Feminism, Reproductive Rights and Tech

A conversation with Maha Atal

Aaaand….. the Anti-Dystopians are back for Season 4! If you missed us these past few months, never fear: there are lots of great episodes coming up.

To kick off the new season, Maha Atal— an assistant professor at the University of Glasgow — is back to discuss feminism, reproductive rights and technology. I ask her: how has the legal landscape of abortion and reproductive rights changed in the US since the overturning of Roe v Wade, and what are technology companies doing about it? Does your GP know who their cloud computing provider is (and do they have access to your sensitive health data)? How do the US and UK feminist movements differ? And why is feminism, trans rights and the right to bodily autonomy on the frontline against fighting fascism today?

As always, you can listen to it here or subscribe here (Spotify) or here (Apple Podcasts). If you like us, please rate, review and share the Anti-Dystopians to help us get new listeners.

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Further reading from the episode:

• Facebook turned over chat messages between mother and daughter now charged over abortion

• Police are prosecuting​ abortion seekers using their digital data — and Facebook and Google help them do it

• NHS hospitals told to share patient data with US ‘spy-tech’ firm Palantir

• Malcom Harris’s excellent new book Palo Alto

• Fraser MacDonald on Kate Forbes and the Free Church of Scotland

• When Cis Women Attack Trans Rights, Fascists Win

• And don’t forget to check out the previous Anti-Dystopians episode with Maha:

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What I’ve been reading

• Twitter basically cutting off access to its API through exorbitant pricing, affecting researchers

• Ransomware Group Claims Hack of Amazon's Ring, blackmailing Ring by threatening to release data

• If ‘self-driving’ Teslas are defective, why are regulators letting them stay on the road?

• Colorado Catholic group spent millions to identify priests using gay dating apps

• If you want another excellent podcast recommendation, I’d highly suggest listening to William Dalrymple and Anita Anand’s Empire podcast. Especially the episodes about the British East India Company if you’re concerned about corporate power!

• Barricaded Siblings Turn to TikTok While Defying Court Order to Return to Father They Say Abused Them

• Absolutely mad story about the Shasta County Fair and police department traveling across the state in search of a little girl’s goat. Do read it. You’ll be horrified (and maybe vegetarian?) afterwards

• Daniel Radcliffe talks to trans and non-binary kids about their experiences and trans-allyship

• The only trans op-ed that had me in stitches: The Onion: It Is Journalism’s Sacred Duty To Endanger The Lives Of As Many Trans People As Possible

• I was on a panel with Anti-Dystopians guest Jennifer Cobbe about whether Big Tech are the new colonialists at the Cambridge Festival. Do check it out.

  • Or, if that’s too long, you can read my short interview here

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Tweet(s) of the Week

On Silicon Valley Bank collapse . . .

parker lyons @tweetsbyparker

the libertarianism leaving VC’s bodies when their banks default

Jacob Silverman @SilvermanJacob