Brooke Gladstone

Brian Krebs' investigation raises larger questions. If Experian, one of the three main credit bureaus, is susceptible to accidentally selling data to identity thieves, what about all of the other data brokers out there? Brooke gets in touch with Avivah Litan, a fraud and security research analyst at Gartner, to put the Experian data breach into context, and talk about the larger implications of data security for consumers. 

Beacon - Late November

When OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman tried getting answers from the Department of Homeland Security for her border detainment story, she experienced first hand how opaque the behemoth federal agency can be with reporters. But her experience wasn't unique. Brooke speaks with New York Times contributor Susan Stellin and Rio Grande Valley correspondent for the Associated Press Christopher Sherman--two journalists that regularly come in contact with DHS and its various agencies--about just how difficult it can be to get information.

This week, security reporter Brian Krebs uncovered the story of how Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, unwittingly sold its data to an identity theft outfit. Brooke talks to Krebs about how he discovered this significant breach.

Brooke and OTM producer PJ Vogt prepare to send their saliva off to 23andMe, a company that analyzes DNA information. Before they prepare their samples, Brooke and PJ talk with OTM senior producer Katya Rogers, and former OTM producer Jamie York about what they hope to find out from their genetic testing, what they’re concerned about discovering, and the value of having their genetic information online.

This week, Glenn Greenwald, now a household name for his role in reporting the Edward Snowden leaks, announced he was leaving The Guardian for a "a once-in-a-career dream journalistic opportunity." Brooke talks to pressthink.org's Jay Rosen about that opportunity and how it could differ from current journalistic endeavors.

Brooke and OTM producer PJ Vogt get their genetic tests back and reveal the results to each other. Then, to help them understand what their results really mean, Brooke and PJ speak to geneticist Greg Lennon, co-founder of SNPedia, a wiki-pedia for genetic information that aims to make “DNA stuff” real. Lennon answers some of Brooke and PJ’s pressing questions about their results. Among other things, Brooke finds out she doesn’t have as much Neanderthal in her genes as she hoped.

I’m not equipped to assess the tenure of the mayor because I’m not a political analyst and because the city is so much bigger, so much richer than any mayor. Even Michael Bloomberg. 

Next week, the story of Julian Assange and Wikileaks hits the big screen in "The Fifth Estate." Brooke speaks with Guardian reporter--and former Wikileaks employee--James Ball about the story of Wikileaks, the new film, and what it was like seeing something he experienced firsthand dramatized by Hollywood.

In Spike Jonze’s upcoming film “Her,” a man falls in love with his Siri-like personal assistant. Brooke speaks to Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist and the Director of User Experience and Research at Intel, who says that humans aren’t just interacting with their devices these days, they’re forming relationships with them

Recently, California passed a number of laws meant to protect individuals online from harassment and from themselves, but those laws have potentially problematic speech implications. Bob talks with Santa Clara University Law Professor Eric Goldman about the details of these laws, and how they can affect the rest of the country.

Paul Whiteman - Love Nest

Last Sunday, AMC aired the final episode of Breaking Bad. You may not watch the show, but if you’ve been hanging around anywhere online, its presence is inescapable. Fans on Twitter tweeted 100,000 times a day about the show leading up to the finale. Brooke talks with Kevin Slavin, an Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at  MIT and co-founder of Everybody at Once, who says that fans’ social media interactions are crucial to the modern television experience. 

Paul Whiteman - Love Nest

A recent study found that people will more accurately describe political realities--even if it contradicts their own partisan views--if they are paid for their correct answers. Brooke speaks to Gregory Huber, one of the authors of the study, about their findings.

With the federal government grinding to a halt this week, the specter of false equivalency rose up around the media landscape. The Atlantic’s James Fallows talked to Brooke about his quest to have the media stop over-prizing ‘objectivity’ and start communicating reality.

Terry Bressi is a staff engineer at the University of Arizona's planetary lab. To get to Kitt Peak National Observatory, he must take an east to west running highway, which has an in-country immigration checkpoint. Bressi estimates he’s been stopped over 300 times at immigration checkpoints along this road, which at no point crosses the border, since 2008. Brooke talks with Bressi about how he began videotaping his interactions with the border agents. (The videos have become something of an internet sensation).

Bob reads listener responses to producer Sarah Abdurrhaman’s piece“My Detainment Story or: How I learned to Stop Feeling Safe in My Own Country and Hate Border Agents.”  Brooke talks to former congressman Lee H. Hamilton, co-author of a recent report calling for reform of the Department of Homeland Security, about how the DHS can, and should, work better.

The next phase of the Affordable Care Act goes into effect next week with the opening of new health insurance exchanges. Brooke and Bob take a look at the messaging war, from the conservative ads advising people to "opt out," to the Obama administration's push to educate people about the new law, and the media's role in covering this protracted battle.

Last week the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project released a report stating that 74 percent of adult smart phone owners use their phones to get information based on their current location. As more websites and applications start picking up on this trend by launching mobile geo-navigation applications, Brooke talks to geographer Jim Thatcher about what data these apps are taking from our locations, and how is that data being used?

Night Thoughts - John Zorn

We've decided to bring you a list of best practices that will help you, the media consumer, weed out bad information the next time an event like this takes place.

In 2013, OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman and her family (all US Citizens) were detained for hours, without explanation, on their way home from Canada. We're revisiting her story today.