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Tech Gets Real

David Meyer: Technology Journalist
Tech Gets Real
Latest episode

45 episodes

  • Tech Gets Real

    EU mass surveillance: New data retention opinion has big implications

    2026/09/04 | 12 mins.
    Europe’s attitude towards data retention – seeing it as mass surveillance anytime people’s information is indiscriminately collected and stored – may be changing, judging from a new opinion from the chief adviser to the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/


    REFERENCES:

    Digital Rights Ireland ruling https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/affair?sort=AFF_NUM-DESC&searchTerm=%2522C%252D293%252F12%2522&publishedId=C-293%2F12

    Tele2 Sverige / Watson ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62015CJ0203

    La Quadrature du Net I ruling https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/affair?lang=en&sort=AFF_NUM-DESC&searchTerm=%2522c%252D511%252F18%2522&publishedId=c-511%2F18

    Irish Garda-Dwyer ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62020CJ0140

    German SpaceNet ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62019CJ0793

    La Quad II ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62021CJ0470

    Szpunar’s opinion in the present case (Académie Fiscale) https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/jurisprudence?sort=DOC_DATE-DESC&searchTerm=%2522C%252D661%252F24%2522&publishedId=C-661%2F24
  • Tech Gets Real

    Who decides when your smart devices die?

    2026/08/27 | 9 mins.
    We’re used to manufacturers leaving smart devices buggy or completely abandoning them for various reasons. But AI is now proving useful for reverse-engineering firmware – which clearly presents big cybersecurity risks as well as opportunities for taking real ownership of one’s own possessions – and new European laws also promise to force manufacturers to take longevity more seriously.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/

    REFERENCES:

    The Guardian on European heatwave deaths https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/25/at-least-35000-excess-deaths-europe-back-to-back-heatwaves

    Chaz Schlarp’s blogpost on reverse-engineering peripherals https://schlarp.com/posts/everything-i-own-owned/

    Tech Radar on Spotify Car Thing’s revival https://www.techradar.com/audio/four-years-after-its-untimely-demise-spotify-car-thing-is-back-for-free-and-with-absolutely-no-help-from-the-streaming-giant-itself

    Mira on GitHub https://github.com/mira-thing/mira-releases/releases#release-v1.1.0

    European Commission on Right to Repair Directive https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/right-repair-new-consumer-rights-easy-and-attractive-repairs-2026-07-31_en

    Cyber Resilience Act https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/cyber-resilience-act

    My ISMG article on Cyber Resilience Act guidance https://www.bankinfosecurity.net/iot-sector-given-final-eu-cyber-resilience-act-guidance-a-32349
  • Tech Gets Real

    Can the AI industry slow down?

    2026/07/29 | 10 mins.
    In the wake of OpenAI’s accidental hack of Hugging Face, over 1,000 luminaries from the AI industry have called for an international agreement on slowing down the pace of AI development – signatories include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. That kind of deal is unlikely. But without it, unconstrained capitalism won’t allow any company to slow down unilaterally.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:
    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/

    REFERENCES:

    Hugging Face post-mortem on OpenAI incident https://huggingface.co/blog/agent-intrusion-technical-timeline

    Announcement of AI Kill Switch Act bill https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-lieu-and-moran-introduce-bill-require-kill-switch-ai-systems-can

    Pacing the Frontier petition https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/

    Wikipedia article on previous call for an AI development pause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pause_Giant_AI_Experiments:_An_Open_Letter

    Reuters on suspicious activity of OpenAI agents https://www.reuters.com/business/its-ai-agent-spent-days-hacking-company-sources-say-openai-did-not-notice-week-2026-07-24/
  • Tech Gets Real

    The US and China's open-source AI showdown is coming

    2026/07/21 | 16 mins.
    China’s AI companies have become a huge threat to their US rivals with their more open models, with the likes of Kimi K3, GLM-5.2 and Qwen 3.8 now almost rivalling Anthropic and OpenAI’s best efforts. The Trump administration will soon need to make a decision about how or whether to try to control those Chinese models and the open-source AI movement in general – and China will need to consider whether the many benefits of open AI are worth the risks.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change, presented from a European perspective. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    REFERENCES:

    Reuters on US-China AI talks https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-china-hold-ai-talks-september-sources-say-2026-07-21/

    Hugging Face on its hacking incident https://huggingface.co/blog/security-incident-july-2026

    The Diplomat on the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization https://thediplomat.com/2026/07/chinas-new-ai-club-the-world-artificial-intelligence-cooperation-organization/

    Xi Jinping’s open AI speech http://english.scio.gov.cn/topnews/2026-07/18/content_118605932.html

    Financial Times on China considering open AI controls https://www.ft.com/content/6049a031-9e9b-464c-97bb-414da04d5a6a?syn-25a6b1a6=1

    Thinking Machines Lab on its Tinker release https://thinkingmachines.ai/news/introducing-inkling/

    Ben Thompson’s Stratechery post on the US’s choices
    https://stratechery.com/2026/whos-afraid-of-chinese-models/

    David Sacks vs Dean Ball https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/2078826291638522127
  • Tech Gets Real

    Europe doesn’t need an “internet passport” for age verification

    2026/07/14 | 13 mins.
    It looks like there will be EU-wide age restrictions for social media and other online services that might have content or designs that are unsuitable for kids. Some claim the European Commission is about to roll out an “internet passport” to enforce this, but that’s a misreading of the situation. Thanks to a major report that just landed, we are getting more details of what we really should expect from Europe’s online child safety crackdown.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change, presented from a European perspective. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:
    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/

    REFERENCES:

    Ursula von der Leyen speech on age verification legislation https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_26_1590

    Child safety online report https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/d833504d-5ec3-4fac-945f-38e7d0bd5326_en?filename=Special-panel-report.pdf

    “Summary” of the report https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/4c5d55f1-9072-4bb9-a263-094461525ca6_en?filename=Child-Safety-Online-summary.pdf

    Interface page on national age verification plans https://www.interface-eu.org/publications/social-media-age-gating-eu

    Le Monde on European Commission chastising France https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/07/06/eu-tells-france-to-amend-social-media-ban-law_6755209_7.html

    Euronews on viral “internet passport” claims https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/13/no-the-eu-is-not-about-to-censor-access-to-the-internet

    Guardian on Australia exploring VPN restrictions https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/11/most-popular-porn-sites-now-have-age-checks-for-australians-but-online-watchdog-to-assess-vpn-loopholes
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About Tech Gets Real
Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. In TGR, I provide short, jargon-free guides to help you navigate the new AI era.
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