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Under capitalism, humanity exists to serve the interests of the corporation. We are all livestock; beasts of burden used to carry margin expansion forward from quarterly statement to quarterly statement. Enjoyment of life has no value other than the extent to which it can be used to increase the net worth of the shareholders. Reading by Tim Foley.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that the US is going to be launching major strikes in Iran, while President Trump says he'll "bomb the shit out of" the Iranians if they don't agree to a deal of his liking. Reading by Tim Foley.
The US is bombing Iran again after an American attack helicopter was downed over the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed escalations in the conflict. Reading by Tim Foley.
One reason AI is being pushed so hard is because it's the last "humanity can capitalism its way out of all its problems" narrative that has yet to be fully discredited. Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailWelcome to the Serious Privacy podcast, where Ralph O'Brien and Dr. K Royal, while Paul Breitbarth is out, meet with Ryan Boos of TrustArc. What's on the mic? Simplification of privacy programs. Ryan comes to this with the experience to back up his knowledge - he has fought in the data trenches and flown through the danger zone! Okay... he has major chops. If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
Raising kids who aren't allowed to say no to you is raising adults who don't think anyone should be allowed to oppose their rulers. Reading by Tim Foley.
We could just be taking care of one another and holding each other's hands as we hurtle toward the grave. Reading by Tim Foley.
Israel's +972 Magazine reports that the Israeli military establishment has launched a training program designed to "influence public consciousness" around the world, with courses aimed at training hundreds of operatives per year in strategies for "actively disrupting or manipulating the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of target audiences." Reading by Tim Foley.
The 73 year-old activist barely grazes the clothing on Luna's arm with her hand while speaking, after which the US Air Force veteran Luna collapses into a pile of blubbering victimhood. Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailWelcome to the Serious Privacy podcast, where Ralph O'Brien and Dr. K Royal, while Paul Breitbarth is out, discuss some reent events, namely graduation speakers, boos, and AI. If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
This is just what supporting Israel looks like: standing shoulder to shoulder with genocidal extremists and making common cause with them. That's what Israel is. Reading by Tim Foley.
The UK is getting crazier and crazier in its defense of Israel. Now they're canceling the visas of mainstream normie political pundits for criticizing the state of Israel, and investigating people for antisemitic hate crimes when they denounce Zionists who aren't even Jewish. Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailIn the final episode of MayGann Dylan is joined by Frazer Gregory to discuss two Big Finish audios, 'The Stones of Venice' by Paul Margs and 'The Time You Never Had' by Tim Foley.
The film's trailer depicts sympathetic protagonists being brutally victimized by Iranian authorities, and concludes with the image of fighter jets soaring overhead while an English-captioned Persian voiceover says "If Iran gets liberated, celebrate for me. Enjoy it for us!" Reading by Tim Foley.
If you believe Israel is worthy of disproportionately high levels of support, then you must necessarily also concede that it is worthy of disproportionately high levels of criticism. Reading by Tim Foley.
Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailIn this week's episode of a week in privacy, hosts Paul Breitbarth and Ralph O'Brien discuss some key movements in privacy, data protection, cyber law, and AI around the world. Dr. K Royal was off speaking at a Governance or Emerging Tech and Science conference in Arizona. Join Paul and Ralph to cover both the highs and lows and share concerns about trends we are seeing. If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
It is not okay to be a stormtrooper for the western empire. It is not honorable. It is not worthy of respect. If you are a westerner who is considering joining the military, you should choose a different career path instead. Reading by Tim Foley.
The empire's war on activism and journalism continues to escalate as the Trump administration targets left-wing streamer Hasan Piker and antiwar activist Medea Benjamin for the crime of bringing humanitarian aid to Cuba. Reading by Tim Foley
International flotilla activists say they were subjected to torture and sexual assault by Israeli forces after being abducted in international waters while attempting to bring aid to Gaza. Reading by Tim Foley.
In a sign that the US is preparing for yet another evil war, Marco Rubio is now claiming that Cuba poses a "national security threat" to the United States, saying the likelihood of a peaceful agreement is "not high". Reading by Tim Foley.
Western and Israeli officials are currently wagging their fingers in faux outrage at Israel's national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for publicly boasting about the mistreatment of flotilla activists attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Reading by Tim Foley.
Americans just watched the Israel lobby openly manipulate yet another election, and then in like two weeks they're going to hear their government tell them they need to regime change another foreign country to bring "democracy" to its people. Americans themselves do not have democracy. Reading by Tim Foley
Send us Fan MailIf ever there was a time to take AI governance seriously, it is now. Luckily, our guest today has written a great book about it. This week on the Serious Privacy podcast, Paul Breitbarth, Ralph O'Brien and Dr. K Royal speak with Shoshana Rosenberg. She is Managing Director of Logical AI Governance, General Counsel at SafePorter and of course one of the founders of the Women in AI Governance network. Shoshana's book, Practical AI Governance - Building a Program for Oversight and Strategy, is published by KoganPage and available now via your local bookstore or your preferred online store. If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
Israel is now saying it will sue The New York Times as Zionists continue their days-long freakout over the outlet's reporting on the systemic rape of Palestinian captives in Israeli prisons. Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailWelcome to the Serious Privacy podcast, where Paul Breitbarth and and Dr. K Royal, while Ralph O'Brien is out, discuss some fascinating news. Catch what's happening. First up - a decision from Spain on when data processing starts. We are so confused.#unexpectedquestion what fruit would be disappointed by the name we gave it? If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
I don't enjoy writing about this shit. I don't enjoy getting called a Nazi by state-funded shills all day. I didn't ask to spend years watching a live-streamed genocide perpetrated right in front of my eyes with the facilitation of my own government. I didn't choose to live in a world where Israel's actions directly affect me and my country. I never invited the Israel lobby to attack my freedom of speech by trying to outlaw criticism of a genocidal apartheid state. It was never my decision to live in an information ecosystem where pro-Israel propagandists are constantly trying to deceive me about what's going on in my world and manipulate the thoughts in my head. Those things were imposed upon me. Reading by Tim Foley.
Basically you have two choices: either you believe Israel is a genocidal state that is morally comparable to Nazi Germany, or you believe there's a giant global conspiracy of mainstream western institutions and media outlets dedicated to making Israel look bad. Reading by Tim Foley.
The highest award in all of journalism is being accused of antisemitism by the Israeli government for factual reporting. Reading by Tim Foley.
It's not impossible to solve our world's problems, it only looks that way because we've created systems which cause human behavior to be driven by mindless mechanisms of our own making rather than by human interest. Reading by Tim Foley.
In a fawning softball 60 Minutes interview released Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu stressed the importance of winning "the propaganda war" on social media. This comes as Israel moves to quadruple its propaganda budget to $730 million a year. Reading by Tim Foley.
Critics have been warning for years that these age restriction laws are being rolled out around the world to erase online anonymity and enable greater surveillance of the entire population, and they are looking more vindicated than ever today. This isn't about protecting children from social media addiction and porn, it's about expanding the western empire's surveillance network. Reading by Tim Foley.
First and foremost the west needs to stop murdering people. Ending western warmongering should take priority over every other societal concern, in the same way your husband being a serial killer would be a more urgent concern than his refusal to wash dishes. Reading by Tim Foley.
I am confident the chatbots aren't conscious in the same way I'm confident the animatronics at Disneyland aren't conscious. I know humans constructed them to mimic the behavior of a sentient person. We know this for a fact. Nobody's pretending otherwise. Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailWelcome to the Serious Privacy podcast, where Paul Breitbarth, Dr. K Royal, and Ralph O'Brien connect with Daragh O'Brien of Castlebridge to talk about data governance, the weaponisation of DSARs (data subject access requests), and all the complexities thereof. If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
Israel supporters really expect you to be intimidated when they mob your replies yelling at you and calling you names. Like oh no, the people who defend bombing hospitals think I'm bad. Reading by Tim Foley.
Basically every Israel-Palestine debate goes like this: “Israel did X.” “Yeah, because Hamas did Y.” “Yeah, because Israel did Z.” “Yeah but only because the Palestinians keep doing A.” “Okay but that's wouldn't have happened of the Israelis hadn't been doing B.” “But that only happened because the Arabs did C!” But if you bring the debate back far enough in time, eventually you get to the part where the western world forcibly dropped a brand new ethnostate on top of a pre-existing civilization without the permission of — and to the extreme detriment of — the people who were already living there. Reading by Tim Foley.
I recently watched a Sky News segment on the need to ban pro-Palestine marches which nicely illustrates the way the mass media have been working to manipulate the public into believing these demonstrations are causing antisemitic attacks. Reading by Tim Foley.
Laws aimed at pro-Palestine protests should always be looked at as efforts to ban criticism of Israel. That's what we're seeing in the UK as the prime minister encourages the prosecution of anyone who says “globalise the intifada”. Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailWelcome to the Serious Privacy podcast, where Paul Breitbarth, Dr. K Royal, and Ralph O'Brien celebrated the 10th anniversary of the #GDPR! Yea!! Okay, there is some debate on the birthday date, whether it is 2016 or 2018... where one is when it was signed into law and the other when enforcement went live. We challenge poeple to vote! We discussed the highs, the lows, the dirty, the clean, the boots on the ground stories - oh what sweet memories. Powered by TrustArcDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
Sure capitalism is driving us toward collapse on multiple fronts while everyone gets sicker, poorer, dumber, crazier, and more miserable, but hey look, McDonald's is bringing back the McRib. Reading by Tim Foley.
In the last few days I've seen three separate instances of generative AI being used to promote propaganda for US-Israeli war agendas which are worth paying attention to. Reading by Tim Foley.
However bad you're imagining it is, it's worse. The handbook, set to be formally launched later this week under the title "Understanding Antisemitism in Australia," explicitly conflates antisemitism and antizionism with statements like "Antisemitism and antizionism are both expressions of hatred towards Jews" and asserting that it is antisemitic to accuse Israel of "apartheid, oppression, racism and genocide." Reading by Tim Foley.
They do this all the time, with everything. They'll falsely claim pro-Palestine protests make them feel unsafe just to get laws passed to shut down the demonstrations. They'll pretend to believe that phrases like "from the river to the sea" and "globalize the intifada" are hateful slogans which encourage antisemitic attacks. They'll regurgitate ridiculous hasbara slogans like "human shields" and "world's most moral army" which they know for a fact are false. They just make whatever noises they need to make to keep the western weapons shipments heading to Tel Aviv. Reading by Tim Foley.
Send us Fan MailWelcome to the Serious Privacy podcast, where Paul Breitbarth, Dr. K Royal, and Ralph O'Brien meet with Dr. Alexandra Delaney-Bhattacharya, Information Commissioner for the Isle of Man to discuss her experiences, professional growth, priorities, and outlook. It's a rousing good discussion and one listeners everywhere should love. If you have comments or questions, find us on LinkedIn and Instagram @seriousprivacy, and on BlueSky under @seriousprivacy.eu, @europaulb.seriousprivacy.eu, @heartofprivacy.bsky.app and @igrobrien.seriousprivacy.eu, and email podcast@seriousprivacy.eu. Rate and Review us! From Season 6, our episodes are edited by Fey O'Brien. Our intro and exit music is Channel Intro 24 by Sascha Ende, licensed under CC BY 4.0. with the voiceover by Tim Foley.
These moves were planned years in advance, and would have been rolled out regardless of what impotent meat puppet happened to be wheeled into office in January 2025. You don't get to vote out an empire. Whether or not the US will continue working to dominate the planet will never be on the ballot. Reading by Tim Foley.
If there were a thousand people living on an island, and one of them began making life miserable for everyone else, there would soon be 999 people living on the island. How strange, then, that a few oligarchs and empire managers get to push around an entire planet full of humans. Reading by Tim Foley.
Violence is not always justified, but there is always a reason why it happens. Western pundits, politicians and newscasters will very seldom tell you what those reasons are unless it advances the interests of the western empire. Reading by Tim Foley.
I don't mind admitting that I hope the US and Israel suffer a crushing, devastating defeat in Iran. I hope this war collapses the entire US empire. My only loyalty is to humanity, and being on Team Human in today's world means being against the US empire and against Israel. Reading by Tim Foley.
Everyone hates Israel now, which is as it should be. But we all need to understand that Israel has never acted alone. Reading by Tim Foley.