In this bonus episode, our producer B.J. Mendelson sits down with science fiction author and journalist Cory Doctorow. This is a great chat about the current state of the Internet economy, the continuing issues we face in terms of privacy and protecting ourselves from fascists and weirdos, and what actions we can take to address these challenges. F…

Dr. John Gartner sits down with our producer, B.J. Mendelson, to discuss how to combat cults. This is important to hear because fascists are just cults with guns. So let's hear from the expert on what to look out for, how to deal with the cults, and what to do if you find yourself dealing with one. Support The Show Our Sponsor: DuckDuckGo *Affiliat…

Just joining us here at Stupid Sexy Privacy? Looking for an episode that tells you everything you need to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos? Look no further! We'll have longer show notes here soon, but for now, enjoy this lively discussion between BJ Mendelson, Amanda King, and Rosie Tran as they look into the future of how to protect your…

Show Note: We're back! Pardon our delay. BJ is dealing with a (totally minor) medical issue that required surgery. So we've been out of commission longer than planned. In today's episode, Amanda and Rosie talk about disinformation, what it is, how to spot it, and how to navigate our new media landscape that's flooded with AI-generated falsehoods an…

We're taking a short break here at Stupid Sexy Privacy. We'll return Thursday, May 4th, with our final four episodes. But we didn't want to leave you empty-handed. Today, Amanda King (co-author of "How to Protect Your From Fascists & Weirdos") talks with Professor Uri Gal. Uri is a professor of Business Information Systems at The University of Sydn…

It's Part 2 of our 5 Part look into how to protect yourself from Fascists and Weirdos on the Internet! Rosie shares three critical tips we won't be able to cover in greater detail in the time we have left. These tips include: How to set up a personal firewall for your network, Pig Butchering Scms, and Revenge Porn. BJ then interviews Tall Poppy CEO…

We're almost at the end of this mini-series! In our final segment, BJ and Rosie explore how to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos. In Part one of our five-part investigation, Rosie offers tips on how you can protect yourself from stalkers. It's a serious topic, so we're going to skip the jokes and get right to the advice: This Week's Privac…

This week on Stupid Sexy Privacy: Killer Bosses. 120,000 workers die each year in the United States because of bad workplace management. With the popularity of Remote Work, "Bossware" lets your boss spy on you while you're at home and drive you crazy without you having to go to the office. Sound crazy? Talk to the Truck Drivers. Their Hell is our F…

This week, BJ's co-author, Amanda King, speaks with Jen Caltrider, the Mozilla Foundation's "Privacy Not Included" project lead. Amanda and Jen discuss which pregnancy tracker is best for women to use right now when it comes to preserving and protecting their data. They also talk about other issues facing women as it relates to online data collecti…

This week, we're entering the metaverse. A place where few have legs and fewer still have functional head-mounted displays. Joining BJ on the show today is Brittan Heller. Brittan is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and Affiliate at Stanford Cyber Policy Center. Following-up on last week's discussion with Dr. Arthur Caplan, BJ and Brittan di…

Over the next three episodes (17, 18, and 19), we'll let our medical and privacy experts take center stage, so all of the tips in these three episodes will be super short. This week, BJ (with Rosie's assistance) interviewed Dr. Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University. Dr. Caplan is also the founding head of the Division of Me…

You ever have a doctor take photos of your condition for further examination? How about an MRI? Have you had one of those? We like to think that HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) protects us here in the US. But increasingly ... It doesn't. So over the next few weeks, we'll talk about who's collecting your medical informati…

You ever have a doctor take photos of your condition for further examination? How about an MRI? Have you had one of those? We like to think that HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) protects us here in the US. But increasingly ... It doesn't. So over the next few weeks, we'll talk about who's collecting your medical informati…

The "Cloud" has a bigger carbon footprint than the entire airline industry. It's also not secure. So if someone wants to mess with you, or worse, blackmail you after accessing your iCloud, GDrive, or Dropbox data? They absolutely can. Instead, we want you to go old school. So this week, Rosie explains why you want to get a nice external hard drive,…

The "Cloud" has a bigger carbon footprint than the entire airline industry. It's also not secure. So if someone wants to mess with you, or worse, blackmail you after accessing your iCloud, GDrive, or Dropbox data? They absolutely can. Instead, we want you to go old school. So this week, Rosie explains why you want to get a nice external hard drive,…

This week on the show, Comics artist and writer Lucy Sullivan joins BJ Mendelson to talk about her excellent graphic novel, "Barking." They also talk about what Lucy learned growing up in and around pubs, her collaborations with Jeff Lemire, and why you should be outside planting seeds to protect your mental health. Make sure you check out Lucy's t…

Writer and Co-Producer of Star Trek: Prodigy, Aaron Waltke joins BJ on the show to talk about the hit animated series and ... The Brave Little Toaster? What? Yes. The Brave Little Toaster. But you'll have to listen to this week's episode to find out what's going on there. In addition to "Prodigy", BJ and Aaron also talk about how Aaron bonded with …

This week, the women of our show kick BJ to the curb and go deep on tips, tricks, and apps you can use to keep safe while going out on a date. There's A LOT covered in this episode, but some of the highlights of what's covered by Rosie and Amanda King (co-author of "How to Protect Yourself From Fascists and Weirdos) include: How to avoid getting bl…

This week, the women of our show kick BJ to the curb and go deep on tips, tricks, and apps you can use to keep safe while going out on a date. There's A LOT covered in this episode, but some of the highlights of what's covered by Rosie and Amanda King (co-author of "How to Protect Yourself From Fascists and Weirdos) include: How to avoid getting bl…

This week, BJ is joined in the George Carlin Podcast Studio by Mr. Gregg Spiridellis. Gregg is the co-creator of JibJab (Yes. That JibJab for our fellow Millenials and Gen X'ers), and Storybots. In this episode, Gregg tells the story of how Storybots went from YouTube Channel to a multimillion-dollar Netflix acquisition and the influence Sesame Str…

This week we introduce the Stranger Danger Phone! This is a backup, pre-paid Smartphone we recommend you use when dating online. The Stranger Danger Phone is also great for content creators who maintain some kind of public-facing presence online and need to be accessible to their audience. These are easy to set up, and not expensive. Never give out…

This week we introduce the Stranger Danger Phone! This is a backup, pre-paid Smartphone we recommend you use when dating online. The Stranger Danger Phone is also great for content creators who maintain some kind of public-facing presence online and need to be accessible to their audience. These are easy to set up, and not expensive. Never give out…

(Note: This interview was recorded earlier in the year. So we don't get into X-Men '97, other than mentioning Eric and Julia were invited to work on the sequel series, coming soon to Disney Plus.) This episode is a wonderful trip down memory lane with Eric and Julia Lewald, the showrunner and a staff writer on X-Men: The Animated Series. If you're …

Hello Friends, This week, BJ is joined by Kim LaChance Shandrow, who writes an email every morning seen by thousands of employees at a company you're *possibly* listening to this podcast on. We also dive into her poetry writing, teaching yoga, what it's like to be a marketer and a journalist (a struggle BJ knows all too well), and some terrific adv…

You need Proton Mail. Get on that immediately. Unless you use Gmail and you followed our previous advice about pairing your Gmail account with a Yubikey. In which case, you can do nothing. Unless ... This week, Rosie is going to show you how to send an encrypted email, using Proton Mail's free plan, to anyone who doesn't have an encrypted email acc…

You need Proton Mail. Get on that immediately. Unless you use Gmail and you followed our previous advice about pairing your Gmail account with a Yubikey. In which case, you can do nothing. Unless ... This week, Rosie is going to show you how to send an encrypted email, using Proton Mail's free plan, to anyone who doesn't have an encrypted email acc…

This week on the show, TV and Film marketer Clement Bryant joins BJ in the George Carlin Podcasting Studio. Clement talks about his journey into Geekdom, thanks in part to the X-Men animated series, what it's like managing the living ecosystem that is every social media platform, and the power of friendship that helped give him the courage to move …

We're big fans of Tina Turner; what can we say? This week, we're talking about how to secure your email account. First, by using a hardware authentication device like a Yubikey (or Google's Titan Key if you prefer.) We also discuss utilizing Google's Advance Threat Protection Program for Gmail users who want additional security. A pretty straightfo…

We're big fans of Tina Turner; what can we say? This week, we're talking about how to secure your email account. First, by using a hardware authentication device like a Yubikey (or Google's Titan Key if you prefer.) We also talk about utilizing Google's Advance Threat Protection Program for Gmail users who want additional security. A pretty straigh…

Adam Martin's career in film and television covers a lot of the shows you love, including "Dave", "Barry", and "Future Man". Now he's the co-founder of Macroverse, a Web3 start-up focused on comics and other community-driven entertainment properties, using the Ethereum platform in a novel way: To demonstrate incontrovertible proof that the characte…

It's time for the second part of our two-part Digital Detox spiel. Rosie returns with a simple exercise you can do every time you find yourself holding your smartphone, and explains why you need to make your bedroom a phone free bone zone. Bonus: BJ interviews werables reviewer at The Verge, Victoria Song, to talk about privacy and ghosts. (Look, i…

It's time for the second part of our two-part Digital Detox spiel. Rosie returns with a simple exercise you can do every time you find yourself holding your smartphone, and explains why you need to make your bedroom a phone free bone zone. Bonus: BJ interviews werables reviewer at The Verge, Victoria Song, to talk about privacy and ghosts. (Look, i…

Today on the show, BJ is joined by Michelle Singletary. Michelle is an author and personal finance columnist at The Washington Post. BJ and Michelle talk about their Depression-era grandparents and what financial wisdom they learned from them, why you should ALWAYS save a portion of your paycheck, and index funds. We know. We know Index funds may n…

Episode Summary It's Part 1 of our two-part Digital Detox! In this week's episode, we give you a two-step exercise to help you get rid of unused apps and think critically about how you use the ones you keep. Once a month, make sure you grab some time to remove any of the unused apps on your phone. Each one represents a potential opportunity for fas…

Episode Summary It's Part 1 of our two-part Digital Detox! In this week's episode, we give you a two-step exercise to help you get rid of unused apps and think critically about how you use the ones you keep. Once a month, make sure you grab some time to remove any of the unused apps on your phone. Each one represents a potential opportunity for fas…

Happy Holidays from the WAYWO team! Today we've got comedian and all-around good person, Subhah Agarwal. Subnah and Bj talk standup, adjusting to a pandemic, and everything from then to now. Action packed! ★ Support this podcast ★By B.J. Mendelson

Happy Holidays from the WAYWO team! Today on the show, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath stops in to talk about how he got the moniker, "The Love Rabbi" (which he does not like!), and his work in spreading love and happiness via animations, podcasts, and coaching. The rabbi tells his origin story, explains how people should look for ONE thing instead of MANY t…

Episode Summary This week is super simple. There are four programs everyone should have. 3 of which you can use on both your laptop and phone, and one that's desktop only (ClamAV). So, when you're done listening to today's episode, you're going to want to download and use these. Pro-Tip: Always activate your VPN if you're out and about. You can't t…

Episode Summary This week is super simple. There are four programs everyone should have. 3 of which you can use on both your laptop and phone, and one that's desktop only (ClamAV). So, when you're done listening to today's episode, you're going to want to download and use these. Pro-Tip: Always activate your VPN if you're out and about. You can't t…

Today we've got author Randee Dawn in the studio to talk about her latest book, Tune in Tomorrow: The Curious, Calamitous, Cockamamie Story Of Starr Weatherby And The Greatest Mythic Reality Show. Bj and Randee talk world-building, writing modern sci-fi, and how a background in soap-opera journalism led to a career in storytelling. You can follow R…

We've got actress, comedian, writer and producer Janet Varney in the studio today! You may know Janet from her role as Sheriff Evie Barret in the series Stan Against Evil, or as the voice of Korra in The Legend of Korra. We sat down and talked about Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Avatar-verse, starting as a fan and ending up in the second series, …

Episode Summary Breaking up is hard to do. Sure. But when you're leaving a relationship where you shared a device with your partner, it might be time to get a new device. And we mean like NEW. Not refurbished. It's expensive, but there's a good reason to take this step, as Rosie explains. You will also hear more from BJ's first book on privacy, nar…

Episode Summary Breaking up is hard to do. Sure. But when you're leaving a relationship where you shared a device with your partner, it might be time to get a new device. And we mean like NEW. Not refurbished. It's expensive, but there's a good reason to take this step, as Rosie explains. You will also hear more from BJ's first book on privacy, nar…

At WAYWO.tv, we get to talk to some super cool people. One of those people, recently, was Erin Macdonald, an astrophysicist and self-proclaimed "one-woman career-panel for everything you can do with an astrophysics degree". Even cooler than that, she's the science advisor for the ENTIRE Star Trek franchise. We talk astrophysics, new discoveries, an…

Gary Goldstein dropped in today! You may know Gary from one of the many movies that he's written such as The Wish List and Hitched for the Holidays. You may also know him for his book The Last Birthday Party, which is currently being adapted to film. BJ and Gary have a long talk about writing and the differences between writing for film, tv, the st…

Episode Summary In today's episode of Stupid Sexy Privacy, comedian and WAYWO.TV Reporter, Rosie Tran, talks about how to keep your data, and yourself, safe when traveling internationally. It involves using old stuff, and we'll also explain why you'll want to turn off facial recognition on your phone before crossing any borders. You will also hear …

Episode Summary In today's episode of Stupid Sexy Privacy, comedian and WAYWO.TV Reporter, Rosie Tran, talks about how to keep your data, and yourself, safe when traveling internationally. It involves using old stuff, and we'll also explain why you'll want to turn off facial recognition on your phone before crossing any borders. You will also hear …

Our announcer Jon is still on vacation this week, but the big wheel keeps on turning! We have Raffy Regulus on the show today to talk about their Non-Profit, NYC Gamers! We talk inclusion, representation, and what brought Raffy to a point of diving in to this path. Humble beginnings, censoring, and pushing to find the best representation for people…

Dean Haspiel is the long-time collaborator of Harvey Pekar ("American Splendor") and that doesn't even begin to cover the breadth of his comic book work. Come listen about his current work on a Superman project, and stay for the talk about creativity and why it's important to surround yourself with fellow creatives. There's also a reference to the …

Episode Summary In today's episode of Stupid Sexy Privacy, comedian and WAYWO.TV Reporter, Rosie Tran, talks about how to keep our data (and ourselves) safe while traveling domestically here in the United States. It involves a USB Condom and a hidden camera detector. Also this week: Author B.J. Mendelson speaks with Twitch's Chief Product Officer, …