In episode 16, Lucy Kind interviews Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international non-profit digital rights group that promotes online civil liberties. Eva leads EFF's Threat Lab, where one of her focuses includes eradicating "stalkerware" - spyware used for domestic abuse. Eva explains how private companies are profiting by selling malware that allows abusers to track everything a victim does on their device.  She breaks down how these virtual risks lead to real-world harms, and why it's so important to design technology for the most marginalized members of society.

In episode 15, we're featuring two more talks from MobileCoin's Crypto Renaissance Conference. Up first is Alexander Rose, the executive director of The Long Now Foundation, an organization devoted to long-term thinking that is best known for building the ten-thousand-year clock.  Alexander explains the roots of cryptography and how ledger systems have evolved over the last 5,000 years. Then we feature a talk from isis agora lovecruft, cryptographer and research consultant at MobileCoin. isis agora lovecruft joins to speak about Ristretto, the cryptographic technology that MobileCoin uses to preserve the privacy of its users.

In this episode, Josh interviews Todd Huffman, co-founder and CEO of the biomedical imaging company E11 Bio, which is a neuroscience research foundation building new tools for brain mapping. Todd discusses his fascination with the nexus between neuroscience and imaging technology. Josh asks Todd about his experience volunteering in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in 2008, where Todd ran a bar that became a central hub for non-Afghans in the region. Todd tells us about the "beer for data program," where folks who uploaded useful data to a hard drive chained to the bar could earn a free beer. Todd raises the question, "how do you do communications where trust is low and conflict is high?"

On this episode, we're doing things a little differently. MobileCoin presents: The Crypto Rennaissance! On December 10th, 2021, MobileCoin hosted a conference at a repurposed masonic lodge in San Francisco, featuring a lineup of talks and panels exploring the cryptographic revolution. Today on the podcast, we're featuring a talk by Josh Rosenthal, a medieval history professor turned venture capitalist. Josh explores the dramatic changes the world experienced during the 14th-century renaissance, how Martin Luther's printing press created a memetic revolution, and why historians will look back at our current time as the next major historical renaissance. Josh Rosenthal's talk is followed by a short interview with MobileCoin CEO Josh Goldbard.

Have you ever thought about whether the world is a good place or a bad place? In episode 12, Brady Forrest interviews Hugh Howey, acclaimed author of the science fiction story Wool and the Silo Series of novels, which wrestle with this central question.  Hugh explains how processing his darkest emotions led to his most successful story. He also shares what it's like to sail around the world using nothing but the stars and signs of nature, which he wrote about for his Wayfinding series. Brady compares solo-sailing on long voyages to silent meditation retreats (Hugh recommends Craig Mod's write-up on the subject). Hugh also tells us how his privacy was violated on a global scale.  Scammers used his photos to create thousands of fake online dating profiles, and this violation still follows him around today (he recently got a call from the FBI). What would you do if your face became famous without your consent?

In this episode, Lucy Kind interviews Aza Raskin, the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, and the co-founder and executive director of the Earth Species Project.  Aza grew up in Silicon Valley (his father started the Macintosh project at Apple) and began his career at Mozilla where he was the inventor of the infinite scroll. Lucy asks him if he regrets this innovation.  Aza expands on his vision for cultivating a world where human attention is not just decommodified but valued as our most treasured resource. He also explains the tech behind the Earth Species Project's efforts to decode animal communication and the implications of a universal translator on deep human listening. Aza is a multitude of metaphors and his vision creates hope for a new era of humane technology.

In Episode 10, Dr. David Bray brings us on a journey into the future of privacy, from ransomware to sith lords. David is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council as well as the Stimson Center, and principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures. David began working for the government at age 15 and has an impressive range of expertise including cybersecurity, disinformation, military and humanitarian issues, civil rights, energy, biotechnology, and more. David and Josh discuss ransomware as one of the most significant threats of the 21st century and David explains why it's never worth paying the ransom. David ponders the last 150 years of technological innovation and explains how we're currently witnessing four technological revolutions simultaneously. He also shares his fears that our desire for certainty in an ever-changing world could lead us towards autocracy. Josh reminds us that only a sith deals in absolutes.

In episode 9, Henry Holtzman interviews Alex Feerst, who served as head of trust and safety at Medium and general counsel at Neuralink.  Currently, he  is the  CEO of Murmuration Labs and also sits on the board of the MobileCoin Foundation.  Alex shares why the backstage should be front and center, explaining Erving Goffman's fantastic "backstage" metaphor for privacy.  Henry asks what it's like to work in the evolving field of trust and safety, and Alex tells us about the human experience behind content moderation.  Alex also explains the distributed web and weighs in on Facebook's latest scandal over harm caused by Instagram, pondering whether it's even possible for companies to act "ethically" in a late capitalist world. 

In episode 8, MobileCoin's head of business development Brady Forrest interviews Jillian York.  Jillian is the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and she just wrote a new book called Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism.  Brady and Jillian discuss why companies like Facebook and Twitter have had such major problems with content moderation, and debate the boundaries between necessary de-platforming and unintended consequences on free speech. Jillian explains the hypocrisy behind companies over-focusing on content like nudity and women's bodies while frequently ignoring hate speech and incitement of violence. Brady and Jillian talk about the differences between content moderation in Germany and the US, and whether it's possible for the internet to become both freer and safer at the same time.

In episode 7, Lucy Kind interviews Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, a refugee of the Iraq Civil War, whose life's work is facilitating the freedom of information and knowledge in authoritarian nations in the Middle East. Faisal shares his experience growing up under the regime of Saddam Hussein without free access to information. He explains how he created Ideas Beyond Borders to translate and disseminate thousands of articles, books, and websites into Arabic and other languages, with the goal of stopping radical extremism. Faisal also gives an insider view into the chaotic removal of US troops from Afghanistan and explains how Taliban rule will impact access to secular ideas.  Lucy and Faisal discuss why there is hope for progress in the region.