Libsyn Directory

Privacy is Dead

Release Date: 08/20/2025

Easy Prey

Identity theft is usually framed as an external threat. Hackers, data breaches, anonymous criminals operating somewhere far away. This episode looks at a much harder reality to face: identity theft that happens inside families, often quietly, over many years, and without immediate detection. The damage isn’t just financial. It reshapes trust, relationships, and a person’s sense of stability long before anyone realizes what’s happening. My guest is Axton Betz-Hamilton, an associate professor of financial counseling and planning whose research focuses on familial and child identity theft....

Exploiting Trust (Part 2)

Easy Prey

Security failures rarely come from cutting-edge attacks or sophisticated tools. They happen in ordinary moments when someone holds a door, follows an instruction without questioning it, or finds a workaround that makes their day easier. Those small, human decisions are often the real entry points, and they tend to compound over time. This episode picks up the second half of our conversation on exploiting trust with FC Barker, a veteran ethical hacker and physical security expert known for legally breaking into banks, government buildings, and high-security facilities around the world. With...

Exploiting Trust (Part 1)

Easy Prey

Most security failures don’t start with a dramatic breach or a mysterious hacker sitting in a dark room. They usually start quietly. Someone assumes a system is locked down. Someone trusts that a door shouldn’t open, or that a machine “just works,” or that no one would ever think to look there. Over time, those small assumptions stack up, and that’s where things tend to go wrong. Today’s guest is FC Barker, a renowned ethical hacker, social engineer, and global keynote speaker with more than three decades of experience legally breaking into organizations to expose their blind...

Surviving a Ransomware Attack

Easy Prey

A ransomware attack doesn’t always announce itself with flashing warnings and locked screens. Sometimes it starts with a quiet system outage, a few unavailable servers, and a sinking realization days later that the threat actors were already inside. This conversation pulls back the curtain on what really happens when an organization believes it’s dealing with routine failures only to discover it’s facing a full-scale cyber extortion event. My guest today is Zachary Lewis, CIO and CISO for a Midwest university, a 40 Under 40 Business Leader, and a former Nonprofit CISO of the Year....

Why You Fall For Scams

Easy Prey

Why do smart, capable people fall for scams even when the warning signs seem obvious in hindsight? In this episode, Dan Ariely joins us to examine how intuition often leads us in the wrong direction, especially under stress, uncertainty, or emotional pressure. A renowned behavioral economist, longtime professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, Misbehaving, and Misbelief, Dan has spent decades studying why rational people consistently make choices that don’t serve them. We talk about...

Mobile Device Threats

Easy Prey

In a world where we’re told to carry our entire lives in our pockets, we’ve reached a strange tipping point where the very devices meant to connect us have become windows into our private lives for those who wish us harm. It’s no longer a matter of looking for the "shady" corners of the internet; today, the threats come from nation-state actors, advanced AI, and even the people we think we’re hiring. We are living in an era where the most sophisticated hackers aren't just trying to break into your phone, they’re trying to move into your business by pretending to be your best...

Past, Present, and Future of AI agents

Easy Prey

The intersection of AI and cybersecurity is changing faster than anyone expected, and that pace is creating both incredible innovation and brand-new risks we’re only beginning to understand. From deepfake ads that fool even seasoned security professionals to autonomous agents capable of acting on our behalf, the threat landscape looks very different than it did even a year ago. To explore what this evolution means for everyday people and for enterprises trying to keep up, I’m joined by Chris Kirschke, Field CISO at Tuskira and a security leader with more than two decades of experience...

You Are Traceable with OSINT

Easy Prey

Publicly available data can paint a much clearer picture of our lives than most of us realize, and this episode takes a deeper look at how those tiny digital breadcrumbs like photos, records, searches, even the background of a Zoom call can be pieced together to reveal far more than we ever intended. To help break this down, I’m joined by Cynthia Hetherington, Founder and CEO of The Hetherington Group, a longtime leader in open-source intelligence. She also founded Osmosis, the global association and conference for OSINT professionals, and she oversees OSINT Academy, where her team trains...

Anyone Could Walk In

Easy Prey

Sometimes we forget how much trust we place in the little things around us like a lock on a door or a badge on someone’s shirt. We see those symbols and assume everything behind them is safe, but it doesn’t always work that way. A person with enough confidence, or the right story, can slip through places we think are locked down tight, and most of us never notice it’s happening. My guest today is Deviant Ollam, and he’s one of the rare people who gets invited to break into buildings on purpose. He talks about how he fell into this unusual line of work, the odd moments that shaped his...

The Scam You Never See Coming

Easy Prey

Fraud today doesn’t feel anything like it used to. It’s not just about somebody skimming a credit card at a gas pump or stealing a check out of the mail. It has gotten personal, messy, emotional. Scammers are building relationships, earning trust, and studying the little details of our lives so they can strike when we’re tired, distracted, or dealing with something big. And honestly, most people have no idea how far it’s gone. My guest, Ian Mitchell, has spent more than 25 years fighting fraud around the world and leading teams in the financial sector. He’s the founder of The Knoble,...

More Episodes

Privacy in the digital age has grown from a background concern into one of the defining issues of our time. What began with simple questions about online safety has expanded into a complex, global conversation about how artificial intelligence, biometric data, and massive data ecosystems are reshaping daily life.

Pam Dixon has been at the center of these discussions for more than two decades. As the founder and executive director of the World Privacy Forum, she’s worked across the U.S., Europe, India, Africa, and beyond, advising governments, international organizations, and policymakers on how to create effective privacy protections.

In this episode, Pam takes us through the history of modern privacy law, the ways different regions approach the challenge, and the new frontiers like collective privacy, AI governance, and health data that demand fresh thinking. She also offers a grounded perspective on how to build systems that safeguard individuals while still allowing innovation to thrive, and why getting those guardrails right now will shape the future of trust in technology.

Show Notes:

[4:49] Pam identified privacy risks in early resume databases and produced a 50-page report on job boards, now known as job search platforms.
[8:56] Pam now chairs the civil society work at OECD in AI, contributing to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Privacy Guidelines (first adopted in 1980).
[11:17] The launch of the internet marked a major shift in privacy, transitioning from slower, isolated systems to globally connected networks.
[11:46] Early adoption of the internet was limited to academia, government, and tech enthusiasts before reaching the public.
[12:45] Privacy frameworks were built on Fair Information Practices, developed in the United States in the 1970s by the Health, Education, and Welfare Committee (later HHS).
[15:58] GDPR was developed and enforced in 2018 with extraterritorial provisions applying to companies worldwide (General Data Protection Regulation, enacted in 2016 and enforced in 2018).
[18:59] Large language models and deep machine learning advancements have created new and complex privacy challenges.
[22:06] Some countries approach privacy with more flexibility and openness, while maintaining strong guardrails.
[23:37] In June 2023, a University of Tokyo study on data privacy was presented at an OECD meeting, highlighting evolving global strategies.
[26:30] Governments are working together on “data free flow with trust” to address cross-border data concerns.
[28:09] Pam warns that AI ecosystems are still forming, and policymakers need to observe carefully before rushing into regulation.
[28:31] She emphasizes the emerging issue of collective privacy, which impacts entire groups rather than individuals.
[29:04] Privacy issues are complex and not linear; they require ongoing adaptation.
[30:24] ChatGPT’s launch did not fundamentally change machine learning, but the 2017 transformer paper did, making AI more efficient.
[31:53] Known challenges in AI include algorithmic bias related to age, gender, and skin tone.
[33:07] Legislative proposals for privacy now require practical testing rather than theoretical drafting.
[35:39] AI legislative debates often center on fears of harming innovation, but scientific data should guide regulation.
[40:29] NIH reports caution participants in certain medical AI programs to fully understand risks before joining.
[41:59] Some patients willingly share all their health data to advance medical research, while others are more cautious.
[43:50] Tools for privacy protection are developing, but the field remains in transition.
[48:56] Asia and Europe are leading in AI and privacy transitions, with strong national initiatives and regulations.
[52:42] The U.S. privacy landscape relies on sector-specific laws such as HIPAA (1996) and COPPA (1998) rather than a single national framework.
[54:48] Studies show that wealthy nations often have the least trust in their digital ecosystems, despite advanced infrastructure.
[56:19] A little-known U.S. law, A119, allows for voluntary consensus standards in specialized areas, enabling faster innovation compared to ISO processes.
[56:48] Voluntary standards can accelerate development in fields like medical AI, avoiding years-long delays from traditional approval processes.
[57:32] An FDA case study on an AI-driven heart pump showed significant performance changes between initial deployment and later use, underscoring the importance of testing and oversight.

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