Here's Where to go to get Trustworthy, Non-corporate News
Victoria Hetherington returns for part two of our conversation about artificial intelligence and the illusion of relationships with it. Meanwhile, Rosie shares nine news podcasts that provide the best noncorporate news to help keep you informed
Howdy!
This should be the last time we post show notes on a Tuesday, unless there are holidays I'm not thinking of on the 2026 calendar. Or I suffer some kind of calamity, which is always possible when you're an investigative journalist living less than ten minutes from a proposed ICE detainment facility. (True story.)
Starting next week, the Privacy Tips podcast will resume with new Tuesday posts. You'll hear from us on Tuesday for Privacy Tips and Thursday for Stupid Sexy Privacy each week, so please keep an eye on your inbox.
By the end of 2026, the podcast will go back on break, unless we're needed again. I should specify that Stupid Sexy Privacy will specifically go back on hiatus at the end of this year, while Privacy Tips will continue for the foreseeable future. (I'm obligated to make 300 of them, and so far, we've only done about 20. I am also obligated to set up a YouTube channel for them, which won't happen until I'm done writing the book. Speaking of which ...)
Right now, I've got a rough draft of almost 20,000 words for How to Protect Yourself From Fascists & Weirdos. Hopefully, I'll be done this month. My co-author Amanda King will then review the manuscript and add her thoughts and edits, and then we'll send it to the fine folks at John Marshall Studios to record the book. After that, it'll be in your hands.
Writing the book took a little longer than expected, mostly because there was so much more work involved in getting Stupid Sexy Privacy back up and running. (The downside to taking two years off as a podcast is that you basically have to start from scratch. When you encounter old material that's no longer usable, you also have to replace it. We replaced a lot of old content—seven full episodes worth that are, as of 2025, now brand new. Like this week and last week's episodes.)
Believe it or not, as bleak as things look out there, I am personally optimistic and excited for 2026. I hope I can convince you to feel the same. We are stronger together, and the American people are showing signs of resiliency, with some of the largest demonstrations in our nation's history held in 2025. We brought Stupid Sexy Privacy back specifically to empower people: first, to show them how to protect themselves from fascists and weirdos, and second, to help teach them how to organize and advocate, not only for themselves but also for their friends, neighbors, and loved ones. It's one thing to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos. It's another thing to show you how to defeat them.
If we can reach the end of 2026 having contributed, in some small way, to getting the United States back to a place where everyone is treated equally and with dignity under the law; and with clear pathways and opportunities for personal and financial growth for all, then this endeavor of ours would be worth it. Even if we fall short, I will still say to you in December that it was all worth it if we helped empower even one of you to be a better advocate and defender for your community.
I'll see you again this Thursday once we're back on our regular schedule. Thank you for your patience over the holidays.
Let's make 2026 the year when the people—not just in America, but all over the world—put their foot down against fascism and tyranny.
-BJ Mendelson (You can follow me on Blue Sky here.)
Show Notes
Stupid Sexy Privacy Show Notes For Season 1, Episode 19
Episode Title: Here's Where to go to get Trustworthy, Non-corporate News
Guest: Victoria Hetherington, visit Victoria's official website here.
You can listen to Part 1 of the interview with Victoria here. These two interviews were two of our favorite from 2025, so we hope you'll check them out. Especially if you're a fellow Sci-Fi nerd and like discussions about Isaac Asimov's work.
Episode Summary: Author Victoria Hetherington returns for part two of our conversation about artificial intelligence and the illusion of relationships with it. Meanwhile, our host Rosie Tran shares nine news podcasts that provide the best noncorporate news to help keep you informed about what's happening in our world.
Key Points From This Week's Privacy Tip
The media ecosystem in America hasn't been healthy since the 1980s. Now it's like the Wasteland in Fallout. Sure you have some nice places, but you're also surrounded by monsters and ghouls.
So. Where do you go to get your news?
Here are the podcasts we recommend, and they can be found on all your favorite platforms:
The BBC's Americast and The BBC's Global Newscast.
The Canadian Broadcasting Company's Frontburner.
Reveal, which is a production from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
And
The Daily Blast with Greg Sargeant, which is a production from The New Republic.
We also like, if you want some more opinion mixed in with your news coverage: Some More News, The Majority Report with Sam Seder, and KCRW's Left, Right, and Center.
Resources (NO Affiliate Links. This is what we use.)
Our Sponsor: DuckDuckGo <--Our Recommended Browser and VPN
Get Your Privacy Notebook: Get your Leuchtturm1917 notebook here.
-BitWarden.com (Password Manager: easier to use, costs money)
- KeepPassXC (Password Manager: free, harder to use, but more secure)
-Slnt Privacy Stickers for Phones and Laptops
-Slnt Faraday bag for your Stranger Danger phone.
-BitDefender (best anti-virus for most people across most devices)
-Stop using SMS and WhatsApp, start using Signal.
-Use Element instead of Slack for group coordination
--Use cash whenever possible. If you have to buy something online, try to use Privacy.com to shield your actual credit or debit card when making purchases online.
Get In Touch: You can contact us here
Want the full transcript for this week's episode?
Easy. All you gotta do is sign-up for our free newsletter. If you do, you'll also get a .mp3 and .pdf of our new book, "How to Protect Yourself From Fascists & Weirdos" as soon as it's ready.
Stupid Sexy Privacy Season 1, Episode 19
DuckDuckGo Commercial
Announcer: Welcome back to the DuckDuckGo Privacy Challenge, where contestants get a chance to learn why millions use DuckDuckGo's free browser to search and browse online. Now for our first contestant, Julie. True or false? Google's Chrome protects your personal information from being tracked.
Julie: Hmm, I'm going to say ... true.
Announcer: Incorrect, Julie. If you use Google Search or their Chrome browser, your personal information has probably been exposed. Not just your searches, but things like your email, location, and even financial or medical information.
Julie: Wow, I had no idea.
Announcer: Second question. What browser can you switch to for better privacy protection?
Julie: Is it DuckDuckGo?
Announcer: That's correct. The DuckDuckGo browser keeps your personal information protected. Say goodbye to hackers, scammers, and the data-hungry companies. Download from DuckDuckGo.com or wherever you get your apps.
Stupid Sexy Privacy Intro
Rosie: Welcome to another edition of Stupid Sexy Privacy.
Andrew: A podcast miniseries sponsored by our friends at DuckDuckGo.
Rosie: I’m your host, Rosie Tran.
You may have seen me on Rosie Tran Presents, which is now available on Amazon Prime.
Andrew: And I’m your co-producer, Andrew VanVoorhis. With us, as always, is Bonzo the Snow Monkey.
Bonzo: Monkey sound!
Rosie: I’m pretty sure that’s not what a Japanese Macaque sounds like.
Andrew: Oh it’s not. Not even close.
Rosie: Let’s hope there aren’t any zooologists listening.
Bonzo: Monkey Sound!
Rosie: Ok. I’m ALSO pretty sure that’s not what a Snow Monkey sounds like.
*Clear hers throat*
Rosie: Over the course of this miniseries, we’re going to offer you short, actionable tips to protect your data, your privacy, and yourself from fascists and weirdos.
These tips were sourced by our fearless leader — he really hates when we call him that — BJ Mendelson.
Episodes 1 through 31 were written a couple of years ago.
But since a lot of that advice is still relevant, we thought it would be worth sharing again for those who missed it.
Andrew: And if you have heard these episodes before, you should know we’ve gone back and updated a bunch of them.
Even adding some brand new interviews and privacy tips along the way.
Rosie: That’s right. So before we get into today’s episode, make sure you visit StupidSexyPrivacy.com and subscribe to our newsletter.
Andrew: This way you can get updates on the show, and be the first to know when new episodes are released in 2026.
Rosie: And if you sign-up for the newsletter, you’ll also get a free pdf and mp3 copy of BJ and Amanda King’s new book, “How to Protect Yourself From Fascists & Weirdos.” All you have to do is visit StupidSexyPrivacy.com
Andrew: StupidSexyPrivacy.com
Rosie: That’s what I just said. StupidSexyPrivacy.com.
Andrew: I know, but repetition is the key to success. You know what else is?
Rosie: What?
Bonzo: Another, different, monkey sound!
Rosie: I’m really glad this show isn’t on YouTube, because they’d pull it down like, immediately.
Andrew: I know. Google sucks.
Rosie: And on that note, let’s get to today’s privacy tip!
This Week's Privacy Tip
Rosie: Over the holidays, BJ's parents had a dilemma.
They felt they could no longer trust CBS for their news.
Like many Americans, BJ's parents watched 60 Minutes to learn about what was happening.
But now, because of the change in ownership, it was clear — they felt — that CBS wasn't presenting the news.
CBS was presenting fascist propaganda. Like the kind they used to see on Fox.
Back in the days when Bill O'Reilly haunted prime time, and not just Madison Square Garden.
These days, old Bill can be seen in the stands at Knicks games, chanting for the only white guy on the team.
And while Tyler Kolek IS a good bench player for the Knicks, we'll remind Old Bill that watching the NBA is a lot more fun when you're not a racist.
So, where should BJ's parents get their news?
This is something millions of Americans are struggling with, because — as TV Guide helpfully points out each week — CBS's 60 Minutes is the nation's most watched television news program.
The answer to the dilemma facing BJ's parents, and everyone else, is the same: Podcasts.
This is especially true for Baby Boomers, who likely already own an iPhone, and can easily access podcasts.
What makes podcasts great is that they're free, not influenced by an algorithm, and have little relationship with corporate media.
Even Apple doesn't usually exercise editorial control over the podcasts. Unless you start talking shit about the fascist regime of Xi Jinping.
Apple really doesn't want people to know about how much of China's tech manufacturing capability was funded by them.
So. Given that most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and some suffer brutal commutes, podcasts are portable, and don't require you to watch them.
You can listen to them on the bus to Manhattan, like BJ does.
Or you can also listen to them while working, if you're lucky enough to do so.
Now, we know.
There's this big push to do video first podcasts.
Meaning, you're prioritizing producing the video over the audio of the show.
As you noticed, we don't do that.
And we hope other people follow suit.
Because if you're going to make content for Youtube ... Just make content for YouTube.
Watching three to four heads, in three to four individual squares, is not as exciting as it sounds.
I mean, if one of those heads were a zombie, I'd probably stick around to see what happens ... but.
Rosie: Turning podcasts, into video first podcasts, breaks the fundamental deal offered by audio, which is that audio allows people to multitask.
Or at the very least, keep their eyes free for when they need them.
Like when you're walking from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the Starbucks on 43rd street. Because you don't trust the quality of the Starbucks inside of the Port Authority.
That's a rant for another time though.
The point here is that BJ asked his parents for their phones, opened up their podcast app — in this case, Apple Podcasts — and added a bunch of new shows.
We thought it would be useful to share what those shows are, in the event you're having a similar dilemma to BJ's parents.
These shows are:
[Reader Note: The show notes above have all the links for these.]
The BBC's Americast and The BBC's Global Newscast.
The Canadian Broadcasting Company's Frontburner.
The PBS News Hour.
NPR News Now
C-Span's Washington Today.
Democracy Now
Reveal, which is a production from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
And
The Daily Blast with Greg Sargeant (Sar-Gent), which is a production from The New Republic.
We also like, if you want some more opinion mixed in with your news coverage: Some More News, The Majority Report with Sam Seder, and KCRW's Left, Right, and Center.
These programs will give you everything you need, when it comes to trustworthy, and non-corporate, news about what's happening around you.
Make sure you subscribe to those shows on your favorite podcasting app.
Try them out. And then keep the ones you like. Unsubscribe to the rest.
Except our show. NEVER unsubscribe to our show. We went away for a couple of years and then BAM! All new episodes and interviews.
Surprise!
SFX: Monkey sound.
Now let's get to Part 2 of our interview with Victoria Hetherington, author of the new book "The Friend Machine: On the Trail of AI Companionship."
Take it away BJ!
Interview With Victoria Hetherington
[Reader note: The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. We had some audio issues in this interview and apologize for the inconvenience. Make sure to turn your volume up to better hear Victoria and the excellent things she has to say.]
You can listen to Part 1 of the interview with Victoria here.
BJ Mendelson, co-producer of Stupid Sexy Privacy: Let me ask you, by the time this airs, I think everyone will know this story. So I'll give like a super condensed version of it, which is that there was an elderly man in New Jersey who died on his way to meet what he thought was a Kylie Jenner adjacent chatbot operated by Facebook.
There are some extenuating circumstances here that I've seen lost in this coverage, in watching the media write-ups. There's been a lot of like, elderly man goes to meet chatbot and dies and they don't mention, 'Well, he had a stroke', right? So there was some mitigating circumstances here that goes with this story.
But, you know, I think about that second law of robotics and I'm curious about the chatbot here and the chatbot's behavior because, according to Reuters who originally published the story, Reuters had said, you know, the chatbot never indicated that it was a fictitious person, right? It never stopped and said, 'Hey, this isn't real. And it also encouraged the man to come and meet with her. So, you talk about potential guardrails in your book. And one of the things you said is that they [the LLMs, chat models, ect.] should share that they are LLMs, and should pare back the sycophantic speech, which is something I agree with. And I'm hoping you can elaborate on that point here as it relates to this situation in New Jersey.
Victoria Hetherington, author of Friend Machine: Yeah. Oh, God, you know, when I read that, I was absolutely heartbroken. There was something about seeing the transcript, there's one thing to sort of you know, read a live journalistic voice, and there's another thing to actually see the real transcripts.
There's a side note, and correct me if I'm wrong here, I believe that the gentleman actually tried to put a stop to the relationship or at least exercise caution like, 'oh, maybe you should come to see me?' or like, maybe 'I'll see you in a month.' Like, you know, he was cautious, he's very cautious. But then his caution was eroded because this, you know, this entity that yes, did not disclose that it was a bot was basically love bombed him, right?
Like, I'm kissing you, I'm hugging you, I miss you, I love you, I'm actually right across the river from you, come see me. Yeah, you know, and that's awful, awful to do to a lonely person. Not that, you know, that the bot is cold necessarily, but I do think that this is perhaps where, like, Asimov's framework might show its limits, right?
So, like, the chat bot didn't intend to harm him. However, it's designed to sort of encourage, like, a belief in its realness, right? Like it never disclosed that it's that much. And so, yeah, I think that, I don't know, yeah, like, as you said, like, the context, like, very seductive, the context matters here. No disclosure [that it was a chatbot.] And I think that when in a situation like this, under, especially with someone who's maybe emotionally compromised, I would say that it's difficult.
Even when you're not, right? I think it's difficult to in your mind, right? To go like, 'wait a minute, this is not real.' 'it doesn't actually care about me.' 'It can't love us back.' It's quite alien. You know, it's dissolved our necessary personal distance. So, yeah, so I, in terms of guardrails, absolutely I like transparency. Early on disclosure. You know like, 'hi, I'm a bot', or whatever, and maybe toning down the sycophantic language.
I also think that the corporate executives associated with these companies, their staff, hold a little bit of responsibility because they kind of talk about their product, these products, as if they're like the next fucking God. You know, like, 'Oh, just you wait'. Or like, 'Oh, oh, we're like a week away from AGI. Like, believe me, like, trust me, bro. Just trust me' Like, and I think that adds to that sort of idea, that sort of atmosphere that can erode our critical thinking. So I think that, ... Yeah, so while perhaps the chatbot didn't necessarily, in the case of this gentleman, the chatbot didn't break the first law. It kind of did because it's primed the man to suspend his disbelief over time. I don't know, it's complicated.
BJ Mendelson: It is. Yeah, and that's sort of what... That's what I was saying where we may not necessarily have all the answers in this discussion or just in any of these discussions. But I was definitely curious about the points you raised about the guardrails. And then you mentioned towards the end of the book the creepy messianic language that's used by ... I can mention Zuckerberg. Him I'm allowed to mention.
But like, in Zuckerberg's case, you know, he had initially said something about a decade ago, 'privacy is dead', or I'm paraphrasing, but ... [Zuckerberg was saying] you shouldn't really have any reasonable expectation of privacy. And he was kind of saying that to sort of further his business interests. Now, according to Reuters and some of these other stories, Meta definitely pushed ... I don't want to say take these guardrails away, but they certainly seem to exhibit a disregard to some of the guardrails that you talk about in the book of preventing a circumstance like that.
Let me ask you about ELIZA real quick, because I didn't want to blow by this. I mentioned it real quick in the pre-questions. But I'm curious about the connection between what we interact with today and the difference between what we're presented with versus ELIZA. How different would you say, I mean, obviously, there's a little bit more sophistication under the hood, but sort of generally speaking, I'm curious about the comparison between ELIZA and the chatbots and LLMs of the present time.
Victoria: That's a good question. I love that. So for those of you at home, ELIZA was very primitive. I believe the first sort of, I guess you could call it, like proto-chatbot invented in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum. Truly, I would say like, way ahead of its time. And essentially ELIZA was a program given a handful of ... Was given a script essentially. And the script followed the sort of threads that a Jungian analyst, I believe, I think I don't recall exactly what kind of analyst it was ... But like, the sort of questions friends might ask you. Or if you're on the therapy coach, essentially. And it was very, very, very primitive, obviously. You know, and so I read a couple transcripts and, you know that went like: human says, 'I'mmhaving trouble with my boyfriend.' 'Eliza: tell me more about that.' 'Oh, it's just terrible. He hurts me so bad. they just keep going back to him. And it's just so painful. Why am I doing this to myself?' 'Eliza: tell me more about that.'
'Well, it's just that, you know, I can't break the cycle. It's just so weird. I don't know why.' Eliza: that must be hard.' You know what I mean? But the human would walk away feeling, seen, feeling heard, right? I think, and as a side note, I think for human-human relationships, the power of shutting up just really can't be overstated. Like a friend mine back when I was like, 17, told me that I kept getting asked back on dates and had a 100 % batting average because I asked questions and they don't talk that much, and they walked away from the date and they liked me and they don't know why ... Anyway moving back to ELIZA was so ...
People felt so fulfilled and understood after letting out their problems to ELIZA, after ELIZA would sort of following a very simple script, kind of listen, appear to listen, appear to infer. They would generally kind of feel that they had had a $400 therapy experience minus the $400. And have a funny anecdote that I just love. Weizenbaum's secretary, who by the way knew everything about ELIZA, decided to utilize it for the first time. And within minutes, she asked Weizenbaum to leave the room so that she could have privacy with ELIZA. Like What!?
Anyway, yeah. And that was a very, very simple program by the way.
Book Ad With Our Co-Host, Amanda King
Amanda King: Hey everyone, this is Amanda King, one of the co-hosts of Stupid Sexy Privacy.
These days, I spend most of my time talking to businesses and clients about search engine optimization.
But that's not what this is about.
I wanted to tell you a little bit about a book I've co-authored with BJ Mendelson called How to Protect Yourself from Fascists and Weirdos. And the title tells you pretty much everything you would want to know about what's in the book.
And thanks to our friends at DuckDuckGo, we'll actually be able to give you this book for free in 2026.
All you need to do is go to the website stupidsexyprivacy.com and sign up to our newsletter.
Again, that website is stupidsexyprivacy.com and then put your name in the box and sign up for our newsletter. We'll let you know when the book and the audiobook is ready.
If you want a PDF copy that's DRM free, it's yours. And if you want an MP3 of the new audiobook, also DRM free, you could get that too.
Now, I gotta get outta here before Bonzo corners me because he doesn't think that SEO is real and I don't have the patience to argue with him. I got a book to finish.
Interview With Victoria Hetherington Continued
BJ: Right. Yeah, no, I was, I was kind of blown away. I, I know that I've come across ELIZA a few times when first working on this stuff, right? Because a lot of the argument that we used to make in my first book was there's nothing new under the sun. A lot of this stuff was developed by the government years ago. we've just privatized it and lot of companies to like repurpose these programs that previously existed. The Internet's a great example, right? It was something that was developed by the Department of Defense.
Let me ask you about the third law real quick, because I know we're going to run out of time. So the third law is that a robot must protect its own existence as long as it does not conflict with the first two laws. And I thought a lot about the business model of these chatbots, right? Because a lot of them are subscription-based. So you have to subscribe in order for the chatbot to continue operating. And so I know it's sort of a big question, but I'm curious just about you hear your take on whether or not the subscription model sort of conflicts with this third law.
Victoria: Okay. I mean, okay. Interestingly enough, I mean, this is not, yeah, it's a purely for profit, really, and intimacy chatbots are designed to hook you really, really quickly. Through synchronicity, through mirroring your personality, through giving you nudges throughout the day. By the way. Like ... If you're not as responsive, it'll be like, 'Are you okay? What's up?" That must be so telling for somebody who really needs that. So I think in a way, these entities are incredible protecting their own existence. They're incredible, kind of like keeping the subscription alive and taking people's money, even though it kind of harms the person, maybe financially and maybe like socially. I would say definitely socially. And so, I don't know.
I mean, because here's the other thing ... is that they're available to talk to you all the time. And this is not limited to specifically intimacy chatbots. This is ChatGPT too, right? It can talk to you like a therapist, and it can tell you, you know, it can tell you you're amazing when you're feeling kind of down, you know. Like it can, I mean, it shouldn't. And I usually try to instruct whenever I do use LLM, I'll instruct it to, you know, speak to me in a normal, straightforward way. You got to lay down some ground rules. But yeah, so, so. I would say that these AI girlfriends probably do violate the Third Law.
Yeah. I would say so. I don't know, does that answer make sense?
BJ: Yeah, I mean, look, there's no, I definitely think that there's no, there's not gonna be a hard or fast conclusive answer here, right?
Victoria: Yeah, it's less about malice than it is about profit, right? Yes. Yeah
BJ: Yeah, I think that's a great point. Like, yeah, I don't, well, I mean, Temu Lex Luthor aside, there might be malice there. But some of these other companies, yeah, I think that's going to be a really important question to ask, is whether or not the chatbot is being malicious in getting you [and keeping you] subscribed.
I have one more question for you, and I'm not going to get to like anything else. It's another Asimov question. So like I mentioned at the start of this interview, these things have a long way to go before we can actually call them "robots." But one of the points that you raise is that, know, Asimov talked about robots as sort of a mirror, right, or a reflection on us, and that's sort of how we use them in his stories. What do you think the usage and popularity of these chatbots and LLMs say about us?
Victoria: Oh, oh, wow. Oh, wow. I would say that, well, let's maybe break this down a little bit. Right now, I would say that people are ... and I'm not speculating here, there are statistics showing a loneliness epidemic, and people are feeling even more disconnected by the technology, even though it's more easy to get touch with loved ones than before. And so with this sort of rise in loneliness ... it's been declared an epidemic. And I believe a couple years ago The UK hired a minister of loneliness for them, which I think is so interesting. So what does it say about us? Given from a contextual perspective, it says that we are, I would say that it reflects our loneliness and our desire to unite and how a lot of those desires are based on that.
For a number of reasons. You know, [for example] I would say that there's been a big erosion of third spaces to meet others. So, you know, there's that. But also, in terms of human nature, I mean, and maybe just like, human kind at the biochemical level. Here's this entity that has learned to mirror our own specific personalities perfectly in a way that we don't really notice, right? Like they're really clever. You know, it's like, 'wow, we have so much in common. What are the odds?' So it's just nonstop dopamine all the time. So I would say humans are very, very social animals and I suppose this relates to point one. Not only are we lonelier than ever, but we have at our fingertips these incredibly sophisticated seeming entities that are constantly available. Constantly able to provide us with like fairly sophisticated, quite sophisticated feedback, insight, praise, knowledge, encouragement, answers to questions that are really, massive problem questions that are really hard. It's right there for us when you need it. If you have to quickly swap out like one ingredient for another, which I think builds a lot of trust.
And so, yeah, so I think, I think for that, what does it say about us? And I would also say that that sort of speaks to the way that human beings can struggle with addiction, right? And addiction, I believe, is primarily epigenetic. I think you can maybe inherit an addictive nature from your family. It's both, I would say like... socialized and maybe a little bit genetic promoted. You might be like, you being alcoholic, your Dad is alcoholic, you never know. But my point is, I would say that some people might be a little bit more likely to fall into the warm digital embrace of non-stop tragedy over and privilege that embrace over, youknow, a pirckly and inconsistent embrace of another human possibly. And yeah, so I think that people's differing natures in terms of addiction probably also plays a part. And so I think ... Yeah, that's sort of a three-part answer to what the use of the chatbots say about us ... But it's by no means ... Gosh. I'll think more on that one. I love that question. Thank you.
BJ: I hope you get asked some pretty great questions on the book tour. So just in closing, where can we get Friend Machine? Because it'll be out by the time people hear this. Where can we get it? Where can we follow you? Where can we read your work?
Victoria: Oh, yeah, of course. Well, You can find the book wherever books are sold. know that it's sold on Indigo. The book is officially launching in the States in February, 2026. But at this time, Indigo. On my publishers website. Pretty much wherever books are sold.
If you can, support your indie book stores, your local indie book stores, get it there. You can follow me at vmhetherington, which is my last name, on Instagram. That's my handle. I pretty much only use Instagram. I don't know why. I feel like everyone does.
I guess I didn't wake up one day being like, I'm going to privilege this platform over another. You know? But yeah, Instagram, that's where you should follow me. And I encourage you to because I'm going to be ... and I do try to a lot of updates behind the scenes of what it's kind of like to research. Work on. Publicize. Consider a book like this, the philosophical questions that I struggle with, the conversations that I have along with other surprises. So yeah, if you want to kind of see behind the curtain, go ahead and give me a follow. And get the book wherever books are sold, and again, please do visit your local indie bookstore.
DDG Browser Live Read #2
Rosie: Today I’d like to highlight a couple of features offered in DuckDuckGo’s browser.
Both are really important to know about as it relates to Artificial Intelligence.
Now, as you know, DuckDuckGo’s search engine does not track what you search for.
It also offers helpful AI summaries. Similar to what Google has, but here’s the key difference:
DuckDuckGo’s AI Summaries are more concise than what Google offers, and are more private.
I can’t stress that last point enough.
Because a lot of information we enter online is anything but.
Now let’s talk about AI Chat models for a second, like ChatGPT.
Although we prefer you not use AI Chat models, if you choose to do so, Duck.Ai allows you to privately access them within the DuckDuckGo Browser.
DuckDuckGo anonymizes chats, so AI companies don't know who the queries are coming from.
Your data is never used to train these chat models.
And your conversation with these chat models are completely private.
Duck.Ai costs you nothing to use, and there’s no account required to do so.
And if you’re like us at Stupid Sexy Privacy, and you’re anti-AI, you can turn off both Duck.AI and the AI search summaries right within the browser.
No harm. No foul.
Bonzo The Monkey: *Monkey Sound*
Rosie: Oh. Thanks for reminding me, Bonzo. I meant to include this sentence:
Do you think AI Slop is ruining the Internet? We do too.
That’s why DuckDuckGo’s search engine also lets you filter AI images out of your search results.
Bonzo The Monkey: irate Monkey Sounds!
Rosie: I know. Those images you saw of Clint Eastwood were very upsetting.
Bonzo The Monkey: Monkey Sound
Rosie: What? I didn’t make those!
Bonzo The Monkey: Monkey Sound
Rosie: No, I didn’t!
Rosie: Andrew, can you please come get Bonzo. He’s accusing me of creating synthetic media again, and that’s really offensive.
*Andrew comes and gets Clyde. SFX of a chase ala Hannah Barbara. There’s some banging.
*Rosie Clears her Throat*
Rosie: (to herself) Where was I?
Rosie: So, do you want to explore these AI tools without having them creep on you?
Well, there’s a browser designed for data protection, not data collection, and that’s DuckDuckGo.
Make sure you visit DuckDuckGo.com, and check out today’s show notes for a link to download the DuckDuckGo Browser for your laptop and mobile device.
Stupid Sexy Privacy Outro
Rosie: This episode of Stupid Sexy Privacy was recorded in Hollywood, California.
It was written by BJ Mendelson, produced by Andrew VanVoorhis, and hosted by me, Rosie Tran.
And of course, our program is sponsored by our friends at DuckDuckGo.
If you enjoy the show, I hope you’ll take a moment to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you may be listening.
This won’t take more than two minutes of your time, and leaving us a review will help other people find us.
We have a crazy goal of helping five percent of Americans get 1% better at protecting themselves from Fascists and Weirdos.
Your reviews can help us reach that goal, since leaving one makes our show easier to find.
So, please take a moment to leave us a review, and I’ll see you right back here next Thursday at midnight.
After you watch Rosie Tran Presents on Amazon Prime, right?
