Topic: Data Ownership

The hosts deconstruct a TED Talk by Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley, pointing out contradictions in his claims about privacy and constitutional law. While Langley asserts the cameras are "fixed objects," he also describes using high-speed drones to track vehicles in real-time. The discussion also challenges Langley's claims regarding data ownership and 30-day deletion policies.

The online service MyPayrollHR suddenly shuttered, leaving 4,000 small businesses and tens of thousands of employees without pay. The FBI raided the CEO's home as $35 million in wages went missing. John C. Dvorak connects this to a broader distrust of online systems, citing Microsoft-owned LinkedIn’s policy of preventing users from downloading their own contacts' email addresses.

Senator Blackburn introduces the Browser Act, a 13-page bipartisan bill aimed at balancing the rights of web users. The discussion explores the concept of who owns a "virtual you" and the lack of comprehensive privacy documents for the tech sector compared to healthcare or finance.

President Obama's statements regarding the decline of violent crime in American cities are analyzed for their logic regarding gun ownership. While Obama acknowledged that crime has dropped over the last 20 years, he challenged the notion that increased gun ownership is the cause. The hosts point to cities like Chicago as counter-examples where strict regulations have not prevented high levels of violence.

The acquisition of Drop.io by Facebook led to the service's abrupt closure with only 45 days' notice, resulting in the destruction of thousands of links used in podcast show notes. This event highlights the instability of "freemium" cloud business models and the risks of relying on third-party hosting for professional assets. In response, a custom URL redirector service, curryscloud.com, was developed to ensure that public links remain under personal control even if the underlying file storage provider changes.