Non-Compliant Podcast

In Episode 4 we meet with Filmmaker Assia Boundoui and human rights attorney Christina Abraham to discuss the award-winning documentary "The Feeling of Being Watched". (http://www.feelingofbeingwatched.com/). After spending the beginning of her career as a journalist for BBC, VICE, and CNN, Assia discusses her transition to filmmaker and her first project—looking into the FBI surveillance of her own Bridgeview, Illinois community. Assia takes us through her investigation, including uncovering tens of thousands of FBI documents proving that her Arab-American community was the subject of one of the largest counterterrorism investigations, code-named “Operation Vulgar Betrayal”, conducted on U.S. soil before 9/11. She then leads us on her journey to end the government’s secrecy over their four decade investigation and discusses the impact that constant surveillance – something Big Tech is racing to make happen -- has on individuals.  Is Judge Richard Posner correct when he argued that “privacy is mainly about trying to improve your social and business opportunities by concealing the sorts of bad activities that would cause other people not to want to deal with you?”  Or does being constantly monitored take away some quintessential truth about the American experience?

In Episode 3, we take a break from the law and sit down with author Todd Henderson to discuss his new book, The Trust Revolution: How the Digitization of Trust Will Revolutionize Business and Government (https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Revolution-Digitization-Revolutionize-Government/dp/1108714196). Henderson argues that with the advent of companies like Lyft, AirBnB, and others fueling the “sharing economy,” we are in the middle of a new era in trust and cooperation that promises to forever change the world. After all, ten years ago no one would have thought to rent a random person’s house in a foreign country, use another person's car to travel while there, and drop off her dog for the week at yet another stranger’s pet-sitting service. Henderson argues that individual reviewers serve as “micro-regulators” giving us faith that the service or product we are getting will be safe and useful.

None of this goes down too easy for Jay, who has spent the last two decades taking on BigTech and does not view it as the paradigm of trustworthiness. But, one thing that Jay is forced to concede is that Henderson’s newest book made him rethink how he views the world.

In Episode 1, we heard from a surprising proponent of class action lawsuits. Now we hear from the other side, as prominent (and enigmatic) public interest objector Ted Frank (https://hlli.org/ted-frank/) joins the show. Proving why the New York Times called him the “leading critic of abusing class-action settlements” in the country, Ted pulls no punches. He argues that many settlements are rigged in favor of attorneys and explains why he thinks plaintiff’s lawyers could be targeted with antitrust lawsuits or (gasp) even malpractice class actions in the future. Ted also talks about how he chooses his cases, why he is rarely worried about what happens in the trial courts, and why he thinks one of his objections (maybe even Equifax) might soon end up in the Supreme Court.

And for dessert, Jay plays a part of his firm’s new rap song -- https://youtu.be/paPmaUUhJ8I -- which gives a shout out to Ted.

In our first ever episode, we have law professor Brian Fitzpatrick on the show. Brian's never voted for a Democrat in his life. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (not known to be particularly liberally). And he won an award from the Federalist Society. So why did he write a book called “The Conservative Case for Class Actions?”

We dive deep into a spirited discussion over whether class actions are good for the country. (Spoiler alert, even Jay thinks that many are not.) Whether you agree or disagree, you will hear a radically new view of the politics behind the class action device and which pieces are working and which ones aren’t.

For more about Professor Fitzpatrick, visit his website www.briantfitzpatrick.com.