This Changes Everything #19: How Technology Is Getting Better, Worse & More Dominant In Our Lives

California Groundbreakers

Silicon Valley has always been the global hub of technology, and in the past 18 months, it has made the tools that allowed Americans -- and the American economy -- to survive the pandemic. Right now, California’s tech industry is triumphant, and flush with profits. What will it do with all that money and power? And who, if anyone, can restrain tech, and its potential to dominate the way we live our lives? We talk with Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, about what Big Tech and Silicon Valley are doing – and should be doing – when it comes to misinformation, consumer data, cyberattacks, dealing with Congress and the FBI, and more (https://www.eff.org/about/staff/cindy-cohn). PODCAST PLAY-BY-PLAY * 0 to 4:40 min - Intro to California Groundbreakers, and to this episode * 4:40 min - How Cohn has personally experienced the boons and the banes of pandemic-time technology * 7:40 min - With the Delta variant of the coronavirus on the rise, should tech be used to create vaccine passports and immunity passports, and for public health monitoring in general? * 14 min - How privacy and security of our consumer data gathered online has changed during the pandemic * 18:05 min - How the battle of the Feds vs. Big Tech will affect us * 25 min - "This is an example of everyone agreeing on a problem and rushing to a really awful solution" * 28:10 min - What the tech industry should do (or not) about the issue of misinformation vs. freedom of expression * 33:30 min - Can Silicon Valley protect us from ransomware, spyware and cyberattacks? * 41:30 min - Why California's "broadband destiny" now has a bright future * 46 min - Because we're more online now, how can we better protect our digital privacy and freedoms? * 50:30 min - Silicon Valley is always rising and falling -- how will it do this time post-pandemic? RESOURCE GUIDE * Electronic Frontier Foundation's tools for web privacy and security - https://www.eff.org/pages/tools * EFF's "How to Fix the Internet" Podcast - https://www.eff.org/how-to-fix-the-internet-podcast