Bob Sullivan’s podcast projects

Bob is currently the host of AARP’s The Perfect Scam podcast. Listeners ride along weekly as scam victims and professional con artists tell their stories. A 2023 Webby award winner

Debugger is a podcast about technology and democracy, produced with help from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics.

Breach is a deep-dive audio documentary that investigates history’s biggest hackers. Bob is co-host with Alia Tavakolian of Spoke Media. Season 1 uncovers the role of Russia in the massive Yahoo hack; Season 2 examines the comedy of errors that led to the Equifax breach. Sponsored by Carbonite. A Shorty Award finalist.

No Place to Hide is a 6-episode miniseries examining the state of privacy in America, from abusive digital police tactics to abusive romantic partners who hunt down victims through cyberspace. Bob co-hosts with Spoke Media’s Alia Tavakolian. Part fiction, part non-fiction. Sponsored by Intel.

“So, Bob?” is a weekly investigation of the unintended consequences of technology.

LATEST EPISODES

Defending Democracy extended cuts: Marty Abrams, industry advocate

April 1, 2022 Bob Sullivan 1

Martin Abrams is Executive Director and Chief Strategist for the Information Accountability Foundation, which receives funding from large technology companies. We talked with him about early efforts at accountability and why technology firms would support such efforts. Click here to listen or click play below.

Defending Democracy extended cuts: Rory Van Loo, former CFPB

March 28, 2022 Bob Sullivan 1

Rory Van Loo has tackled big problems with big ideas before. He helped set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the Great Recession. What big steps can be taken to rein in Big Tech? What lessons can be learned from other regulatory agencies? Van Loo is now a law [Keep reading]

Defending Democracy Extended Cuts: David Vladeck, former FTC consumer bureau head

March 25, 2022 Bob Sullivan 2

As former head of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, David Vladeck had a front-row seat at some of the landmark lawsuits against Big Tech. He’s in a great position to explain why it’s so hard for the U.S. government — any government — to balance Big Tech’s power. “It’s [Keep reading]

Podcast: What’s hasn’t worked — part 2 of Protecting Democracy (and us!) from Big Tech

March 10, 2022 Bob Sullivan 0

If Big Tech is “Too Big to Sue” — tech firms can do whatever the Hell they want without fear of legal repercussions — how do we fix that? Haven’t we tried already? Today Duke University released part two of our docu-podcast, “Defending Democracy (and us) from Big Tech.” This [Keep reading]

New podcast: Defending democracy (and us) from Big Tech

March 4, 2022 Bob Sullivan 0

As war rages in Ukraine, big technology companies are struggling to keep up. Thousands of small decisions are being made at breakneck speed. Think, for just a moment, about the overwhelming task of sifting through propaganda-spewing social media accounts. Make yourself a tech exec right now. What’s free speech? What’s [Keep reading]

He stole her heart, then her identity then…was accused of a gruesome murder

November 22, 2021 Bob Sullivan 0

Hearing about an old flame can be…a strange feeling. Maybe it’s charming – you learn that the first girl you ever kissed on the lips, 20 years ago or so, just gave birth to twins – or maybe it makes you a little mad – “They started dating ONE WEEK [Keep reading]

Why so much charity junk mail? And so many scams?

November 11, 2021 Bob Sullivan 6

Kay Bransford’s elderly mom had a generous but lonely heart — her husband had passed away recently – so she began donating to charities that sent her solicitations by mail. Pretty soon, that led to an avalanche of junk mail. At its worst, Bransford spent her visits with mom scrambling [Keep reading]

Facebook solutions: There’s plenty to discuss

October 7, 2021 Bob Sullivan 3

It’s been a busy week in Facebook-must-answer-to-someone land. I really do feel like the conversation has been elevated by whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony before the Senate on Tuesday. I feel strongly that Facebook should be forced to offer an algorithm-free version of its product, as I argued earlier this week. [Keep reading]

Facebook faces yet another grilling by Congress. Will anything change?

October 3, 2021 Bob Sullivan 0

Facebook was again hauled before Congress this week, this time to answer for a set of stories published in the Wall Steet Journal saying the company has internal research showing its tools hurt kids — Instagram exacerbates body image issues for teen girls, for example — but it hasn’t really [Keep reading]

Texas social media censorship ban — a victory for disinformation?

September 14, 2021 Bob Sullivan 2

Will a new Texas law require social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to host vaccine disinformation, or even hate speech? The law also makes it a crime to “de-boost” comments and other posts, forbidding firms from taking away algorithmic amplification that helps extreme posts go viral. But are Facebook [Keep reading]

bobsullivan.net

Consumer and cybercrime news