Lock and Code

May 3, 202640m#9

Your prices could be going up because of a little something that one group has started calling the “cyber tax.” Not a “tax” in any regulatory sense of the word, this newly named “cyber tax” is instead a consequence of th

Apr 19, 202641m#8

A dreadful thing happens far too often whenever an older adult falls for a scam: They get blamed for it. Not the scammers who lied and cheated their victim out of money. Not law enforcement for failing to recover funds.

Apr 5, 202642m#7

Big news : Lock and Code is nominated for a Webby Award! You can help us win the People’s Voice Award by voting here . --- We have to talk about killer robots. No, not the Terminator, and not some Boston Dynamics robot r

Mar 22, 202635m#6

Forget the runaway train thrillingly shot in Buster Keaton’s 1926 film “The General,” and never mind the charging locomotive rescued by actors Denzel Washington and Chris Pine in the 2010 film “Unstoppable,” as there’s a

Mar 8, 202631m#5

On February 8, during the Super Bowl in the United States, countless owners of one of the most popular smart products today got a bit of a wakeup call: Their Ring doorbells could be used to see a whole lot more than they

Feb 22, 202643m#4

A funny thing happened on TikTok last month, and its brought allegations of censorship, manipulation, and control. It was the week of January 22, and after a long legal battle, TikTok had finally—for the first time in it

Feb 8, 202642m#3

In January, Google settled a lawsuit that pricked up a few ears: It agreed to pay $68 million to a wide array of people who sued the company together, alleging that Google’s voice-activated smart assistant had secretly r

Jan 25, 202618m#2

When you hear the words “data privacy,” what do you first imagine? Maybe you picture going into your social media apps and setting your profile and posts to private. Maybe you think about who you’ve shared your location

Jan 11, 202653m#1

There’s a bizarre thing happening online right now where everything is getting worse. Your Google results have become so bad that you’ve likely typed what you’re looking for, plus the word “Reddit,” so you can find discu

Dec 28, 202535m#26

There’s an entire surveillance network popping up across the United States that has likely already captured your information, all for the non-suspicion of driving a car. Automated License Plate Readers, or ALPRs, are AI-

Dec 14, 202544m#25

This is the story of the world’s worst scam and how it is being used to fuel entire underground economies that have the power to rival nation-states across the globe. This is the story of “pig butchering.” “Pig butcherin

Nov 30, 202527m#24

It’s often said online that if a product is free, you’re the product, but what if that bargain was no longer true? What if, depending on the device you paid hard-earned money for, you still became a product yourself, to

Nov 16, 202533m#23

Everything’s easier with AI… except having to correct it. In just the three years since OpenAI released ChatGPT, not only has onlife life changed at home—it’s also changed at work. Some of the biggest software companies

Nov 2, 202551m#22

In the final, cold winter months of the year, ChatGPT could be heating up. On October 14, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the “restrictions” that his company previously placed on their flagship product, ChatGPT, would be

Oct 19, 202527m#21

Google is everywhere in our lives. It’s reach into our data extends just as far. After investigating how much data Facebook had collected about him in his nearly 20 years with the platform , Lock and Code host David Ruiz

Oct 5, 202550m#20

“Connection” was the promise—and goal—of much of the early internet. No longer would people be separated from vital resources and news that was either too hard to reach or made simply inaccessible by governments. No long

Sep 21, 202552m#19

There’s more about you online than you know. The company Acxiom, for example, has probably determined whether you’re a heavy drinker, or if you’re overweight, or if you smoke (or all three). The same company has also pro

Sep 7, 202548m#18

In the late 2010s, a group of sheriffs out of Pasco County, Florida, believed they could predict crime. The Sheriff’s Department there had piloted a program called “Intelligence-Led Policing” and the program would allege

Aug 24, 202537m#17

If there’s one thing that scam hunter Julie-Anne Kearns wants everyone to know, it is that no one is immune from a scam. And she would know—she fell for one last year. For years now, Kearns has made a name for herself on

Aug 10, 202540m#16

The internet is cracking apart. It’s exactly what some politicians want. In June, a Texas law that requires age verification on certain websites withstood a legal challenge brought all the way to the US Supreme Court. It

Jul 27, 202552m#15

For decades, digital rights activists, technologists, and cybersecurity experts have worried about what would happen if the US government secretly broke into people’s encrypted communications. The weird thing, though, is

Jul 13, 202545m#14

“Health” isn’t the first feature that most anyone thinks about when trying out a new technology, but a recent spate of news is forcing the issue when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). In June, The New York Times

Jun 29, 202545m#13

There’s a unique counter response to romance scammers. Her name is Becky Holmes. Holmes, an expert and author on romance scams, has spent years responding to nearly every romance scammer who lands a message in her inbox.

Jun 15, 202546m#12

Complex problems often assume complex solutions, but recent observations about increased levels of anxiety and depression, increased reports of loneliness, and lower rates of in-person friendships for teens and children

Jun 1, 202531m#11

There’s an easy way to find out what Facebook knows about you—you just have to ask. In 2020, the social media giant launched an online portal that allows all users to access their historical data and to request specific