Technically Optimistic

The data boom has had an outsized impact on India and the Global South. This episode explores how the data economy has changed life on the ground in South Asia — and for tech workers in the US. What does the future of caste look like for the South Asian diaspora, and in the tech world at large? What can be done to mitigate the harms of caste discrimination? How can tech help resource marginalized populations, enable social mobility, and design a more sustainable, empowered future?  Raffi speaks with caste and technology scholar Murali Shanmugavelan; anthropologist Sareeta Amrute; Manu Chopra, CEO of Karya; Pratik Rajurkar, educator and co-founder of Polymath AI; and United Nations under-secretary-general, Amandeep Singh Gill. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether we like it or not, the kids are online — and they’re being tracked just like the rest of us. Who’s after their data, and why? We examine the harms minors face online — from how tech companies profit off addictive usership, to the consequences of social media on kids’ mental health and emotional development — and we explore some new proposals for how to protect their privacy. Are more parental controls the answer? Will newly-proposed laws be the key? Or will these bills cause more harm than good? In this episode, Raffi is joined by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); author Rosalind Wiseman; Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen; research fellow Tiera Tanksley; Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media; and Manmeet Dhindsa, attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New technologies, such as facial recognition, are being used by law enforcement to identify, locate, and convict people. Powered by data gathered from across the internet, these imperfect programs can sometimes get it wrong, resulting in wrongful arrests. Are these surveillance systems making us safer, or just the opposite? How can we conceptualize the relationship between data and criminal justice? Does the Fourth Amendment protect us from data-driven policing? And how can we maintain our own “cyber hygiene” to keep our data secure?  In this episode, Raffi talks to experts about these new technologies as they relate to our civil liberties, laws, and values. Guests include Kashmir Hill, New York Times privacy reporter and author of the book Your Face Belongs To Us; Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard professor and faculty director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society; Jennifer Lynch, general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation; Jen Easterly, Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; and Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA). To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Digital surveillance is becoming increasingly threatening to the reproductive rights of women and pregnant people in America after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Behavioral data collected from apps can be used to catalog — and criminalize — our health care choices. In this “wild west” surveillance economy, who is responsible for safeguarding our privacy? Could more and more of our data be weaponized against us in this same way? How can technology be harnessed to help protect privacy, rather than further jeopardize it?  Host Raffi Krikorian talks to people working to protect reproductive freedom in an ever-changing landscape. Guests include Sue Dunlap, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles; Melanie Fontes Rainer, Director of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights; Kevin Williams, VP of digital products at Planned Parenthood; Amy Merrill, digital director and co-founder of Plan C; and Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA). To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts Email us with questions and feedback at [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices