What the Hack?

Latest Episodes:

Episode 272: You Should Be Unsettled: Meta and Teens Oct 06, 2026

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When she was 12, Ava Smithing's Instagram algorithim led her from bikini ads to eating disorder content. Meta settled for $17 billion recently, but what's actually changed? Not enough. Oh and the new rules mean sharing even more personal information.

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Episode 271: Are You Being Watched? (You Are.) Sep 29, 2026

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Worried about AI? Don't trust Flock Security? You might get on a law enforcement list for that. Investigative reporter Daniel Boguslaw explains Big Tech's push to re-label anti-surveillance camera activists and AI skeptics alike as threats to national security.

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Episode 270: Your Driver's License Can't Prove Who You Are Anymore Sep 22, 2026

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A driver's license breach didn't just leak data—threat actors now have access to a universal key to every identity verification system that relies on state-issued identification. DeleteMe's Rob Shavell joins us to explain what happens when the document designed to prove you’re you can no longer be trusted.

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Episode 269: The Student Data Free-for-All Sep 15, 2026

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As technology is integrated deeper into classrooms, the lines between education and data privacy have been destroyed by for-profit data miners. This week, privacy advocate Shannon Edwards reveals how educational apps harvest sensitive information from children, commodify their data, and what parents can do to fight it.
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Episode 268: Your Privacy Is Being Taxed Sep 08, 2026

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Same store, same day, different price. David Dayen takes us on a deep dive into the murky cyberscape of surveillance pricing, we enlist young people to prove it's real, and Grace Gedye lays out a future law that might actually stop it.
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Episode 267: No Price Tag for You! Sep 01, 2026

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Fictitious discounts. payday markups. AI setting airfares in real time. Investigative reporter Derek Kravitz, Grace Gedye (Consumer Reports) are joined byDavid Dayen to expose the algorithms that decide if you pay more or less than your neighbor for the exact same thing.
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Episode 266: How Much Is Surveillance Pricing Costing You? Aug 25, 2026

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Welcome to the infuriating world of surveillance pricing. Chris "the Producer" Parr created a digital nobody to find out whether companies would charge the new him less. What he found was stranger. So how much does what companies know about you affect what you pay?

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Episode 265: Surveillance In America, Pt 1: Somebody's Watching You Aug 18, 2026

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Benn Jordan—musician, acoustic scientist, and one of the sharpest minds on surveillance technology—joins 404 Media’s Jason Koebler and the ACLU’s Jay Stanley to trace how surveillance went ambient— and what it means when everyone’s being watched.

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Episode 264: 15 Years of Fear: A Stalking Story Aug 11, 2026

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A stranger showed up at Anna Nasset's art gallery with a painting called "Marry Me." She said no. He did not get the message — for 15 years. Now Anna trains law enforcement on stalking, because someone has to explain that "she should be killed" is a red flag.
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Episode 263: The Affinity Scam Playbook Aug 04, 2026

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Coco Berthmann sold a survival story. Amanda Riley sold a cancer battle. Both were lies that raided communities, wallets, and trust. Journalists Sarah Ganim, Karen Given, and Charlie Webster tell the stories; cognitive scientist Daniel Simons explains why we get taken in.
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