CYBER

As we slide into the winter holidays, Cyber is taking some time to relax with old friends and discuss the things that truly matter: the decline of the internet, creator culture, and the transcendent power of movies. 

This week on Cyber, Aftermath co-founder Gita Jackson stops by to talk about “Napoleon,” the death of film criticism, and what happens when a big name on YouTube plagiarizes you.

Stories discussed in this episode:

Please Stop Asking Me To Sue James Somerton

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Your posts matter more than you think. Social media has changed the way wars are fought and the internet has become a new battlefield. 

Twitter may be dying, but it still matters an awful lot to policy makers. TikTok is ascendent, but often because its content can be repurposed on other platforms. Telegram can give you the news on the ground, but only if you trust the sources.

With all this information flowing and everyone motivated by personal politics, who can you trust?

This week, Emerson T. Brooking joins Matthew and Emily to explain how online discussion shapes the reality on the ground in conflict zones. Brooking is a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council and the co-author of LikeWar, a book about the weaponization of social media. 

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Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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The tensions between security and operations and developer teams are the stuff of legend. DevSecOps is trying to change that, and automation is a big part of making it possible. But automation alone can’t overcome entrenched behavior. Joylynn Kirui shares how Microsoft is helping teams prioritize security without bogging down development.

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What happens when a for profit company is run by a non-profit board of directors who are ideologically opposed to the company’s product? You get something like what happened to OpenAI over the past week, which saw its board of directors sack CEO Sam Altman before eventually reinstating him and resigning. It’s a weird story that involves AI, predictions of the end of the world, strange pagan rites in Silicon Valley offices, and a Harry Potter fanfic.

Join us this week on Cyber as Motherboard senior editor Maxwell Strachan walks us through what the hell just happened and what it means for the future of AI.

Stories discussed in this episode:

Sam Altman Out at OpenAI ‘Effective Immediately’

Everything You Need to Know About the Ridiculously Chaotic 'Coup,' Implosion, and Counter-Revolution at OpenAI

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, Who Crafted a Responsible Image, Is Pleading Guilty to Breaking Anti-Money Laundering Laws

Wall Street Embraces AI Despite Risks of Catastrophe

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When “Alison” started working for Operation Underground Railroad, she wanted to make a difference in the lives of kids. She was a former Marine and social worker who’d seen the devastating effects that abuse could have on people. She wanted to stop it before it happened.

She ended up with a broken orbital bone, bleeding and vomiting in a gym after a training exercise gone wrong. This week on Cyber, Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman walk us through their latest reporting on Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.

Stories discussed in this episode

A Private Island, Downloads From God, and the 'Couples Ruse': Inside the Dangerous World of Tim Ballard's Operation Underground Railroad

Five of Tim Ballard’s Alleged Victims Have Filed a Lawsuit Against Him

Women Accuse Tim Ballard of ‘Spiritual Manipulation, Grooming, and Sexual Misconduct’

A Century-Old, Debunked Theory Is Fueling the TikTok Moral Panic

Cyber Live is coming to YouTube. Subscribe here to be notified.

Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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It’s a bad time to be a crypto-person. Some of crypto’s biggest evangelists are facing serious federal jail time. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering after a disastrous trial. Some owners of Bored Ape NFTs experienced vision injuries at a recent gathering. Prices are in the toilet and SEC regulators are circling.

And yet, many crypto holders are holding out hope that the number will go up again soon. This week on Cyber, Jordan Pearson sits down with Matthew and Emily to talk about what the crypto landscape looks like one year after its collapse. The shocking news is that legitimate investment firms like BlackRock are still looking to get into the market, Paypal launched its own stablecoin, and crypto dreamers are still sure that the decentralized currencies will change everything.

Stories discussed in this episode:

NFT Owners Partying at ‘ApeFest’ Report Vision Injuries (Not From Looking at NFTs)

Elon Musk’s ‘GrokAI’ Is Beating the Competition In Generating Cringe

Cyber Live is coming to YouTube. Subscribe here to be notified.

Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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

Rhino sounds like a good deal at first. When people move into a new apartment, they often have to pay a large lump sum security deposit to their landlord. For people who can’t pay, Rhino offers to bill them a little bit every month in lieu of the deposit. But there’s a catch: unlike security deposits, money sent to Rhino is never returned.  The company uses algorithms to make the wealthy pay less than poorer people, some renters are still paying for places where they no longer live and no one, including landlords, can get the service on the phone.

This week on Cyber, Motherboard writer Roshan Abraham comes on to discuss his investigation into Rhino. 

Stories discussed in this episode:

How Landlord Tech Is Squeezing Renters Who Can't Afford Security Deposits

Tenants Are Suing Landlords for Allegedly Price-Fixing Rents with Software and the Feds Could Get Involved

We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show. 

Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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

Kias and Hyundais are being stolen in America at an alarming rate. Using a screwdriver and a USB cable, it’s trivially easy to steal one. Kia and Hyundai blame social media, but the problem is so overwhelming that several cities are suing the car manufacturer for creating a crime epidemic by electing not to build a $100 anti-theft device into some models.

This week on Cyber, Motherboard Reporter Aaron Gordon stops by to walk us through what’s really behind the viral crime wave.

‘Kia Boys’ Trend Fueling Nationwide Crime Wave Is Running Rampant on Instagram

What It’s Like To Own the Cars That Became a Viral Sensation To Steal

Kia and Hyundai Blame TikTok and Instagram For Their Cars Getting Stolen

U.S. Cities Have a Staggering Problem of Kia and Hyundai Thefts. This Data Shows It.

We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show. 

Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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

There’s a lot of reasons to be worried about the future. Climate change, nuclear weapons, space junk, and World War III are all threats both present and long-term. But, every day, people are trying to make the world a better place. It lands them in weird situations like skinny dripping with Soviet officers at the height of the Cold War or getting drunk with engineers in North Korea.

This week on Cyber, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis stops by to tell us all about the brave men and women who took a chance, reached out, and helped prevent the world from falling into oblivion. Lewis is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies on the Nonproliferation and Terrorism Faculty. His new podcast, The Reason We’re All Still Here, explores the apocalypse with an air of hope for the future.

Go here to check out The Reason We’re All Still Here

We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show. 

Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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

Have you noticed your internet is …. kinda shitty? Does Spotfiy’s smart shuffle keep playing the same Cure song over and over again? Does a quick google search give you page after page of obvious advertisements? Want to leave Facebook behind but that one group chat keeps you checking in day after day?

Well have I got the book for you. It’s The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. It’s a little bit history, it’s a little bit manifesto, and it’s all about one simple concept that can help us get out of this mess: interoperability.

Here with me today to discuss is the book's author, Cory Doctorow. Doctorow is a writer, activist, and journalist.

We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show.

Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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