logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2017
26m 58s

Internet of Things

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Can we Control the Dark Side of the Internet?

The Internet is the world's most widely used communications tool. It’s a fast and efficient way of delivering information. However it is also quite dumb, neutral, treating equally all the data it passes around the world. From data that forms scientific research papers, the wealth of social media to keep us all connected with friends and relatives, entertainment or material we would rather not see- from political propaganda to horrific violence, the Internet makes no distinction.

Is it time to change that? And can we? In this programme Aleks Krotoski looks at whether it’s possible to use technological fixes to regulate the internet or whether a more political approach is needed to governance of this vital but flawed communications medium.

Picture: Human Hand Using Application on Mobile Phone, Credit: Onfokus

Up next
Aug 31
Women not included: Artificial Intelligence
Dr Ella Hubber and journalist Katie Silver unpack how artificial intelligence is far from neutral, and why that matters. They speak to experts who reveal how some AI is trained with bad data and how this means it can often reflect the same inequalities found in society be that in ... Show More
26m 31s
Aug 24
Women Not Included: Urban Planning
On every street corner, at every bus stop, in every public toilet the message is clear: this city is not built for women. Along with journalist Chhavi Sachdev, Dr Ella Hubber explores how urban design often fails to reflect the realities of women’s lives. They unpack issues like ... Show More
26m 30s
Aug 17
Women Not Included: Safety Equipment
Safety equipment is often designed around an “average” male body and Dr Ella Hubber wants to understand the consequences this has for women. Alongside journalist Candice Bailey and expert voices, we hear how healthcare workers are forced to adapt to PPE never made for them and ho ... Show More
26m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2020
Aleks in Wonderland: Attack of the Zombie Baby Monitors - Episode 3
Can we Control the Dark Side of the Internet? The Internet is the world's most widely used communications tool. It's a fast and efficient way of delivering information. However it is also quite dumb, neutral, treating equally all the data it passes around the world. From data tha ... Show More
28m 56s
May 2012
The Internet of Things
<p>What is the Internet of things? What sort of devices could be linked to the Internet? Could the Internet of things eliminate privacy? Join Jonathan and Chris as they explore a future wherein common objects may communicate with the internet.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad ... Show More
38m 36s
Feb 2018
Do We Need a New Internet?
All around the world, governments are increasingly looking at control of the internet; whether it’s to regulate content, hide or ban content or increase ownership of your data. Is this the opposite of what the internet was originally designed to be - a free, open and uncensored s ... Show More
1h 1m
Mar 2023
Would You Shut Down the Internet, If You Could?
The Internet brings astonishing knowledge, convenience, and communication to modern society. But overall does it make us more or less happy than before we invented it? Rex Williams, host of The Whiskey Tribe, joins to ask: If you could pull the plug on the Internet, forever–would ... Show More
1h 16m
Sep 2023
The Underwater Internet
How does the internet get information from across the planet to your house? While many people might guess it's a matter of satellites and synchronous orbits, they'd only be partially correct -- the vast majority of data zipping around online moves through a network of undersea ca ... Show More
1h 4m
Jul 2023
Who owns the internet of the future? | Ordinary Things
The emergence of data-driven mass surveillance "is threatening to turn privacy into a relic of the 20th century," says the anonymous YouTube creator known as Ordinary Things. Meanwhile, state-funded troll farms are spreading disinformation and curating chaos on platforms meant to ... Show More
19m 55s
Apr 2023
How Entire Countries Can Lose the Internet
Disruptions to the world’s internet cables happen more often than you think: Whether it be ship anchors or animals or saboteurs, cut a few wires in the right places and at nearly the speed of light you can disrupt or shut off the internet for broad populations of people at a time ... Show More
32m 43s
Jul 2016
What's with this "Internet of Things"?
<p>You may have heard about the Internet of Things and not known what the term meant. It's basically a collection of object conected to your life and the internet. We're talking everything from your smart phone to your fitness tracker. Cool stuff, but fraught with privacy issues. ... Show More
1h 2m
Apr 2019
Wisdom
What is happening to us, now that we have access to all the world’s knowledge at our fingertips? If the headlines are to be believed, we are swimming upstream through relentless waves of alternative facts, drowning in an ocean of misinformation. And the internet? It’s the culprit ... Show More
28m 36s
Jun 2020
Aleks in Wonderland: The World Wide Villain - Episode 2
With the coming of the World Wide Web in the 1990s internet access opened up to everybody, it was no longer the preserve of academics and computer hobbyists. Already prior to the web, the burgeoning internet user groups and chatrooms had tested what was acceptable behaviour onlin ... Show More
29m 5s