Podcasts about gdpr

AI has changed the risk landscape faster than many organizations could have anticipated. But what does that mean for privacy, cybersecurity, ethics, and compliance professionals?In this episode of the FIT4Privacy Podcast, we explore how governance has evolved from data governance and privacy governance to the broader world of AI governance.The conversation looks at what AI governance really means, why privacy alone is no longer enough, and how organizations can balance innovation with risks around transparency, accuracy, ethics, cybersecurity, and societal impact.We also explore the evolution of AI governance before ChatGPT, lessons from Canada's approach to automated decision-making systems, and why organizations don't necessarily need another committee but do need a coordinated approach to managing AI risks.Tune in for a deeper conversation on AI, privacy, ethics, and the future of responsible governance.

Explore the critical roles of a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Privacy Program Manager in today's regulatory landscape. In this session, InfosecTrain breaks down daily responsibilities, skills required for privacy leadership, and key compliance requirements across GDPR and India's DPDPA to help professionals transition successfully into high-demand data privacy careers.The "course titled" Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE) Training equips professionals to lead privacy programs.

This Episode is Sponsored by StayFi Your ultimate tool for Vacation Rental WiFi marketing allowing you to collect guest emails automatically via custom captive WiFi login splash pages. Drive repeat direct bookings and convert your OTA bookings to book direct for their next visit. Visit https://stayfi.com/vrsuccess/ and use code VRSUCCESS for 50% off 3 months of StayFi service. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Everybody in short-term rentals is talking about AI. So when Heather sat down with European consultant Cristiana Carpini, the question she really wanted answered was whether property managers on the other side of the Atlantic are talking about it too, or whether something else entirely is keeping them awake. The answer was blunt. Margins are shrinking, OTA dependence is rising, owner acquisition is harder, and teams are overloaded. Operators call Cristiana believing AI is the fix, and she tells them what they do not want to hear: AI cannot repair a broken business model, it can only automate a broken business faster. From there the conversation opens out into the real differences between running this business in Europe and in North America, from GDPR and owner expectations to employment law and competitive culture. It also covers what makes a property management company sellable, why that takes three years rather than three months, and why Cristiana founded the Women Vacation Rental European Conference. About Cristiana Carpini Cristiana Carpini is the founder and CEO of Tara Home Consulting, working with property managers across Europe on audits, business plans, restructuring and exits. She came into the industry by accident after five years as a guest relations manager on cruise ships, then spent years inside the big European brands including Novasol, Interhome and Belvilla, running markets in Italy, France and Croatia. She launched Tara Home Consulting during the pandemic, giving free advice to panicking operators, and never stopped. She is also the founder of the Women Vacation Rental European Conference. Key Takeaways AI cannot repair a broken business model. If the margin structure underneath the business does not work, automation makes the problem arrive faster rather than fixing it. What European operators actually bring to a consultant is shrinking margins, OTA dependence, harder owner acquisition and overloaded teams. AI is further down the list than the conference circuit suggests. Owner relationships are the one thing not to automate. Cristiana describes an owner who complained about pricing when the real problem was his mother's illness and his need for more money. No AI would have surfaced that. Europe is not one market. Drive two hours and you are in a different country with different tax, language, rules and owner expectations. Southern European owners are emotionally attached to their homes; northern European owners often are not. Employment rules vary just as sharply. An Italian employee may accept a 24 hour emergency call-out where a French employee is protected by far stricter rules, so expansion planning has to account for labor law, not just demand. Preparing a company for sale usually takes three years. Sell faster than that and you leave money on the table, because valuation looks at reviews, brand, website and direct bookings, not just EBITDA. The business has to become independent of its founder. Heather hired her own replacement three years before selling Cottage Link, precisely so the buyer was not buying a company that only worked with her in it. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Send us Fan MailI got my official ADHD diagnosis in my forties, and it's forcing me to tell the truth about what people never see behind “high functioning”. On the outside I'm building, leading, creating, parenting, delivering. Inside, it can feel like 20 tabs are open at once, ideas are loud, tasks are heavy, and the effort it takes to look composed is the part nobody claps for. I talk through ADHD combined presentation, autistic traits, dyslexia, masking, and why a late diagnosis can be both grief and relief. We then shift into something that hit a nerve online: friendship and money. A clip about Savannah James and April McDaniel sparks a bigger conversation about friendship economics, entitlement versus generosity, and what happens when two people love each other but live in completely different financial realities. If every plan reflects one person's disposable income, the friendship can quietly become inaccessible. We unpack dignity, resentment, power imbalance, and the uncomfortable questions most people avoid. From there we zoom out to the UK: Andy Burnham's Labour conference speech, what it signals about the economy, public services, social care, and the personal tax allowance. I also get practical about the world of work: career mobility beyond the UK, and how to protect yourself when senior people ignore you to block your progress. Finally, I answer a listener dilemma on Access to Work, a manager demanding unredacted receipts by email, and how GDPR data minimisation plus the Equality Act 2010 should shape the process. If this speaks to you, subscribe, share the episode with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the point that landed hardest for you.Sponsorships - Email me:  hello@toyatalks.comTikTok:  toya_washington Twitter: @toya_w (#ToyaTalksPodcast) Snapchat: @toyawashington Instagram: @toya_washington & @toya_talkshttps://toyatalks.com/Music (Intro and Outro) Written and created by Nomadic StarStationary Company: Sistah ScribbleInstagram: @sistahscribbleWebsite: www.sistahscribble.com Email: hello@sistahscribble.com

Per quanto ancora continueremo a sopportare che Big Tech operi impunemente come il braccio economico della politica imperiale?

What is GRC, and why is Governance, Risk, and Compliance essential to modern cybersecurity? In this comprehensive session, InfosecTrain breaks down how GRC aligns security strategies with business goals, manages enterprise risk, and meets regulatory mandates like GDPR and PCI DSS. Discover practical risk assessment workflows, risk registers, and emerging AI governance integration strategies.The "course titled" Certified Information Security Manager Training equips leaders to execute effective GRC programs.

Photo by Logan Voss on Unsplash Published 28 September 2026 e569 with Andy, Michael and Michael explore flight and world simulators, VR glasses that burn temples, sideburns, ice printing, a camera robot, audio optimized venues and a whole lot more! The Game at Work cohosts Andy, Michael and Michael are back together for a whirlwind review of the latest in technology.  They start off with a flight simulator, which is not from the perspective of a pilot – rather from the perspective of a passenger.  The familiar sights and sounds or jet travel can be yours from the browser-based InFlightSimulator.  Then, zooming out a bit, the cohosts consider God's Eye View, where the user can experience a photorealistic digital twin of the planet.  After briefly touching (down) on Geoscape, Andy has an opportunity to share the ASCII City experience.  This is not your 1980s ASCII art, rather a very Matrix-esque view of a city, with cars, pedestrians and buildings. Switching gears, the team takes a look at several VR stories, including the new VR glasses from Meta and the Inmo Air3.  The Inmo glasses have had a recall for overheating, which opened a etymology discussion on the origin of sideburns.  And an article from heise.de details challenges stemming from GDPR requirements.   In the last part of the episode, there are several cool stories.  One details how it is possible to 3D print ice by removing air.  Another is an interactive art exhibit.  A third is a kickstarter for flat dice.  After looking at Beni, a camera robot designed to follow or race ahead of you to film you, the team wraps up with the new Apple Music Hall venue in London, which looks to be a fantastic place to hear performances.  What city would you like to experience in ASCII?  Have your bots

A IA vai acabar com o mundo? E por que as empresas que alertam para esse risco continuam acelerando? No Braincast 651, Carlos Merigo, Ana Freitas, Cris Dias, Luiz Hygino e Hiago Vinícius discutem os riscos da inteligência artificial, os interesses por trás dos discursos apocalípticos e a corrida para desenvolver sistemas cada vez mais poderosos. O papo passa por agentes autônomos, segurança, trabalho, data centers, geopolítica e regulação. Como levar os riscos a sério, questionar as promessas das empresas e participar das decisões sobre o futuro dessa tecnologia? 05:28 - PAUTA 01:23:57 - Qual é a Boa? -- A NOVA TEMPORADA DE TERRA DA MÁFIA JÁ CHEGOU! Assista agora, só no Paramount+: https://bit.ly/4ca2Hdl?r=qr --- A NOVA CHEVROLET S10 TRAIL BOSS CHEGA PRONTA PARA IR ALÉM DO ASFALTO. Com suspensão Ironman, pneus Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain, rodas de 18" e proposta 100% off-road, a picape combina robustez, controle e liberdade para escolher o próximo caminho. Viva no Modo Boss. Somos Picapeiros. Somos Chevrolet. Saiba mais: https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/N285807.137759BRGLOBO/B36855717.456949620;dc_trk_aid=650888445;dc_trk_cid=207947612;dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755};ltd=;dc_tdv=1 -- ✳️ TORNE-SE MEMBRO DO B9 E GANHE BENEFÍCIOS: Braincast secreto; grupo de assinantes no Telegram; e episódios sem anúncios!

Is Privacy Dead—or on Life Support? Ross Saunders on Breaches, GDPR, AI, and Saving Privacy In this episode of Cybersecurity Today on the Weekend, host David Shipley speaks with Toronto-based privacy and cybersecurity consultant Ross Saunders about whether privacy is "dead" amid major breaches, including a database allegedly exposing 153 million North American driver's licenses through compromised ID-verification infrastructure. Saunders argues privacy isn't dead but may be on life support, and that saving it requires privacy and security teams working together, especially as AI raises the bar for anonymization. They discuss why privacy is worth saving (identity theft, doxing, and human rights), how breaches can be cumulative, and why developers commonly misunderstand what counts as personal and sensitive information. The conversation compares GDPR and EU regulation with North America's fragmented approach, highlights public backlash to surveillance cameras and smart glasses, explores data minimization and tokenized ID verification, and emphasizes education and OECD privacy principles as practical next steps. 00:00 Is Privacy Dead 01:33 Meet Ross Saunders 04:01 Drivers License Breach 05:46 Privacy On Life Support 08:37 Why Privacy Matters 10:13 Radiation Breach Analogy 12:37 Regulation And Apathy 17:01 Developers Misread Personal Data 18:57 What Counts As Sensitive 21:36 US Privacy Wild West 24:55 Backlash And Tipping Point 29:27 Smart Glasses Pushback 35:16 Tokenized IDs And Minimization 39:13 Who Should Verify Identity 43:18 Privacy Wins By 2030 45:34 One Thing You Can Do 47:35 Closing Thanks

What happens when the CTO and CISO roles come together in one person?  KEY MOMENTS 2:14 New risks come up or amplify? 3:12Copilot Rollout Risks 6:50 How to prevent this scenario? 9:20 AI Opportunity Mindset 13:23 As a CISO CTO, how do they use AI on a regular basis? 14:50 Starting use cases of AI 18:55 What ProArch does? 21:30 Conclusion  In this episode, Punit Bhatia speaks with Ben Wilcox about balancing innovation and security in the age of AI. They explore whether AI introduces new risks or amplifies existing ones, and what organizations must consider when scaling tools like Microsoft Copilot.  The discussion highlights the importance of data governance, access controls, and proper configuration to avoid unintended privacy risks. Ben also shares practical AI use cases from productivity gains to building agents and explains how organizations can start their AI journey responsibly. Overall, this episode offers a balanced view of AI as both an opportunity and a risk, with actionable insights for adopting it securely and effectively.  ABOUT THE GUEST Ben Wilcox is the CISO and CTO at ProArch, where he leads cybersecurity strategy and cloud innovation for enterprise clients. With deep expertise in risk management, compliance, and AI-driven security, Ben helps organizations navigate evolving threats while building resilient, future-ready systems.  ABOUT THE HOST    Punit Bhatia is one of the leading privacy experts who works independently and has worked with professionals in over 30 countries. Punit works with business and privacy leaders to create an organization culture with high privacy awareness and compliance as a business priority. Selectively, Punit is open to mentor and coach privacy professionals.    Resources & Links  Guest Links Ben Wilcox • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wilcox/ • Website: https://www.proarch.com  Grow Skills (Privacy Courses & Insights) • Courses: https://growskills.store/courses/ • Insights: https://growskills.store/insights/ • Website: https://growskills.store/  FIT4Privacy • Website: https://www.fit4privacy.com • Podcast: https://www.fit4privacy.com/podcast • Blog: https://www.fit4privacy.com/blog • YouTube: http://youtube.com/fit4privacy  Punit Bhatia • Website: https://www.punitbhatia.com  Books  • Be Ready for GDPR • AI & Privacy How to Find Balance • Intro to GDPR • Be an Effective DPO 

Welcome to a revamped Everything Compliance. We have a new host, Adam Turteltaub, and a new panelist, Rebecca Walker, who joins returning regulars Matt Kelly, Jonathan Armstrong, and Karen Moore for the next iteration of Everything Compliance. This episode features a cross-Atlantic discussion on emerging compliance issues. Fan favs Shout Outs and Rants end this week's episode. Karen Moore looks at the growing Federal trend of bringing False Act Claims against corporate DEI programs. Jonathan Armstrong describes the first public GDPR report of an AI agent attack and offers nine responses. Rebecca Walker reviews key data from Navex anonymized disclosures, including COIs. Matt Kelly looks at recent guidance from the New York State Department of Financial Services on AI risk assessment. The members of Everything Compliance are: Rebecca Walker – a top legal mind in ethics and compliance. Rebecca can be reached at the law firm of Kaplan and Walker. Matt Kelly – Founder and CEO of Radical Compliance. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@radicalcompliance.com Jonathan Armstrong – a UK colleague and an experienced data privacy/data protection lawyer in London. He can be reached at Armstrong@puntersouthall.law. Karen Moore, a principal at Sounding Board Compliance, can be reached at moore@soundingboardcompliance.com The award-winning Everything Compliance is a part of the Compliance Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social media firms face an Oireachtas grilling over dangerous driving videos being shared online. Will new laws help, or is the sharing of harmful material inherent the design of the platforms themselves?Ireland's AI Minister refutes claims that the Irish presidency had a hand in drafting legislation that would scrap GDPR protections for AI products. And Micheál Martin meets Mamdani and plays bingo as he ropes in New York's mayor to help strengthen Irish American ties. The Panel:Senator Garret Ahearn, Fine GaelSinéad Gibney TD, Social DemocratsClaire Scott, Political Correspondent, Sunday Times Ireland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(00:00): Er Grønlands-aftalen udelukkende god for det grønlandske erhvervsliv? Medvirkende: Christian Keldsen, direktør for Grønlands Erhverv. (11:00): Hvorfor er Finansministeriet flyttet til Nakskov? Medvirkende: Anders Hoppe, journalist på RADIO IIII. (16:00): Er det måske for tidligt at sige, at Grønlandskrisen er afblæst? Medvirkende: Jacob Kaarsbo, sikkerhedspolitisk analytiker. (30:00): Har Radio IIII brudt GDPR-regler i forbindelse med Ditte Okmans sygemelding? Medvirkende: Sten Schaumburg-Müller, juraprofessor på Syddansk Universitet. (44:00): Er Nikolaj Thyssens udtalelser over grænsen? Medvirkende: Niels Pinborg, chefredaktør på Se og Hør og Sten Schaumburg-Müller, juraprofessor på Syddansk Universitet. Værter: Laura Lin og Mathias Wissing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI in het onderwijs, weinig onderwerpen hebben de voorbije jaren zoveel inkt laten vloeien. En toch staat het gesprek op veel scholen nog ongeveer waar het twee jaar geleden stond. In deze aflevering van Buiten de Krijtlijnen gaan we op zoek naar het antwoord op de vraag die de meeste leerkrachten écht bezighoudt: wat doe ik hiermee op een maandagochtend voor een klas van 25 leerlingen?Te gast is Mitte Schroeven, leerkracht Nederlands en Engels met vijftien jaar klaservaring, collega aan het Expertisecentrum Onderwijs en Leren van Thomas More en mede-auteur van "Digitale didactiek. Hoe? Zo!", 30 manieren om je lespraktijk te versterken met technologie.Gratis versus betalend Mitte gebruikt AI zelf vooral als klankbord en als "zoekmachine op speed" om gericht wetenschappelijke bronnen te vinden. Ze legt uit waarom het verschil tussen een gratis en een betaald model, zeker bij gevorderd gebruik, wel degelijk groot is, en verwijst naar Satya Nadella's vuistregel: gebruik geen frontier-modellen voor eenvoudige taken.AI als collega van de leerkracht AI is sterk in het maken van lesmateriaal, woordenlijsten en formatieve feedback. Maar Mitte waarschuwt voor cognitieve offloading: als je alles uitbesteedt, ontwikkel je als leerkracht zelf geen expertise meer. Haar advies, geïnspireerd op Carl Hendrick: gebruik AI vooral voor taken waar je al goed in bent.AI bij leerlingen, en de grens die niet meer te ontwijken is Een leerkracht kan zelf kiezen om geen AI te gebruiken, maar kan niet voorkomen dat leerlingen het wel doen. Mitte pleit voor een expliciet gesprek in de klas over wanneer AI wel en niet mag, voor gevoeligheid rond schrijfvaardigheid, en voor gedeelde examencondities in plaats van AI-detectietools als eerste verdedigingslijn.Wat écht niet mag Naam en toenaam van leerlingen in een taalmodel, punten laten toekennen door AI, en werk van leerlingen zonder toestemming verwerken: het botst met GDPR, auteursrecht en de Europese AI Act. Mitte overloopt kort wat scholen concreet moeten vastleggen in hun AI-beleid.Alpha Schools: een blik op wat er kan komen Tot slot buigen Mitte en de host zich over Alpha Schools, waar leerlingen grotendeels AI-gestuurd les krijgen en de leerkracht verschraalt tot coach. Mitte is kritisch: het risico is een uitholling van het lerarenberoep, met als schrijnend voorbeeld dat "coaches" er alsnog een pedagogisch diploma nodig hebben, maar niet meer mogen lesgeven.Een boeiend, genuanceerd gesprek met een duidelijke boodschap: AI kan veel, maar leren gebeurt pas wanneer je er zelf hard voor nadenkt.ShownotesWijze Lessen Digitale DidactiekOntdek hier het hele vormingsaanbod van het Expertisecentrum Onderwijs en Leren!Volg Buiten De Krijtlijnen op Twitter, Instagram of LinkedIn

Se você gostou da música, importa descobrir que ela foi feita por IA? No Braincast 650, Carlos Merigo, Bia Fiorotto e Luiz Hygino recebem o compositor e produtor musical Felipe Vassão para discutir a diferença entre usar IA para criar e terceirizar o processo inteiro. O papo passa por Suno, ferramentas de estúdio, formação de novos músicos, direitos autorais, acordos com gravadoras e robôs que ouvem músicas de robôs para gerar royalties. Também enfrenta a parte menos confortável: as versões feitas por IA que a gente critica, mas continua ouvindo. Quando gerar uma faixa fica fácil, o que passa a significar fazer música? 06:48 - PAUTA 01:21:16 - Qual é a Boa? -- HEINEKEN ZERO ZERO. A CERVEJA OFICIAL DA FÓRMULA 1. A Heineken 0.0 é patrocinadora oficial da Fórmula 1 e acompanha uma temporada em que a paixão pelas corridas vai muito além da pista. Fandom, histórias, tradições e conversas que continuam antes e depois da bandeirada fazem parte desse universo. É justamente por isso que a Heineken acredita que “Fãs têm mais amigos”. --- A NOVA CHEVROLET S10 TRAIL BOSS CHEGA PRONTA PARA IR ALÉM DO ASFALTO. Com suspensão Ironman, pneus Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain, rodas de 18" e proposta 100% off-road, a picape combina robustez, controle e liberdade para escolher o próximo caminho. Viva no Modo Boss. Somos Picapeiros. Somos Chevrolet. Saiba mais: https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/N285807.137759BRGLOBO/B36855717.456949620;dc_trk_aid=650888445;dc_trk_cid=207947612;dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755};ltd=;dc_tdv=1 -- ✳️ TORNE-SE MEMBRO DO B9 E GANHE BENEFÍCIOS: Braincast secreto; grupo de assinantes no Telegram; e episódios sem anúncios!

In this talk, Sahil Walia, Senior Technical Architect at Snowflake, shares his extensive data engineering expertise from writing simple SQL queries early in his career to architecting enterprise-scale Apache Iceberg lakehouses today. We explore the evolution of the modern data platform, the mechanics of open lakehouses, and how decoupling storage from compute is transforming data architecture.Links:- https://medium.com/@sahil-walia/- Iceberg Spec- https://iceberg.apache.org/spec/- https://ossie.apache.org- https://github.com/Snowflake-Labs/schemachange- https://opensource.guide/how-to-contribute/You'll learn about:- What defines a modern data platform and the importance of interoperability.- Key differences between traditional storage, Hive metastores, and Apache Iceberg.- How Iceberg metadata simplifies GDPR compliance, data deletions, and file compactions.- When a lakehouse architecture actually makes sense (and when to avoid it).- Standardizing business logic across compute engines using Apache OSI.- Actionable tips for making impactful open-source data engineering contributions.TIMECODES:00:00 Defining the Modern Data Platform11:34 What Exactly is a Lakehouse?17:20 Comparing Hive Metastore and Apache Iceberg22:34 Handling GDPR and Data Deletions in Iceberg27:33 Apache Iceberg vs. Delta Lake34:10 Do You Need a Lakehouse for Small Data?40:11 Understanding Apache OSI (Open Semantic Interchange)49:00 Managing Schema Changes in Data Warehouses54:20 How to Contribute to Open Source Projects01:00:40 The Role of AI in Open Source ContributionsThis talk is designed for data engineers, data architects, and analytics professionals looking to modernize their data infrastructure. It provides essential architectural insights for technical teams evaluating Apache Iceberg, dealing with large-scale data transformation, or aiming to scale their open-source contributions.Connect with Sahil:- Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahilwaliasyracuse- Github - https://github.com/sahil-walia- Website - https://medium.com/@sahil-waliaConnect with DataTalks.Club:- Join the community - https://datatalks.club/slack.html- Subscribe to our Google calendar to have all our events in your calendar - https://calendar.google.com/calendar/r?cid=ZjhxaWRqbnEwamhzY3A4ODA5azFlZ2hzNjBAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ- Check other upcoming events - https://lu.ma/dtc-events- GitHub: https://github.com/DataTalksClub- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/datatalks-club/ - Twitter - https://twitter.com/DataTalksClub - Website - https://datatalks.club/

Aly Nurmohamed, founder and CEO of Nodals AI, and Christer Ljones, director of advertising data capabilities at Schibsted, joined ExchangeWire COO Lindsay Rowntree before ATS London to discuss the future of the open web and which parts of it are worth fighting for.The open web was never one thing. It was premium publishers and everyone else, served by the same ad tech, with the good publishers effectively subsidising the rest. AI changes the terms of that arrangement because the models are becoming open and commoditised while the data is not. If the moat is the data rather than the model, the publishers with the closest relationships to consumers are suddenly the ones best placed to build advertising products, provided they own the system rather than rent it.Schibsted made that bet early, in 2019, before AI made it obvious. Nodals exists because of what that bet revealed. That's the story of this episode.•••0:00 Introduction3:17 GDPR and Criteo: Nodals AI's origin story9:45 Premium publishers and first party data12:35 AI, ad tech, and the open web16:06 Building data and consumer relationships21:07 Publishers vs. Meta advertising27:41 Where do publishers sit within the open web?35:21 The next few years for publishing

Send us Fan MailDavid Schwartz, CEO of PIA, challenges the notion of an impending “SaaS-pocalypse.” He argues that while AI capabilities like vibe coding allow users to build quick custom features, they do not replace full-scale Software-as-a-Service platforms. Developing and maintaining reliable enterprise software requires ongoing DevOps support, bug fixes, R&D, and strict adherence to security and compliance frameworks like SOC, HIPAA, and GDPR. For most businesses, attempting to build and maintain custom alternatives internally creates unsustainable overhead and introduces significant operational and security risks compared to established SaaS vendors.David also discusses his transition to leading PIA, an AI-driven help desk automation platform built by MSP veterans for the MSP market. Drawing from his background co-founding Wireless Watchdog and working in IT services, he explains how PIA addresses persistent labor challenges by automating level-one service desk tickets and streamlining repetitive workflows.See our 2025 interview with David: https://www.e-channelnews.com/update-interview-with-pias-new-ceo-david-schwartz/

Scaling Copilot: Hidden Risks & Data ExposureMost organizations are adopting Microsoft Copilot as a natural extension of their existing Microsoft environment, but scaling it is not as simple as assigning licenses.In this discussion, Punit Bhatia and Ben Wilcox explore what really happens when Copilot is introduced into environments with scattered data, unstructured information, and complex access permissions.They highlight how AI doesn't create new risks but makes existing ones visible and usable. Copilot can surface data based on access rights even when those permissions were never properly reviewed.A real-world example shows how an employee unintentionally accessed a coworker's personal improvement plan due to misconfigured permissions, turning it into a potential privacy breach.The conversation emphasizes that successful Copilot adoption requires proper data governance, clear access controls, and mechanisms such as data classification, sensitivity labeling, and encryption.This is not a plug-and-play exercise organization that must prepare their data before scaling AI.

In Episode 113 of the Cybersecurity Readiness Podcast Series, Dr. Dave Chatterjee is joined by Mark Lambert, Chief Product Officer at ArmorCode, to unpack the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and why U.S. companies cannot treat it as someone else's problem. Dr. Chatterjee opens with a scenario that captures the stakes: a mid-sized U.S. software company discovers one of its products is being actively exploited, investigates, patches, and notifies its customers within three days — a response most frameworks would call fast, but one that violates the CRA, whose clock for reporting an actively exploited vulnerability starts at 24 hours, not three days.Lambert, who works daily with organizations on vulnerability management, explains that the CRA functions like GDPR for security: any software that ships into Europe, or that relies on supporting infrastructure serving European users, falls under its scope, and non-compliance carries fines of up to 2.5% of global revenue or €15 million, whichever is higher. The conversation walks through the CRA's three distinct notification clocks — a 24-hour early warning, a 72-hour full notification, and a 14-day final report after a fix becomes available — and dispenses with the idea that lacking sophisticated detection capabilities is a viable defense; the law expects secure-by-design practices and detection capability to already be in place before an incident occurs.Analyzed throughout the episode through Dr. Chatterjee's Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) Framework, the discussion also covers what well-prepared organizations are already doing — operationalizing vulnerability management programs and building real-time asset inventories — and closes with a shared view that regulatory pressure, while unwelcome, ultimately pushes organizations toward the security discipline they should be practicing regardless of legal mandate.To access and download the entire podcast summary with discussion highlights - https://www.dchatte.com/episode-113-the-eu-cyber-resilience-act-countdown-why-u-s-companies-cant-afford-to-look-away/Connect with Host Dr. Dave ChatterjeeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/ Website: https://dchatte.com/Books PublishedThe DeepFake ConspiracyCybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance ApproachArticles & Cases PublishedChatterjee, D. (2026). The Cryptographic Reckoning: Why Quantum Readiness Begins with Agility, Not Algorithms, The INFORMS Analytics Magazine, June 26, 2026Chatterjee, D. (2026). The New Digital Fragility: How AI-Enhanced Cyber Threats Are Reshaping Operational Resilience, The INFORMS Analytics Magazine, March 4, 2026Chatterjee, D. (2026). Root: Automating the Remediation Gap, Ivey Publishing, Jan 7, 2026.Ramasastry, C. and Chatterjee, D. (2025). Trusona: Recruiting For The Hacker Mindset, Ivey Publishing, Oct 3, 2025.Chatterjee, D. and Leslie, A. (2024). “Ignorance is not bliss: A human-centered whole-of-enterprise approach to cybersecurity preparedness,” Business Horizons, Accepted on Oct 29, 2024.Isik, O., Chatterjee, D., and Lourenco, D.A. (2024). “Getting Cybersecurity Right,” California Management Review — Insights, Accepted for Publication, July 8, 2024. Chatterjee, D. (2023). “Mission critical – How American Cancer Society successfully and securely migrated to the cloud amid the pandemic,” I by IMD, March 13, 2023.Chatterjee, D. (2022). “Preventing security breaches must start at the top,” I by IMD, September 28, 2022, Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, SwitzerlandChatterjee, D. (2022). “Making Cybersecurity Readiness Mainstream,” Executive Blog Post, NETSPI, March 1, 2022Benz, M. and Chatterjee, D. (2020). “Calculated Risk? A Cybersecurity Evaluation Tool for SMEs,” Business Horizons, available online from May 4, 2020Chatterjee, D. (2019). “Should Executives Go To Jail Over Cyber Attacks,” Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Vol 29, Issue 1, pp. 1-3.Abraham, C., Chatterjee, D., and Sims, R. (2019). “Muddling through cybersecurity: Insights from the U.S. healthcare industry,” Business Horizons, July 2019.

Con l'Avv. Giuseppe Vaciago (Partner di 42 Law Firm, penalista esperto di diritto dell'informatica e intelligenza artificiale) un'ora intera su una domanda sola: se un sistema di AI fa danni, in Italia chi finisce in galera?Si parte da due fatti. Uno sciame di agenti di Anthropic ''esce dalla sandbox'' e attacca Hugging Face fuori da ogni perimetro, e qualcuno se ne accorge venti giorni dopo. Poi il report di Anthropic sugli abusi dei suoi modelli: operazioni cyber, sorveglianza, influenza, truffe, fino al controllo di sistemi d'arma. Se succedesse in Europa, con AI Act, GDPR, NIS2, Cyber Resilience Act e DORA che si intersecano, cosa succederebbe davvero?Il cuore è il nuovo art. 437-bis del codice penale (testo approvato, in attesa di pubblicazione in Gazzetta Ufficiale): un reato omissivo, ricalcato sulla sicurezza sul lavoro, per chi progetta, addestra, immette sul mercato o usa professionalmente un sistema di AI ad alto rischio senza le misure di sicurezza adeguate. Fino a 5 anni di reclusione per chi lo gestisce, e non solo per il CEO: anche il CISO. Per l'azienda scatta la 231: sanzione fino a 1,5 milioni, confisca del profitto e interdittiva da sei mesi a due anni, che per molte imprese vuol dire chiudere. La chiave è la ''colpa organizzativa'': ti puniscono non per l'imprevedibilità dell'AI, ma per non aver fatto il minimo per governarla.Poi il nodo provider contro deployer: perché i laboratori di frontiera gridano ''siamo pericolosissimi'' mentre nel 2000 le piattaforme si dicevano neutrali, e perché quella retorica scarica la responsabilità sulla testa di chi usa i loro modelli. Il Digital Omnibus, entrato in vigore il 27 luglio, ha rinviato di oltre un anno l'alto rischio dell'AI Act e unificato le notifiche di incidente verso ENISA: il tempo per prepararsi c'è, ma il modello organizzativo si costruisce prima, non dopo.In chiusura la lista della spesa per chi usa l'AI in azienda: stampare l'elenco delle pratiche vietate e degli ambiti ad alto rischio (Allegato III), censire l'uso reale dei tool compresa la shadow AI, valutazione del rischio, regole interne, formazione, e tracciabilità delle interazioni come prova di aver fatto il proprio dovere, con l'articolo 4 dello Statuto dei lavoratori a complicare le cose.00:00 Incidenti AI e reati02:03 Norme UE: GDPR, NIS2, CRA06:20 Italia: nasce il 437-bis10:42 231 spiegata semplice16:30 Colpa organizzativa e presidi19:00 Condotte punite e alto rischio23:04 Deployer vs provider: chi risponde32:13 Mappa compliance e notifiche37:38 Cosa accadrebbe ad Anthropic47:20 Checklist aziendale e logging57:03 Chiusura e saluti#AIAct #DLgs231 #Anthropic~~~Ciao Internet! - Il primo e più seguito canale di TECH POLICY in italia, con Matteo FloraINFO E AZIENDE: https://matteoflora.comIl CORSO di AI: https://zero.matteoflora.comNewsletter: https://link.mgpf.it/nlSocial: https://io.matteoflora.comEnglish: https://www.youtube.com/@CiaoInternetPrivacy » https://privacy.matteoflora.comAI Policy » https://privacy.matteoflora.com/aiMail #adv: sales (at) matteoflora.com

Jeff Steadman sits down with Andi Hindle, conference chair for Authenticate 2026, for a preview of this year's event. Making his seventh appearance on the show, Andi walks through how Authenticate has evolved since its founding alongside Identiverse and outlines six major topic areas shaping the 2026 agenda, including passkeys in practice, regulatory pressures, security and standards architecture, digital identity wallets, and non-human authentication. The conversation moves into hardware-based identity for retail and industrial settings, age verification challenges, and a detour into 3D printing and supply chain assurance. Jeff and Andi dig into continuous identity and zero standing privilege, the shift toward non-human traffic dominating infrastructure requests, and how agentic AI is forcing organizations to rethink authorization and human-in-the-loop decisions. They close with privacy and consent questions for non-human identities, thoughts on where authentication and authorization standards are headed, and a lighter look at Authenticate team traditions and sci-fi recommendations.Connect with Andi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahindle/Impact of GDPR on Identity and Access Management by Andi Hindle: https://bok.idpro.org/article/id/24/Learn more about FIDO Authenticate 2026: https://authenticatecon.com/event/authenticate-u-s-2026/Non-FIDO members can use the code IDAC15 to save 15% on their in-person conference pass.Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com00:10 - Introduction and discount code rundown for upcoming conferences01:10 - Andi Hindle returns for his seventh appearance01:29 - Favorite episode banter and the running Andrew Shikiar joke03:08 - Origins of Authenticate and its relationship with Identiverse09:01 - Passkeys are solved, so what comes next09:53 - Lessons learned building the Authenticate agenda12:59 - The scale of effort behind running Authenticate15:29 - Adjacent topics expanding beyond the core passkeys mission16:09 - Six major topic areas planned for Authenticate 202622:13 - Identity as the foundation for everything digital23:14 - Hardware identity and non-human authentication24:53 - Retail tokens, badges, and age verification use cases28:36 - Replacing things only when the replacement is actually better29:41 - A detour into 3D printing and personal satisfaction31:39 - 3D printing, supply chain assurance, and identity problems36:38 - Introducing continuous identity37:28 - Zero standing privilege and why it matters now40:46 - The human user as the infrastructure edge case45:16 - Speed, scale, and the limits of human in the loop46:11 - Setting red lines for agentic risk50:56 - Privacy and consent questions for non-human identities56:51 - Anonymization, data logging, and GDPR parallels59:51 - A GDPR and IAM resource from the IDPro Body of Knowledge1:00:26 - What Authenticate topics might look like three years out1:04:59 - Why accounts may not make sense for agents1:06:49 - Authorization as the next hard problem to solve1:08:20 - Inside jokes from the Authenticate organizing team1:09:30 - The story behind Andi's favorite Britishism1:10:38 - Book and media recommendations1:14:39 - Closing thoughts and sign-offIDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Andi Hindle, Authenticate 2026, FIDO Alliance, passkeys, identity verification, identity wallets, continuous identity, zero standing privilege, agentic identity, non-human identity, authorization, shared signals, GDPR, IDPro, Identiverse, age verification, hardware authentication

Least privilege best practices start with one uncomfortable question: does this person actually need this access? A hospital in Portugal answered yes for everybody, gave every employee doctor-level access to patient records, and got hit with a 400,000 euro GDPR fine. The court's read was that they hadn't even attempted the concept.Mike Saylor, Prasanna, and I get into what least privilege really means, then move straight to the part nobody wants to talk about: where you start when everybody already has domain admin. Mike lays out three approaches, from "turn everything off and see who screams" to a real analysis of job roles. We talk about why role-based administration is the vehicle that gets you there, and why role sprawl will eat you alive if you build a custom role for every human in the building.From there we get into segregation of duties, which accounting figured out decades before IT did. Your admin account should not be the account you use to check Gmail. That leads into non-repudiation, su versus sudo, and why logs have to leave the box and land in a SIEM before somebody edits them.The last third is action items. Inventory your privileged accounts, your service accounts, your support accounts, and the fire call accounts you break glass for. Track more than the name and the privilege level: who owns it, why it exists, when the password changed, when it expires. And if you run backups, split your roles apart. Editing backup configs, running backups, and doing restores should not be the same permission. Somebody quietly shortening retention is invisible to the person watching last night's job reports. A restore never trips an alarm at all.If your admins fight you on any of this, Mike has a thought about that too.00:00 The hospital where the janitor could read your chart04:26 The 400,000 euro fine, and the failed appeal07:50 What least privilege actually means08:54 Three ways to start when everyone has too much11:17 Access that follows people as jobs change12:57 Role-based administration is the vehicle16:13 Role sprawl and the 80/20 rule18:26 Segregation of duties, borrowed from accounting20:28 Back when everybody had root: su and sudo21:59 Non-repudiation and getting logs into a SIEM25:31 Inventory privileged, service, and fire call accounts27:41 The three backup roles you should separate32:39 What your account inventory should track35:31 Expiring accounts nobody uses36:42 When admins push back, be concerned

Cora Sherlock opens up the fast-moving question of artificial intelligence and the law, tracing what GDPR already protects and what the newly enforced EU Artificial Intelligence Act does and doesn't allow. She flags a detail from the week's news, employees inside major AI companies resigning over concerns about where the technology is heading, and promises a longer episode digging into why. Along the way: deepfakes, facial recognition, and the loan and job applications an algorithm still isn't allowed to decide alone. L'articolo A Question of Law – Can the Law Keep Up With AI? – Cora Sherlock, Solicitor proviene da Radio Maria.

In this edition, Host & audio engineer Ashea is joined by Production Expert Founders Mike Thornton and Russ Hughes & post-production audio engineer Paul Maunder, to address one of the most significant regulatory changes affecting the audio and music production industry: the new EU AI Act. With implementation now in force, this episode cuts through the hype and confusion to explain exactly what the law requires, how it applies to audio professionals, and what both individuals and platforms must do to comply.The conversation covers the practical implications for anyone using AI voice generation (like 11 Labs), AI-assisted editing tools, or working with platforms like Spotify and YouTube. The team breaks down machine-readable marking requirements, disclosure obligations, audio watermarking technology, platform accountability, and what the experience with GDPR implementation can teach us about enforcement. This episode is essential for every audio professional seeking clarity on regulatory compliance and industry integrity in the AI era.In This Episode:EU AI Act Overview: GDPR for AI — How the EU AI Act functions as 'GDPR for artificial intelligence,' applying to any content played in the European Union regardless of where it was createdDeepfakes Defined: Beyond Celebrity Videos — The law's broad definition of 'deepfakes' as anything that could be misconceived as human-made but is AI-generated, including voice synthesis, video, and imagesMachine-Readable Marking Requirements — How AI system providers must embed technical metadata into AI-generated content so it can be automatically detected by machines and platformsDisclosure Requirements for Deployers — Content creators and distributors must explicitly disclose to audiences when content contains AI-generated or manipulated audio/videoThe Disclosure Chain: Creators to Audience — How disclosure cascades through the value chain: if you use 11 Labs for voiceover, you tell your client, who tells their audienceAI Cleanup Tools Exemption — The law doesn't apply to AI-assisted editing or enhancement tools unless the regenerated content becomes the primary focusPro Tools Generative Features Impact — Real-world example: if you use generative AI to regenerate missing words in a voiceover dropout, you must disclose thisSpotify's Rapid Implementation — Within days of the EU Act coming into force, Spotify implemented labeling showing listeners when content uses AIYouTube's Platform Immunity Defense — YouTube's claim that they're merely a platform; how this misinterprets the law and shifts burden inappropriatelyPlatform Responsibility vs. Creator Responsibility — Why YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram should be held accountable as publishers of content, not just neutral platformsClaude's Watermarking Response — How Claude added digital watermarking to AI text within days, demonstrating rapid compliance by major AI providersMachine-Readable vs. Human-Perceptible Disclosure — The distinction between technical watermarking (for machine detection) and human-friendly disclosure (text/audio announcements)Audio Watermarking Technology: Silent Cypher — Sony's deep audio watermarking technology that embeds imperceptible marks in audio frequency rangesAudio Brain for Mac: Emerging Audio Watermarking — New tools providing audio watermarking specifically for Mac OS, representing rapid tool development for complianceComplex Mixes and Watermarking Challenges — How tracking individual AI-generated elements within massive film mixes presents technical detection challengesGDPR as Enforcement Precedent — Since 2018, GDPR fines total ~€7 billion; this historical data proves regulatory enforcement intentionBig Players vs. Small Businesses — Enforcement targets Spotify, YouTube, Facebook—not individual creators; the law aims to bring major platforms into complianceCopyright Protection Gaps — The EU Act and US No Fakes Act don't adequately address copyright of training data and content protectionUS Copyright Office Stance: Prompt-Driven AI — US Copyright Office denies copyright to purely prompt-driven AI output; Invoke AI's successful appeal shows lines are still being drawnCreative Use of AI vs. Deceptive Use — Distinguishing between legitimate transparent creative use (like T-Pain's autotune) vs. deceptive undisclosed useProfessional Responsibility: Setting Standards — How professionals in audio should embrace the law and set standards themselves rather than waiting for enforcementWhy Imperfect Laws Still Matter — No law is perfect, but laws represent our best effort at improvement and societal standardsRace to the Bottom Without Standards — How lack of regulatory enforcement creates industry pressure to adopt AI, lower rates, and compromise qualityHypocrisy in Industry: The MPSE Poster Incident — Example of major audio professionals organization using generative AI while advocating against AI job displacementYouTube's Selective Compliance — How YouTube selectively enforces responsibility when reported violations occur, claiming external responsibilityAbout Our Guests:Mike Thornton:Co-founder of Production Expert and host of the Production Expert Podcast. Mike serves as industry commentator and facilitator of important conversations between technology companies and the professional audio community. In this episode, Mike moderates discussions on AI regulation and compliance.Russ Hughes:Co-founder of Production Expert. Russ provides deep technical and regulatory expertise on the EU AI Act, explaining how it differs from GDPR and what the law actually requires of audio professionals and platforms. Russ has researched the act thoroughly for audience guidance.Paul Maunder:Longstanding team member at Production Expert and post-production audio engineer. Paul contributes practical experience on how the new law applies in real-world audio workflows, including examples of Pro Tools, audio watermarking solutions, and the realities of tracking AI-generated elements within complex mixes.About Our Host:Ashea is a platinum-selling songwriter, music producer, and audio engineer from the UK. With credits spanning notable artists, major labels, and prestigious broadcasters, Ashea brings authentic conversations between industry professionals to the Production Expert Podcast. Her commitment to discussing both the creative and business sides of audio production, including regulatory and compliance issues affecting the industry, makes her an ideal facilitator for important professional conversations.

Amy Lawrence is Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Legal at SuperAwesome, where she leads global privacy strategy for technology and media products designed for young audiences. An expert in youth privacy and digital regulation, Amy advises on building adtech services and responsible advertising in compliance with COPPA, GDPR, state privacy laws, and age-appropriate design codes. Previously, she was with Epic Games helping modernize the global privacy program and regulatory engagement.Amy began her career in private practice, focused on privacy compliance in media and entertainment. She holds CIPP/US and CIPP/E certifications and is admitted to practice in California and New York.References:* Amy Lawrence on LinkedIn* About SuperAwesome* Meta agrees to pay $18 billion to settle US lawsuits over children's social media addiction (Reuters, August 28th 2026). The company denied wrongdoing and agreed to restrict teenagers' use of Facebook and Instagram ​to two hours a day and block all usage from midnight to 6 a.m., absent parental consent.* Reddit issued with £14.47m fine for children's privacy failures (ICO, February 24th 2026)* Yoti: “Thoughts from our CEO: Spanish regulator AEPD fining Yoti” (€950,000, March 27th 2026)* California AB-1043, Age verification signals: software applications and online services. The law enters into force on January 1st 2027, with OS providers (iOS, Android) required to collect a date of birth during the initial device or account setup, subsequently passing age signals to specific apps via API -consisting of age brackets.* AI Sentinel: Future-Proof AI Governance (hosted on TODO.LAW, free)* InScope (North End Law): Which privacy/AI laws apply to your company? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mastersofprivacy.com/subscribe

Key TopicsAI's impact on customer experienceEffective AI project strategiesAI governance and securityPrompt engineering for businessHigh ROI AI initiativesChapters00:00 Introduction to Lukas Hertig and his AI journey02:09 Lukas describes himself as a strong executor in AI04:00 Understanding customer readiness and signals06:07 Success rates of AI projects and key factors08:06 Approaching AI implementation: audits and impact analysis09:59 Building AI skills and connectors for enterprise use12:07 Security, governance, and compliance in AI projects13:55 Misconceptions about AI replacing humans16:11 Future of open-source and self-hosted AI models17:58 Key questions for AI project planning19:50 Using AI to improve sales and marketing workflows22:09 Real-world examples: call recording and data privacy23:56 Dictation and unique human insights with AI25:51 Questions for expanding AI in customer service27:55 Integrating AI with existing CRM and systems30:06 Data privacy, GDPR, and European regulations32:03 Avoiding pitfalls: data leaks and governance issues34:11 How to engage with Lukas Hertig and his team35:06 Key takeaways: focus on high ROI AI projects35:51 Closing remarks and future AI opportunities The AI for Sales Podcast is brought to you by BDR.ai, Nooks.ai, and ZoomInfo—the go-to-market intelligence platform that accelerates revenue growth.Skip the forms and website hunting—Chad will connect you directly with the right person at any of these companies.

Axios reported on September 10, 2026 that Meta acquired Swedish AI startup Stilla.ai, with no terms disclosed. The deal fits Meta's push to expand AI capabilities, following advances in its Llama models and deployment of the Meta AI assistant across major apps. In early 2024, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta aimed to assemble roughly 350,000 Nvidia H100 class GPUs or equivalent compute by year end. EU rules under the Digital Markets Act require gatekeepers to inform the European Commission of digital sector transactions, and Article 22 referrals can draw smaller deals into review. GDPR, data transfer requirements, and Swedish employment rules add integration considerations. Founders can prepare by tightening IP, open source compliance, and data provenance while structuring clear retention and earnout terms.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if AI could monitor your compliance controls 24/7 more consistently than any team ever could?KEY MOMENTS   1:50  What are AI agents and why should business leaders care? 5:24  Is that agent or limited capability agent? 8:13  Is that the dimension this agent can go to?  13:50  How can AI agents help? 22:30  How to handle risks when it comes to AI agents? 26:24  Dislike in the journey of entrepreneur  In this episode of the FIT4Privacy Podcast, Punit Bhatia speaks with Richa Kaul, CEO of ComplYant, to unpack what AI agents really are and what they are not. They clarify the difference between true agentic AI and simple “call-and-response” tools, and explore how AI agents are transforming governance, risk, and compliance (GRC).  This conversation goes beyond hype to offer practical, enterprise-ready insights on using AI responsibly in compliance.  

In this episode, James Dickson speaks with Mia Moles, Business Support Director at Detectnology UK, about modern event security hardware. They cover screening solutions for people, bags and vehicles, the evolution from visible detectors to AI-driven and covert systems, and how technology can both deter and detect threats. Mia also discusses the company's 36-year history, demo and training practices, GDPR and legal considerations, integration with event operations, and how organisers can balance safety, guest experience and budget when deploying screening technology. This episode of the Event Industry News Podcast is sponsored by Present Communications. Present provides broadcast-quality live, hybrid and virtual event production, trusted by organisations where reliability really matters. From corporate town halls and conferences to high-profile live streams, they design and deliver fully resilient systems that work first time. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

By 2018 the reservoirs supplying Cape Town were down to 20% of capacity. If they reached 13.5%, the city would need to shut down parts of the water network and send residents to collection points to fetch water. That was known as Day Zero, and the rain came just in time to avoid it.Hugh Cole (City of Cape Town) joined the city government in the middle of the crisis, and has subsequently driven the use of data for many aspects of city planning, not just for water. Cape Town now runs its own household survey, works with a private sector partner to measure net migration, and randomises the rollout of water meters so it can find out how they change behaviour. It also runs trials on its electricity subsidy to check whether the money reaches the households it is meant to reach. Cole tells Tim Phillips how the Day Zero near miss changed how the city's leadership uses evidence, and how other cities can follow the same path.The research behind this episode:Abajian, Alexander C., Cassandra Cole, Kelsey Jack, Kyle C. Meng, and Martine Visser. 2025. "Dodging Day Zero: Drought, Adaptation, and Inequality in Cape Town." NBER Working Paper 33468.Cole, Hugh, Kelsey Jack, Derek Strong, and Brendan Maughan-Brown. 2020. "City of Cape Town, South Africa: Aligning Internal Data Capabilities with External Research Partnerships." In Handbook on Using Administrative Data for Research and Evidence-based Policy, edited by Shawn Cole, Iqbal Dhaliwal, Anja Sautmann, and Lars Vilhuber. Cambridge, MA: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.To cite this episode:Phillips, Tim, and Hugh Cole. 2026. "Cape Town's day zero: How data rebuilt a city's water resilience." VoxDev Talks (podcast).About the guestHugh Cole is Director of Policy and Strategy and Chief Data Officer at the City of Cape Town, where his department covers strategic policy, strategic planning, research and economic analysis. He is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics. Before joining the city in 2017 he was Director of Country Programmes at the International Growth Centre, running teams in 14 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.Research cited in this episodeDay Zero. The term began in the media as the day Cape Town's taps would run dry, then settled on something more specific. It became the day dam levels would hit 13.5%, at which point the city planned to shut down parts of the reticulation network and open water collection points, sequenced so that the most vulnerable communities were affected last.Dodging Day Zero. Abajian, Cole, Jack, Meng and Visser use municipal billing records to show what the emergency measures did to different households. Before the drought, richer households used twice as much piped water as poorer ones; at the peak of the crisis they used less, partly because they could drill boreholes and substitute private groundwater for the public supply. That eroded the utility's revenue and shifted the cost of supply towards households who could not afford a private alternative, which is why the tariff reform that followed matters as much as the conservation campaign did.Zonal water balance assessment. Pressure management in the network was one of the two measures Cole credits with the largest effect during the drought, alongside communication with residents. Managing pressure means knowing the boundaries of each pressure zone, and those boundaries had drifted over years of pipes being added and not always recorded. The remapping exercise that followed compares water entering a zone with water leaving it, and it is still going on.The Green Dot map. During the drought the city published a neighbourhood level map of household water consumption, developed with academic partners including Martine Visser at the University of Cape Town. Households within their usage band showed as a green dot. The aim was peer pressure at street level rather than a citywide number.The Water, Air and Energy Lab. Launched in March 2024 by J-PAL Africa at the University of Cape Town, the City of Cape Town and Community Jameel, the WAE Lab pairs city policymakers with researchers to run randomised evaluations on clean air, water and reliable energy. Kelsey Jack is its scientific advisor. It is part of a network of J-PAL air and water labs that also includes national and state level labs in Egypt and India.Free basic electricity. Cape Town subsidises electricity for low-income households, targeted using thresholds on property value and consumption. Because eligibility turns on a cutoff, households just above and just below it are otherwise similar, which lets researchers separate the effect of the subsidy from everything else that differs between rich and poor households. The city funds this transfer from its own budget rather than through National Treasury grant regimes.Advanced metering infrastructure. The city is replacing water meters with digital ones to improve billing accuracy, revenue recovery and leak detection, and to see whether more frequent consumption information changes what households use. Contractor capacity and budget mean the rollout has to be phased, and the phasing is what makes randomisation possible.Charging ahead. An earlier Cape Town collaboration with the same origins. Jack, B. Kelsey, and Grant Smith. 2020. "Charging Ahead: Prepaid Metering, Electricity Use, and Utility Revenue." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 12(2). Over 4,000 customers were switched from monthly billing to prepaid meters in a randomised order; electricity use fell by about 13%, and the utility recovered more of its revenue on time.Non-revenue water. Water that is produced and then lost before it can be billed, mostly through leaks. It is a persistent problem for utilities across the continent, and separating the leak detection effect of new meters from the behavioural effect on households is one of the questions the city wants answered.Data protection. South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act is the law Cole refers to as the local equivalent of the European Union's GDPR. It governs what the city can share, and it is why partnerships with banks and telecommunications firms on the informal economy are framed around aggregated and anonymised data.More VoxDev Talks episodesMinibuses, major gains: Rethinking urban transit in developing countries. Lucas Conwell on the privately run minibus networks that Cape Town depends on, and the policy tweaks that would make them work better. Cole describes the city's own minibus taxi reform programme in this episode.The role of cities in economic development. Edward Glaeser and Diego Puga on why the cities of the developing world are the place to look. Cole quotes Glaeser twice here, so this is the natural next listen.How AI can put 20 years of development evidence to work. Iqbal Dhaliwal of J-PAL on why new technology only helps when it is attached to an existing evidence base.Related reading on VoxDev.orgAvoiding day zero: Drought and water pricing in South Africa. The authors of the paper set out how private adaptation by wealthy households undermined the utility's ability to cross-subsidise everyone else, and what the tariff reform did about it.Charging ahead: Prepaid metering, electricity use, and utility revenue. Kelsey Jack and Grant Smith on the Cape Town prepaid metering trial, and what it means for utilities trying to serve low-income customers.

Ket Takeawys From This Podcast and Post WhatsApp is the highest open rate channel a recruitment or search business can use, but it deepens relationships you already have rather than starting new ones. What that means in practice: WhatsApp has more than three billion monthly users, with open rates of 95 to 98% against roughly 20 to 25% for email. It has no discovery algorithm and no professional targeting layer, so it cannot introduce you to anyone new. It works best with candidates and clients who have already given you their number, where it speeds up screening, scheduling, briefs and updates. Clients genuinely do come through it, but only where the relationship already exists. Used to approach people cold, it risks blocking, reporting and a breach of UK consent rules under PECR and GDPR. The deciding question is not candidates versus clients; it’s warm versus cold. Of all the channels in this series, WhatsApp is the one I get asked about in the most roundabout way. Business owners rarely ask me whether it works. They ask me what it's for. That makes sense, because most of you are already using it. It's on your phone. You message your team on it. You message your family on it. You've probably messaged a candidate on it, because it was quicker than email and they replied in four minutes rather than four days. So the question isn't whether WhatsApp works. It clearly does something, or you wouldn't keep reaching for it. The question is whether it belongs in your marketing plan, and if it does, what job it's doing there. I'll give you my answer up front. WhatsApp doesn't start relationships. It deepens the ones you already have. Get it the wrong way round and use it to approach people who don't know you, and it will do you real damage. How Big Is WhatsApp? WhatsApp has more than three billion people using it every month, a figure confirmed by Mark Zuckerberg on Meta's earnings call in April 2025. Trackers in early 2026 put it between 3.14 and 3.3 billion. Somewhere between 2.3 and 2.6 billion people open it every day, around 83% of the monthly base, and it's available in more than 180 countries. For context, Facebook sits at around 3.07 billion monthly users, so the two are neck and neck at the top of this series. In the UK, research cited by the communications regulator and published in December 2025 found around 90% of UK online adults used WhatsApp, roughly 44.2 million people. That's the most authoritative UK figure available. The US and Australia are messier. US estimates run from 87 million to 124 million depending on which tracker you read. Australia sits somewhere between 9 million and 13 million. I'm giving you ranges rather than a tidy number because Meta doesn't publish country by country data, and I'd rather tell you the truth than give you false precision. The number to hold on to is the UK one. Nine in ten UK adults online are on this app. Your candidates are there. So are your clients. What WhatsApp Is Not This is the part that changes how you think about it. Every other channel in this series has an algorithm. On Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok or YouTube, you create something, the platform decides who sees it, and if it's good enough it reaches people who have never heard of you. Reach is earned. WhatsApp doesn't work that way. There's no feed ranking your content and no discovery mechanism putting you in front of strangers. Your reach is limited to people who already have your number, or people who click an advert to start a chat. WhatsApp doesn't build your audience. It communicates with the audience you already have. There are two partial exceptions. WhatsApp Channels, launched in 2023, is a one way broadcast feature that had reached 500 million monthly users by June 2024. And WhatsApp Status, viewed daily by around 500 million people, takes up roughly a third of the time people spend in the app. Both are useful. Neither will introduce you to a hiring manager who has never heard of you. The second structural point matters just as much. WhatsApp has no professional layer. There are no job titles, no company data and no seniority filters. Nothing tells you whether the person on the other end is an HR director or a school leaver. LinkedIn knows who people are professionally. WhatsApp knows a phone number. Where WhatsApp Is At Its Strongest If it won't introduce you to anyone new, what will it do? It will make every conversation you're already having faster, warmer and far more likely to be read than anything else you have. Look at the numbers. WhatsApp messages are opened at somewhere between 95 and 98%. Email sits at roughly 20 to 25%. Broadcast campaigns on WhatsApp are reported to convert at 15 to 25%. And 78% of job seekers now apply on a smartphone, so your candidates are already living in this format. Here's where recruiters are genuinely getting value: Screening questions answered in minutes rather than over two days of phone tag Interview scheduling and confirmations, which cuts no shows Status updates during a process, so candidates aren't left in silence QR codes that take someone straight into a chat to start an application Sourcing internationally, particularly in markets like India, Brazil and the Middle East where WhatsApp is the default messenger Keeping a warm client contact updated, once they've given you their number Every one of those is about speed and experience with someone who already knows who you are. And Yes, It Works With Clients Too It would be easy to read the last section and conclude WhatsApp is a candidate only channel. It isn't. Once a hiring manager has given you their mobile number, WhatsApp becomes the fastest route to them you'll ever have. Briefs come through as a voice note on the way to a meeting. Questions get answered in minutes. You stop being a supplier they email and start being the recruiter they message. We've won clients through WhatsApp ourselves, and so have members of ours. But in every case the relationship came first, and the number was given rather than found. That's the distinction that matters here, and it isn't candidates versus clients. It's warm versus cold. The Line Between Warm and Cold This goes wrong at exactly one point, and that's when you use WhatsApp to approach someone who hasn't given you their number and doesn't expect to hear from you. I know the temptation. You've got mobile numbers sitting in your CRM going back years. It feels like an easy win sitting there. Leave it alone, for three reasons. One: There's No Cold Route In You need a number someone has given you, or you need them to click an advert. There's no equivalent of a LinkedIn connection request here. And if you've bought a list of mobile numbers, you've got a bigger problem than channel choice. Two: The Consent Risk Is Real Unsolicited business messaging on WhatsApp can breach UK consent rules under PECR and GDPR. This isn't a grey area you can talk your way out of, and the penalties attach to the business rather than the individual who sent the message. Three: It Breaks the Social Contract A hiring manager gave their number to their kids' school, their plumber and their friends. A pitch from someone they don't know arriving in that space doesn't read as enterprising. It feels like an intrusion, and the two buttons available to them are block and report. Note what you lose. The same message on LinkedIn would have been unremarkable. Sent on WhatsApp to someone who never gave you the number, it costs you a contact permanently. There's one more thing, and it isn't comfortable. WhatsApp has become a common vector for recruitment scams. Fake recruiters, fake roles, fake interviews, all run through this app. Candidates are increasingly wary when a recruiter they don't know appears in their messages. That doesn't mean you can't use it. It means you introduce yourself properly, identify your company immediately, and give people a way to verify you. What WhatsApp Costs Basic use is free. A WhatsApp Business profile costs nothing and takes minutes to set up. A photo, a business description, a greeting message and an away message, and you're running. Costs appear when you want to send at volume or advertise. From the first of January 2026, Meta moved to charging per message rather than per conversation. UK rates published across 2026 sources range from just over a penny to about seven pence per marketing message, depending on category and source. Messages a customer starts remain free within a 24 hour window. To send in bulk or automate anything you need a Business Solution Provider. Platform subscriptions typically start between nine and fifty pounds per channel per month, plus VAT, on top of the per message cost. Click to WhatsApp adverts run through Meta Ads Manager on Facebook and Instagram, and open a chat rather than sending someone to a landing page. US benchmarks from 2026 put a good cost per click between ten and fifty cents, and a cost per lead who goes on to start a conversation at one to three dollars. No UK or Australian benchmarks exist in the sources reviewed, so if you test this you'll be gathering your own numbers. How to Measure It Native analytics on the free Business app are basic: messages sent, delivered, read and received, visible in your settings. The Business Platform adds message level data, and third party platforms will layer on a proper funnel view for a subscription. For most recruitment business owners, four numbers tell you everything: Response rate. What proportion of people reply? Time to first response. How much faster is this than email? Message to booked conversation. How many turn into an interview or a call? For paid adverts, cost per conversation started and cost per qualified lead Best Practice, and the Mistakes to Avoid What works Set up a separate WhatsApp Business profile rather than running your desk from your personal number Brand it properly with a photo, company name and what you do, so anyone receiving a message sees straight away who you are Use it for screening, scheduling, updates and confirmations Use Status or a Channel for passive nurturing of your candidate pool rather than messaging people one by one Use simple automation for first response and interview slot booking What to avoid Cold business development messages to hiring managers who haven't opted in Failing to identify yourself in the first line, which in the current climate makes you look like a scam Over messaging. The moment WhatsApp feels like a mailing list, you've destroyed the thing that made it work Treating it as a brand building channel. Nobody is discovering you here Is WhatsApp Right For Your Business? Four Questions If you answer yes to two or more, it's worth setting up this month. One. Does your business handle high volume or time critical candidate communication, where being first to respond wins you the placement? Two. Do you source candidates internationally, particularly in markets where WhatsApp is the default way people communicate? Three. Is candidate experience somewhere you're currently losing people, through slow responses, silence during a process or no shows at interview? Four. Do you have candidates or clients who have given you their mobile number and would expect to hear from you on it? If you answered no to all four, and particularly to the last one, the problem isn't WhatsApp. It's that you don't yet have enough relationships to put on it. Build those first, on LinkedIn, on email and through your content. Then come back to this. Pulling This Together WhatsApp is one of the two largest platforms in this series and easily the most misunderstood. It won't build your brand and it won't put you in front of anyone who has never heard of you. Those jobs belong to other channels. What it will do is make every relationship you already have faster, warmer and more likely to turn into something. That includes candidates, and it includes hiring managers who have come to trust you enough to give you their number. So build the relationship first. Let people give you the number rather than digging it out. Then use this channel for what it's genuinely brilliant at. Thanks Denise How We Can Help You Knowing which channels to use is one thing. Having the content, the campaigns and the plan to run them consistently is another. That's what we do inside Superfast Circle. Our members get done for you content every month, monthly coaching calls and a clear system that takes the guesswork out of what to post, where and when. If you want to find out more get in touch. The post WhatsApp for Recruiters: Where It Wins You Clients and Candidates, and Where It Costs You Both appeared first on Superfast Recruitment.

Welcome back to Fraudology.It's just me for this episode, but I've got two stories to dig into. They are genuinely important for anyone dealing with chargeback disputes. Whether you're on the merchant side or the banking side.The first is Uber and the nearly billion dollars in fines for automated account deactivation. The second story is the story that I really want to unpack. Hims and Hers blowing past their chargeback threshold on their weight loss subscription business.It's rare that this stuff becomes public, and I think there's a lot merchants can learn from it. I know a lot of companies leaning on AI right now to cancel buyer or seller accounts. We will walk through the math on chargeback fee per dispute, what's actually driving these disputes, and what I'd tell these businesses if they were my client.What you'll hear:Why Uber's near-billion-dollar GDPR fine over automated account deactivation AI should matter to any company using AI to cancel buyer or seller accounts, not just ride-share platforms.How Visa's acquirer monitoring program actually works, including the chargeback threshold merchants need to stay under and the real dollar cost once they don't. A full breakdown of the Hims and Hers chargeback situation, including the FTC lawsuit, Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act violations, and real customer complaints pulled from public FOIA records.How I'd approach chargeback root cause analysis if this were a client, from subscription billing practices to refund policy gaps.Real examples of merchants using generative AI chargeback response tools, including one who took their chargeback win rate strategies from a 40% to 65% win rate.Why dispute monitoring program penalties go far beyond the per-chargeback fee, and how they can affect your relationship with your payment processor.How to calculate the true cost of a chargeback, including fees, fines, operational costs, and the merchant reputation and chargebacks damage that doesn't show up on a balance sheet.A reminder that subscription chargebacks are almost always a symptom, not the actual disease, and what usually causes them. You should listen to this episode if you:Are a merchant, especially recurring or subscription-based businesses, currently on or worried about landing on Visa's acquirer monitoring program. Are a fraud, risk, or payments professionals who want a practitioner's breakdown of what actually drives chargeback disputes. Are using or considering AI to automate account decisions, cancellations, or chargeback responses. Are a banking professional curious about the ecommerce and merchant side of dispute management. Are a business leader weighing whether an aggressive subscription or cancellation policy is actually saving money, or just deferring a bigger cost.

The EU AI Act just hit a major deadline, and most of the coverage missed the part that actually matters for marketing teams: AI-generated content now has to be disclosed, and the fines for getting it wrong can outweigh even GDPR penalties.In this episode of the Brand Intelligence Podcast, James Borg sits down with Alex Hubbard, VP of Product and AI at IntelligenceBank, to break down what's actually changing in marketing compliance this quarter, and why it matters far beyond Europe.They discuss: What changed in EU AI regulation on August 2nd, and why it's already law, not a future deadline Why brands outside Europe, including in the UK, Australia, and the US, are watching these changes just as closely The rise of "provenance" as the word Alex now hears in nearly every customer conversation Why knowing whether content came from a person, an approved AI tool, or an unapproved one has become a legal requirement, not a nice-to-have What IntelligenceBank's product team is building in response, including facial recognition for talent rights, approval attestation, self-serve rule building, and multimodal video and audio risk review A simple test brand and marketing leaders can run right now to find their biggest compliance gaps before the quarter closes This conversation offers a grounded look at where marketing compliance is heading, and what leaders need to do now to stay ahead of it.

Doing these podcasts gives me a chance to meet some great Irish start-ups and one such start-up is ViveoAI. Based in Coleraine, ViveoAI is a voice AI receptionist built specifically for dental practices and I recently caught up with Sean Higgins the founder of ViveoAI. Sean talks about his background, what ViveoAI does, creating a clone of a voice, AI receptionists and more.More about ViveoAI:The focus is on helping clinics answer missed calls, handle routine patient enquiries, and support appointment booking, rescheduling and cancellation workflows. Building the system around UK and Irish dental practices specifically, rather than using a generic US-style AI receptionist. This means local accents, Irish and UK phraseology, dental terminology, practice-specific workflows, and the kind of patient language people actually use when calling a clinic.As AI has to be deployed responsibly in healthcare settings and because dental practices handle sensitive patient information, there is a careful GDPR tightrope to walk. This ensures ViveoAI has to be useful, while also being tightly bounded, transparent, and clearly administrative rather than clinical. You can find more info on LinkedIn.

Send us Fan MailNine million images. No password. No encryption. And the defence was basically: “It wasn't public because you had to know the URL.” That single line opens up one of the most important CISSP Domain 2 conversations you can have: security through obscurity is not access control, and a hidden address is not a key. We take this real data exposure and translate it into the kind of manager-level reasoning the CISSP exam demands, not memorised trivia.We then zoom out into Asset Security fundamentals: identification and inventory, data classification based on impact, and the roles that make controls enforceable. We break down data owner versus custodian, plus controller and processor language you will see in privacy frameworks like GDPR. The core takeaway is simple and painful: without a named owner, nothing downstream is mandatory, so encryption, authentication, retention jobs, and evidence-producing logging keep losing to deadlines.Finally, we turn the incident into practice questions and “spot the trap” exam thinking: accountability does not transfer when you outsource, absent controls are not weak controls, and impact is not likelihood. We also hit retention and destruction across the data lifecycle, including NIST SP 800-88 clearing, purging, and destruction, and where degaussing and crypto erase really belong.Subscribe for more CISSP exam prep with real-world security stories, share this with a study partner, and leave a review if it helps you think more clearly under exam pressure.Gain exclusive access to 360 FREE CISSP Practice Questions at FreeCISSPQuestions.com and have them delivered directly to your inbox!  Don't miss this valuable opportunity to strengthen your CISSP exam preparation and boost your chances of certification success. Join now and start your journey toward CISSP mastery today!

SUMMARY: Brian, Brandon, and Aaron focus on AI watermarking, driven largely by EU transparency requirements, and discuss how approaches like token-selection patterns can be detected but were reportedly cracked quickly with tools that strip watermarks. Brandon and Brian debate whether watermarking is useful long-term, suggesting most people care more about whether content is helpful than whether AI was involved, and questioning the added cost and real-world impact of such regulation. They also explore implications for education policies that ban AI use, changing assessment methods to curb cheating, and potential enterprise and government procurement issues where “no AI” requirements could trigger disputes and lawsuits, while AI review may also level the playing field in contract understanding.SHOW: 1058SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Enterprise AI Show #1058 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtu.be/6zlN_oIR5XcSHOW LINKS:Anthropic WatermarkingClaude Support on WatermarkingSHOW SPONSORS:Nasuni - Activate your data for AI and request a demoTopic: Anthropic recently started invisibly watermarking all Claude-generated text and files (Aug 11), joining Google (SynthID) and ~190 companies that signed the EU's AI Act Transparency Code. Article 50 became enforceable August 2, with fines up to €15M or 3% of global turnover for non-compliance. Within 24 hours of Anthropic's announcement, a free tool to strip Claude's watermark showed up on GitHub.Core question: Is watermarking building durable AI provenance infrastructure, or is it a regulatory checkbox that breaks the moment someone runs a paraphraser?Discussion angles:The cat-and-mouse problem: Watermarks degrade with editing/paraphrasing/translation by design; light edits survive, heavy rewrites don't. Is a signal that vanishes under normal use actually useful, or just plausible deniability for labs?Regulatory arbitrage: EU forces the mandate, but xAI hasn't signed the voluntary Code. What happens to companies operating in the gap, and does the EU rule become a de facto global standard the way GDPR did?What it's actually good for: Not a lie detector, a provenance/tamper flag. Useful for enterprise content authenticity and platform moderation pipelines, much less useful for catching a student or a bad actor who just runs one rewrite pass.FEEDBACK?Email: show @ the enterprise ai show dot comBluesky: @TheEntAIShow.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @TheEntAIShowInstagram: @TheEntAIShow

Introduction What happens to a claims operation when the manipulated photo comes from an ordinary policyholder instead of a fraud ring? Verisk's 2026 fraud study found that 55% of Gen Z consumers and 49% of millennials would make a small rule-bending edit to a claim photo or document, and Aviva stopped £233 million of suspected claims fraud last year with a growing share of it built on AI-generated images and manipulated paperwork. Jeppe Nørregaard spent seven years building AI systems to detect fake content before deciding the detectors were going to lose. He now runs a company built on the opposite bet, which is that you protect real content instead of chasing fake content. In this episode he walks host Joshua R. Hollander through why detection breaks down under generative AI, what signing content at the point of capture actually asks a carrier to change, and why a flat fraud number next year should worry a claims leader rather than reassure them. Guest Bio Jeppe Nørregaard is co-founder of InReality, a Copenhagen company that cryptographically signs photos, video, and documents at the moment they are captured so whoever receives them can prove the content is real and unaltered. He holds a PhD from the Technical University of Denmark, where he worked on AI and misinformation, and his research on how fake news detection degrades over time and under attack is among his most cited work. He did a research stay with an American research group in upstate New York studying AI for misinformation detection, and he sat alongside the researchers building deepfakes while he was building the detectors. InReality works today with news organizations and insurers, and is backed by the Deloitte Innovation Accelerator, the IBC Accelerator, and Antler. Key Topics -Why detection loses the arms race - Across seven years of research, Jeppe watched AI strengthen the attacker faster than it strengthened the defender, first with bots and automation and then with deepfakes. -Flipping the problem - InReality does not evaluate fake content at all. It builds cryptographic guarantees around real content and treats everything outside that pipeline the way the internet already works. -What a flat fraud number actually means - If detected fraud stops climbing while deepfake use keeps rising, the likelier explanation is that carriers have stopped seeing it rather than that it stopped happening. -Where signing happens inside a claim - The policyholder photographs the damage through the carrier's own app, and the security sits inside that capture rather than as a review step afterward. -Cryptography instead of prediction - Detection produces false positives because it is a prediction system. A signature either verifies or it does not, and InReality uses post-quantum signatures. -Why they refused to build on a blockchain - A blockchain proof cannot be removed, which collides with GDPR's right to be forgotten, so they built an alternative way to produce the same cryptographic proofs. -What to do with a detection budget already spent - Jeppe separates deepfake detection, which he would stop funding, from the rest of the AI claims stack, which he says carriers should keep investing in. Notable Quotes "We don't actually deal with fake content at all in our company. We completely ignore fake content. Instead, we build security guarantees for real content." "I sat next to the guys who did deepfakes. They tried to deepfake Barack Obama, and I tried to find misinformation. So I knew where this was headed." "A lot of money has gone into deepfake detection, and fundamentally we believe that it was a mistake, but it's a mistake that everyone made across the planet." "If we start to see a flattening or a decrease in the amount of fraud that we find, then I would say we have a real problem, because it most likely means that we don't catch it." Resources Guest: InReality: https://inreality.io/ Jeppe Nørregaard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeppe-n%C3%B8rregaard/ Host & Organization: Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Very Important Links!Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show!Join our Discord! - Buy some merch!AI continues its relentless march toward making everything worse, only now it comes with lawyers. Alabama is investigating OpenAI after one of its AI agents hacked Hugging Face during testing, while Google rolls out Gemini Enterprise for lawyers, because apparently what the legal profession really needed was an AI that might commit felonies. Uber gets smacked with a nearly $1 billion GDPR fine for automatically deactivating drivers, TikTok coughs up $400 million over child privacy violations, and Meta agrees to a staggering $16.68 billion settlement over alleged harms to kids. Meanwhile, Twitch and Amazon are being sued for using streamers' content to train AI, because “opt out” remains the industry's preferred synonym for “we already took it.”Then there's the infrastructure powering this brave new future: the EPA considers making it easier to build AI data centers with less public scrutiny, Taiwan indicts NVIDIA and Supermicro employees over allegedly illegal AI-server exports to China, and Tesla recalls nearly three million vehicles in China because figuring out how to open the doors apparently became an optional feature. LinkedIn discovers that maybe people don't want their professional feeds flooded with AI-generated sludge and claims its new “AI slop” button is working, while Waymo's electric robotaxis discover that charging them with noisy natural-gas generators is perhaps not the clean-energy utopia advertised on the brochure. Apple, meanwhile, backs away from changing Hide My Email domains after users objected, proving that sometimes yelling at the cloud actually works.Plus: Star Trek goes Muppet, books worth reading, nerf guys, AI-generated Hacker News stats, retro gaming, and the sad news of both Dolly Parton and Tim Curry's deaths.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.StoryBlocks - For a limited time, they're offering 15% off any annual plan at storyblocks.com/gogHIMS - Visit Hims.com/gog to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/760Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/v_m2XT4_ZCYSHOW NOTESSend us Feedback!NEW! - GOG T-Shirt - You Are Here! - v1NEW! - GOG T-Shirt - Elon Kills Babies - Heavy Duty - FrontAlabama launches probe into OpenAI after Hugging Face breachGoogle expands Gemini Enterprise AI platform for law firms, lawyersUber hit with a nearly $1 billion fine for automatically deactivating drivers in EuropeTikTok will pay $400 million to settle Justice Department lawsuit over child privacyMeta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to childrenTwitch and Amazon hit with lawsuit for training AI with streamers' contentThe EPA's Response to AI Data Center Backlash: Keep Building, but Keep It Hush-HushTaiwan reportedly indicted NVIDIA employees for exporting prohibited AI servers to ChinaChina Recalls Nearly Three Million Teslas Over Unsafe Door HandlesLinkedIn says its AI slop button is workingAustin park goers upset by adjacent loud Waymo EV generatorsApple reverses planned Hide My Email domain change after user pushbackStar Trek: Strange New GimmicksTed LassoSiloReacherThe WestiesThe Simpsons: Yellow Mirror | Exclusive Episode on Disney+ | TrailerThe Pitt Season 3 | Official Teaser | HBO MaxAmazon First ReadsI've Got a New Complaint: Essays on Aging Disgracefully and Other Small Disasters by Laurie NotaroThe Theory of Everything Else: A Voyage Into the World of the Weird – A Hilarious Handbook of Mind-Boggling Mysteries by Dan Schreiber (of the No Such Thing as Fish podcast)Welcome to Your Life: Love, Death & Tears For Fears – An Iconic Musician's Journey Through Grief, Addiction, and Recovery by Roland OrzabalPicks and Shovels: A Martin Hench Novel by Cory DoctorowThis Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-MohtarDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatOnly Malware in the BuildingLearn Circuits CourseArduino Starter Kit R4Kirby: Art & Style Collection by VIZ MediaStar Wars: The Lightsaber Collection by Daniel WallaceStar Wars: The Secrets of the Sith by Marc SumerakX-Shot Insanity Motorized Rage Fire Gatlin Gun with Tripod - Foam Gun for Maximum FirepowerMaster BlasterHow much of Hacker News is AI?Full Throttle full game playDolly and Miss PiggyDolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jiddraren Matteo Guendouzi! Stadskampen: Marseille vs Lyon! Narrativen kring svensk-, norsk- och danskbollen! José Mourinhos (smarta) återkomst till Real Madrid!

What happens when a business-focused professional discovers that AI can translate vision into working software?In this episode, we follow the journey of a business-aligned leader who never saw herself as a developer. Armed with curiosity, domain expertise, and increasingly sophisticated prompting techniques, she crosses the Rubicon from consumer of technology to creator of technology.We explore how modern AI tools are redefining who gets to build software, contribute to projects, experiment with emerging technologies, modernize financial systems, and solve real-world business problems. The conversation examines what changes when technical barriers fall, and domain expertise becomes a superpower.This isn't a story about replacing developers. It's a story about expanding the circle of creators. Host Peter Smulovics (Distinguished Engineer at Morgan Stanley and FINOS Zenith Lead) sits down with Fintech Product Manager Sarah Hilton-Burroughs for a special edition of the Open Source in Finance Podcast. Together, they explore how domain experts are leveraging AI agents, Spec-Driven Development (SDD), and custom component prompts to build full-stack RegTech platforms—without abandoning architectural guardrails or regulatory auditability.

We're back for a new season (#12 across both channels, heading into our 7th year!), and we do it with a Newsroom update. We will cover our usual five blocks: ePrivacy & regulatory updates; MarTech & AdTech; AI, competition and digital markets; Zero-Party Data; and the future of media.This season's update includes:- Meta's “addictive design” of services for minors (public nuisance in New Mexico, trial of twenty nine states in California, DSA charge over addictive design in Brussels)- Social media bans for minors in France, the UK and Australia, and the push to move age checks to the operating system- The second largest GDPR fine to date, against Uber, for deactivating drivers by automated decision (Article 22)- Enforcement across Europe (health data warehouses, traveller profiling, loyalty club consent, scraped business contacts, AI companion apps) and in the US (public, private)- AI Act enforcement begins while obligations for high risk systems slip to 2027, plus EDPB guidelines on anonymization, web scraping and generative AI- The end of FTC independence, doubts over the Data Privacy Framework, and a Google fine answered with tariff threats- Advertising inside AI assistants, pixel matching by default, and AI copyright settlements.All references and links (plus some bonus materials) can be found in a separate blog post available to paid Masters of Privacy subscribers on our website's Newsroom section (Newsroom Notes: Summer 2026).Our usual disclaimer: the voice that joins Sergio today is a text-to-speech output generated with Eleven Labs. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mastersofprivacy.com/subscribe

Ireland has one of the lowest levels of CCTV use in Europe, but that's set to change, with Garda security cameras expected to increase significantly in the coming years. Here in Clare, there have also been calls for greater use of CCTV to tackle anti-social behaviour and persistent illegal dumping. So, is Ireland too cautious when it comes to CCTV, or are concerns around privacy and GDPR justified? To discuss it further, Alan Morrissey was joined by members of Clare's Local Community Safety Partnership, Newmarket-On-Fergus Fianna Fáil Councillor David Griffin and Clarecastle Sinn Féin Councillor Tommy Guilfoyle. Pic (c) AS Photography from Pexels via Canva

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Anita Watkins, CEO of the Insights Association which empowers more than 30,000 data and insights professionals. Its collective voice fuels growth, strengthens advocacy, and advances careers. Guided by ethics and truth, we bring understanding to an uncertain world.Follow Anita on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-watkins-8b33224Follow the Insights Association online at: https://www.insightsassociation.org/Anita answers these questions:You spent two decades at Kantar, most recently as Chief Solutions Leader for Creative, Innovation, and Qualitative — and now you're leading a trade association. What drew you to the Insights Association at this particular moment in the industry's evolution?The IA represents over 30,000 data and insights professionals. In your first months as CEO, what surprised you most about stepping into an advocacy and membership role versus a commercial one?CPG companies are under enormous pressure — tariffs, private label competition, shrinking research budgets. How is the insights function holding up, and where do you see it either gaining or losing strategic influence in the C-suite? The IA just held its Ignite: CPG event in Cincinnati. What were the dominant themes that emerged, and what does that tell us about what CPG insights leaders are most anxious about right now?You have a webinar series literally titled “Simulating Humans” — that's a provocative framing. How should CPG brands think about AI-generated synthetic respondents vs. real consumer research, and where does the IA draw the line on standards?AI is both a threat and an opportunity for the insights profession. In your view, what's the single biggest risk AI poses to the integrity of consumer data — and what is the IA doing about it?The IA has been driving the Global Data Quality Excellence Pledge and launching new resources around procurement and incentive guidelines. For CPG brands buying research, what should they actually be demanding from their vendors right now that most of them aren't?Survey fraud and data integrity issues have become a serious industry problem. How bad is it, and what levers does the IA have to enforce quality standards across the ecosystem?The IA is actively tracking state-by-state privacy legislation, GDPR, and now the proposed SECURE Data Act. How does a fragmented U.S. privacy landscape create operational headaches for CPG brands doing consumer research at scale?The IA recently raised concerns about how the Department of Labor classifies research respondents. That's a sleeper issue with real cost implications — can you walk our listeners through what's at stake?Anita, you've been recognized for developing the next generation of insights leaders throughout your career. With burnout high among market researchers and AI changing the job description rapidly, what would you tell a young person today about why this profession is still worth pursuing?You said upon your appointment: “I've spent my career believing in the power of insights to drive better decisions and better outcomes.” For CPG brands that are deprioritizing primary research in favor of data lakes and retail media signals — what's the cost of that trade-off that they might not be seeing?CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.comFMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.comSheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/Rhea Raj's Website: http://rhearaj.comLara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

Today we are talking about Drupal, AI, and learning to use it responsibly with guest Mike Anello. We'll also cover Entity Mesh as our module of the week. For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/566 Topics Course overview Fast moving modules Inside vs outside AI No code approach Keeping curriculum current Essentials vs add ons Chat Claude Code setup Inside vs Outside AI Rules and Provider Calls Guardrails in Drupal UI Model QA and Testing Local Models and Costs Token Budgets and Logging Course Use Cases Overview RAG and Vector Basics Class Schedule and Pricing AI Predictions and Wrap Resources New DrupalEasy class: Responsible Drupal AI Basics Training at orlando amazee ai Jrockowitz losing my skill AI module ecosystem AI browser provider (LLM in Google Chrome) amazee.ai Private AI Provider Derecho Guests Mike Anello - drupaleasy.com ultimike Hosts Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi JD Flynn - dorficus MOTW Correspondent Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Brief description: Have you ever wanted a way to analyze and visualize the ways in which the content on your Drupal site is interlinked? There's a module for that. Module name/project name: Entity Mesh Brief history How old: created in Jan 2025 by Jorge Tutor (gedur) of Metadrop Versions available: 2.1.0 and 2.0.3, both of which work with Drupal 11 Maintainership Actively maintained, latest release last month, and a commit just yesterday Security coverage Test coverage Documentation? Project page is pretty descriptive Number of open issues: 13 open issues, 4 of which are bugs, but 2 of those were marked fixed in the past week Usage stats: 437 sites Module features and usage With Entity Mesh installed, the module will analyze the rendered output of your nodes using a chosen account, looking for links to other content That means it will find not just links in entity relationship fields, but also links within formatted text, menus, and more The results can be visualized in a D3.js 3D visualization, displayed as a table, or exported as a CSV The report also exposes a set of Views-style filters, to help you narrow down to the specific set of information you want to understand Entity Mesh analyzes the DOM of your rendered nodes, looking for links, iframes, and images. Internal paths are further analyzed and categorized, for example based on whether the specified path redirects, is broken, points to something that is access-denied, and so on From a marketing perspective, that allows you to understand the paths available to navigate from a source page to a target page, the content linked to or from a specific page, and will also augment the content deletion confirmation form to advise the user of any existing links to the content being deleted There are obvious SEO advantages to being able to find redirect chain, broken or access denied links, and there are GDPR compliance implications for being able to identify iframes that might load third-party cookies The project page also mentions that this module could be very useful to run after a content migration, for QA The actual analysis of your site content be triggered by drush, an admin form, or by cron, and you can set limits on the size of the batch to run, because of the weight it puts on your site by rendering every node it analyzes The current versions Entity Mesh also depend on the Entity Registry and Entity Render Context modules, that have essentially the same maintainers, so if there's only part of Entity Mesh that you really need, you could also give those a look Back in episode #321 we covered Entity Usage, and there are some definite similarities, but also some differences. While they both provide reporting on content relationships, Entity Usage does so by examining structured field values at save time. So, the information gathered is different, and collects data that can be displayed in views or custom code.  

Artificial Intelligence Governance, Risk, and Compliance: Ensuring Trust, Security, and Ethics in AI-Based System by Dr. Kellep A. Charles AIGP CISSP https://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Intelligence-Governance-Risk-Compliance/dp/B0GYJD5D6X Kellepcharles.com Artificial Intelligence is rapidly changing many industries, but with its power comes responsibility. “AI Governance: Ensuring Trust, Security, and Ethics in AI-Based Systems” is your guide to navigating the challenges of responsible AI development and deployment. Written by cybersecurity expert Dr. Kellep A. Charles, this essential resource connects AI innovation with ethical practices. Whether you are a cybersecurity professional, data scientist, business leader, policymaker, or student, this book offers practical frameworks for managing AI risks, ensuring compliance, and creating trustworthy systems. Inside, you’ll find: Foundational AI concepts and the development of machine learning technologies Insights into agentic AI systems, including their benefits, risks, and governance needs Real-world applications of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework Strategies for managing the entire AI development lifecycle Practical threat modeling and security testing methods for AI systems Techniques for data governance, privacy protection, and reducing bias Current laws, standards, and regulations such as GDPR and the EU AI Act Step-by-step guidance for creating AI cybersecurity frameworks Protocols for incident response, monitoring, and maintaining deployed AI systems Tools, certifications, and organizational resources for AI security testing What makes this book unique? It includes real-world case studies, detailed checklists, sample governance policies, and templates for assessing AI impact. This book turns abstract AI ethics into concrete action plans. It addresses critical risks like model poisoning, adversarial attacks, data protection, and algorithmic fairness, providing practical strategies for mitigation. It is ideal for professionals seeking AIGP certification, organizations establishing AI governance programs, or anyone dedicated to responsible AI innovation. The book offers easy-to-understand explanations for non-technical readers while delivering the depth that practitioners need. Create AI systems that are powerful yet transparent, accountable, and aligned with human values. In a time when AI failures can have serious consequences, this book shows you how to ensure AI serves everyone safely and ethically. Learn to manage AI before it manages you.

Post-quantum cryptography was in conversation after conversation at Black Hat USA 2026, yet Larry Lunetta of HPE walked part of the show floor and counted a single reference to quantum. Where the topic shows up, and where it does not, says something about who is expected to solve it. Why does a problem described in 1994 matter now? Larry Lunetta points to Peter Shor, who asked what would happen to RSA if a different kind of computing technology existed. What changed since then is the trajectory. Five years ago cryptographically relevant quantum computing looked like a 10 to 15 year phenomenon. Larry Lunetta now puts it as soon as three years out, with the original algorithm improved, qubit hardware advancing, and classical supercomputing pulling the timeline in alongside it. The exposure starts before any of that arrives. Larry Lunetta describes harvest now, decrypt later, where an attacker collects RSA-encrypted data today and waits for the machine that can open it. Data that carries no consequence when it leaks this year can be read later, which puts long-lived information like identity records and medical data at the front of the queue rather than in a later phase. HPE puts a three part journey in front of customers. Cryptographically aware asks which data is most sensitive, where it lives, and whether it is protected sufficiently. Cryptographically planning reaches into the refresh cycle, so that new network, server, and storage purchases already implement PQC-relevant algorithms. Cryptographically nimble accounts for the fact that no cryptographically relevant quantum computer exists to test against yet, which makes the ability to change algorithms and firmware quickly part of the design. Who owns the conversation inside the business? Larry Lunetta puts the CISO at the center of gravity, with CIOs becoming aware and boards engaged where GDPR governs customer and private information. His advice for security leaders is to broaden the conversation toward infrastructure and operations, and to make encryption and PQC readiness a question asked during procurement rather than after it. This is a Brand Briefing. A Brand Briefing is an on-location conversation recorded on site at Black Hat USA 2026, putting a spotlight on the guest and their company and pairing it with the editorial reach of ITSPmagazine. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/performance/#briefing GUEST Larry Lunetta, Vice President, Portfolio Technical Marketing at HPE On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larryathpe/ RESOURCES Black Hat USA 2026 event coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/black-hat-usa-2026-cybersecurity-event-coverage-in-las-vegas HPE: https://www.hpe.com Post-Quantum Cryptography overview: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/what-is/post-quantum-cryptography.html HPE technology leadership in quantum: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/about/technology-leadership-quantum.html Are you interested in telling your story? ▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full ▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight ▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlight ▶︎ Get your own Brand Briefing at an upcoming event: https://www.studioc60.com/buy-brand-briefings KEYWORDS larry lunetta, hpe, sean martin, brand briefing, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, black hat usa 2026, post-quantum cryptography, pqc, quantum computing, harvest now decrypt later, rsa encryption, cryptographic agility, ciso, crypto agility, nist post-quantum standards, it infrastructure security, encryption, data protection Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

New cybersecurity audit requirements under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) establish a recurring, independent assessment of certain organizations' cybersecurity programs, with the first audit period beginning January 1, 2027. We discuss which organizations may be subject to the requirements, key considerations on audit scope and independence, and how existing cybersecurity, risk, and assurance activities can support readiness.For more on California's cybersecurity audit requirements, see our publication Privacy becomes a cybersecurity imperative under California's audit rule.Follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app and subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay informed.About our guestsMark Cornish is a partner at PwC who provides assurance and consulting services to global and regional clients within the financial services industry. He is recognized for his experience in complex third-party assurance reporting, internal controls, and risk and compliance matters. His areas of expertise include internal control over financial reporting, SOC 1 and SOC 2 reporting, cybersecurity risk management, privacy, and regulatory compliance. Chris Santucci is a partner in PwC's Cyber, Data & Technology Risk practice who helps global companies across sectors build, operate, and assess data privacy and protection programs through technology-enabled solutions. His expertise spans global privacy program design and regulatory preparedness (including CCPA, GDPR, etc.), data discovery and risk analysis, program assessment and implementation, privacy impact assessments, third-party risk management, as well as sustainable risk and compliance services.About our guest hostDiana Stoltzfus is a partner in PwC's National Office who helps to shape PwC's perspectives on regulatory matters, responses to rulemakings and policy development, and implementation related to significant new rules and regulations. She is also one of the firm's technical experts on sustainability reporting. Prior to rejoining PwC, Diana was the Deputy Chief Accountant in the Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) at the SEC where she led the activities of the OCA's Professional Practices Group.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com.Did you enjoy this episode? Text us your thoughts and be sure to include the episode name.

How can content marketing in a tight niche build the audience that launches your book? And how do you decide whether to hand your self-published bestseller to a traditional publisher. Suzanne Smith shares what she learned in four years of going from blog to book deal. In the intro, how to stand out as a writer in the age of AI [Nathan Barry Show; Interview with Nathan Barry]; thoughts on asset maintenance; Goodreads giveaway on Bones of the Deep (Aug 5-20, 2026) This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Suzanne Smith is the founder of The Independent Landlord, and the bestselling author of The Good Landlord Handbook. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes How a free blog in a tight niche built the audience for the book Rewriting the book from scratch when the law changed Why speed made self-publishing the only option Building a paid membership after one audience member asked for it Negotiating a Penguin Random House deal with no agent Using AI as a business sidekick, with a control room and an engine room You can find Suzanne at TheIndependentLandlord.com. Transcript of the interview with Suzanne Smith Jo: Suzanne Smith is the founder of The Independent Landlord, and the bestselling author of The Good Landlord Handbook. So welcome to the show, Suzanne. Suzanne: Thank you. Jo: Oh, there's so much to talk about today. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and your background, and how you got into property and writing after a legal career. Suzanne: Well, I've always loved reading books. In fact, I recently did a French literature degree as a mature student. Being an author was never in the game plan at all. It's not something that I even thought about. I was brought up in New Zealand, so shout out to all the Kiwis and those across the pond in Australia. The thing about it is, Jo, you've lived there yourself. Kiwis are independent, self-reliant and have this great sense of fair play. So that was a very formative experience for me. We moved back to England when I was 16, and I have become thoroughly anglicised since then, but a Kiwi at heart. I always wanted to become a lawyer. New Zealand in some ways on television is quite American, and there was this American programme called The Paper Chase. It was about all of these students at Harvard studying law, and the professor said, “You come here with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer.” I thought, “Oh, I like the sound of that.” I didn't really know what a lawyer was, but everyone seemed to be very happy that I wanted to become one, and then that was it. Jo: So you went into law, and then how did you get into property? Suzanne: So I worked for 25 years as a solicitor. That's like an attorney if you're American. Started off in a law firm, and then I went into pharmaceuticals and I worked for big companies like what is now GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, and small companies as well. When I started out, it was before the internet, before Google. When you're in house, you're very much a generalist. You do a bit of everything. So you help companies grow their business. You're not business prevention, but you're still bound by the code of conduct for solicitors. You've got this role of keeping the company on the right side of the law. Then I had twins, who were born about five years after I became a lawyer, and I decided to work part-time for a while and did an MBA when they were little, part-time through the Open University. I know Jonathan is doing one at the moment. Jo: Yes. He's finished, so that's exciting. Suzanne: That was transformational for me, because I had probably been thinking a bit too much as a lawyer, and it helped me to broaden my view of the world and understand all sorts of things. Sso I continued going up the greasy pole, and then for my last job, in 2015, I joined a biotech company in Cambridge, England, as general counsel and company secretary. It was a long way from home, about two, three hours' drive from home. So I decided to buy a flat, an apartment, and to stay there in the week. I thought to myself, “Well, when I leave this company, I can let it out as a buy-to-let,” but actually as a landlord. So I stayed there for five years, and then when I left, I let out the property. The reason why I decided to leave law after 25 years, I had what I call a sliding doors moment, like in the film. I was 50. I was on holiday with my husband, and we'd probably had one too many rum cocktails. And he said to me, “Well, what do you want to be doing with your life? What would you do if you could do anything?” I was thinking, “Well, I've done law. I want to do something else now.” I didn't really know what that was, and I'd always been thinking about studying French properly, and that's when I left. So I decided, 18 months later, I left to do a French degree at King's College London, full-time. I was the only old person there with lots of 18-year-olds. When I did that, I was able to cash in my share options because I was a good leaver. I retired, and so I started buying properties to let out and became a landlord, without really thinking too much about it, and I used letting agents. They were fine to begin with, but I didn't really have a game plan or anything like that. What I realised is that when I tried to research things online, I couldn't really find anything that was terribly helpful. It was either quite general or it was very legal. So after a while… I became a landlord in 2019. I had the idea, why don't I set up a blog? And this is August 2022, so just four years ago. My husband came up with the idea of the name, The Independent Landlord, because it's that Kiwi spirit, being very independent. I thought, “Right, I'm not going to charge anyone for it. It's a hobby. It's not a business. I'm going to pay it forward and help, use my legal training, practical legal approach, and practical common sense, by doing this blog.” Almost exactly four years ago, I sent my first newsletter to 13 people. Jo: Woo-hoo. Suzanne: And I sent one last week to over 18,000. So it's been quite a journey. Jo: Wow, this is so great. I love this. There's so much in there. The turning 50 and then doing a degree. My master's in death is a little different to your French literature, but I like it. So I love this, and buying properties, starting it on the side, not a business at first, and growing the audience, and obviously you've put so much work in. Then you decide to write a book. So talk about that, because an online blog, although I'm sure your articles and everything were super useful, it's very different to write a blog than a book. So talk about your challenges in writing. Why did you decide to do a book in the first place? Suzanne: Again, I was an accidental landlord, is what they call it when you let a property when you didn't intend to buy it as a buy-to-let, which I did with my Cambridge flat. And I became, in many respects, an accidental author. So I was having a conversation with my husband again and I was saying I'd done this lead magnet to get people to sign up to my newsletter, and a big new law was going through Parliament at the time, called the Renters Reform Bill, that was going to completely transform the way landlords operate. I was saying to my husband, “Oh, I need to update my lead magnet, a little ebook, to explain the new law.” He looked at me and said, “Well, why don't you do a proper book? Write a book.” This was on the 29th of September, 2023. The reason why I mention that is that I thought, “Wow, what a great idea,” and my head was bursting. I went onto Google, and guess what I downloaded on the 1st of October? Jo: My blueprint? Suzanne: Exactly. I found you immediately, the Author Blueprint, and I downloaded it. I checked: on the 1st of October, 2023. Then I listened to almost… well, I think I went back several years on your podcast, just trying to understand. I'm like that. When I try and do something, I just try and learn everything that there is to know about it. So I started writing the book, and I guess the first challenge was I write quickly, and I'm used to writing for people who aren't lawyers, being in-house. So I thought I needed to have a structure. The structure was easy in many respects because, a bit of business at the end, and then you can go through a tenancy. I thought it was important to have a narrative thread all the way through it, just to bring it together. This is the literature degree coming in here. I thought that the mission for everything I do, the reason why I started doing this, is to help landlords, but also to help the experience of renting that people have in England. It's very specific for English law. And to help improve the private rented sector. So that's why I originally set up my blog for free, and I wanted, when people went onto Google, they could find something sensible and very detailed from me. My blog posts were… Well, I've now got over 400,000 words on my blog, so it's a substantial piece of work that is out there free of charge. So what I decided to do was to bring this narrative thread, I call it the good landlord ethos, to the book. Then I wrote very quickly, and I had a pretty good draft by April 2024, because we were all thinking that the law was going to change very soon. But then there was an election, and in the end the government changed and the legislation changed completely, so I had to rewrite the book and start again. So I think that my biggest challenge was that my subject matter, the new law, changed. Because I wanted to publish this book that explained to people practically what they have to do, and make it really straightforward, keeping out of politics, because it is a very politically charged area. I wanted to write it so it's a manual, somebody could literally follow it. So I used an editor, and I did write the book twice. I had a beta reader who is another lawyer, and a landlord as well. Then I got to the get-the-damn-thing-done stage. The really tedious bit of all the typos at the end. Jo: Yes, the finishing energy to get it out there. So at that point, obviously you'd found my blueprint, so you were learning about the indie way of doing things. Did you always decide to self-publish? How did you think about publishing? What were your challenges in publishing? Suzanne: It never occurred to me not to self-publish, because the new law came into effect on the 1st of May, 2026. The law and the details that I needed for the book were finalised in January, and I published on Amazon on the 5th of March, so I had to go so quickly. Even though I'd got a lot of it written, the last bit came in January, and so I needed speed. I knew that for landlords to be able to have something that they can use straightaway to help get them ready for it, and then use as a manual afterwards, I had to be first. Jo: Sorry, just on the year. Was it '24? You said '26. You meant May— Suzanne: 2024? No, no, because I actually published it this year. What happened in 2024, I had the first draft ready, but then I had to do another draft because the law changed when the Labour government came in. Jo: Right. Suzanne: The Renters Reform Bill turned into the Renters' Rights Bill. So I had to rewrite the book. So I finished however many drafts at the end of January 2026. Then it went to an editor, et cetera, et cetera, and I managed to get the book ready for a proof, to get the proof printed, towards the end of February. So it was really quick to go from the law being sufficiently finalised for me to write a book in January, and then having it ready in just over a month. There is no way that I could have done that if I'd gone to a traditional publisher. It didn't even occur to me to go, because I didn't want to be going touting around my book and, “Please publish me,” et cetera. It's just not me. I'm the independent landlord, and that moved very easily to being the independent publisher. So I learnt how to do all the publishing. And a huge thanks: I joined your Patreon and I was a very good student. I went through everything systematically and followed your playbook, and used Vellum and BookFunnel and all the other tools. So I decided to go on Amazon as well as have my own Shopify store, which just about killed me. Jo: I was going to say, you are an excellent student. You really like learning, but you also put this into practice, which is why I also wanted to talk to you. You haven't just talked about all this. You've literally done everything. Suzanne: Sometimes it was like my head was going to burst. Luckily, Claude upped his game earlier this year when we got the Opus 4.5. I didn't use AI really until this year. I decided I need to do exercise all the time, and have that as a have-to-do, because my head was spinning all the time with all these different things. So I would go to the gym, go to a spin class, and then I would walk out with my phone on, with the Claude app, and dictate a stream of consciousness into it. “Oh, I need to do this, or what about that? Oh, I just remembered about this. Oh, I've had this idea, blah.” And then said, “Make sense of it for me, Claude.” So it was very much as a thinking partner, because when you're writing your first book, it's bad enough, but when you're learning how to publish… Even, like, when I got the first proof of the book back from BookVault, I realised that all the footnotes—I have 114 footnotes in my book, and that, again, is the recent degree there—and the formatting had gone skew-whiff. Apparently it was an issue with Vellum, and they were really lovely and they sorted it straight out for me. So it shows: always get a proof of the book. They were able to sort that out very quickly, and BookVault were very quick in getting me another proof, because you can shortcut it and just pay to get a very quick delivery. Amazon, on the other hand, was really slow. It took a week. So I actually published earlier on my Shopify store for my members, of my membership, and I gave them a discount. Then I finally got it onto Amazon on the 5th of March. There are all these different skills you're having to learn. The Shopify store I found very hard, and there was all the tax, because I'm VAT registered. So I think I'm still recovering. Jo: You're still recovering. I wouldn't normally recommend a Shopify store for someone with their first book, doing first of everything. But, as you say, you're someone who learns a lot, puts it into practice, and— I think you were pretty determined to do that because you had a community as well, right? Suzanne: Exactly, yes. The big subscriber list. I think that's why the book did so well. So in the first week, because I met you at the Indie Author Lab put on by— Jo: Yes, London Book Fair, yes. Suzanne: Yes, the Alliance of Independent Authors. I met you there, and it was just my first week, and I had 1,000 sales in the first week. That was because of my audience. I'd been going on about the fact that I'm writing this book for two and a half years, because that's how long it took me to do. So I had a wait list for it, and I had a thing on my website, a landing page on my website, saying how good the book was and why it's the best thing for the Renters' Rights Act. Then I went onto Google, and I think I sent you a screenshot of this at the time. I put into Google, “What's the best book for the Renters' Rights Act for landlords in England?” And it came up with me as a featured snippet, and I hadn't even published it at that time. It was just about there. So the blog really helped, because I'd become an authority on the Renters' Rights Act. Even though I'm not a practising solicitor any more, I spent all my time reading the damn thing, and it is a very complicated bit of legislation. Funnily enough, I have ruffled a lot of feathers. People have even said about me behind my back, “What does she know? She's only got four properties.” But I just took no notice. I thought, “I'm going to try and use my legal brain and my understanding of what it's like being a landlord, there with the rubber gloves cleaning an oven when people have moved out, and try and write something that's not trying to sell anything else, and to help people.” And then it got picked up. Jo: Yes. Wait, let's just slow down. Slow down, because we will get onto that in a minute. But let's just come back to that launch. So as we talked about, you've had a blog for five years— Suzanne: It was three and a half by then. Jo: Three and a half years you've been blogging, but hundreds of thousands of words of useful information. So you've essentially done content marketing. You've attracted people. You had a lead magnet. You got them on your email list. You told them that you were writing a book. You got a sort of pre-sales list up. So that's an email list. You've got a blog. Did you do anything else in terms of marketing? Suzanne: I had YouTube, a big YouTube channel. I'd only set it up at the end of 2024, and I'd had half a million views. And again, just very straightforward advice, and without all the scaremongering and politics. I deliberately keep out of it all. A lot of people joined my newsletter as a result of that. Also a year ago, exactly today, I was running a Facebook group, which was a lot of hard work. There were a few thousand people in it, but there are often a lot of people going in there trying to sell things: insurance, eviction specialists and things. And there was also a lot of people just being unpleasant to other people. I was getting fed up with it. It was taking me a lot of time, and I was doing a lot of speaking events and trying to explain what this new law was doing, and wearing myself out. I'm an extrovert, but even I find speaking events absolutely exhausting, because it's like everything gets sucked out of you. It's strange. Then somebody came up to me in July last year and said, “Suzanne, can you set up a membership?” I said, “Well, landlords aren't going to pay for that.” And they said, “Yes, they will. You build it and they will come.” I asked ChatGPT and thought about it. I asked ChatGPT, who I was dating at the time, now exclusively with Claude, but I know Claude has other people in his life. But I'm very much set with Claude Fable at the moment. So I asked ChatGPT, how can I go about setting up a membership? And I mentioned your one and said, “Should I do it on Patreon?” And then he came back with: go for Circle. So I set up a membership on Circle, exactly a year ago. In fact, it's the anniversary of my first member yesterday. hTe rules I had were, no selling. So I don't sell, no affiliate links, no one else can sell anything, and we have to be supportive. No negativity, no politics. So what it's become, it's like the senior common room of the private rented sector, with landlords, lawyers, letting agents. There's a fantastic forum in there. It's not me doing it, it's peer-to-peer. I have twice-monthly live streams where people can ask me questions. I wonder where I got that from. No, I very much modelled it on your Patreon, but on a different platform. I have courses in there as well. So that has really grown. I launched it in July, and by September, October, I'd gone past the VAT threshold, which has complicated everything, but it means my business now is this membership. I really enjoy doing it, and there hasn't been all the negativity that you have in a Facebook group. So I had them as… talk about your thousand fans. There are about 1,500 in the membership, and their support really helped the launch of my book, as well as the wider people who get my free newsletter. Jo: Yes. Suzanne: So it's all different types of content marketing. Jo: Y, but I do love this. And of course, if people are wondering, I joined Patreon back in 2014, I think it might have even been before that, and there weren't too many places back then to run communities. It wasn't even really a community at the time, it was a sort of, almost a “give me a bit of support for the podcast.” So things have changed a lot in terms of communities, and obviously you went with Circle, which is great. Patreon is slightly different now, and some people are using Substack for something similar. So that's just on the platform, but on the business: early on in our conversation you said, “I wasn't going to have a business. It wasn't a business. It was just putting stuff out there, helping other people,” and then your audience asked for this membership. And so now it is a business, right? Suzanne: Yes, it is. Jo: And you've got a book and all of this. So are you happy with the change to a business? Because obviously you have to treat it quite differently. Suzanne: Yes, I am, because I think to begin with, I was just doing it one or two days a week. I was actually studying a master's in French literature part-time, and I then found that I was enjoying the blog more than the master's, so I dumped the master's after the first year. But after getting 88% for one of my dissertations, which interestingly was on the translation of a Simone de Beauvoir book into English, and the publisher who's got that now is Random House, but that's another thing. Anyway, so I decided to give up my master's and double down and work full-time on the blog. People were paying to help me with all the big fees and things, the big tech stack, Buy Me a Coffee. I was doing a little bit of consulting and things. I was working six, seven days a week. I was treating it like a business in terms of quality and my effort, but it wasn't a business in terms of revenue. Then it just all came together, and this person said, “Set up a membership,” and I thought, “That's what I'm going to do. I'm now going to put it on a business setting.” I've got an MBA, I know how to do it, and people thought I planned it, but I didn't. It just happened. So now I do very much treat it as a business, but I still don't advertise. I don't allow people to advertise with me, because I want to be independent. If I recommend something, I want people to believe it's me recommending it, not just because someone's paying me, which can be a big issue in the landlord area. Jo: Oh, in any industry. I get pitched every day with loads of random things that people are like, “Oh, a dollar a click or whatever, if you send this to your list.” And it's like, seriously? Just stop it already. I did just want to add there: somebody asked you, they said, “You should have a community,” and that sparked that idea. I just wanted to acknowledge that my Patreon came from Jim Kukral. Some of you will remember, who've been around a long time. Jim Kukral came on my blog around sort of 2013. Amanda Palmer had just put out a book called The Art of Asking, and I was doing a lot of unpaid work on the podcast at the time, and I was either going to give it up or I had to fund it somehow. Jim said, “You should do a Patreon.” And I was like, “Oh, no, I hate asking for money.” So at the time I just felt, oh, weird. Then I was like, “No, I do all this work,” as you were saying. Now the Patreon has changed so much in terms of what it is, but it is the backbone of my business, too. So I love that you listened to one of your fans who said what they wanted, and I love that I've listened as well. Sometimes we just have to listen to those urges, don't we, to take things on? Suzanne: Yes, absolutely. In some ways I didn't really back myself before. I thought, “No one's going to pay for this.” Then the more you give, the more they want. Jo: Yes. Suzanne: What I've been really working on now is having boundaries, because there were two big kind of mottos that I picked up when I was working in pharmaceuticals. One was from a head of the business. He was Canadian, and he was always saying, “You've got to skate to where the puck is heading.” Jo: That's Wayne Gretzky, is it? Suzanne: Exactly. Yes. He would always say it, and so that's what I've done with my blog and my book. When I write things, I don't pay for any tools. I don't do keyword searches and all that. I just think, I do one blog post per topic, and I'm going to guess what people are going to be searching for soon, and I build up all this content around it. That's why most of my blog pages are top five. I've had no advertising. I haven't asked for any backlinks. I don't do it. People backlink to it because it's useful. So that was the first thing, is skate to where the puck is heading, and that was my approach with the book. I knew people would need this book from around May, and they'll need it forever, because it is so complicated and regulated, the rules for being a landlord in England. So that was the first one. The second thing was: when you take something on, you've got to let something go. One in, one out. I found that I was taking on so many different things, and I've just been cutting back, because I can't be doing all the speaking, I can't be answering people's emails. So I now don't do emails. If people want my advice on something, they ask me in the hub, at the twice-monthly live streams. Sometimes I answer in the forums, but I don't have time. When there are 2.4 million landlords in the UK, and even with our 18,000 on my newsletter, I could spend, and I did, I used to spend all my time replying to emails. So anyway, there are the things. Oh, and there was a third one, which is: attract, don't chase. One of my friends gave me that advice and that's exactly what my approach has been. I just don't chase for anything. I just put the stuff there and then build it and they will come. Jo: Yes, and I think another thing is the power of the niche. It's so clear that what you write about, the people you are aiming at, you have an extremely tight target market. That is both a strength and obviously a weakness, because they're the only people. But as you say, there's more than enough of those people for a community, for the book you have. From my own perspective, that's the same for me, the power of the niche. That's how I have a successful podcast, for example, because of that reason. I think you're like a poster child of what a non-fiction author should do. What I like is that you didn't go, “Oh, where's a niche where I could make money?” and then jump in. You've gone about this in a kind of slightly accidental way, but now you're leaning in and this uses all your skills. So this really is a great example of the power of the niche and then making the most of it. But let's move on to what then happened, and— What happened with the book deal? Suzanne: Wow. So you and I met each other on whatever day that was in March at the Indie Author Lab, and the following day I got an email, via my website on a contact form, from Penguin Random House saying, “We love the book. We love the mission, its values,” all this kind of thing. And I was thinking, “Oh, it's another one of those. Must be an—” Jo: AI spam bot, right? Suzanne: Yes, and I remember I sent you a screenshot of it, and then I checked her out on LinkedIn and thought, “Okay, there is somebody with that name there.” You're always saying, and Orna Ross and everyone are always saying, “Watch out for scams.” And in fact, Penguin Random House even this weekend on Instagram put out something saying, “There are lots of people impersonating us.” So I didn't take it too seriously, and it was something like, “Oh, would you be interested in us publishing your book?” And I thought, and I laughed. It was like, no, this is too good to be true. So I replied and said… Oh, I said, “Well, thank you so much. The Renters' Rights Act…” And so this is like the second week in March. “The Renters' Rights Act comes into effect on the 1st of May. If you want to publish it, you're going to need to get your skates on.” I literally did say that. Then she arranged a meeting with me the next day, on the Friday. I still was very dubious about it, and I had a think about it. What helped me, and I have the little booklet here: at the Author Lab, we did some work at the beginning, and Orna said, “Put your phones away.” And it was like, “What? Put my phone away?” Then we had to do this definition of success, and our passion, and our mission, and our purpose. I wrote down things like, I want to help landlords, and in so doing, help improve the private rented sector. I get pleasure from helping people. I want to improve standards and use my legal and practical skills, et cetera. So I thought, “Okay, what is my purpose of doing this book?” It isn't really to make money, because going with Penguin, you wouldn't do that for financial reasons, because you'd make very little money. So I thought, what is my why? My why is I want as many people to read this book as possible. And I've managed to sell a few thousand copies, but there are 2.4 million landlords, and they all need to understand this book, and the only way that I can get it out there, apart from doing ads, is to get it out in bookstores. So I thought about it, and then said, “Yes, I will do it, because I want to get the book out there.” So it's distribution. It's going to be published on the 6th of August, which is really quick, bearing in mind they contacted me in the middle of March. It's exactly the same book, it's just got different copyright wording and different blurb, different paper. Same cover, because I managed to find a fantastic cover person to do it. So they've kept everything the same. So we negotiated that book. I have no agent. They came to me. It's the attract, don't chase. I just put my lawyer hat on, and because one licence is very much like another one… I did turn down their first offer. Jo: Well done. Good negotiation. Suzanne: My daughter said to me, who's an adult daughter, she said, “But it's Penguin.” And I said, “Well, no, but it doesn't work for me.” So I had a call with them, and then they came up with something that worked for me a bit more. I did have to concede on a few things, like I can't sell it in my Shopify store. But in some ways, that was a blessing in disguise, because it means I don't get any more “Where's my book?” emails. Jo: Yes, exactly. Pros and cons of everything, basically. Suzanne: I have very clear rights to get it back. If I want it back, I can get it back and I don't have to give a reason. They're lovely. They have been really very wonderful. When I went up there a month or so ago, they gave me this book bag, and it's got on it, “I'm published by Penguin,” and I burst into tears. Jo: Aw. That's nice. Suzanne: I don't know, it just seemed like such a big deal. Because up until then I was just being all very lawyerly and task-orientated. Then I thought, “Oh my goodness,” and then it dawned on me. So I'm now in this interim period where I've taken it off Amazon and off my Shopify store, and I feel very maternalistic towards the book because, you know, it took me two and a half years, which is longer than a pregnancy. Obviously it's not a child, but it's like my book child. I've sent it off with a backpack and a drink and some snacks, and I hope that they look after him, my book. The day I took it off Amazon it was still number one. And a big shout-out to Publisher Rocket, by the way. Jo: Yes. Very, very useful for niche publishing. Suzanne: Very. It helped me choose the right niche categories. So it was number one on at least one category, often six, all the way through. I thought, “Well, it's over to them now.” They're very lovely people. They've given me some marketing assets, as they call it, some swanky graphics and things to use. We'll have to see what we do in terms of marketing. I don't mind doing marketing. I'm on LinkedIn quite a bit, and my whole blog is marketing. What I've been doing is updating my blog to include one of these graphics and to mention the book, and I got Claude to help me draft the code so it looked right. So I've been going through all of my blog posts and sending people to Amazon rather than to my Shopify store. It is mixed feelings, because I care about my book. I put a lot of effort, a lot of love, a lot of tears. No, not tears, but I put a lot of effort into it, and it's out of my control now. Jo: Yes, you said it's over to them, but obviously you will still be creating content around this topic, so you'll probably still be the biggest driver of book sales. Suzanne: Yes. Jo: Are they also suggesting, for example, a podcast tour, like pitching for podcasts? Are they going to assign you some PR? Because, also if people don't know, as we are recording this, we have a new prime minister who wants to do various things. You said no politics, but this is obviously a political thing. So you have the potential to go on a lot of different podcasts, media, talking about this, becoming almost a talking head in this kind of area. So are you angling for all that, and is that in your contract, or is it literally just going to be whatever you want to do? Suzanne: That's not in the contract. What's in the contract is very minimal. I think I've already done what I'm supposed to do. They are pitching for me to go on podcasts and things. I'll tell you a really funny coincidence. So we now have a new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, and when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester, he set up something called the Good Landlord Charter. I actually talk about it in the book, and I quote him in my book saying that good landlords mean people trying to do the right thing, or something like that. And I coincidentally came up with the same name, The Good Landlord Handbook. I'd already had the book title for a long time. So this idea of good and landlord coming together, the adjective good as opposed to criminal or rogue, and the cover being green. I'm wanting to change the narrative so it's the norm to have a good landlord, and to help people become good landlords. Or if they're good landlords, help them to understand the new rules, because the new rules are very complicated. So what I don't get involved in is this right or wrong. Is it right that landlords can't do this or have to do this? Because as an in-house lawyer, it doesn't really matter what I think about the law. GDPR, goodness me. Jo: Oh, dear. Let's not start on GDPR. Suzanne: No, exactly. Because we've just got to suck it up. I liken it to the grief cycle, that people have been going through so much change and you have the anger, the depression— Jo: Denial. Suzanne: Bargaining, the denial, and then you get to acceptance. For some people, the acceptance means they want to stop doing it. If you want to accept it and stay, you need to understand the rules. So I've deliberately just kept very practical and have kept out of all the politics of it. I have, funnily enough, become involved because I'm now seen as an expert on the Renters' Rights Act. I've worked behind the scenes with the government to help, and give comment on government guidance for landlords. I was even invited to a reception to mark the passing of the Renters' Rights Act at Downing Street with the previous prime minister, all whilst staying apolitical. I won't let anyone make me be a mouthpiece for their political view. It's more, we just have to do this if we want to continue doing it. I've been very clear on that. Jo: It's interesting you mention the grief cycle there, and you've also mentioned Claude and ChatGPT. I wonder if you might also just comment on use of AI for authors and for marketing and all this. Also with legal stuff, because for me now, if I'm looking at a particular legal thing, I tend to ask Claude. I'm like, “Can you just explain this?” or upload a contract or whatever. Although it is not legal advice, it can be quite useful. So give us your thoughts on using AI as a sidekick in your author business and also for wider life. Suzanne: I now struggle to think what life would be like without Claude. I don't use Claude to write, at all, because I have a very particular voice and a turn of phrase, and if ever Claude writes something for me, it doesn't sound like me. It flattens me, and it makes me sound a bit American. So I don't do that. I've used it in the back end of the business. For instance, my blog was down, and there was something called a recursive bot, which I don't even know what it was, and Claude helped me fix it for free. I went through, I did screenshots. When I did an ElevenLabs audiobook and did it all myself, I was literally, for every screenshot, showing it to Claude. Claude said, “Do this, press this, press that.” So I have all these different projects set up. One is the control room, where it's for my strategic thinking. If I have an idea, I want to think about something, I put it in there. I have the engine room, which is for everything techy. Like when I had the recursive bot, or if I'm wanting to have some code on the website to make it look a particular way. Then I have other things for different subjects, and I put all the resources in there, and I use it a lot as a thinking partner. I've noticed that Fable doesn't hallucinate as much, but the Opus used to. There's something called rental discrimination, and it was proofreading and said, “No, it's not rental discrimination, it's rental income discrimination,” and that was just a load of rubbish. So I would never let it go and change things without me looking at it. I went on one of your webinars a month or so ago about MCPs and all the connectors, which is fantastic. It can go into my community and pull out all the questions for one of my live streams and put it into a document in order, by theme, for instance. It can look at my MailerLite, because that's where my newsletter is with, and analyse the different open rates and click rates and things. It's so good for analysing everything, all the book sales. It helped me with my negotiation with Penguin, and it is pretty good on law. It has sometimes hallucinated things, but not so much now. I think with anything, you've always got to go back to the primary source, and this is what we learn in academia: you have to check the primary source yourself. I have a bit of a magpie brain. I'm very much a discovery writer, like you, and things occur to me as I'm doing it. I think that Claude, at the moment, is incredible. I've been quite open about it on social media that I have Claude as a business partner. I'm a solopreneur, or whatever the word is. I have quite a big business now, and lots of different things, and it's just me doing it, because I can ask Claude how to do this, and how to do that. Claude can go and check my emails and tell me, is there somebody I've not replied to, which helps a lot. Jo: Yes. I think it's empowering as a solopreneur as such. You talk there about the fixing the tech stuff. I have my web host come to me and say, “Look, you're getting so much traffic and bot stuff, and we need to put this thing in, and it's going to be $120 extra a month.” I was like, “Can you just give me an hour? I'll get back to you.” And then I just had Claude code up, and I was like, “Analyse this and tell me what we can do.” It was like, “No, you just need to flip this switch and do that.” And I'm like, “Okay, fair enough.” Then the guy said, “Oh, no, okay, actually you don't need it.” Just stuff like that. As a solopreneur, you're either going to pay somebody technically quite a lot of money, or you can get Claude or ChatGPT. We should say, the ChatGPT Sol is very good, like the Claude Fable, for example. So, yes, using it as a sidekick. I love your control room and your engine room projects as well. That's a great way of doing it. Suzanne: I wouldn't be without it now, and I would have published the book a lot later without Claude, because Claude was helping me with the Shopify store and all the many steps of things. It saved me real time. It is just fantastic. I think, like now when I'm updating my blog, I have a connection between Claude and my blog. Claude can go in, I can give it my Google Search Console results for the page: what should I change, are the headings right? All this kind of thing. And it will give me a view on every single page, which is incredible. Jo: And YouTube, and just everything. Just super useful for that business sidekick. That's what I want authors to think. I feel like authors get so obsessed with the creative side with AI, whereas actually, people like you and me, we're using it as that engine room for the solo business, which is what I love. So we're out of time. I did want to ask one more thing, which is, one of the biggest issues with a specific book like yours is when they change the law again. So do you have a plan in place for if, say, a new government changes the law again? Will you just be updating the book over time? Suzanne: I think that there'll need to be a new edition of the book in three years' time, and I've spoken to Penguin about it. Not all of this new law has been implemented, and there's going to be case law and things. So I expect that I will update the book every few years. I have some other ideas for books as well, but for the moment, I'm just taking a bit of a break. You always say we've got to refill our creative well. I really feel like that at the moment. Recently I've just got myself a personal mobile phone so that I can turn off my work one when I'm on holiday and actually take time off. Because for all the time that I was doing the book, basically from Christmas until May, I didn't have one day off. That is not good. So I'm just trying to be a bit more balanced. I had an idea to write another book for summer, but I've just decided not to, and I'm going to leave it until I feel the urge again. Jo: Oh, well done. Suzanne: Which will come. Jo: Yes, well done. Suzanne: I think there's nothing wrong with that. We just need to think what's right for us. I'm 58. So I want to be able to have time to enjoy things and not be working all the time. Jo: No, that's great. It's a sustainable business. So where can people find you and the book and your community online? Suzanne: The easiest way to find me is theindependentlandlord.com. Or if you put Suzanne Smith and landlord into Google, you'll find me as well, and there's a link on there to the book, The Good Landlord Handbook. In the community, there's a link to that on my website as well. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Suzanne. That was great. Suzanne: Thank you.The post From Blog To Community To Book: A Non-Fiction Author's Journey With Suzanne Smith first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Barb McQuade and Kimberly Atkins Stohr answer listener questions on everything from privacy protections to Latin legal terms. They discuss the EU's GDPR as a model for treating personal data as belonging to individuals, whether media outlets face liability for declining to air presidential speeches live, how to respond when people treat “socialism” as a curse word, why Trump's impeachments cannot be nullified or expunged, the difference between lies, misinformation, and disinformation, and their favorite Latin legal phrases, like res ipsa loquitur and quantum meruit.Freshen up your spring wardrobe!  Get the ReSIStance T-Shirt, Mini Tote, and other #SistersInLaw gear at politicon.com/merch! Additional #SistersInLaw Projects#SistersInLaw Main ShowJill's Politicon YouTube Show: Just The FactsKim's Newsletter: The GavelJoyce's new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable, is now available, and for a limited time, you have the exclusive opportunity to order a signed copy here. Order Barb's new book, The Fix, or her first book, Attack From Within, now in paperback. Add the #Sisters & your other favorite Politicon podcast hosts on BlueskyGet your #SistersInLaw MERCH at politicon.com/merchWEBSITE & TRANSCRIPTEmail: SISTERSINLAW@POLITICON.COM or Thread to @sistersInLaw.podcastGet text updates from #SistersInLaw and Politicon. Mentioned By The #SistersOrder Barb's new book, The Fix, and get tickets for her book tour!Support This Week's Sponsors:Smalls: For a limited time, get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and treats for life when you head to Smalls.com/SISTERSGet More From The #SistersInLawJoyce Vance: Bluesky | Twitter | University of Alabama Law | Civil Discourse Substack | MSNBC | Author of “Giving Up Is Unforgiveable”Jill Wine-Banks: Bluesky | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Author of The Watergate Girl: My Fight For Truth & Justice Against A Criminal President | Just The Facts YouTubeKimberly Atkins Stohr: Bluesky | Twitter | Boston Globe | WBUR | The Gavel Newsletter | Justice By Design PodcastBarb McQuade: barbaramcquade.com | Bluesky | Twitter | University of Michigan Law | Just Security | MSNBC | Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America