Technology Pill Podcast

This week we're talking to Matthew Hodgson, one of the founders of Matrix - a network for secure, decentralised communication, and CEO/CTO of Element - a communications platform built using Matrix, about the regulatory environment matrix lives in, the difficulty of and the passion for interoperable communications at matrix, and the complications of building an encrypted communications platform both technically and in this day and age.

This week we're talking about a backdoor inserted into a popular Linux file compression tool, which had the potential to massively undermine the security of vast swathes of the internet. What happened? How did it happen? And how was it thwarted?

Welcome to the last of our short series on encryption. This week we're just talking amongst ourselves, luckily Gus is an expert on encryption - having been working in and around the encryption debate since the '90s.

This week we speak to Ioannis, a senior lawyer at PI, about his and his colleague's work on the landmark case protecting encryption at the European Court of Human Rights: Podchasov v. Russia.

What do you know about cryptography? Have you ever wanted to get a better understanding of some of the maths behind encryption? This week we speak to Ed, a Senior Technologist at PI, about some of the history and basics of encryption.

This week we speak to Mark Nelson, a car mechanic and father of five, who has been forced to wear a GPS tag by the Home Office for the past 20 months, and his lawyer Katie Schwarzmann of Wilsons Solicitors. The pair have been challenging the Home Office's ongoing imposition of GPS tracking on Mark in the courts and are now awaiting a judgement.

This week we talk about good things (or good-ish things) that you might have missed from 2023! 

This week we speak to competition expert Dr Despoina Mantzari about competition, monopoly, and regulation. Are big tech companies monopolies? And if they are is that a problem?

This month we speak to Dr Leonie Tanczer about her work looking at tech abuse: the use of “everyday” digital systems (computers, smartphones, apps) to coerce, control, and harm a person or groups of individuals. This is increasingly prevalent in the context of domestic abuse - around 85% of victims and survivors in the UK have been subjected to some form of tech abuse.

This week we're discussing the UK Home Office's practice of forcing migrants to wear GPS ankle tags or carry GPS fingerprint scanners. Find out more about the policy, its impact on people, how the trackers work and why we think its wrong for a company to profit from all of this.

This week we’re joined by Lucy and Laura to discuss the use of technology in elections, and their time monitoring the Kenyan Presidential Election in 2022

This week we're speaking to Claudia Duque an Human Rights Defender and journalist for over 25 years, reported on crimes occurred during armed conflict and Emi, a Colombian lawyer defending press freedom. Claudia has been subjected to death threats, and was given official protection by the Colombian Government, including an armoured car. However, that protection was used to surveil her, including through a GPS tracker installed in the car without her knowledge.

In this episode, we talk to Meg Goulding, a lawyer at the UK-based campaigning organisation, Liberty, who was a solicitor instructed on the case, and Nour Haidar, a lawyer and member of the legal team at PI to discuss what the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruling actually means for the ongoing fight against mass surveillance.

This week we're having our own little christmas party, discussing things we've achieved throughout 2022.

This week we speak to Gillian Tully, the UK’s former forensic regulator about the importance and challenges that come with trying to ensure that forensic evidence submitted in court is of a high quality.