This week Oliver interviews journalist David Zipper about the quietlybrewing war over mobility data that is being played out between cities andshared micromobility operators.David is a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a Partner in the1776 Venture Fund, where he oversees investments in smart cities andmobility ventures. Following his tenure as director of NYC BusinessSolutions in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration in New York City heserved as director of Business Development and Strategy for two mayors inWashington, D.C.David has written a number of articles in Slate, Fast Company and TheAtlantic covering, among other things, the rise of the Mobility DataSpecification which we see as one of the building blocks to superchargemicromobility’s growth, and underpin the future operating systems formobility in our cities.In this episode, we dig into:- What is the Mobility Data Specifications, and why are they significant?- Who are the major players arguing for or against MDS?- What are the implications of widespread adoption of standards in thisspace?- What will happen in the event of the preemption bill AB1112 passing inthe California Senate, stripping cities of the right to collect the datathat MDS provides, including the city that is leading the development of it.It’s a fascinating conversation about the politics playing out at the localand state levels as cities build new solutions. For a more detailed read,check out the article from Slate that David wrote:https://slate.com/business/2019/04/scooter-data-cities-mds-uber-lyft-los-angeles.htmlUnfortunately the good quality audio on David’s side got cut off around the30 minute mark, so we default to the Skype recording.As always, let us know what you think on Twitter: @oliverbruce or@davidzipper