Bumper Harvests: Data, Privacy, and State Surveillance

We all know that advertisers are snapping up our digital data: what we buy, the websites we visit, the content we consume – even where we are at any given moment. But fewer people know that this data isn’t just being bought by companies trying to sell us things. It’s also being bought by the government and intelligence agencies. These mass data purchases (often via shadowy middlemen) is what investigative journalist Byron Tau set out to investigate in his new book, Means of Control: How the hidden alliance of tech and government is creating a new American surveillance state. This week on Whale Hunting, host Bradley Hope talks to Byron about how the US government dispensed with the need for warrants and secret court orders – opting to buy personal information from private companies instead. Luckily, Byron also shares his tips on how to protect yourself from sweeping digital surveillance and explains how US lawmakers could be on the precipice of cracking down on the sale of citizens' data to the government. 

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