Holiday shopping season is here! And that must mean that it's time again for my annual Best & Worst Gift Guide! But this time I've recruited some top minds from Consumer Reports to lend their expertise and enlighten us with their tech gift-giving strategies! Yael Grauer, Stacey Higginbotham and Jeff Landale join me for a round table discussion of how to give tech gifts that won't ruin the security and privacy of your recipients!



Interview Notes




$10 off Consumer Reports!! https://www.consumerreports.org/fdsd/ 



Consumer Reports: https://www.consumerreports.org/ 



Cyber Readiness Report: https://innovation.consumerreports.org/new-report-2025-consumer-cyber-readiness/ 



Security Planner: https://securityplanner.consumerreports.org/ 



Vulnerability Disclosure Programs: https://innovation.consumerreports.org/who-ya-gonna-call/ 



Give Dragon Coupons! https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/give-the-gift-of-security-and-privacy/ 



Library Freedom Project: https://libraryfreedom.org/ 



Yael on spyware and iPhone 17: https://innovation.consumerreports.org/apples-new-iphone-memory-protections-safeguards-devices-against-sophisticated-attacks/ 



Yael interview (Security Planner): https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2025/02/17/security-planner/ 



Stacey interview (software tethering): https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2024/11/11/cutting-the-software-tether/ 



iVerify interview: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2023/11/13/securing-your-smartphone/ 




Further Info




All my Best & Worst guides: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/category/best-worst-gifts/ 



My book: https://fdsd.me/book 



My newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter 



Support the mission: https://fdsd.me/support 



Give the gift of privacy and security: https://fdsd.me/coupons 



Get your Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons Merch! https://fdsd.me/merch 




Table of Contents




0:00:15 : Intro



0:02:18 : What is your tech gift giving philosophy?



0:08:37 : What are some worrying tech trends?



0:17:41 : What are your tech gift horror stories?



0:22:09 : What are your thoughts on giving tech gifts to kids?



0:29:52 : What gifts are on your naughty list?



0:42:31 : What's on your nice tech gift list?



0:54:51 : How should you handle receiving a bad gift?



1:07:06 : Any other hot tips or advice?



1:11:08 : What are some great non-tech gifts?



1:17:40 : How can Consumer Reports help here?



1:20:39 : Wrap-up



1:22:35 : Dealing with phone spyware



1:24:35 : Newsletter info



1:24:51 : IoT vulnerability programs



1:25:04 : Give Thanks



1:25:37 : Patron podcast preview



1:26:28 : Other gift ideas



1:27:27 : EasyOptOuts and PayPal



1:28:12 : Looking ahead