Technology Pill
Find out how technology is reshaping our lives every day and explore the new powers of governments and companies.
Episodes
From Spiderman, to Toy Story, to One Night Only, this week we’re talking about some of the summers biggest and weirdest movies, as we think about the use of technology and surveillance in film.
Links
- Silicon valley has a science fiction problem: https://aeon.co/essays/silicon-valley-has-a-science-fiction-problem
- One night only
- Guardian review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/05/one-night-only-movie-review
- NY Time...
This week we're talking about how the militarisation of tech is shaping civic spaces and what 'dual use' technology actually means with Sophie from Corporate Watch.
Links
Corporate watch: What's driving the militarisation of tech - and what can we do about it: https://corporatewatch.org/whats-driving-the-militarisation-of-tech-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/
Case studies and info about military tech companies: https://privacyinternation...
This week we're talking to Marianne from SMEX about their new report looking at the differing dynamics of producing, testing, and deployment of militarised technology across the Southwest Asia and Northern African region (SWANA).
Links
* Report - Produced, tested, deployed: the Miltarisation of technology in the SWANA region
* Vodafone in Egypt story: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/jul/26/vodafone-access-egypt-shutdown
This week we're discussing borders, biometrics and more, as we take a look at what kind of surveillance you might experience if you're traveling to the World Cup, or to the EU schengen area.
Acronyms
- ETIAS: European Travel Information and Authorisation System (new for visa exempt; no biometrics - run by a central unit operated by frontex; this is where manual checks carried out if automated checks flag problems)
- VIS: Visa informa...
This week we're joined by Bill Goodwin, investigations editor at Computer Weekly and award-winning journalist, to discuss Europol's secret shadow IT system — and what it tells us about how law enforcement agencies evade oversight.
Links
Computer Weekly investigation: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642525/They-protect-the-law-while-breaking-it-Inside-Europols-shadow-IT-system
We Are Solomon: https://wearesolomon.com/en/ma...
This is the third and final edition of our series on young peoples’ digital health and human rights.
Today we’re talking to Alberta Nadutey - a research officer for working on the Digital Health and Rights project about how young people in Ghana interact with digital health, and Minh Anh a young person from the Vietnam community advisory team about her participation in the research in Vietnam, and what she sees as the bi...
This week we're talking to Natalia Andrade and Laura Grisales Silva from Fundación Karisma about dating app data, the commodification of intimacy, and talking to Colombian young people about their experiences.
Fundación Karisma are a member of the Digital Health and Rights Project.
Links
More from Fundación Karisma: https://info.karisma.org.co/
2018 Grindr shared HIV status and more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43624328
This week we're talking to Joan Musenya about life in Kenya as a young person - from mobile money, to data protection, to government surveillance.
Joan is a member of the Kenyan Community Advisory Team (K-CAT) helping to steer the Digital Health and Rights Project.
Links
- Digital Health and Rights Project report: https://digitalhealthandrights.com/resource-library/report-paying-the-costs-of-connection/
- Find more from Joan: https:/...
This week we're joined by Professor Peter Asaro from Stop Killer Robots, and Frank Slijper, Arms trade project lead at PAX to discuss military uses of AI, including Anthropic's stand-off with the US Department of Defense.
Please note this podcast was recorded on the 20th March.**Links**Stop Killer Robots: https://www.stopkillerrobots.org/stop-killer-robots/Pax: https://paxforpeace.nl/who-we-are/organization/Stop Killer Robots at the...
This week we're speaking to Professor Edgar Whitley - an expert on the design and implementation of ID systems. Links- More about Edgar: https://www.lse.ac.uk/people/edgar-whitley- More about the London School of Economics and ID: https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-impact-case-studies/scrapping-costly-controversial-proposals-identity-cards- Gus and Edgar's joint publications: - Global challenges for identity policies: ...
This week we're discussing what happens when AI is trained on a dead person's data to bring them back as a chatbot. Find out more from Gus and Caitlin, and their guest James Muldoon, Reader in Management at Essex Business School and Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute, about the ethics, the grief, and the companies making it happen.
Links
This week we're talking to Ben Wizner from the American Civil Liberties Union about what the ACLU have been doing in the first year of Trump's second term, what the difference is between this time and last time, and how an earth they can keep up.
Links
- ACLU report: https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/aclu-vs-trump
- Kyllo case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyllo_v._United_States
- Underground Empire book: https://henryfarrell....
Join us as we discuss Border Externalisation - what is it, and why does it drive violence at the border? We're joined by two fantastic guests - Dan from the Border Violence Monitoring Network to discuss the EU's Border Externalisation, and Kathy from Al Otro Lado to discuss the America's.
Border Violence Monitoring Network’s work
- BVMN's website https://borderviolence.eu/
- Surveillance Tech Serbia Report: https://borderviolenc...
This week we're discussing the end of support (kind of) for Windows 10 - find out more from Chris and Tom about what you should worry about and what you can do now Windows 10 is officially (mostly) End of Life.
Links
- Read more about your options: https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5686/end-line-windows-10
- Learn more about PI's position on the Cyber Resilience Act: https://privacyinternational.org/advocacy/5060/our-pos...
This week we talk to Ilia and Serhat about the creeping militarisation of technology, and with it our societies.
Links
All of our militarisation work: https://privacyinternational.org/campaigns/militarisation-of-tech
What is Militarisation of Tech?: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/5668/what-militarisation-tech
Key Concerns Regarding Governance in the Era of Militarisation of Tech: https://privacyinternational.org/lon...
This week we're back to discussing stories that have been in the news over the past few months - in particular the stories that have stayed with us and kept us thinking about them.
Links
- Industry Day at the US Customs and Border Protection
- Investor concerns about Microsoft use by Israeli government
This week Gus and Caitlin are rewilding the Internet with Maria Farrell. What do you want using the internet or your devices to feel like? What can ecology teach us about unwinding corporate capture of the digital commons? How do we take back our home online?
Links
- Maria's original rewilding article, with Robin Berjon, in Noema: https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/
- Maria's article 'This is your phone on feminis...
This week we're talking to Martha Dimitratou from ReproUncensored, and PI's own Sarah Simms about the international landscape for reproductive rights, and including barriers to access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion; and how big tech are collaborating with or supporting tactics to make access to healthcare harder.
Links
- Learn more about Repro uncensored: https://www.reprouncensored.org/ (incident form)
- Repro Uncenso...
This week we speak to Jen Persson, Director of Defend Digital Me, about the technologies being deployed in schools in England and Wales.
Links:
- Read more from Defend Digital Me: https://defenddigitalme.org/research/
- PI's work on Securitising Education: https://privacyinternational.org/campaigns/securitising-education
- 25 Years old - The Database State report: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/database_state/
- 5 safes principles: http...
This week we're talking to Gus about his experience being targeted by the Russian government, how it felt at the time, and then how it felt when he found out the government may be trying to undermine the tool he uses to keep himself and his family safe.
Read more about Privacy International's challenge against the UK's secret TCN powers.
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