In this episode, I met Emerson Brooking, a fellow at the Digital Forensics Lab and author of LikeWar, to take a deep dive into the topic of online disinformation. I put to Emerson my feelings that what people are calling the 'post-truth' world has in fact been in gestation long before the internet, and that a lot of the arguments about today's epistemic disorder come down to sour grapes over the apparition of new information incumbents capable of creating and distributing disorderly narratives, at scale. His responses surprised me.

If you're interested in digging deeper into this topic, you can check out the latest episode of my new documentary project, SCHISM, at youtube.com/SCHISM.


In this episode, we meet Alex Kehaya of VPN Orchid to discuss the company's radical new decentralized approach to improving privacy for internet users. As you'll hear, Orchid's model solves a lot of the problems associated with traditional models —  providing better anonymity and privacy, and reduced exposure to the honeypot problem that's always plagued centralized services.  This episode will be of great interest to anyone looking to augment their online privacy without relying on a single centralized service — and the potential for decentralization to improve our digital lives.


In this episode, we meet Rich Myers of mesh networking company GoTenna. Rich is developing the Lot49 protocol, which both allows Lightning transactions over a local mesh network and uses Bitcoin incentives to increase the adoption of the network. Rich and I discuss the history of wireless networking and how P2P meshes could turn out to be critical in a time of crisis; why and to what extent we can consider our contemporary networks compromised through what Rich calls 'The Eye of Sauron' problem; and how Lot49 enables an internet-minimized micropayments solution which could function in a distressed, post-COVID environment.


In this episode, I talk to Sean Moss Pultz, CEO of Bitmark Inc. -- a company focused on enabling personal data sovereignty through blockchain technology. We discuss Bitmark's journey and the company's latest pivot to Spring, an app that helps users extract personal data from Facebook and put it to work in all kinds of interesting ways.

We discuss Seans's thoughts on data sovereignty and data rights as critical civics issues and look in detail at how Spring can empower a new level of control over your personal data, providing a much-needed counterweight to big platforms who regard your information as their intellectual property.

During these uncertain times, I'd love to connect with listeners more than ever. For that reason I'm temporarily opening the Patreon discord to anyone who wants to join -- just email me at jamie@stealthisshow.com and I'll send you an invite. At times like this, we all benefit from exchanging information and ideas about what we should be doing and how to survive whatever comes next.


If you enjoy STEAL THIS SHOW, become a supporter!. Our Patreon campaign keeps us free and independent - and fresh shows coming your way!
In this episode we meet Samer Hassan (@samerp2p) researcher in decentralized collaboration, activist and Berkman Center fellow. We discuss why the swarm is safer than the cloud, the new decentralized tools powering resistance movements, and how and why the centralization of online services is a threat to our freedom.
With a background in Social Sciences, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, Samer is passionate about how to build free/open source privacy-aware decentralized systems (e.g. blockchain) to facilitate collaborative communities and social movements. He led the technical team that built the backend-as-a-service for collaborative apps SwellRT; the app for collaborative communities Teem, used by a diversity of social collectives; and the real-time collaborative editor JetPad, which aims to provide a fully-fledged free/open source alternative to Google Docs, and which is privacy-aware and decentralized/federated.

Showrunner & Host Jamie King | Editor Riley Byrne Original Music David Triana | Web Production Eric Barch


Presented by TorrentFreak

Sponsored by Private Internet Access & Premiumize

Executive Producers: Mark Zapalac, Eric Barch, Nelson Larios

For sponsorship enquiries, please email info@stealthisshow.com

If you enjoy STEAL THIS SHOW, think about becoming a patron. Our Patreon campaign keeps us free and independent - and keeps shows coming your way!
This episode features journalist and writer Yasha Levine discussing some of the topics covered in his forthcoming book, Surveillance Valley. Yasha argues that the biggest threat to our privacy comes not directly from the government, but via the ubiquitous corporate platforms we all use every day - including Google, Facebook, eBay and others - and the 'data brokers' that buy and sell the most intimate information about our lives. Decentralisation, one of the big themes of this show, was supposed to make all our lives better - improving freedoms to express ourselves, to communicate and to organise. But Yasha argues that decentralisation never really happened, and that in fact, new incumbents have moved onto the free, open net and taken control. Bitcoin and Tor, says Yasha, aren't actually liberatory technologies, but conceal sophisticated operators, pulling strings behind the scenes. And in fact, he presents a compelling case that some of the tools we've been relying on to protect our privacy may actually be working to the specific agenda of the U.S Government's spy services.
Yasha recommends the following to explore the topics discussed in this show: From Counterculture to Cyberculture by Fred Turner IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black The Pentagon's Brain by Annie Jacobsen Part Two of United States of Secrets, PBS All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace by Adam Curtis

Showrunner & Host Jamie King | Editor Riley Byrne Original Music David Triana | Web Production Siraje Amarniss


Presented by TorrentFreak

Sponsored by Private Internet Access & Premiumize

Executive Producers: Mark Zapalac, Eric Barch.

For sponsorship enquiries, please email info@stealthisshow.com

In this special episode Rick Falkvinge, founder of The Pirate Party, talks about the origins of the party, its relationship to The Pirate Bay and Pirate Bureau, his experience of taking it to the European Parliament, and the party's relation to questions of privacy and surveillance looming ever larger in today's society. Should the Pirate Party really be called the Private Party? No, says Rick, it's evolving into the natural home of citizens' rights for digital freedom – and that's just fine for pirates.

Produced & Hosted by Jamie King

Edited & Mixed by  Eric Bouthiller

Original Music by  David Triana

Web Production by  Siraje Amarniss


Presented by TorrentFreak

This episode sponsored by  Private Internet Access

For sponsorship enquires, please email info@stealthisshow.com