Flightless Bird: Surveillance

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Armchair Umbrella

Tv & Film, Music, Comedy

4.6 • 68.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this week's Flightless Bird, David Farrier looks at how America surveils its own citizens and asks why America is a “spying superpower.” In 2022 alone, 145,000 Facebook users and 100,000 Gmail accounts were rifled through by the US government’s spy agencies. How come? Farrier delves into America’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and “Section 702" and talks with journalist Byron Tau, author of “Means of Control: How The Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government is Creating a New American Surveillance State.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm David Ferrier in New Zealand to accidentally marooned in America and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.
0:06.2	Now if it's one thing I've learned about America this year is that it both loves Tik-Tock and also hates Tik-Tock.
0:12.2	Tik-Tock influencers beware. and also hates TikTok.
0:13.0	TikTok influencers beware.
0:15.1	Today a House committee voted on a bipartisan bill that could effectively ban
0:19.5	the app in the United States.
0:21.5	The fear of the Chinese spying on America using the popular social media app became a
0:26.0	giant talking point in politics.
0:28.6	No American likes the idea of another country potentially spying on them, and I get it. But then I started to think about all
0:34.6	the ways America likes to spy as well. America is a spying superpower. A huge amount of internet
0:41.3	traffic runs through America, plus a bunch of powerful software the world
0:44.8	loves, from Zoom to Gmail, are all American, and open to the American government's prying eyes.
0:50.9	In 2022 alone,
0:52.8	145,000 Facebook users and 100,000 Gmail accounts were rifled through by the US government
0:59.8	spy agencies.
1:01.5	America's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has a bit called Section 702,
1:06.7	which means the government's able to take part in mass surveillance of things like
1:10.5	emails, texts, social media,
1:12.5	DMs, and whatever you've been up to on your dating apps.
1:15.8	I wanted to know what this means for me living in America
1:19.2	and whether it's time for me to grab my podcasting gear
1:22.0	and run for the hills. So get ready to share your location
	...

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