What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss a recent report in Bloomberg that says executives at YouTube ignored employees who raised concerns about the spread of harmful videos. The company’s algorithm often recommends conspiracy videos, which lead viewers down rabbit holes they might not otherwise explore. Then journalism professor Emily Bell talks about Google and Facebook’s recent efforts to revive the local news industry. Since the tech giants are partially complicit in harming local news in the first place, Bell says it’s akin to asking a bull that broke everything in a China shop to come back and piece things back together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aprill Glaser and Will Oremus kick off the episode by talking about Apple’s plan to be the ultimate middleman--with new offerings announced this week of streaming video, games, and more. Then April offers an update on efforts in Congress to restore net neutrality. After that Veena Dubal, a law professor at UC Hastings, talks about worker strikes at Uber and Lyft and then sheds light on a California case that reclassifies most gig workers as employees instead of contractors.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s show, April Glaser and Will Oremus first talk to two researchers who’ve uncovered new information about the way the U.S. government trains its facial recognition software. According to their findings, the government uses photos of immigrants, children, and even deceased prisoners to train their programs. Then NBC News reporter Ben Collins talks about the role of online extremism in last week’s New Zealand attacks, specifically with regard to Facebook and other platforms that allow live broadcasting. Collins also discusses how the shooter left a manifesto riddled with white supremacist signals from online communities and the difficulty of reporting on these racist communities without broadening their reach. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s show, April Glaser kicks things off by talking about Facebook’s long-overdue crackdown on anti-vaccination groups. The social media platform announced it will stop allowing advertisements that peddle misinformation about vaccines, and they’ll make anti-vaxxer groups and pages harder to find. What took them so long?  Then Will Oremus talks to Olivia Solon, Editor of Tech Investigations at NBC, about facial recognition technology, and how some companies are collecting online photos without getting explicit permission from photographers or subjects.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus take a look at an increasingly popular online privacy tool--that has some serious trust issues of its own. We’re talking about VPNs, or virtual private networks, and why the average user might have a very hard time figuring out which one to trust.The hosts will also look at privacy blunder number one billion from our friends at Facebook. This one involves two factor authentication, a feature to ostensibly help keep your account safer that turns out to be another good way for Facebook to keep track of you, wherever you go. Mark Zuckerberg told Congress, “you own your data”--but once you give Facebook your phone number, good luck ever taking it back.1:11 - Interview with Will Oremus24:00 - Don’t Close My TabsStories discussed on the show: Slate: Do You Trust Your VPN? Are You Sure?Don’t Close My Tabs:April: Wired: Are Men at Google Paid Less than Women? Not Really.Will: Instagram: Nathan W PylePodcast production by Max JacobsYou 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s show, host April Glaser looks at the continuing battle between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commision. Earlier this week, the SEC asked a judge to hold Musk in contempt for tweets he’s made about Tesla’s performance. The SEC says Musk violated a settlement he reached with the commission last year, which required him to have his tweets reviewed before sending them. Then, Will Oremus speaks with journalist Casey Newton about an investigation he published this week on the tech site The Verge. The article is headlined, “The Trauma Floor: The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America.” Newton talked to current and former employees of a moderation facility in Arizona that contracts with Facebook, about the working conditions there. And, in particular, the psychological toll of scrutinizing hundreds of Facebook posts each day that feature extreme violence, hate speech, and conspiracy theories.5:57 - Interview with Casey Newton23:23 - Don’t Close My TabsStories discussed on the show: CNN: SEC Asks Judge to Hold Musk in ContemptThe Verge: The Trauma Floor: The secret lives of Facebook moderators in AmericaWired: The Laborers Who Keep Dick Pics and Beheadings Out of Your Facebook FeedDon’t Close My Tabs:April: Mercury News: Facebook, Google Bikes Lead to Tensions with NeighborsWill: Vox: How a coat on Amazon took over a neighborhood — and then the internetPodcast production by Max JacobsYou 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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s show, host Will Oremus looks at the fallout from Amazon’s announcement last week that they’re abandoning plans for a new headquarters in New York City. Some celebrated it as a victory; others mourned a missed opportunity; still others were mad that Amazon took its ball and went home, rather than negotiating a fairer deal.Then, April Glaser talks with Faine Greenwood from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, where she focuses on the role of drones and data intensive foreign aid projects. Her latest piece for Slate is headlined “Why Humanitarians Are Worried About Palantir’s New Partnership With the U.N.” 6:02 - Interview with Faine Greenwood23:15 - Don’t Close My TabsStories discussed on the show: Slate: New York’s Anti-Amazon Movement Is Now a Blueprint for Critics of Big TechSlate: Why Humanitarians Are Worried About Palantir’s New Partnership With the U.N.Don’t Close My Tabs:April: The New Yorker: Private Mossad for HireWill: Wired: AR Will Spark The Next Big Tech Platform-Call It MirrorworldPodcast production by Max JacobsYou 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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about the implications from last week’s bizarre, but also serious, showdown between Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and American Media INC, the owner of the Trump-friendly National Enquirer. Bezos claimed the Enquirer was blackmailing him by threatening to release private and quite racy photos between him and the woman he was having an affair with. Bezos stood up to the alleged extortion by publishing his account of the situation, complete with threatening emails from AMI. At the same time Bezos was fighting for his own privacy, his company was making a deal that could have serious privacy implications for the rest of us. This week, Amazon announced it was acquiring Eero, the mesh WiFi router startup. To sort through this mesh, the hosts are joined by Stacey Higginbotham, who writes all about the internet of things. They ask her about what this move means for smart home users’ privacy, and where we should draw the line on what in our home should be smart, and what should be...well, dumb. 8:08 - Interview with Stacey Higginbotham21:15 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs:April: The Baffler: The Whitest News You KnowWill: The New Republic: The False Promise of Silicon Valley’s Quest to Save the WorldPodcast production by Max JacobsYou 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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss a rather terrifying security flaw from Apple, a company that prides itself on keeping information well-protected. A bug was found in the video chat app Facetime that let snoops listen in on someone by calling them on FaceTime, even if the call wasn’t answered. Then, the hosts are joined by Franklin Foer,  a staff writer for the Atlantic, former editor in chief of The New Republic, and author of a book about what he calls “the existential threat of big tech.” They talk to him about the recent wave of layoffs in the media—including big cuts at BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and Gannett newspapers— and how those tie into the dominance of companies like Google and Facebook over the way we get information now. Don’t Close My Tabs:April: Pandora’s New Corporate Parents Gave Millions to Trump, GOPWill: Wired: Is Big Tech Merging with Big Brother? Kinda Looks Like It.Podcast production by Max JacobsYou 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 Warby Parker. Try their home try-on program for free today at warbyparker.com/ifthen.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.