Privacy Talks: Interview with Micah Lee from The Intercept

This interview first aired on September 25, 2020

Timestamp Links & Questions:

[0:50] – Could you tell us a little bit about what you do in your position as Director of Information Security at First Look Media, the organization behind The Intercept?

[1:39] – How and why was First Look Media Started?

[2:40] – Could you walk us through what steps in your career led you to your current position at First Look  Media?

[5:25] – How do you feel about being characterized as “The Intercept’s digital bodyguard”? Do you have a more preferred way of describing the impact of your work, or is that pretty good?

[5:43] – What kind of security precautions does First Look Media have in place that other bigger media companies might not have?

[7:30] – Do you feel that journalists in general, at The Intercept and elsewhere, have become more tech savvy and/or privacy conscious over the last decade?

[8:14] – Could you tell us a little bit more about what the Freedom of the Press Foundation has been up to since 2013?

[10:27] – On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the United States on freedom of the press right now and if you could also give a number for a year ago?

[15:28] – Why are whistleblowers important? As an extreme example, what might the world be like without whistleblowers?

[16:47] – You mentioned previously that the current administration is continuing the use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers. Do you feel that whistleblower laws around the world are changing for the better or for the worse? And as a sidebar question, do you think that Edward Snowden could ever be pardoned?

[18:40] – You mentioned earlier that you used to contribute for the HTTPS Everywhere extension. What other security and/or privacy related projects are you contributing to now?

[19:57] – How important would you say free and open source software is to the work that we do and the industry in general?

[21:55] – What advice would you give to an aspiring journalist or activist on how to be secure enough to be effective?

[24:14] – What is something you are looking forward to?

To learn more about The Intercept and Micah Lee go to:  https://theintercept.com/staff/micah-lee/
https://micahflee.com/