#digital-privacy
33 episodes
#3853: When Your Name Belongs to Someone Famous
What happens when your name is algorithmically hijacked by a famous or infamous stranger?
#3834: How Celebrities Hide Their Phone Numbers
The three-layer system of tech, legal, and social defenses that keeps celebrity phone numbers private.
#3692: Authorization Holds vs. Actual Charges: How to Tell
Pending transactions look like charges but aren't. Learn the three structural tells that reveal the difference.
#3651: What Happened to the Baby Health Vault App?
A parent wants a secure way to store medical photos of their child. No app does this well.
#3216: EFF's 36-Year Fight for Digital Rights
How the Electronic Frontier Foundation has fought for internet freedom since 1990 — from the Crypto Wars to border phone searches.
#2878: How China Controls Foreign Critics and Domestic Media
China blocks foreign critics at the border while running a sophisticated domestic media control system. Here's how both work.
#2398: Your Taste, Your Data: Owning Your AI Preferences
Why can’t you describe your perfect movie—but you’d know it if you saw it? A vision for portable, user-owned AI taste profiles.
#2383: The Blame Gap: Public Anger vs. Breach Reality
How much blame do companies deserve for data breaches? The answer isn't as simple as you think.
#2373: How Facial Recognition Maps Your Face—And Your Rights
The same AI that organizes your photos can track you in a crowd. How does facial recognition work—and why is it so hard to evade?
#2292: Inside the Walled Garden: China's Parallel Internet
Explore China’s parallel internet ecosystem—how the Great Firewall works, the apps that dominate it, and the surprising innovations it fosters.
#2045: Anonymity Isn't the Problem, The Architecture Is
Why does Reddit amplify toxicity while other anonymous spaces stay healthy? It's not the mask—it's the room's shape.
#2042: Gifted, Stigmatized, and Seeking Real Community
Why do online communities for the gifted become toxic, and how can you find real-world connections?
#1841: Async Work: Freedom or Digital Surveillance?
Is async work the key to productivity or a trap for total surveillance? We break down the promises and perils of the modern workday.
#1815: Escaping Chrome's Golden Cage: Vivaldi, Brave, Arc & Opera
Google Chrome dominates at 65% market share, but Manifest V3 is breaking ad blockers. Here's how Vivaldi, Brave, Arc, and Opera offer a way out.
#1796: The Encryption Mirage: Are Your Keys Really Safe?
End-to-end encryption promises privacy, but hidden backdoors and metadata leaks can betray your trust.
#1780: The Danger Zone: Your Browser Extensions
Your encrypted data is safe until it hits your browser. Here's how extensions turn your "secure" browsing into a data leak.
#1776: The Sync Trap: Why Your Backup Isn't Safe
Is your backup strategy a responsible habit or a full-blown compulsion? We explore the thin line between data safety and digital hoarding.
#1775: Why Some Cultures Guard Privacy and Others Share Everything
We explore why privacy feels like a human right to some cultures but a modern luxury to others.
#1772: PGP vs. Gmail: Who Really Holds Your Keys?
You see a padlock icon and think your email is safe. But does end-to-end encryption actually protect you, or just create a false sense of security?
#1721: AI Doxxing: Why Your Writing Style Is a Liability
AI tools now identify anonymous users by analyzing their unique writing patterns, making traditional privacy measures less effective.
#1695: Why Your Raspberry Pi Can’t Stream Netflix in 4K
Netflix streams 4K on your Fire Stick but only 480p on a Raspberry Pi. Here’s the hidden hardware tax blocking your media center.
#1676: The State's Spiritual Filter: Controlling Faith in China
China is officially atheist, but 100 million people practice Christianity in secret. Discover the five state-approved faiths and the shadow network...
#1179: The Stewardship of Childhood: Navigating COPPA and Cognitive Architecture
Think writing for kids is easy? Discover why stripping a story to its foundations is the hardest technical challenge a writer can face.
#1164: The Triple Homicide of the Soul: The Ethics of Gossip
Explore why the truth can be a weapon and how ancient Jewish wisdom treats gossip as a "triple homicide" of the soul.