The Big Tech Show

Do people really care if Facebook does unwarranted things with our personal data? Are we, in the press, simply overestimating how much it bothers people?
The latest privacy breach involves the company saying it 'mistakenly' uploaded the private email contacts of 1.5m people.
It has also admitted that millions, not thousands, of Instagram passwords were stored in plain language.
But it's all being greeted by a big 'meh' from the public. Other than a few campaigning media outlets and privacy activists, thi+e latest revelations appear to barely bother anyone.
Have we just become numb to a neverending stream of Facebook privacy screwups? Or does the company's unmoved account membership figures suggest that people see the breaches but conclude that it's a price worth paying for the utility they get out of it?
In this week's podcast, Adrian and Castlebridge privacy expert Daragh O'Brien debate whether Facebook's privacy issues are regarded with disquiet anymore.
They also look at the Irish data protection commissioner's recent guidance to schools, where the watchdog said bishops and principals who tell parents that they can't take photos at school events simply "because of GDPR" are wrong.
And they consider the wider legal and ethical implications of when taking photos is and isn't okay.

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ZXvz7II5SHeDjDpGvTugj

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So now we know: Amazon is listening to our conversations. Some of its staff are told to listen in to what we tell the Amazon Echo to do.

The company has been very secretive about this. But after a Bloomberg story delved into it, the company admitted that it listens to a small percentage of voice recordings to help its artificial intelligence figure out things like accents better.

But that’s not all the workers hear. Some say that they have picked up disturbing things, like assaults. But they’re told not to do anything about it.

There are a whole host of issues that crop up around this.

Is it okay for Amazon staff to physically listen to our voice commands, even if it’s just for quality control?

Do we believe them that it’s just for quality control?

And a longer term, thornier issue arises -- what responsibility, if any, does a platform have if it detects something like a sexual assault?

Joining Adrian to discuss this in depth is Patricia Scanlon, the founder and chief executive of Soapbox Labs, which specialises in childrens’ speech technology and artificial intelligence.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we split the podcast into two segments: an interview with GoFundMe chief executive Rob Solomon and an audience with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on his visit to Dublin.

While the 34-year-old billionaire was careful in his engagement with Irish journalists during the week, he did agree to talk for a few minutes. Adrian heard what Mark Zuckerberg is thinking on the issues of using Facebook as a tool for election interference, privacy in Europe, harmful content and why Facebook wants to start pushing for the transfer of data from one app to another as a right.

GoFundMe’s Rob Solomon explained to Adrian why Ireland is the highest per-capital user base of his fundraising platform’s services. He also talked Adrian through the ways that GoFundMe guards against scam fundraising attempts and gave examples of how the platform disallows misinformation drives, such as recent attempts to raise money for anti-vaccination programmes.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple’s big screen adventure (on a little screen)

Why is Apple launching a TV and movie service? And will it be any good?
This week, Adrian and Daragh O’Brien of Castlebridge wonder whether Apple can make it in Hollywood against the likes of Netflix, Disney and HBO.
They also ask what the future is for old-fashioned linear TV broadcasters like RTE and BBC — will they essentially become the channels of sport, news and talent shows?
And the two look at another prominent issue in Ireland this week: broadband. Specifically, will the government’s National Broadband Plan be rolled out? Should it be? How important is broadband, anyway?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s €1.5bn EU fine against Google for shutting rivals out of its online ad system begs the question: is Google too big? Should it be broken up? And if so, what about Facebook and Amazon?

In the US, this is exactly what Democratic US presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing. But is it feasible? And what would it mean in terms of services?

To discuss the practical and legal considerations around this, Adrian is joined by Philip Andrews, the head of the EU & Competition Law Group at McCann FitzGerald and by Donal O’Donovan, business editor of the Irish Independent.

The panel looks at how much of our lives are spent using Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon and whether there’s any hope for new entrants to the market. They also wonder whether Europe’s muscular regulatory approach toward the big tech firms is sufficient or whether more radical anti-trust remedies are needed.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the roles for 5G is to connect self-driving cars. But before that happens, this generation of cars is currently being linked up to 4G networks for safety, upgrade and entertainment purposes.

This week, Adrian talks to Barry Napier whose Cubic Telecom is one of Europe’s main providers of mobile connectivity to cars and other everyday things we use.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be a ‘privacy first’ company. Totally expected, right?

This week, Adrian and Castlebridge founder Daragh O’Brien dig down into Mark Zuckerberg‘s new corporate mission to see whether it holds water.

They discuss the chances — or not — of Facebook being allowed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner to make messages from Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger ‘interoperable’, as Zuckerberg sets out.

And they look at what Ireland’s new Online Safety Commissioner will be expected to do.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's it like being Facebook's policeman?

This week, Adrian sits down for an in-depth chat with Helen Dixon, Europe's most powerful data protection commissioner.

They talk about Facebook, her approach and what exactly it takes for her office to kick off a probe.

Helen has some surprising revelations, such as her office's recent look at whether Facebook is secretly recording us through our phones (and what they found).

Adrian also asks Helen whether GDPR is causing endless pop-ups on websites that get ignored and if it has helped the big tech firms while hurting small players and startups.

And theres lots more, from CCTV to what the office is planning in the future.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian sits down with a German artificial intelligence expert to talk about why Europe isn’t doing AI right.

In particular, Dr Stefan Heumann argues that member states and the European Union need to start taking AI seriously as a concerted effort if Europe is to compete with China and the US.

Dr Heumann is a member of the management board of Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV), a non-profit think tank working at the intersection of technology and public policy in Germany.

Adrian spoke to him at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a very big week of broadband announcements in Ireland, Adrian sits down with the person promising the most radical plan.

Imagine boss Sean Bolger says that his wireless broadband company will build a new national network to connect over 1m homes, including 400,000 of the 540,000 rural homes currently earmarked under the National Broadband Plan.

This, he says, will be done by building hundreds of sites (such as masts) around the country, which will deliver the service to antennae on rural homes.

But is this just another promise from a telecoms company? When will the rural homes he’s planning on connecting see the service?

And does this mean he intends to scupper or challenge the state-subsidised scheme, which would use taxpayers’ money to do an enhanced fibre-based version of the same thing?

Bolger has decades of experience in the Irish telecoms market. His was the company behind the WiMax wireless service that rose and fell some years ago.

But rural Ireland may be his biggest challenge yet.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.