Pretty soon your private messages on Instagram will no longer be end-to-end encrypted. But you may not have even known they could be encrypted to begin with, as Instagram kind of buried that feature. Kelly and Elaine discuss what this means for messaging apps more broadly, while also lifting the veil on how private these apps really are (as well as having a rant about all the things they don’t like about Instagram).

*** Good things YOU recommend ***

>> Amy recommends the film Desk Set

>> Katie and Vanessa recommend the show WeCrashed

>> El recommends the documentary Ghost in the Machine

>> Dean recommends the book Braver New World, by John Kampfner

*** More from us ***

Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com

FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io

FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod

FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod

FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social

FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate our 100th episode, we invited our listeners to watch us in action live, with the return of special guest Dr Abeba Birhane, founder of the pioneering AI Accountability Lab. We had fun with a game of Good Tech, Bad Tech (trademark pending) followed by a meaty discussion with Abeba about the morality of AI, the challenge of being a critic of AI, and how she met the Pope and Shaggy (no, really).

We are so grateful to everyone who came out for this live recording, and also to The Digital Hub, and Dee and Oisin from the Beár Bia podcast for making it all possible.

All proceeds from this event went to Medical Aid for Palestinians. Donate at MAP.org.uk.

*** Good things we recommend ***

>> AI Accountability Lab

>> Biology as Ideology by Richard Lewontin

>> Abeba’s reflections on the censorship of her keynote at the AI for Good Summit 2025

>> Kabakoo Academies, blending high-tech and indigenous knowledge in Mali

>> Duck Duck Go, a Google alternative

*** More from us ***

Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com

FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io

FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod

FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod

FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Elaine tries to turn Kelly into a subsea cables stan with the help of Jane Ruffino, a PhD candidate who recently visited a ship in the midst of (literally) winding up TAT-8, the world’s first transatlantic fibre-optic cable. Jane enthusiastically shares what we can learn from the subsea cable industry’s ‘minimum necessary technology’ mindset, and why it’s important that the infrastructure and labour that keeps us connected is made visible.

Find Jane on LinkedIn and at CharacterWorks.co.

*** Good things we recommend ***

>> Jane’s superb article in Wired

>> Our podcast episode, The internet under the sea

>> The Undersea Network, a book by Nicole Starosielski

>> Atlantic-Cable.com

>> Derek Cassidy, communication archaeologist

>> Irish artist Fiona Marron

>> Ye Olde Hurdy-Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth, Co. Dublin

*** More from us ***

Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com

FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io

FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod

FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod

FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.