Is Privacy A Right?
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2018
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss the latest data spill in Silicon Valley: It’s Google this time. And it’s time to talk gadgets again. This week Facebook announced its second foray into the hardware space with the Portal and Portal Plus—essentially a smart display for making video calls, equipped with an AI camera and Amazon Alexa. Meanwhile, Google launched a new smart display called the Google Home Hub, a new tablet that shares a name with the hosts’ employer, and a new phone that’s interesting for both its camera and the AI built in.
The hosts are also joined by tech attorney and privacy expert Tiffany C. Li. She teaches a course at Yale about the changing rights to privacy throughout history. They talk to her about what privacy rights we really have, whose interests are served by U.S. privacy law, and the difference between government and corporate surveillance.
19:16 - Interview with Tiffany Li34:45 - Don’t Close My Tabs
Don’t Close My Tabs:
Bloomberg: The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies
Podcast production by Max Jacobs
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to If Then, The Show about how technology is changing our lives and our future. |
| 0:15.4 | I'm April Glacier. And I'm Will Arunus. |
| 0:21.1 | Hey, everyone, welcome to If Then. |
| 0:22.9 | We're coming to you from Slate and Future Tense partnership between Slate, Arizona State University, and New America. |
| 0:28.5 | We're recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 9th. |
| 0:31.6 | On today's show, we'll talk about the latest data spill in Silicon Valley. |
| 0:34.7 | And it is Google this time. |
| 0:36.6 | The Wall Street Journal reported that Google's less than popular social media site, Google Plus, had exposed hundreds of thousands of its users' private data back in the spring. Google quietly fixed the problem, but did not announce it publicly, reportedly to avoid potential regulatory response because this was happening at the same time as the Cambridge |
| 0:54.5 | Analytica issue with Facebook. On Monday, it was announced that Google Plus will be closing shop |
| 0:59.5 | for good. Oh, no, not Google Plus. Also, this week, it's time to talk gadgets again. This |
| 1:05.4 | week, Facebook announced a new device called the Portal. There's actually two of them, the Portal |
| 1:10.1 | and the Portal Plus. It's essentially a smart screen for making video calls equipped with an AI camera and powered |
| 1:16.7 | by Amazon Alexa. Google rolled out its own lineup of devices. I was here in New York today for |
| 1:22.6 | its made by Google event. It has a new smart display called the Google Home Hub, a new tablet that shares a name |
| 1:28.9 | with our employer, and a new phone that's interesting, mostly for its camera, but also for the way |
| 1:34.1 | it's using AI. Later in the show, we'll be joined by tech attorney and privacy expert Tiffany Lee. |
| 1:39.8 | Lee teaches a course at Yale about the changing rights to privacy. We'll talk to her about what privacy |
| 1:44.8 | rights we really have, the difference between government and corporate surveillance, and the difference |
| 1:49.0 | between a hack and a breach, and why it matters what we call it. And as always, we will end with |
| 1:54.4 | Don't Close My Tabs, some of the best things we've seen on the web this week. All right, April, |
| 2:00.0 | how are you doing this week? |
| 2:06.4 | I'm good. How are you? I'm all right. I'm here at our Slate Studios in Brooklyn, New York. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

