It feels like every time I find a podcast about security/networking/technology the hosts end up saying some pretty off-color stuff, or I look them up and they also host right wing podcasts. Are there any that are more leftist, hosted by LGBT peeps, or at least not actively bigoted ?
Odd. I have never found a tech podcast that is right wing. All of them i have ever heard are done by lefties
Same, I would actually be curious to listen to a right wing tech podcast as the two concepts clash so hard in my brain.
Not specifically about podcasts, but I think there’s a minority (?) of privacy/security enthusiasts who are pretty overtly right-wing libertarians, often because those technologies are anti-establishment. Think Luke Smith. I’ve also met people in the tech sphere (both on the I love Big Tech as well as FOSS side) who have very traditionalist, borderline right-wing opinions.
There’s a dude who does Linux videos.
Kind of went off the rails one day after one of the really bad mass shootings happened and he got all worked up about gun control.
I think this was actually after Trump was elected. Might have been the Vegas shooting. I remember because it was also when DuckDuckGo was getting shit from these people about not promoting Russian propaganda, which “interferes with free speech” or whatever the fuck one of their talking points is.
Actually, it might not have been after one of the shootings. But it was definitely around the time these people were complaining about DDG (and I think that was a while after the Vegas shooting) and it kind of devolved into complaining about gun control.
I didn’t really watch him much, but I haven’t bothered since. Can’t even remember the channel name. Some bullshit. Dude was obsessed with xmonad.
It’s distrotube
He also made videos complaining about GNOME’s code of conduct and Mozilla’s suggestion to deplatform Nazis.
There’s very much a Peter Thiel-esque type of libertarian tech bro - think the crypto fanatics, the Elon Musk fanboys, etc. Or, tangentially, how New Atheism collapsed in part because some women had the audacity to point out that sexual harassment is a thing. On a similar note, just go onto any online video game and openly announce yourself to be gay or a woman.
Geek culture and its associated cultures have always had an undercurrent of sexism, probably not unrelated to the fact that they’re historically dominated by somewhat awkward or lonely men. That feeling of male angst and isolation is absolutely something that the Right has been able to successfully exploit. Take Gamergate, for instance.
They’re really ideologies orthogonal to each other:
- Technologist/Luddite
- Progressive/Conservative
- Anarchist/Libertarian/Statist/Authoritarian
- Communist/Socialist/Capitalist
The “right wing tech”, in a US-centric definition, would likely fall under “conservative libertarian capitalist technologist”, which is a possible combination.
I’m still pretty new into looking, this post was inspired by listening to Self-Hosted and one of the hosts has a “news” podcast and one of the more recent episodes was recommending other creators, which were like Megyn Kelly and right wing people :( There were also a few YouTubers that I tried to get into to learn networking but some of them had rant videos about women and stuff. I maybe could have worded it as also like…not corporate-worshipping codebro type podcasts? If that makes sense. There seems to be a lot of libertarian types in computer networking and I just wanted some recommendations by people who have been listening longer than I have.
Jesus you are soft.
Okay “communism is on the same level as nazism” Nicholas 😐 at least I’m not triggered by emails
Lmfao you immediately dug through my post history. If that’s not hilarious I don’t know what is.
When Noah was on some of the Jupiter Broadcasting podcasts, he had a number of right-wing editorialized viewpoints during discussions. Chris didn’t seem to bite much on them (at least, at the time), so I’m guessing Chris didn’t care for it much (speculating here). I stopped listening simply because of off-handed comments I’d hear Noah make. It didn’t happen that often, but it was enough to put me off listening. I honestly suspect Noah is more center than right-wing, but I’d much rather he just kept on topic and checked his political leanings at the door.
Now that it’s Chris and other hosts, Linux Action News and Linux Unplugged might be good ones to check out, if you’re into Linux.
Yeah I think it was just Noah. Chris hosted a news podcast for a while that treaded into some conspiracy areas, but wasn’t right-wing.
Either way I find their current setup pretty good at staying away from politics unless they’re directly related to the technology conversation at hand.
Darknet Diaries. It’s more of a “stories in the web security space” kind of podcast. But I have not noticed any political leaning in the host so far.
Highly recommend it. I binged all existing episodes last year.
This is my favorite podcast ever. So good.
Start from some more recent episodes like around ep 60 or 70.
The very first ones, like 1 through 10, I think he was still trying to find his groove then.
Yeah, but the earlier episodes also has some good stories, mostly just less production quality
Yep. Darknet Diaries, Cyber, and Malicious Life are all good.
deleted by creator
I love Laporte’s personality, although he’s not strong technically. I feel like 90% of schtick on TechTV was to act like a confused grandpa while others did the explaining.
But it’s a pretty good trick for running a balanced, and not overly technical, video stream.
deleted by creator
Thank you for so many suggestions and taking the time to write up descriptions, really appreciate it 😊
I 100% recommend TWIT, best tech podcast I listen to.
I usually listed at 1.2x speed with gap skipping on, because they can talk a bit slow.
Really great for weekly overviews of tech news, and excellent guests.
I occasionally listen to twit and my only major complaints are: 1) Leo interrupts his guests too much, and 2) whenever Amy Web or Owen Stone come on I have to skip the episode…
I’ll second Security Now!
Listened to it for years but kind of lost track when I stopped having to commute. Kind of miss it really but I don’t find as much time for podcasts these days sadly.
TrashFuture
Tech Won’t Save Us
^^^ both of these are what you’re looking for OP
Links for the lazy:
Oooo thank you !
Trashfuture is the best tech podcast
Alice on there is also on “Well there’s your problem” a podcast about engineering disasters.
A podcast on engineering disasters that is also itself an engineering disaster.
Really the whole Trashfuture extended universe is fantastic
Some favorites of mine are The WAN Show, Command Line Heroes, Darknet Diaries, Linux Unplugged, Destination Linux and Surveillance Report All of these cover a lot of cool areas in tech, and I have never heard any right-wing views (or really any political views) voiced in any of these.
I used to listen to Linux Unplugged but it feels like the crypto crap took over creative control.
It’s all let’s read some crypto paid messages. Then a taking point. More crypto messages. Here is a part where we say the names of things wrong because the crypto messages told us to.
It is creeping into the self hosted show too.
FWIW, the boosts are typically in their own section that you can skip if you like. I put chapter markers in every episode to make it easy for you.
Those boosts are helping to keep the network solvent by diversifying income. As advertisers are getting more skittish, income needs to come from somewhere. None of us can afford to work for free, and there’s already one show that would be completely dead without boosts.
They also function similarly to feedback. Yes, there’s plenty of shenanigans, but Linux Unplugged has always been about creating an entertaining talk show kind of vibe. Linux Action News is more the serious one. Unfortunately, that’s on hiatus because of lack of sponsors.
Chris does try to tailor the boost segments per-show so they fit with the theme. Self Hosted, for example, keeps boosts more topical on average. It’s also worth mentioning that we haven’t removed email feedback - this isn’t pay-to-play.
Source: I edit Linux Unplugged, Self Hosted, Office Hours, and Coder Radio.
I listen to Linux Unplugged and I also am not a fan of the crypto stuff. I remember they actually addressed the whole crypto thing in an office hours episode, which I found incredibly disappointing as Chris essentially said crypto is a scam and we hate it, except for bitcoin. He talks about how long he’s been using bitcoin and how you should trust him because he knows what he’s talking about. It was very patronizing, and I took a break from unplugged for a while because of it.
I still listen to it because it’s the only free Linux podcast I’m aware of, and I understand the need to make money so I can deal with the boosts for now.
Do you listen to risky.biz?
I haven’t, but I’ve seen it in my Spotify recommendations. I also subscribed to the newsletter, though I haven’t had much time to read it much.
Brad and Will Made a Tech Pod - https://techpod.content.town/
Brad Shoemaker of Gamespot/GiantBomb/Nextlander and Will Smith of Tested.com and several other things (but not THAT Will Smith) both dive into tech issues and are more to the left. They also have a separate FOSS Pod.
Came here to recommend this
Seconded, one of my favorite podcasts.
It’s been a bit since I got an episode up but you could check my podcast - https://shellsharks.com/podcast. It’s tech / infosec-themed. I’m pretty sure I take a lot of jabs in the other direction haha.
Are you telling me that Malicious Life and The Darknet Diaries are right-wing? Admittedly, I haven’t listened to either in quite a while, so something might have been said since.
Both are solid podcasts and I’ve never heard an ounce of leaning politically from either.
Darknet Diaries is great, I think I got a little turned off by how the host and a guest were talking about camgirls on an episode. Like it was framed as the patrons deserved privacy and protection, but not the sex workers. I haven’t listened to the other one but I’ll give it a try!
Maybe not what you’re looking for, but Security Now! seems to fit that bill. TWiT has a bunch of other shows as well, covering a range of topics. I can honestly say I’ve never encountered any bigoted hosts or guests on the shows I’ve listened to.
Agree completely about Security Now - I’ve been listening since the beginning (like 15+ years now?) and I honestly don’t remember Steve Gibson saying much political stuff. Leo is obviously pretty liberal, but he normally keeps a lid on anything political as well, unless it is tech industry specific. (Full disclosure - I am fairly liberal so maybe I’m oblivious)
They do sometimes get on the weirdest not-security-related rants. Like a number of shows a few years back talking about melatonin.
Not a deal breaker IMO, just consider not taking medical advice from a computer security podcast. :)
Yes, they do go on some tangents occasionally. I used to think it a bit strange but have grown to like it. A number of years ago Steve went on this Vitamin D research kick and he compared taking supplements versus sunbathing nude (imagining him doing that is hilarious in its own right) and getting his levels checked after each trial. The discussion on this made me decide to start taking Vitamin D supplements and I feel like that has been a benefit.
The Melatonin thing comes from a different research project Steve did to find the “perfect sleep supplement formula” and he experimented for months with different ingredients to come up with what he contends will help him sleep and help him go back to sleep after nighttime bathroom visits. I tried some of the weird ingredients and it did help, but I didn’t stick with that. Even got my wife to try it. I’ve also discovered some great Sci-if authors from their book reviews.
I think they go on these tangents to keep the show fresh after 15 years. I believe that Security Now is TWIT’s most successful show but I wonder how they are doing overall.
It is quite good but anyone new to the show should know Steve plans to retire from the show after I think he said 999 or 1000. That’s a little over a year from now. Hopefully they’ll get someone capable to fill in.
Ha. I haven’t been a regular listener for probably a couple years now. He’s been saying that for a while, but I always assumed/guessed he was mostly joking. Has he stated officially that’s when he’ll be retiring?
No official announcement that I know of, he’s been pretty consistent about it and it seems Leo has given up trying to convince him to stay.
It might be too much fluff for you, but the Vergecast is hosted by a trio of flaming liberals. I avoid the website these days, but I honestly think they do a better a job with the podcast.
I have listened since the time it was the Engadget podcast, then This Is My Next, then the Vergecast. Yes, it’s fluff and not deep technical info, but it’s really useful for keeping up with the overall zeitgeist of the tech industry. Also it’s often funny. It’s a nice, refreshing thing to listen to while making coffee on a Friday.
I agree. They go from technical to policy and all points in between, and they have senses of humour… I miss hearing Deiter Bohn, but such is life.
I really like Vergecast.
Welcome to the vergecast, the flagship podcast of left wing propaganda
In all seriousness though, this is one of the podcasts I tune in to religiously. It’s just too fun and serves as a great high level of “what’s up in big tech” even when my brain is mush.
I was just reading an article on The Verge, and let me tell you, it was not pleasant. Bad site to go to on a mobile browser without adblock.
There Are No Girls On The Internet is fantastic.
Thank you!! I also found 2 girls one podcast, it’s a lot of internet culture stuff and they have an episode about Lemmy
Oh nice!! I’ll have to check that on out.
Hanselminutes by Scott Hanselman. Covers a variety of tech topics. He’s kinda like the Mr. Rodgers of programming and tech podcasts.
MKBHD has a good podcast called the Waveform Podcast. It doesn’t go super deep into the tech but its good. I like to watch the video podcast on youtube while i eat
That’s nothing to do with security or networking. It’s entirely around consumer tech.
Oh yeah whoops i only read the title
I think techwontsave.us is want you didn’t know you want, but maybe you’ll enjoy it. It has some really interesting guests and topics.
