Vulnerable By Design

Subprime Attention: Will Ad Bubbles Collapse the Internet?

Array of glass eyes with a semi-transparent salmon-coloured overlay.

2 Feb 2022 ・ 22 min listen

Advertising fuels much of the Internet today. But what if programmatic, targeted ads don't actually work? We read Tim Hwang's Subprime Attention Crisis.

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The Essay: Like

A blocky, pixelised thumbs-up icon with a semi-transparent salmon-coloured overlay.

22 Dec 2021 ・ 25 min listen

Like buttons are everywhere. But is liking really all that likeable? We investigate it all, from zero likes to like hiding. With a touch of proper hedonism.

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The Papers: Edit Wars (On a Wiki)

19 Nov 2021 ・ 19 min listen

Wikipedia’s backstage is a battlefield. Well, sometimes at least. In this episode we look at the edit wars fermenting in articles on the world’s biggest encyclopedia.

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The Papers: Got Phished

5 Nov 2021 ・ 22 min listen

You've won a prize! Or have you? This week we look at recent developments in phishing research. Think: Do your personal values make you more phishable? And do phishers always run a profit?

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The Essay: Can You See My Slides?

23 Oct 2021 ・ 19 min listen

Does powerpoint make you dim? We look at the debate, the evidence, the history. We might even throw in a little slideware liberation manifesto.

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The Papers: Big Tech Lobbying

Salmon-coloured monochrome image. A plastic bag with Euro coins and Slovak text printed on it shines through.

12 Oct 2021 ・ 18 min listen

Big tech companies are spending precious euros lobbying the European Union to resist, or weaken, regulation of digital markets. A recent report by two lobby-watching groups has the ghastly details.

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The Papers: Algorithmic Accountability

7 Oct 2021 ・ 20 min listen

How are public sector bodies accountable for using algorithmic systems? We look at a recent report.

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