Meet the modern hackers.
(repeat) Changed your computer password recently? We all try to stay one step ahead of the hackers, but the fear factor is increasing. The risks can range from stolen social security numbers to sabotaging a national power grid.
Sixty years ago, when hacking meant nosing around the telephone network, it seemed innocent enough. And not all modern hacking has criminal intent. Today, there are biohackers who experiment with implanted electronic devices to improve themselves, and geoengineers who propose to hack the climate. But in our efforts to cool an overheated planet, might we be going down a dangerous path?
In this second of two episodes on hacking, the modern variations of “hacking,” and their consequences. Plus: when does hacking a system improve it?
Guests:
- John Carlin - Attorney, chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Crisis and Risk Management practice. Assistant Attorney General for national security during the Obama administration.
- Kara Platoni - Science reporter, lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of “We Have the Technology: How Biohackers, Foodies, Physicians, and Scientists Are Transforming Human Perception, One Sense at a Time.”
- Oliver Morton - Former chief news and features editor of the journal Nature, the briefings editor for The Economist, and author of “The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World.”
Originally aired September 18, 2017