What the Hack with Adam Levin

As technology is integrated deeper into classrooms, the lines between education and data privacy have been destroyed by for-profit data miners. This week, privacy advocate Shannon Edwards reveals how educational apps harvest sensitive information from children, commodify their data, and what parents can do to fight it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ransomware is a type of malware that allows hackers to commandeer data on a device or an entire network. Increasingly, the threat actors behind these crimes set their sites on mission critical targets. We talked about it with renowned cybersecurity expert Keren Elazari this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve all been there. You see something perfect online, you do all the clicks and then think, “Wait, was that legit?” Scam-lite transactions are the way of the web these days, whether it’s direct-from-manufacturer or super-sticky subscriptions, we have your back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From elections to ransomware, CISA Director Jen Easterly breaks down the threats to America’s critical infrastructure and what’s being done to stop them, sharing along the way her journey from the real-life battlefield to the frontlines of cybersecurity. This is a rare glimpse into the most pressing threats America faces—and a compelling story about Director Easterly’s own experience being targeted.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think you’re too savvy to get scammed? Author and activist Cory Doctorow explains how we’re all one muffaletta and a malfunctioning jet door away from falling prey to the most basic of cons. He joins us this week to talk about that and to fill us in about his new book, “The Bezzle.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the biggest threat to your privacy wasn’t some hacker in a hoodie—but a spy trained to infiltrate your life? Former FBI operative Eric O’Neill, the man who took down spy Robert Hanssen, explains how digital spies target us, offering along the way real-world tips to protect ourselves in a world where everyone’s a potential target. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AI is everywhere – in the news, on our devices, assisting us, making life easier for us, and for criminals, too, harnessing AI to swindle people more efficiently. What’s next? We dive into the dark side of AI and ask two experts: Could AI commit the perfect crime? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karen Johnson is a catfisher-turned-scam avoidance coach turned–you guessed it–catfishing victim. The scam that got her is a classic, opening the door to a Pandora’s Box of the usual advice about avoiding the most common scams out there. But the thing that really got us thinking is the role AI played in almost every aspect of this week’s show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a Daily Show correspondent, comedian Roy Wood, Jr. knows a thing or two about fake news and truthiness as well as the truth-and-a-half that is comedy. By skewering the media and the people in the news, he has special insight into how misinformation affects the way we think about the world and what we know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max McCoy stumbled on a $47 million swindle that starts just north of the Oklahoma panhandle and bounces to Australia before things get really confusing in a haze of small town corruption, secretive law enforcement and competing theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin West is the Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, California, and the founder of Project Shamrock. Whether she’s prosecuting eye-popping SIM-swap money grabs or putting large-scale pig butchering operations out of business, her stories and experience can help you stay safer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt is on a mission to kill Section 230, the legal shield that lets social media giants profit from chaos. If engagement-driven algorithms are fueling harmful content for the sake of profit, is it time for the U.S. to take bold action to rein in the Internet? (You know the answer, but this is a must listen!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kara Swisher has been covering Silicon Valley since the early days, and she’s made a ton of enemies the old fashioned way (by telling the truth about the new robber barons of our digital lives). In a new memoir called Burn Book, she pulls the curtain back on a world run by powerful babies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Privacy expert Jen Caltrider reveals how those shiny new AI gadgets with their mind-bending tech—not to mention the social media apps capturing every moment—are a privacy nightmare. Is going analog the only safe option? Learn how to protect your data from the prying eyes of Big Tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No deep fake here. This week, Al Franken does his own impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins in this mock Senate Hearing featuring Siri (played by the actual voice-over talent Susan Bennett) and Al’s fellow SNL alum Laraine Newman playing the part of Alexa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder why facial recognition is so accurate? Well, one reason is the shocking amount of personal data it needs (think: all the world’s snapshots), and that’s why Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark is taking aim at the industry behind that technology. We also review Charity’s top scams to watch for this year, and other topics near and dear to our own scam-hating hearts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From cyberbullying to harmful algorithms, the risks are real. This week, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal join us to discuss their bipartisan bill—the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Together, they’re taking on Big Tech to ensure the safety of children online. Tune in to hear how KOSA could change the digital world for the better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kristen Bride’s 16-year-old son died by suicide after being cyberbullied on Snapchat. Setting her sites on anonymous messaging apps that intentionally traumatize children, Bride heads to Washington DC to fight for change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ava Smithing was eleven when she saw a swimsuit on Pinterest that she liked. That innocent click turned into an eating disorder. How? This episode explores the most dangerous thing children face today: Algorithms. On a mission to hold Big Tech accountable, Ava shares her journey as an activist with us, including her recent role providing Congressional testimony in support of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices