With the US midterm elections looming and our own state elections on the horizon, how is technology shaping the way we vote? And how might it impact democracy?

We hear from fact-checkers, internet researchers and cybersecurity experts about AI-generated political deepfakes, election disinformation, social media algorithms, and the hazards of online voting technology.

GUESTS:

• Cory Alpert, former White House staffer, and researcher at Monash University.
• Lorenn Ruster, researcher, advisor and consultant at the ANU Leadership and Complexity Lab.
• Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University.
• Maryanne Taouk, ABC Verify.
• Dr Erica Mealy, Interim Discipline Lead at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
• Seamus Byrne, former technology journalist, and PhD research candidate with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Automated Decision Making & Society.
• Vanessa Teague, CEO of Thinking Cybersecurity.

*This episode is an amalgamation of the most interesting conversations we've had about democracy and technology over the last year. If you'd like to revisit these conversations, they can be found here, here, here and here.

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

AI is making it easier than ever to take software apart and build a copy. We look at what reverse engineering involves, and whether it is a good idea to use reverse engineered software?

Ukraine's drone are striking Russian data centres. What role do data centres and bots play in spreading disinformation, and what would taking their data centres offline achieve?

Finally, Theranos is back in the spotlight with the new documentary You Can See Everything. So has the tech world has learned anything, including how to weigh a new venture developed by her husband?

GUESTS:

• Erica Mealy, technology reporter for The Guardian Australia
• Seamus Byrne, PhD research candidate with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Automated Decision Making & Society

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

We expect to be tracked online, but increasingly we're being watched in real life too. Strangers in the street are wearing "pervert" glasses, cameras can follow us through shopping centres, and WA Police have rolled out live facial recognition cameras. In this special episode, how much surveillance is too much? And could Australia follow the US down the path of Flock-style policing? 

Plus, how can we protect ourselves from this data collection, and can we rely on privacy law to keep up?

GUESTS:

• Josh Taylor, technology reporter for The Guardian Australia.
• Tom Sulston, Head of Policy at Digital Rights Watch.

------------

You might also like:

• Our episode looking at how much our devices know about us, with a former white hat hacker: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/downloadthisshow/lg-tvs-streaming-boxes-internet-hygiene-refresher/107094484
• Our episode about what Australia's proposed Privacy Act reforms mean for the tech you use: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/downloadthisshow/privacy-act-reforms-smart-glasses-anthropic-testing-break/107042866

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

AI agents are popping up everywhere: Facebook, OpenAI, Google. Meanwhile, tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman are warning these agents could end humanity. So, how much of this is a marketing tool, and what threat do AI agents actually pose?

We'll return to the basics: what are AI agents, and how much should you be trusting them with? What happens if your AI agent, say... hacks into Medicare?

Plus, deepfakes are distorting the Victorian election. What are deepfakes, how do you know you've seen them, and how are they legal in an election campaign?

GUESTS:

• Dr Lorenn Ruster, senior research fellow at the ANU Leadership & Complexity Lab.
• Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University, and Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre for Excellence for the Digital Child.

------------

You might also like:

• Our episode about the social media platform for AI agents, Moltbook. We also cover the dead internet theory: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/downloadthisshow/more-bots-than-people-dead-internet-theory/106256520
• Our episode with the highlights of Melbourne Games Week. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/downloadthisshow/roblox-child-safety-esafety-commissioner/107067976

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Technology helped get us into the climate crisis. Could it also get us out?

Bringing extinct species back to life, seeding clouds to control the weather, and cleaning up nuclear energy are just some of the "techno fixes" hawked as solutions to our biggest environmental problems. But at what cost?

And if we are entering an era where technology can reshape the planet, who gets to decide how it’s used, and how do the rest of us get a say?

GUEST:

• Richard King, author of Here Be Monsters, which asks is technology reducing our humanity; and Brave New Wild which asks can technology save the planet.

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Are rental applications asking for less personal information now? How safe is your data on 2Apply? And how has 2Apply responded to OAIC's concerns about data privacy?

In April, the Privacy Commissioner called out rental technology platforms, especially 2Apply, for collecting "excessive personal information". So, in our The Renter Algorithm special episodes, we investigated how renters' personal information is being used to create 'risk profiles'*, the power imbalance created by this data collection, and how we got to this point in the first place.

2Apply itself didn't replied when we reached out for comment. But they have now. So, what do they have to say?

Download's special episodes on rental technology platforms can be found here:

• Episode 1: The invisible system judging tenants
• Episode 2: Dark patterns and the illusion of choice

Samantha Floreani's article on one of the key changes made since our episodes went to air is here. Our recent episode on the proposed Privacy Act updates is here.

*Since reaching out, 2Apply has clarified they do not use the auto-generated risk profiles we talk about in the special episodes.

GUEST:

• Matt McGown, Chief Product Officer at real estate software company Reapit (2Apply's parent company).

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

What impact is reading on your Kobo or Kindle having on your brain? As AI turns up in writing, reviewing and literary prizes, how do we decide what's genuinely human creativity? And how is the Australian publishing industry changing as a result of BookTok, Bookstagram and Goodreads?

GUESTS:

• Anna Burkey, CEO of Australia Reads.
• Bec Kavanagh, senior tutor in creative writing and publishing at the University of Melbourne, and former bookseller.

Bec & Anna's book recommendations:

• Anna says Jaclyn Moriarty who wrote Time Travel for Beginners (2026) has an incredible way with words.
• Bec prefers works in translation (writing translated from one language to another) as well as short fiction writers. She says Rita Bullwinkle's Headshot (2025) was phenomenal, and that Dahlia de la Cerda's Reservoir Bitches (2024) is top of her TBR list.

Voting is still open for the ABC Radio National's Top100 Books countdown. You can vote for your favourite Australian books here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/top-100-books-2026/106621398

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

It's not just phones. How much do our TVs, streaming boxes, and browsers know?

This week, we look at research that suggests some LG TVs may be gathering more information about our viewing habits than we realised. Plus, there's a streaming box promising free access to subscription services. Is it too good to be true? And how much does it know about me?

And, a former white-hat hacker gives us an internet hygiene refresher. Is public wifi risky? Can I save my passwords in my browser? And does multi-factor authentication actually work?

GUESTS:

• Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson, AAP specialist reporter.
• Alex Hope, professional ethical hacker and cybersecurity expert.

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The eSafety Commissioner has accepted a court-enforceable plan from Roblox to address child safety concerns after questions were raised about whether the platform was meeting its obligations under Australia's Online Safety Act. We'll unpack what parents need to know.

Also on the show, Microsoft is putting time limits on its Xbox Cloud Gaming subscribers. What is cloud gaming, and what does this tell us about the future of digital ownership?

Plus, Melbourne International Games Week returns from 2-11 October. Is it worth going?

GUESTS:

• Edmond Tran, managing editor of This Week in Video Games
• Gemma Driscoll, video game commentator and host of Good Game Spawn Squad.

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Australia's proposed Privacy Act reforms are some of the boldest changes to privacy law we've seen in years. How could it change the tech we use every day? And does this mean Australia is setting a new global privacy standard, or catching up to the rest of the world?

Also on the program, one of Australia's spiciest privacy debates has been the use of wearable cameras. The e-Safety Commissioner has proposed that smart glasses should have an automatic blurring feature. How easy would that be to implement? Would it change the effectiveness of the glasses?

And, there are now cameras in toothbrushes! Specifically, Dyson has just announced an AI-powered toothbrush that helps users water floss their teeth. Will this revamp oral health tech, or is it just another bizarre gadget?

GUESTS:

• Alice Clarke, freelance tech journalist and author of the Through The Looking Glass Substack.
• Karin Verspoor, Dean of the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University.

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Drones went from being flying cameras to autonomous weapons within a handful of years. Our guest, Cory Alpert, explains what he's seen on the front lines of Ukraine's drone war, and why drone warfare is changing international conflict forever.

Also in this episode, we check in on how drones might be used elsewhere: exploring caves on the Moon, patrolling beneath the ocean and, of course, delivering dinner.

How much of this future is Australia actually ready for? 

GUESTS:

• Cory Alpert, researcher at the University of Melbourne and former Biden-era White House staffer. He's also spent the last few months in Ukraine.
• Leigh Stark, technology journalist at Pickr.com.au.

------------

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Burramattagal, Darug, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri peoples.

------------

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.