1255 Chrome’s Cage: Inside Google’s Growing Surveillance Empire

Richard Syrett's Strange Planet

Richard Syrett & Glassbox Media

Society & Culture, News, Politics

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

FOLLOW RICHARD Website: https://www.strangeplanet.ca YouTube: @strangeplanetradio Instagram: @richardsyrettstrangeplanet TikTok: @therealstrangeplanet EP. #1255 Chrome’s Cage: Inside Google’s Growing Surveillance Empire Imagine your browser isn’t neutral but a listening post—feeding Big Tech a steady stream of your searches, keystrokes, and private moments. On Strange Planet, Katherine Albrecht—privacy researcher, bestselling author, and StartMail co-founder—walks us through how Chrome became a portal for surveillance, how AI and predictive analytics harvest our lives, and what it means when courts cement Google’s dominance. We interrogate the collision of technology, law, and power, ask whether citizens can still fight back, and map concrete steps to reclaim privacy. A wake-up call: convenience traded for control, and time is running out. Listen, learn, act—before your freedoms quietly vanish. GUEST: Dr. Katherine Albrecht is a privacy researcher and consumer-rights advocate with degrees from Harvard and studies at the MIT Media Lab. She co-founded privacy-focused StartMail, co-authored the bestseller Spychips, has testified before lawmakers, and hosts a syndicated radio show—arguing for decades that RFID, browser dominance, and AI are tools of mass surveillance. WEBSITES: https://www.startmail.com https://katherine-albrecht.com BOOKS: Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID I Won't Take the Mark: A Bible Book and Contract for Children SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! FABRIC BY GERBER LIFE Life insurance that’s designed to be fast and affordable. You could get instant coverage with no medical exam for qualified applicants. Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes at meet fabric dot com slash STRANGE TESBROS We're a small business built by Tesla owners, for Tesla owners. Everything we do is about helping our customers customize, protect, and maintain their ride — whether it’s through our products or YouTube how-tos and reviews. Go to tesbros.com and use code POD15 for 15% off your first order. ⁠BUTCHERBOX⁠ ButcherBox delivers better meat and seafood straight to your door – including 100% grass-fed beef,free-range organic chicken, pork raised crate-free, and wild-caught seafood. Right now, ButcherBox is offering our listeners $20 off their first box and free protein for a year. Go to ⁠ButcherBox.com/strange⁠ to get this limited time offer and free shipping always. Don’t forget to use our link so they know we sent you. HIMS - Making Healthy and Happy Easy to Achieve Sexual Health, Hair Loss, Mental Health, Weight Management START YOUR FREE ONLINE VISIT TODAY - HIMS dot com slash STRANGE https://www.HIMS.com/strange QUINCE BEDDING Cool, Relaxed Bedding. Woven from 100% European flax linen. Visit QUINCE BEDDING to get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER!!! https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm Three monthly subscriptions to choose from. Commercial Free Listening, Bonus Episodes and a Subscription to my monthly newsletter, InnerSanctum. Visit https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm Use the discount code "Planet" to receive $5 OFF off any subscription. We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm/

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0:00.0	I'll now hand you over to my best man, Eddie.
0:04.0	Wow, wow, wow, second time's a charm, eh, Billy Boy?
0:09.0	Oh God.
0:10.0	Substitution, courtesy of Paddy Power, embarrassing Eddie, makes way for sensible Samuel.
0:15.0	Cool, that was close.
0:16.0	You might not always pick the right starter, but your sub can still deliver.
0:19.0	Because with Paddy's super sub, your bet rolls over to the player coming on. Panny Power. Valid on selected leagues and markets only. Prematch and in-play bets on qualifying player outcome selections only. T's and Clusions apply. 18 plus scummelware.org. Why are businesses like HelloVet choosing Apple products and services? So we started the business two years ago. We had a few people who were
0:38.7	used to PCs and this was their first foray into Macs, but it's been super smooth getting everyone
0:44.7	onto those devices and everyone seems really, really happy. Find out how Mac can help you run
0:50.2	and grow your business at apple.co forward slash hello vet.
0:56.0	Here's the truth about AI. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into.
1:02.1	ServiceNow puts AI to work for people across your business, removing friction and
1:07.0	frustration for your employees, supercharging productivity for your developers, providing
1:12.3	intelligent tools for your service agents to make customers happier, all built into a single
1:17.3	platform you can use right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com
1:24.1	slash UK slash AI for people. Because they are so hungry for power to feed AI,
1:29.9	every AI query you do uses multiple times more energy than any Google query. To build it is
1:37.9	astronomical amounts of power. And they are so power hungry. they are firing up nuclear plants.
1:44.1	They are building these solar farms.
1:46.3	So anyway, back to President Trump.
1:48.0	So I harbored some hope because I knew he opposed the building of these solar farms
1:54.7	that perhaps he would oppose AI as well.
	...

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