when the ref’s a robot

Social media has gotten a bad rap over the past decade – we blame it for our growing loneliness, shorter attention spans, and polarized politics. But for incarcerated people, social media can still live up to its original promise of connection. And for those on the outside, contraband cell phones give us an unprecedented look into what life is like behind bars. Dexter talks to Jeremy Busby, an incarcerated journalist, about how social media has helped to force positive changes in jails and prisons, and why he thinks prisons want to ban it. Shout out to the Never Post Podcast and the Freedom of the Press Foundation for connecting us with Jeremy. Check out Never Post episodes at neverpo.st and Freedom of the Press Foundation at freedom.press.  Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Listen + Watch: Check out our episode with Gaby Caplan on tablets in prison: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-review-tablets-in-prisons/id1449757372?i=1000719762318 kill switch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=zrCE7MYWVBgmpWqi See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the high-stakes world of sports, referees have always been under intense scrutiny… but what if tech could take some of the pressure off? Or will we lose something by replacing the referee with a robot? In this episode Dexter talks with Joe Lemire, senior writer at Sports Business Journal, to explore how new technologies like Hawk-Eye are reshaping sports officiating.  Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read:  Joe’s article on automating officiating in sports: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/09/15/how-why-and-whether-to-automate-more-officiating-in-sports-and-what-are-the-trade-offs/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re sharing an episode from another podcast we’re excited about. In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people.  In episode one, we meet Kyle Law and Megan Flores, Evan’s AI agent cofounders, as he puts to the test the claims about an emerging future in which AI employees work alongside — or instead of — humans. Over the course of the season, the three cofounders will grind it out in a sprint that would sound familiar to any start-up founder. They’ll churn out software code, hire interns, and even sit down with investors. But first, they need to come up with a name for their company. And make sure that Kyle and Megan can remember it. Subscribe to Shell Game wherever you get your podcasts. And check out more at shellgame.co. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If it feels like you’re getting more scammy texts in the past few years, you’re not imagining it. Scam texts have exploded since 2020, and the operation behind them has become a massively lucrative industry. Dexter talks to Eric Priezkalns, a self-proclaimed ‘troublemaker’ in the telecommunications world and founder of the website Commsrisk, about the new technology that’s making scam texts easier than ever, what some of the weirder, long-game schemes are after, who’s behind these operations, and if there’s anything we can do to stop them. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read:  Eric’s website Commsrisk: https://commsrisk.com/ Eric’s article on Huang, the boy sold to a Myanmar scam compound: https://commsrisk.com/17-year-old-chinese-girl-accused-of-selling-boyfriend-into-myanmar-scam-compound-slavery/ How to turn off 2g for android: https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/cellular-security/toggle-2g Listen + Watch: Labi Siffre - Bless the Telephone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpy2O6fYiTk  A Tribe Called Quest - Skypager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYc50S23pQY kill switch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=zrCE7MYWVBgmpWqi See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forget building the next app – Silicon Valley’s tech bros are now trying to rebuild themselves. Peptides are the new frontier into biohacking, promising better sleep, sharper focus, and maybe even eternal youth. Dexter talks to Zara Stone, a culture reporter at The San Francisco Standard, about her reporting on the Bay Area’s underground peptide scene, and what happens when tech’s obsession with optimization turns inward.   Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read + Watch:  Zara’s articles: https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/14/everyone-has-chinese-peptide-dealer-now/ https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/30/semen-sleep-syringes-tech-bro-s-manual-living-forever/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few weeks ago on Monday, October 20, a major outage in Amazon Web Services took down a bunch of the Internet. How did an error in one data center in Virginia affect everything from Snapchat and Reddit to ‘smartbeds’ to government services? Dexter talks to Dr. Corinne Cath, a cultural anthropologist and technology researcher, about how the “cloud,” and therefore the Internet, became mostly controlled by 3 big tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – why that puts our democracy at risk, and what we can do to change it. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read + Watch:  Corinne’s op-ed: https://www.techpolicy.press/amazon-cloud-outage-reveals-democratic-deficit-in-relying-on-big-tech/ Our episode on AI and the environment: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kill-switch/id1449757372?i=1000711126940See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Corporate America has bet on AI to make work faster and cheaper. Companies like Meta and Microsoft are laying off employees, hoping it will save them money. But a new study has found that there’s a growing wave of “workslop” and AI is actually making more work for the people left in these organizations. It’s also costing companies millions. Dexter talks with one of the authors of the study, Kate Niederhoffer, to give us an inside look into the details of the study, what advice she has for organizations and individuals dealing with this new technology, and why AI workslop is a symptom of a much bigger problem.   Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read + Watch:  Kate’s paper, AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity:  https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-generated-workslop-is-destroying-productivitySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ICEBlock was an app created to help people report ICE sightings. Then, Apple pulled it from the App Store. But in between those events, there was a semi-public fight over whether the app was actually helpful to immigrants. Dexter talks with security researcher and journalist Micah Lee about why he criticized ICEBlock (calling it “activism theater”), why he still supports the app’s developer in fighting censorship, and what all this means for your ability to use your phone how you want. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read + Watch:  ICEBlock app homepage:https://www.iceblock.app Micah’s blog posts on ICEBlock:  https://micahflee.com/unfortunately-the-iceblock-app-is-activism-theater/ https://micahflee.com/iceblock-handled-my-vulnerability-report-in-the-worst-possible-way/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re chatting to a popular OnlyFans model: no, you’re not. That job was outsourced long ago. Teams of “chatters”, often in the Philippines, are paid to flirt, role-play, and get fans to spend as much money as possible. But now, AI bots are moving in, trained on those same human conversations to mimic intimacy at scale. Dexter talks with reporter Michael Beltran about how AI is moving in on the role of chatters, the global race to cut costs, and what the future of digital labor looks like when even emotional connection can be outsourced.  Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on  IG or Bluesky. Read + Watch:  Michael’s article: https://restofworld.org/2025/onlyfans-ai-dm-bots/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a blind video gamer, the options for the kinds of games you can play are limited. Not only are accessibility features not a standard practice in game development, the tools available right now only go so far. Exploration – a fundamental part of the fun in gaming, especially in an open world game – is often not really possible for blind players in today’s games. Researchers at Columbia University are working to change that. Dexter talks to Brian Smith and Vishnu Nair, who are developing tools for blind and low vision gamers to be able to play exploration-based games that could one day even be applied to a game like Zelda Breath of the Wild. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read + Watch: CEAL at Columbia University: https://ceal.cs.columbia.edu/navstick/ Ross Minor profile in WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/ross-minor-the-blind-leading-the-gamers/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.