They See You When You’re Shopping
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2023
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Though navigating the internet involves spraying your data pretty indiscriminately, you actually have more control over it than you think—it’s just a pain to rein it in.
Guest: Geoffrey Fowler, Washington Post tech columnist.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This podcast is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now. |
| 0:06.0 | You're driving, cleaning, even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive. |
| 0:13.0 | Drivers who save by Switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify |
| 0:18.5 | for an average of seven discounts. |
| 0:21.0 | Multipask right now. |
| 0:22.4 | Quote today at Progressive.com. discounts. Multitask right now. |
| 0:22.5 | Quote today at progressive.com. |
| 0:24.7 | Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. |
| 0:27.6 | National average 12 month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. |
| 0:37.0 | Potential savings will vary, discounts not available in all states and situations. I'm willing to bet that there's someone in your life who you call when you have a tech problem. |
| 0:57.0 | And not the Have you tried turning it on and off again kind of problem? |
| 1:02.0 | But the more complex ones, the ones like, could my baby |
| 1:05.8 | monitor get hacked or who is my smart doorbell giving information to? For a lot of people, that person is Jeffrey Fowler. He's a tech |
| 1:15.6 | columnist for the Washington Post, part of a group of people who write under |
| 1:19.9 | the rubric Help Desk. And you know, like the Avengers, we all have different skills and capabilities and specialties. |
| 1:27.8 | What I love to do is actually investigate things, see the ways in which the hidden ways often that technology isn't necessarily |
| 1:35.6 | working on our behalf and then point out those problems tell people how to |
| 1:39.4 | how to get around them and maybe sometimes call for lawmakers and others to do better. |
| 1:44.3 | It's his own particular set of skills. |
| 1:53.2 | A Liam Neeson for our digital trails, if you will. |
| 1:56.7 | I know, I'm mixing movie metaphors, but you get it. |
| 1:59.8 | Right now, as the holidays approach, even the most cautious of us might be throwing more money and data around the web than usual. |
... |
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.

