Today we sit down with Dr. Leslie Gruis — mathematician, NSA veteran, and author of The Privacy Pirates — to talk about the urgent importance of protecting personal information in our tech-driven world.

From children’s online privacy to the rise of corporate data exploitation, Dr. Gruis shares both her insider experience from decades in national security and her practical advice for safeguarding our digital lives.

📚 About our guest:

First president of the NSA’s Women in Mathematics Society
Contributor to U.S. Cyber Command & National Intelligence Council
Author of The Privacy Pirates: Pirates of Personal Data
Mentor and advocate for STEM students

🔑 In this episode you’ll learn:

Why privacy is essential to democracy
The risks kids face with school-issued laptops & smartphones
How corporations collect and exploit our personal data
What parents and educators can do today to protect children
The ethical questions surrounding AI, surveillance, and data use

🎙️ Show Notes & Topics we cover:

Defining informational privacy in the 21st century
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (and why it’s outdated)
School-issued laptops and surveillance concerns
Corporate data collection, sentiment analysis, and manipulation
The asymmetric power between consumers and corporations
Why protecting privacy is vital for democracy

🔗 Links

Buy The Privacy Pirates
Follow Dr. Leslie Gruis
Follow Women Talking About AI:
- 📺 YouTube
- 📰 Substack

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Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age with Dr. Leslie Gruis