Byron Tau is an investigative and enterprise journalist who specializes in law, courts and national security. Over the course of more than 15 years in Washington, Byron has covered all three branches of the federal government. He currently writes for NOTUS, a nonprofit news outlet in Washington D.C. Before that, he was at the Wall Street Journal for nine years, where he served as a White House reporter during the Obama administration; covered Congress with a focus on the intelligence, oversight and judiciary committees; and was a legal affairs and national security correspondent. Before that, he worked at Politico, where he covered the White House, lobbying, campaign finance and politics. He’s the author of the forthcoming book “Means of Control” about how consumer data is increasingly being repurposed for government surveillance.
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Episode 354
Byron Tau
Exposing the New American Surveillance State | Byron Tau
Byron Tau is an investigative and enterprise journalist who specializes in law, courts and national security. Over the course of more than 15 years in Washington, Byron has covered all three branches of the federal government. He currently writes for NOTUS, a nonprofit news outlet in Washington D.C. Before that, he was at the Wall Street Journal for nine years, where he served as a White House reporter during the Obama administration; covered Congress with a focus on the intelligence, oversight and judiciary committees; and was a legal affairs and national security correspondent. Before that, he worked at Politico, where he covered the White House, lobbying, campaign finance and politics. He’s the author of the forthcoming book “Means of Control” about how consumer data is increasingly being repurposed for government surveillance.
In Episode 354 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with investigative journalist Byron Tau, who specializes in law, courts, and national security, about how a hidden alliance between technology companies and the government is creating a new American surveillance state.
Many of you are probably thinking, “Yeah, I know this. We all have cell phones. They have GPS trackers, and my phone calls are being monitored. Tell me something I don’t know.” Yet, the truth is that our smartphones, wearable devices, networked homes, credit cards, and even the tires we drive on emit an overwhelming amount of data revealing details about our lives, daily habits, and most intimate behaviors that would astonish you. That data is being captured and available for sale, and the U.S. government is its biggest customer.
In the first hour of this conversation, you will learn that in the years after 9/11, the U.S. government, working with scores of anonymous companies, built a foreign and domestic surveillance apparatus that can peer into the lives of nearly everyone on the planet. This cottage industry of data brokers and government bureaucrats has one directive—“Get everything. Get it all.” The result is something resembling a sci-fi dystopia, like an episode out of Black Mirror, and the public knows virtually nothing about it.
In the second hour, Byron and Demetri discuss the near-term implications of this surveillance state for American democracy, personhood, and freedom. They discuss the role of TikTok and other foreign companies and actors that are able to access this same data marketplace. They discuss the role of agent provocateurs and how location-based applications can be used to foment riots and manipulate people into mobs and other forms of collective action. They also discuss the role of prominent voices on the American right and what they leave out when discussing censorship in media. Most importantly, they discuss what can be done through legislation and regulation to restrain government agencies and private companies operating in the surveillance economy and what you can do on a personal level to mitigate these entities’ and actors’ access to your private life.
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Byron Tau is an investigative and enterprise journalist who specializes in law, courts and national security. Over the course of more than 15 years in Washington, Byron has covered all three branches of the federal government. He currently writes for NOTUS, a nonprofit news outlet in Washington D.C. Before that, he was at the Wall Street Journal for nine years, where he served as a White House reporter during the Obama administration; covered Congress with a focus on the intelligence, oversight and judiciary committees; and was a legal affairs and national security correspondent. Before that, he worked at Politico, where he covered the White House, lobbying, campaign finance and politics. He’s the author of the forthcoming book “Means of Control” about how consumer data is increasingly being repurposed for government surveillance.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
