Have you ever thought about what it means to be anonymous? 

Have you considered what it means that you can walk down the street or go to the grocery store or out to dinner without someone you’ve never met knowing your name, everything you’ve posted online, or your political leanings?

Or when you go on a first date with someone, they’d walk in knowing your dating history, your political affiliations, your credit score or what groceries you buy?

Advancements in facial recognition and a secretive startup could end privacy as we know it. 

In this two-part conversation, New York Times Tech Reporter Kashmir Hill joins host Ron Steslow to discuss privacy, anonymity, facial recognition software and her book Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup’s Quest to End Privacy as We Know It.

In part 1:

(01:43 ) Ron and Kashmir discuss anonymity and privacy and the erosion of both in our daily lives 

(00:00 ) Balancing convenience and privacy 

(11:00 ) The origins of ClearviewAI 

(13:30 ) Genetic determinism in the development of facial recognition 

(18:20 ) Kashmir dives deep into the history of facial recognition software and how it developed. 

(22:37 ) How Facebook crowdsourced training facial recognition technology

(25:00 ) How much privacy should we have and who should be able to use facial recognition software? 

Read Your Face Belongs to Us: https://bit.ly/49qsbQm

Follow Ron and Kashmir  on X (formerly Twitter):

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

https://twitter.com/kashhill

Email your questions and thoughts to podcast@politicology.com or leave us a voicemail at ‪(202) 455-4558‬.

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