What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

On January 1st, a new law will grant Californians the right to see, delete, and stop the sale of personal information collected by tech companies. But the impact of the bill may reach far beyond California. How does this landmark law affect the rest of the country? And will it set the stage for national privacy legislation?

Guest: Hayley Tsukayama, Legislative Activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

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In this episode April Glaser is joined by co-host Kim-Mai Cutler, a partner at Initialized Capital, an early-stage venture firm. She’s also a former full-time journalist at TechCrunch.

First, April and Kim-Mai discuss the lack of affordable housing in California and the political battles that are hindering progress.

Then they talk about the upcoming wildfire season with Faith Kearns from the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Lizzie Johnson from the San Francisco Chronicle.

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On today’s show, host Will Oremus will discuss the fallout from last week’s New York Times expose about Facebook with the company’s former Security Chief Alex Stamos.

The Times story was headlined “Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Leaned Out in Crisis.” Stamos has been at the center of this story both as a critic and an advocate. The story has revolved partly around reports that Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg stifled or downplayed his revelations that their platform was still not free from Russian meddling months after the 2016 election. We’ll get his side of the story, as well as his perspective on Facebook’s missteps, and what he thinks the public and the media get wrong about the company. We’ll also talk about what some solutions to its problems might look like, including, potentially, government regulations.

2:15 - Interview with Alex Stamos37:53 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

Slate: Trapped in the Fire Zone

The New York Times: Are You Sitting Down? Standing Desks Are Overrated.

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 [email protected].

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.

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On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the recent announcement that Instagram’s founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, would be leaving the company - at least in part due to clashes with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the company’s future.

They also discuss tech talks on capitol hill this week between the justice department and federal and state law enforcement on political bias, antitrust, and privacy on social media -- as well as a hearing in the Senate scheduled for Wednesday on how technology companies use and misuse consumer data.

Then, the hosts spend the rest of the podcast talking about...podcasts. The last couple weeks have witnessed some dramatic changes in the podcast industry (including right here at the Slate Group). Last week Buzzfeed axed it’s entire podcast department, a very popular and groundbreaking arm of the media company. Meanwhile, Vox Media did just the opposite, announcing they’d be doubling their podcast output this fall. To help make sense of all this, April and Will are joined by media writer Nick Quah, who pens the weekly newsletter Hot Pod, which is considered required reading for many in the podcast industry.

15:41 - Interview with Nick Quah

34:36 - Don’t Close My Tabs

Don’t Close My Tabs:

okayplayer: The Secret History of Outkast’s ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below:’ the Last Truly Great Double Album

The New Yorker: How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump

The Guardian: ‘Sorry I’m Scuba Diving’” Salesforce CEO Criticized Over Response to Border Contract Backlash

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 [email protected].

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus lamentthe anticlimactic end to Waymo and Uber’s court drama, explain why teens are pissed at Snapchat, and examine John Perry Barlow’s contributions to the internet we know today. The hosts are joined by Justin Rosenstein, co-founder of Asana and the former Facebooker behind the like button, to talk about the distraction crisis and whether Silicon Valley can solve a problem it created.

Don’t Close My Tabs:

The Robot Dog That Can Open a Door Is Even More Impressive Than It Looks

Candy Heart Messages Written by a Neural Network

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 [email protected].

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices