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Aftermath of a Data Breach Dec 26, 2018

Show notes

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus will talk reader mail! The hosts take a look at some of your questions and comments from the year, in particular about how your relationship to technology and social media has changed in a year that has been tumultuous for tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Then, they’ll talk about cybersecurity, hacks, and the sometimes bizarre legal battles that ensue after a big data theft. They’re be joined by Josephine Wolff, a professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology and the author of “You'll see this message when it is too late: The Legal and Economic Aftermath of Cybersecurity Breaches.” They’ll talk to her about some of the most significant breaches in the last decade, how those companies holding that information have been held accountable, and what it means for the everyday user who just wants to shop at Target.

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

If Then plugs:

You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.

If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

This episode is brought to you by Merrill Lynch. Get started today at ML.com/you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Information World War Dec 19, 2018

Show notes

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus will talk about how Taylor Swift used face recognition to surveil the crowd at a recent concert, and whether that’s smart, scary, or both.

Then they’ll welcome Renée DiResta, an expert on cybersecurity and online misinformation. DiResta is the lead author of a new report to the Senate Intelligence Committee on exactly how Russian operatives weaponized social media in the 2016 election, and why it may be just the beginning of a new era of global information warfare.

6:45 - Interview with Renée DiResta26:09 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

Logic: My Stepdad's Huge Dataset

The Pudding: Population Mountains

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

If Then plugs:

Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Warehouse Workers Bring Amazon To The Table Dec 12, 2018

Show notes

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss the latest round of “Tech CEO Goes to Washington.” On Tuesday morning, that CEO was Google’s Sundar Pichai, who appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and was asked about data privacy, location tracking, Google’s plans in China, and of course, Republicans’ favorite tech topic: conservative bias. We’ll talk about what we learned from this hearing as well as what we wish Congress might’ve asked the Google CEO.

Then April speaks with two people who have been working to organize workers in Amazon fulfilment centers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. One is a founder with Awood, Nimo Omar. She’s been organizing with the primarily East African communities that work in the Amazon warehouses on a campaign to collectively advocate for better working conditions.

We’ll also be joined by a worker at one of those Amazon fulfillment centers in the Minneapolis area, WIlliam Stolz. We’ll ask him about his job at the warehouse and why he’s joining his fellow workers in organizing for change for change at the fulfillment centers.

15:45 - Interview with Nimo Omar & William Stolz

37:13 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

Pew Research: Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source

The Baffler: Streambait Pop

Slate: Roma Is the Culmination of Everything Alfonso Cuarón Has Ever Done

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

If Then plugs:

Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're in the New York Times Dec 09, 2018

Show notes

No big deal.

Did you see What Next mentioned in the New York Times? We'll be back with more shows in January.

Until then, these are some of our favorite episodes:

The Gun-Owning Doctors Changing the Gun Debate, Nov. 15th

Sins of the Fathers, Nov. 14th

The Wildfires to Come, Nov. 13th

Talk to you soon.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Civil Rights Group Targeted By Facebook Dec 05, 2018

Show notes

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss the news that Tumblr will soon be banning all adult content on its site -- this in response to some instances of child pornography that got it suspended from Apple’s App Store. Hundreds of thousands of Tumblr users are upset, and the plan appears to be backfiring.

Then we’re excited to bring you a pair of interviews today, with two people who have emerged as leading critics of Facebook—one from the outside, and one from within, right before he left the company. We’ll talk first with former Facebook employee Mark S. Luckie about what he calls Facebook’s “black people problem.” Those words came from a memo that he wrote shortly before leaving the company last month, and which he published to the world after he left.

Then we’ll talk with someone who’s been thinking through problems at Facebook for many years--and recently discovered that his organization was also a target of the company’s controversial “opposition research” PR campaign. Rashad Robinson is the president of Color of Change, a progressive civil rights group that was among several nonprofits Facebook tried to discredit by highlighting their ties to the liberal financier George Soros. In the wake of that story, Robinson met last week with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

8:15 - Interview with Mark Luckie

16:00 - Interview with Rashad Robinson

35:20 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

The New York Times: Philippine Journalist, a Thorn to Duterte, Turns Herself In to Face Charges

Twitter: Natasha Vianna

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

If Then plugs:

Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tomorrow's Children, Edited. Nov 28, 2018

Show notes

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss the ongoing fallout at Facebook over the company’s decision to hire a conservative PR firm to surface opposition research in order to attack Facebook’s nonprofit critics by highlighting their funding ties to the liberal financier George Soros, playing into an untrue and anti-Semitic popular right wing trope. As internal and external turmoil continues to rile major American technology companies, their employee are organizing for serious change. Hosts dig into what that’s accomplished so far and what continued employee pressure and mounting labor actions means down the line.

Then, an interview with Antonio Regalado, a senior editor at the MIT Technology Review, on a story he broke Sunday night: the very first gene-edited babies were born this month in China. The trio discuss the history of gene-editing technology and the debate about using it on humans. To some, gene-editing is a form of medicine, like a vaccination. To others, it’s a form of enhancement. How easy is this to do? And will we have a future where the health of tomorrow’s children, or those whose parents can afford it, will be determined before their children are even born?

14:13 - Interview with Antonio Regalado32:02 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

The New Yorker: Exploding Mojitos: The First “Sonic Attacks” Targeting American Diplomats in Cuba May Have Taken Place Thirty Years Ago

The New York Times: A Business with No End

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

If Then plugs:

Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facebook's Former Security Chief on What Went Wrong Nov 21, 2018

Show notes

On today’s show, host Will Oremus will discuss the fallout from last week’s New York Times expose about Facebook with the company’s former Security Chief Alex Stamos.

The Times story was headlined “Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Leaned Out in Crisis.” Stamos has been at the center of this story both as a critic and an advocate. The story has revolved partly around reports that Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg stifled or downplayed his revelations that their platform was still not free from Russian meddling months after the 2016 election. We’ll get his side of the story, as well as his perspective on Facebook’s missteps, and what he thinks the public and the media get wrong about the company. We’ll also talk about what some solutions to its problems might look like, including, potentially, government regulations.

2:15 - Interview with Alex Stamos37:53 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

Slate: Trapped in the Fire Zone

The New York Times: Are You Sitting Down? Standing Desks Are Overrated.

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

If Then plugs:

Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeff Flake Takes Another Stand Nov 17, 2018

Show notes

Sen. Jeff Flake is demanding legislation to protect the Mueller probe. High-profile conservatives are peeling off from the Federalist Society to stand up to the Trump administration. Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick explains why she thinks this is a pivotal moment for the Trump administration and its discontents.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Gun Owning Doctors Changing the Gun Debate Nov 16, 2018

Show notes

This week doctors from all over America took to social media with the hashtag #ThisIsMyLane (or #ThisIsOurLane). They sent pictures of themselves in blood-drenched scrubs and shared stories of treating victims of gun violence. Much of this was in response to the NRA after a tweet they sent last Wednesday.

Today on the show we talk to Dr. Brendan Campbell – a pediatric surgeon at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, CT. He has treated victims of gun violence for more than a decade. This week, he and his fellow colleagues released a new paper in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons recommending new ways to think about gun safety. Not only as doctors who have seen the damage that a gun can do, but because they own guns themselves.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sins of the Fathers Nov 14, 2018

Show notes

Survivors of Catholic clergy sexual abuse have gone after the church in a piecemeal fashion. But the Roman Catholic Church’s cover-up of child sexual abuse goes back decades, and experts say it reaches the upper echelons of church leadership. What would it take to go after the Vatican? We talk to someone who’s tried it: Marci Hamilton, a professor and founder of Child USA.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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