Podcasts

TechnologIST Talks: The Offense-Defense Balance

Philip Reiner and Heather Adkins

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Reports

The Generative Identity Initiative: Exploring Generative AI’s Impact on Cognition, Society, and the Future

Gabrielle Tran, Eric Davis

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Podcasts

TechnologIST Talks: A Transatlantic Perspective on Quantum Tech

Megan Stifel and Markus Pflitsch

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Podcasts

TechnologIST Talks: The Future is Quantum

Megan Stifel and Stefan Leichenauer

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Reports

Navigating AI Compliance, Part 1: Tracing Failure Patterns in History

Mariami Tkeshelashvili, Tiffany Saade

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Podcasts

TechnologIST Talks: The Cleantech Boom

Steve Kelly and Dr. Alex Gagnon

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We also welcome additional suggestions from readers, and will consider adding further resources as so much of our work has come through crowd-sourced collaboration already. If, for any chance you are an author whose work is listed here and you do not wish it to be listed in our repository, please, let us know.

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Future Digital Threats to Democracy – Trends and Drivers

Vera Zakem, Alexa Wehsener, Nina M. Miller

SUMMARY

As the world has gone increasingly online, digitization has impacted democratic societies and governance structures. Demographic shifts, competing narratives, and technological growth have accelerated globalization, urbanization, wealth displacement, and unprecedented access to information. While this access has given people a voice, increased their freedom of expression, enabled coalition building, and dramatically expanded technological discovery, it has also given rise to digital threats that have impacted the fundamental security and stability of democratic institutions and citizens, including marginalized populations. Based on a comprehensive literature review and conversations with subject matter experts, we have identified nine trends that are likely to pose digital threats to democracy in the future.

This publication aims to identify and define nine driving trends at the intersection of digital systems and democracy. It is part of a broader joint project between the Institute for Security and Technology (IST) and the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) that examines Future Digital Threats to Democracy. A series of two-pagers examining the different trends can be found here.

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