Why an E-Waste Recycler Is Going to Prison
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2018
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about Facebook’s big privacy changes and its foray into online dating, as Glaser reports from the company’s annual developer conference in San Jose. Oremus takes a listener’s question about the Golden State Killer case and the questions it raises about the privacy of our DNA.
Oremus is joined by Eric Lundgren, a pioneer in e-waste recycling who is awaiting a 15-month prison sentence for distributing CDs that allow people to reinstall Microsoft Windows on used Dell computers. Lundgren insists he’s not a criminal, and that the real crime is how tech companies drive sales of new products by discouraging people from fixing up their old ones.
And on this week’s “Don’t Close My Tabs,” Slate tech reporter Heather Schwedel joins Oremus as they share stories about “Moviepass movies” and Google’s increasingly divided internal culture.
Timestamps:
1:47 News: Golden State Killer and DNA Tech
5:55 News: April dispatches from F8, Facebook’s Annual Developer Conference
16:09 Interview: Eric Lundgren, the e-waste recycler on why he’s going to prison
35:04 Don’t Close My Tabs
Don’t Close My Tabs
The Cut: The Distinct Pleasure of the “MoviePass Movie”
The Wall Street Journal: Google Vs. Google: How Nonstop Political Arguments Rule It’s Workplace
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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to If Then, the show about how technology is changing our lives and our future. |
| 0:11.2 | I'm Will Oremus. |
| 0:23.1 | Hey everyone, welcome to If Then. |
| 0:29.1 | We're coming to you from Slate and Future Tense, a partnership between Slate, Arizona State University, and New America. |
| 0:32.1 | We're recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 1st. |
| 0:37.8 | On today's show, we'll talk about the Golden State Killer case and what it means for the privacy of your DNA. |
| 0:44.2 | Then, my co-host, April Glazer, is on the scene today at Facebook's annual developer conference in San Jose. |
| 0:48.6 | She'll join us from there to talk about all the news Mark Zuckerberg announced this morning, |
| 0:52.6 | and what it means for the future of Facebook, maybe also the future of dating apps. |
| 0:56.4 | Here's a hint, it's not a happy day today at match.com headquarters. |
| 0:59.1 | Later, we'll be joined by Eric Lundgren. |
| 1:04.0 | He's a pioneer in e-waste recycling, taking used and discarded computers and electronic components and making them into stuff people can use. |
| 1:07.2 | Now he's been sentenced to prison for 15 months, all for making thousands of copies of a Microsoft Windows startup disc whose software is available for free online. |
| 1:17.2 | We'll get his side of the story and talk to him about the broader issues of e-waste and who really owns the technology we buy. |
| 1:24.6 | All right, so before we get to the news, I want to take care of a little housekeeping item here. |
| 1:28.6 | We have been encouraging listeners to write to us, send us an email at if-then at slate.com with |
| 1:35.0 | some feedback or a question, that kind of thing. And this week, we got a good question via a voice |
| 1:40.8 | memo from an if-then listener. Let's go ahead and play that memo. |
| 1:44.9 | Hi, this is Virginia from Richmond. |
| 1:47.1 | I'm curious and a bit concerned about the use of DNA information by law enforcement like we saw |
| 1:55.0 | for the capture of the Golden State Killer. |
| 1:57.6 | Obviously a great thing, but what does it mean on a bigger scale? Thanks. |
... |
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