It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity
-- Albert Einstein
It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are
-- Clive James, writer and poet
If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it
-- Lyndon B. Johnson
The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.”
-- Bill Gates

Five years ago, Google ran a Super Bowl ad for its Google Home device… it woke actual devices belonging to users watching the ad. In 2017 Burger King released a TV ad to deliberately trigger Google Home devices to start talking about Whopper burgers. An actor in the ad says directly to the camera, “Okay Google, what is the Whopper burger?”

The ad wasn’t done in partnership with Google

To add some meta-context to this… while doing the research for today’s show, a commercial popped up during the media hit our guest did on MSNBC talking about “announcing our preganancy.” In the ad, the newly crowned grampa chirped: Make sure to like and subscribe

Nervous yet?

I’m not saying you should be…

Today’s guest has some questions about the role that Big Tech has now assumed in all of our lives… Whether we invite them in or not

Today Matt Stephenson welcomes Jamil Jaffer for a loud and rowdy chat about… well… kind of everything that is going on right now. We talk about what is happening in Ukraine and the impact on the world of cybersecurity. We take a stroll down the path of what Big Tech is doing to the fabric of society. I even ask the Pulitzer worthy question: NFTs… Bullshit or not? Dig it.

About Jamil Jaffer

Jamil Jaffer (@jamil_n_jaffer) is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute, and an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law & Policy Program at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He also sits on the board at IronNet Cybersecurity, a technology products startup founded by Gen (ret.) Keith B. Alexander, the former Director of the National Security Agency and Founding Commander of U.S. Cyber Command. In addition, Jamil is an advisor to Beacon Global Strategies, a strategic advisory firm; 4iQ, a deep and dark web intelligence startup; Duco, a technology platform startup that connects corporations with geopolitical and international business experts; and Amber, a digital authentication and verification startup.

Among other things, Jamil currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Board of Advisors for the Global Cyber Alliance, and the Advisory Board of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation, and is a member of the Center for a New American Security’s Artificial Intelligence and National Security Task Force and the CNAS Digital Freedom Forum. Jamil is also affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Prior to his current positions, Jamil served on Capitol Hill in a variety of roles, including on the leadership team of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as a senior staff member of the House Intelligence Committee. Jamil also previously served in the Bush Administration in a number of positions, including on the leadership team of the Justice Department’s National Security Division and in the White House as an Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush. Jamil holds degrees with honors from UCLA, the University of Chicago Law School, and the United States Naval War College.

About Matt Stephenson

My name is Matt Stephenson (@packmatt73) and I have hosted podcasts, videos and live events all over the world which put me with experts on every corner of the cybersecurity landscape. pm73media is my first solo endeavor. On this platform and others to come, I will continue to expand upon the tradition we started with the Insecurity podcast as I seek out the leading minds in the tech industry and beyond. I am always looking for fun people who may break things every now and again.

In 20 years in the ecosystem of Data Protection and Cybersecurity I have toured the world extolling the virtues of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and how, when applied to information security, these technologies can wrong-foot the bad guys.

Whether in person, live virtual events or podcasting, I get to interview interesting people doing interesting things all over the world of technology and the extended world of hacking. Sometimes, that means hacking elections or the coffee supply chain... other times that means social manipulation or the sovereign wealth fund of a national economy.

Wherever I go, my job is all about talking with the people who build, manage or wreck the systems that we have put in place to make the world go round...

If you tuned in to any of my previous podcasts, there’s great news…! pm73media is here! I will be bringing the same kind of energy and array of guests you know and love. Best part? We’re still at the same spot. You can find it at Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music & Audible as well as GooglePlay, Gaana, Himalaya, I Heart Radio and wherever you get your podcasts!

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