Friendship is so important. Photo: Avi Schiffman

We ask Albert Fox Cahn, founder and Executive Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), about how local policing has turned into local surveillance, the campaign to ban facial recognition in New York State, personalized "AI" pricing, opting out at airport security, and more.

• Cahn's Business Insider piece on home insurance spying: https://www.businessinsider.com/homeowners-insurance-nightmare-cancellation-surveillance-drone-ai-future-2024-8

• Cahn's Business Insider piece on AI pickpocketing: https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-quietly-picking-your-pocket-with-personalized-pricing-2024-7

• Cahn's WIRED piece on expanding surveillance after January 6: https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-capitol-attack-doesnt-justify-expanding-surveillance/

• STOP's Pregnancy Panopticon Report: https://www.stopspying.org/pregnancy-panopticon

• Ban the Scan NY: https://www.banthescan.org/

• Cahn on X: https://x.com/FoxCahn?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

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We got a Peter Thiel-funded venture capital tech bro on the ticket before GTA 6

• Jorge on X: https://x.com/LineGoesDown
• Unlimited Hangout article about Vance & Thiel: https://unlimitedhangout.com/2024/07/investigative-reports/the-man-behind-trumps-vp-pick-its-worse-than-you-think/

Thousands of unionized workers at Samsung, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, are striking against the company’s refusal to negotiate. Demands include a 3.5% base rate increase, paid leave for the date of union establishment, compensation for loss of wages during the strike, and transparency into the incentive-based bonus system. The union has about 30k members and represents 24% of all workers within the company. We also discuss driverless taxis, cashier-less bullet purchases, and armless eldercare robots.

We explore the secret 2011 meeting between then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt and then-on-house-arrest Julian Assange and consider how the internet has changed the relationship between people and the corporate state. We also talk about brat summer and the Council on Foreign Relations. Photo: Eric Schmidt & Jared Cohen

• Transcript of 2011 Meeting: https://wikileaks.org/Transcript-Meeting-Assange-Schmidt.html
• Vogue Interview: https://www.vogue.com/article/julian-assange-interview-when-google-met-wikileaks
• Democracy Now Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unJ_8oiuQyU 

We talk about Julian Assange's plea deal, the "censorship pyramid," encryption as resistance, an NSA patent Assange found in 1999, Hillary Clinton's Russian Wikileaks, the CIA being able to hack into Apple and Android cellphones, and more. TW: Cenk Uygur's voice at 7:30 ish. Photo: Julian Assange

• Assange’s 2006 Blog Post: https://cryptome.org/iq-org/IQ.ORG.htm
• Independent Article on the NSA Patent Assange Found: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/network-this-is-just-between-us-and-the-spies-1126316.html
• Guardian Article on Assange hacking MILNET in 1991: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jan/30/julian-assange-wikileaks-profile
• Video of US Airstrike on Afghanistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaqY12VHFv4&ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish
• Recording of Conversation between Eric Schmidt & Julian Assange: https://web.archive.org/web/20130915053137/http://wlstorage.net/file/cms/assange-schmidt.mp3
• Full Text of When Google Met Wikileaks: https://archive.org/details/whengooglemetwik0000assa

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Pre-order the 2025 Cargo Cult Calendar: https://tally.so/r/mDel4j

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Apple's launching a new set of generative AI tools and making privacy promises about integrating with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Elon Musk is OpenAI's #1 hater, and also bad at dating.

We watch 20 hours of the two-day "AI Expo for National Competitiveness" so you don't have to, and talk about Eric Schmidt's new kamikaze drone company. Photo: Eric Schmidt

Private U.S. corporations like Google and Meta mediating access to the internet is lowkey goated when digital colonialism is the vibe. Photo: Mark Zuckerberg

Scarlett Johansson is suing OpenAI for using a voice "eerily similar" to hers for ChatGPT 4o. We also yap about NYC Mayor Eric Adams's voice clone speaking Yiddish, ElevenLabs turning every news article into a podcast, BBL Drizzy, Joaquin Phoenix's high-waisted pants, and Google entering its "Gemini era."

We're talking about the iPad commercial, German anti-Tesla activists, AI dating concierges, and the underwater internet cables of the deep sea bourgeoisie. Photo: Jeff Bezos

We talk about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which will enable a new level of financial surveillance and social control. And we’re joined by John F O’Donnell, a guy with horrible karaoke etiquette. We promise we're not a con op lim hang !!! Photo: Jerome Powell

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Kitty History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Lvv1f5Qu4

Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act of 2023: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5776?s=1&r=42#:~:text=Introduced%20in%20House%20(09%2F27%2F2023)&text=This%20bill%20directs%20the%20Department,the%20ages%20of%2018%2D65.

A Proposal for CBDC based UBI: https://www.institute.global/insights/tech-and-digitalisation/proposal-web3-based-universal-basic-income

IMF’s CBDC Virtual Handbook: https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/fintech/central-bank-digital-currency/virtual-handbook

“Greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time”: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303763804579183680751473884

Digital Currency vs. Existing Electronic Currency: https://www.nttdatapay.com/blog/types-of-digital-currency/#:~:text=What%20distinguishes%20digital%20currency%20from,those%20connected%20to%20the%20Internet.

CBDC vs. Crypto: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/11/cbdcs-how-different-cryptocurrency-stablecoin/#:~:text=The%20main%20difference%20between%20CBDCs,data%20protection%20and%20online%20privacy.

The Federal Reserve Dissing Crypto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SxNyL3YFaM

IMF Dissing Crypto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4NpCf5Phj0

BIS Dissing Crypto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mvSsM1uqGo

The benefits of a cashless society: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/benefits-cashless-society-mobile-payments/

Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/cbdctracker/

Atlantic Council Donors: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/2022-annual-report/

IMF Working Hard on Global CBDC Platform Concept, Georgieva Says: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-19/imf-working-hard-on-global-cbdc-platform-concept-georgieva-says?embedded-checkout=true

BIS Survey on CBDCs: https://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap136.pdf

BIS Explained: https://www.bis.org/about/index.htm

BIS Livestream, “Central bank digital currencies, digital payments, and the future of money”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVD1ZFPzcbg

Biden Executive Order on CBDCs: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/03/09/executive-order-on-ensuring-responsible-development-of-digital-assets/

Statement from Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen on the Release of Reports on Digital Assets: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0956

US Policy Objectives for a CBDC System: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/09-2022-Technical-Evaluation-US-CBDC-System.pdf

The IMF on Nigeria’s CBDC: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/11/15/na111621-five-observations-on-nigerias-central-bank-digital-currency

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announces “Catalyst: Inclusive Cashless Payment Partnership” for India: https://2012-2017.usaid.gov/india/press-releases/oct-14-2016-usaid-launches-catalyst-drive-cashless-payments-india

Indian PM Modi Announces Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 to be Pulled Out of Circulation immediately: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/rs-500-and-rs-1000-notes-pulled-out-of-circulation-immediately-pm-narendra-modi/articleshow/55315473.cms

The Federal Reserve on Programmable CBDC: https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/money-and-payments-20220120.pdf

JP Morgan on Programmable Money: https://www.jpmorgan.com/onyx/programmable-payments-purpose-bound-money

Bank of England calls on ministers to decide whether a CBDC should be programmable: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/06/21/bank-england-tells-ministers-intervene-digital-currency-programming/#:~:text=Bank%20of%20England%20tells%20ministers%20to%20intervene%20on%20digital%20currency%20'programming',-Digital%20cash%20could&text=The%20Bank%20of%20England%20has,is%20spent%20by%20the%20recipient.

Eswar Prasad on the “Future of Money” at the WEF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyANVmHJB3c

Factchecking the Eswar Prasad Quote: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-world-economic-forum-cashless-society-false-cbdc-592718364311

Ron DeSantis on CBDC and “Woke Banking”: https://www.c-span.org/video/?532981-1/governor-ron-desantis-campaigns-hampton-nh

Republican Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Ban a CBDC in the U.S.: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/02/27/republican-lawmakers-introduce-legislation-to-ban-a-cbdc-in-the-us-again/

Trump Campaign Vows to Block CBDC: https://thehill.com/business/4416139-trump-vows-to-block-creation-of-digital-dollar/

Trump Admin Floats Idea of “USDC,” US Digital Currency: https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/17/22888225/jared-kushner-us-treasury-mnuchin-government-federal-cryptocurrency-trump-white-house

Better than Cash Alliance: https://www.betterthancash.org

Digital Dollar Project: https://digitaldollarproject.org

The IMF’s Tobias Adrian on a Synthetic CBDC: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2019/05/13/sp051419-stablecoins-central-bank-digital-currencies-and-cross-border-payments

The IMF’s Tobias Adrian used to be at the NY Fed Before the IMF: https://www.tobiasadrian.com/About

John’s 17 Plugs: https://linktr.ee/therealjfod

We talk about Israel’s automated kill lists generated by an “AI” assassination machine named Lavender and Amazon’s automated checkout experience called “Just Walk Out.”

Talking about Truth Social and killer robots.

Boeing has certainly helped kill people in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. But did it also kill a Southern funcle? Fasten your seatbelt, because this Boeing story has it all. Plane crashes, union busting, offshoring, whistleblowers, and a mysterious parking lot death. We also talk about the Justice Department’s new lawsuit against Apple for monopolizing smartphone markets. Btw rejected titles for this episode include No Plane No Gain, Error Plane Mode, Airline Fractures, Plane in the Neck, and Boeing Pains.

Here we discuss the TikTok ban and Clearview AI, a US company with a database of more than 40 billion facial images from the public internet. We also listen to big tech kingmaker Peter Thiel explain why artificial intelligence and facial recognition are "kind of communist." And we're joined by Pat Burtscher (https://www.instagram.com/patburtscher/), the nation's foremost cabbage diet expert. Photo: Hoan Ton-That

For nerds who like to sign petitions: https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/

We explore Reddit’s journey from online community to data business. We also cover NYT suing OpenAI for copyright infringement and Google laying off a group of striking contractors. RIP Aaron Swartz. Photo: Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman

They say the next dystopian surveillance technology will be launched by a gay CEO ... Really makes you feel like part of history. Photo: Tim Cook

In Part 2 of this series on Neuralink and the brain-computer interface (BCI), we discuss the current human trials for the N1 implant, FDA commissioner Robert Califf, and key figures in the movement of transhumanism such as Julian Huxley (President of the British Eugenics Society), Ray Kurzweil (Director of Engineering at Google), and Zoltan Istvan (Bus Driver). Sorryyyyyyyy this is late. This was recorded on Feb 4th but we couldn't edit it until now. Naomi was on tour doing comedy and Michele had to dance in the Super Bowl. Photo: Ray Kurzweil