Off The Hook

Man held captive for his bitcoin, Trump's crypto dinner, messaging ex-Signal users, social media posts can affect student visa applications, Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene picked a fight with Grok.

Alex is in Barcelona, defining habeas corpus, listener phone calls, routing phone calls, John Young of Cryptome has passed away, listener email in defense of TikTok, privacy tips, getting a new landline.

Tiktok chromebook challenge, charter airline involved in deportation effort hacked, listener mail.

Real ID deadline is here, NYCLU's opposition, privacy concerns, listener email, interactive shows being removed from Netflix, the death of Skype.

An evacuation at Rob's workplace, Emmanuel is angry with Google again, strange new government domains, Milwaukee judge arrested, Stony Brook grant cancelled, USAID devices will no longer be collected.

Alex is in Geneva Switzerland, crosswalks hacked in Seattle, late night silver alert targets landlines in Suffolk County, Pete Hegseth disclosed sensitive info in yet another Signal group chat, DOGE may have caused a security breach at labor board.

Notorious websites targeted in hacks, Zoom outage, more legal firms cave to Trump, listener phone calls.

Virgil Griffith has been released from prison, Trump instructs Justice Department to go after his enemies, YouTube removes "gender identity" from hate speech policy, DOGE using AI to identify anti-Trump sentiment.

No Overtime tonight, more MSG facial recognition craziness, law firms make deal with Trump, Twitter user records leaked, openSNP is shutting down, worst quarter ever for crypto industry hacks.

Alex is in London, discussing the bombshell news that senior government officials were discussing classified war plans in a Signal chat group that inadvertently included a journalist.

Call in show, are corporations turning evil, Looney Tunes test for self driving cars, Tesla hacked and owners doxed, listener phone calls, Virgil Griffith will be released from prison in 21 days.

A warning to college students, 2600's Twitter account locked, comparing the viewpoints on different social media platforms.

Skype is cancelled, Jason Scott joins the panel to discuss the mission of the Internet Archive and the effort to archive government data before it disappears from the Internet.

A hacker's view of the Super Bowl, Trump wants to kill NYC's congestion pricing, a crisis, DOGE website hacked, listener email.

Parallels between Belarus and the US, new .gov domain registrations, outing the conspirators, Musk employees now control US government computers, listener email.

Alex is in London, listener email, hacking and politics, Elon's Nazi salute, Facebook and Instagram weirdness, the need for fact checking, Cyber Security Review Board members fired, TLAs and FLAs.

Alex is in London, Gila joined Bluesky, big tech is ingratiating itself to the new administration, congestion pricing has gone into effect in NYC, listener phone calls, judge ends bid to dig up landfill.

Interesting phone announcements, important Hulu news, today is WBAI's 65th anniversary, Facebook is ending its fact checking program, AI was used to plan Tesla cybertruck explosion, financially motivated hacking crimes.

Facebook to flood platform with AI-driven characters, cybertruck explodes outside Trump hotel, Stephen King's radio stations rescued from closure, a look back at 2024 and predictions for 2025, listener email.

Christmas and Hanukkah are on the same day this year, OTH will be on the air on WBAI's 65th anniversary, listener mail, more drone news, Indiana bakery using Commodore 64s as cash registers, Arizona schools using AI to teach children, issues with robotic news, Vivek Ramaswamy's Twitter account hacked, popular doorbell cams easy to hack.

Ham humor, more drone news, listener phone calls.

Mysterious drone sightings, Google unveils new quantum processor, questions surrounding Trump's pick to head the FBI, listener email.

An assassination in NYC, Trump pick to head FBI successfully hacked by foreign spies, Chinese state hackers infiltrated telecoms in dozens of countries, preserving area code 207, Stephen King's radio stations going off the air.

Fighting scammers with AI, FedEx customer service replaced by AI, Trump bypassing background checks for political appointees, checking URLs, data breach from Andrew Tate's online university.

Alex is back from Bangkok, six words that lead to getting hacked, Google has a culture of concealment, Matt Gaetz misconduct report accessed by unknown individual, people are fleeing Twitter for Bluesky.

Alex is still in Bangkok, a rough road ahead, mother forced to install tracking software on son's phone, Twitter changes terms of service to allow training AI, menstrual health tracking app pledges never to share info with authorities.

Alex is in Bangkok, comments on the presidential election and what's to come.

Clips from the past, more on the pouches used in schools to prevent cellphone use, Chinese hackers targeting Trump and Harris campaign phones, businesses sue FTC to block new "click to cancel" rule.

Alex is at Columbia University, an update on the Internet Archive, San Francisco light rail control system finally ditching floppy disks, listener email on controlling PixMob bracelets, Facebook extorting users, parents object to plan to prevent cellphone use in schools.

The past week's adventures, stadium tech, Facebook hacks, hacked robot vacuums, phone problems, hiring North Korean cyber criminals, Pokemon game leak, AI issues in school, Internet Archive hacked.

Listener comments on last week's segments on right to repair and hurricane Helene, more disinformation, attacking NOAA, Alex's sister Rachel joins the panel from Ft. Myers Florida to discuss the approaching hurricane Milton.

Greg Newby joins the panel, reporter suspended from Twitter for publishing Vance dossier, Trump hackers impersonated Ginni Thomas, paralyzed man unable to walk after maker of powered exoskeleton refuses to repair it, Greg recounts his experience with hurricane Helene.

Iranian hackers tried to give Trump data to Biden campaign, labeling Trump's lies as "disputed" on Twitter makes supporters believe them more, Kaspersky replaces their software with UltraAV, Delaware public library servers hacked.

Third party Twitter app hacked, Israeli attack on Hezbollah pagers, investigating BAC Consulting, infiltrating the TOR network, listener email.

Remembering 9/11, excerpts from the first post-9/11 show, individual memories of that day, Elon Musk in the spotlight again, Tenet Media funded by Russia to spread propaganda.

Twitter banned in Brazil, Brazilians flock to Bluesky, tensions with Starlink, fandom accounts impacted, the impact of disinformation around the world, Telegram CEO arrested in France, Facebook blocks news links in Canada.

Alex is in Spain, Emmanuel and Kyle are back in the studio, mourning the loss of WCBS, huge data leak exposes millions of social security numbers, bicycle vulnerabilities, police using AI to write crime reports.

Volt4ire is back, The Gibson and c0debabe join the panel to discuss the Veilid project, Defcon and BSides, Veilid chat, Hackers for Harris, the Keep the Vote project, Phrack publishes a new issue, Google punishes sites that block AI bot, Snoo Smart Bassinet angers parents by paywalling features.

Skype problems, Emmanuel and Kyle are on the road returning from Defcon, "visual inspections" in Las Vegas hotel rooms, Trump campaign hack, WCBS FM is ceasing operations.

Emmanuel and Kyle are in Los Angeles, taking a train across the county with 200lbs of luggage, attending Defcon, 50 year anniversary of an event in NYC, judge rules against Google in antitrust case, remembering those we've lost, an update on Virgil Griffith's sentence.

Protecting yourself from scams, Ticketmaster breach notifications, UK election agency hacked by China, MLS hack, Starbucks "hack", Logitech wants to sell a mouse subscription, listener email, Google backpedals on blocking third party cookies.

AT&T breach exposes data of virtually all wireless customers, authorities were able to access Trump shooter's phone with help from Celebrite, an update on Virgil Griffith's sentence, flawed Crowdstrike update causes global chaos.

The Trump immunity ruling, how technology has eroded democracy, court must approve lyrics of rapper on supervised release, election database hacked, Paramount deletes decades of online content, listener email.

A late start, Alex is in London, Julian Assange has been freed from prison, the plea deal is a threat to journalism, hearing took place in US Territory of Saipan, backlash to the reach of US law, tomorrow's historic presidential debate, Seattle's Living Computers Museum is closing for good.

Off The Hook is on this week after all, keeping cool during a heat wave, smartphone problems, the advantages of older technology, flip phone sales are surging, high school memories, listener email, today is Juneteenth.

Old phone sounds, YouTube complaints, the pervasiveness of advertising, the Windows Recall controversy, "AI" is creeping into everything, NY introduces Mobile ID, listener email.

Alex is in Austin, Ticketmaster has had a bad couple of weeks, the case for privacy in financial transactions, TikTok DMs could contain malware, listener email, YouTube and the washing machine chime scandal.

Television problems, radio is still a thing, listener email, the benefits of using a VPN, foreign phone problems, woman sued over image of room.

Alex is in NYC, RFK Jr's brain worm, radio isn't dead yet, hacker happenings, Senator Lindsay Graham's phone may have been hacked, old news, one third of Americans' data compromised in United Healthcare hack, fraudulent Taylor Swift tickets on Facebook, the Eurovision song contest.