About The Cyber Show

We interview people and research current affairs to get to the truth about technology and talk about it in words everyone can understand. We try to create intelligent and relaxed conversations that have technical depth and genuinely useful insights on cybersecurity, society, business, government and culture. The show aims for a humane and multi-dimensional approach to technology in the public interest via a unique blend of technics, psychology, philosophy, politics and the arts. We're hot on digital rights, personal cybersecurity and fighting technofascism, and we're so often far ahead of the times … you heard it here first.

This site and everything on it is made by humans. We don't do "AI". You probably shouldn't either if you don't understand what it is.

Built to the best 1990s standards of minimalism. Simple styling designed to work on text-only browsers with moderate internet capabilities. No JavaScript. No tracking. No ads. No cookies. No likes. No dickovers. No favourites. No subscriptions. No comments. No replies. No technofascist shitfuckery. All files are trivially downloadable. We also run a capsule that mirrors the site in Geminispace. Built with Emacs in Org-Mode as the Good Lord intended. Hosted in the UK by Bytemark and in Germany by Hetzner.

Cyber Show is an English language podcast and blog, but it has an international audience. The show appeals to a range of ages and cultures/identities. It speaks on issues experienced by people all around the globe.

The show has been a growing in popularity among technology media consumers since March 2023. We've produced over 60 episodes and many long-form analytical articles.

"Diverse in their world views and politics, Helen and Andy unite in a passionate, deeply critical quest to understand our technological society - it's potential for peace and humanity, and it's tragic failings."

Helen Plews is a BCS examiner and auditor in cybersecurity. She is an author, researcher, journalist and performing artist. Helen has an MSc in Cyber Security Engineering, BA hons and has worked as an IT support engineer in the creative industry. Security speciality: Vendor Malware Expert Thesis 2021: "Is Vendor Malware Present in Solid State Storage Devices Available Through E-commerce?"

Andy Farnell: Computer scientist, professor, writer, hacker, philosopher. Creator of Procedural Audio. Author of Designing Sound and Digital Vegan. A writer for the Times Higher and The Skeptic.

The show is "multi-media" and so is produced in audio format as a radio/podcast, a blog with written content, a TV/video chat and interview form, and as a live stage event where we do public speaking events that invite audience participation and questions.

A central tag-line is "Cybersecurity for everyone". We promote the key ideas of 'Civic Cyber Security', 'Digital Self-Defence' and 'Digital Rights'. Amongst our perennial themes are:

• Technology dependency and addiction
• Democracy, representation, governance
• Privacy and Digital Dignity
• Civic Resilience
• Software Freedom
• Protection of Children Online
• Technology in Education
• Leadership and innovation
• Snooping CCTV and Surveillance State
• Women in Tech
• Labour Relations and Workplace Conditions
• Tech in Entertainments
• Tech and the Environment
• Development of "Artificial Intelligence"
• Self-sufficiency, tech autonomy, grow your own
• Deepfakes, trust, truth and epistemology
• Cyberwar and defence topics
• International relations, trade, tech power
• Resilience, planning, preparation
• Digital sovereignty and fighting monopoly

The Cyber Show advances digital literacy and common rights. We support full digital choice and civic participation within the technological society through free open source software and intelligence for all citizens. We champion womens' and minority rights in tech, and oppose digital privilege, division and inequity in the age of Big Tech, surveillance capitalism and growing technofascism.

We value education, so try to make complex ideas accessible to a wide audience, to provoke thoughtful and challenging reactions while avoiding doom and pessimism.

We value humane technology, intelligence amplification "IA" in place of artificial intelligence "AI", and peaceful innovation that empowers the varied and many, not just the incumbent few.

We use humane and sustainable technology. The Cyber Show is made using Free Open Source Software. We do not use products by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta. No "AI" is used in any part of our production.

In the pipeline are "In the Chair" interviews with prominent tech thinkers, analysis of parliamentary political bills, a "parents and kids" series that gives voice to the family, a "Cyber-Nanas" feature for issues affecting older generations, "Cyber show on the go" episodes combine travel and health with technology talk. We have deeper academic/philosophical episodes for "Reflections" that delve further into computer science, programming, research papers and hacker culture.

Both regular presenters come from earlier careers in professional media production. We've RAP and Sony award-winning skills from BBC Radio 1, film and AAA games, and music production on the Bristol hip-hop scene for bands like Massive Attack.

The show relies on a circle of diverse talent with a team of writer-presenters and contributors in the background who are practising developers, ethical hackers, teachers and cyber security professionals… plus the odd Nobel prize-winner. The crew are multi-skilled, equally at home on stage, in the studio, behind the camera, mixing-desk, microphone, writing code or hacking in the server room. Regular guest presenters, writers and advisors are from accomplished media and professional backgrounds.

We are from the South of England, in the counties of Dorset and Hampshire. We and our families live, work and play in the area around Southampton, Winchester, Bournemouth and Salisbury. We like to get out, so many of our shows are filmed against the beaches and forests of this beautiful part of the world.