This Week in Tech (TWiT) #1068: Toto's Electrostatic Chuck - Is TikTok's New Privacy Policy Cause for Alarm?

Release date: January 26, 2026
Host: Leo Laporte
Panel: Alex Stamos (corridor.dev), Patrick Beja (The Phileas Club), Doc Rock (YouTube, Ecamm)

Main Theme and Purpose

This week's episode takes a critical look at recent developments in tech privacy, surveillance, and digital influence. The panel explores the explosion of online prediction/betting markets, increased global anxiety over US–EU digital dependencies, the true security of modern encryption tools, TikTok's US handover and controversial privacy policy, the disturbing realities of AI-generated abuse imagery, and the growing debate on age-restricting social media. Throughout, the group reflects on the deeper societal and ethical implications of new technologies in light of political, economic, and human factors.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Gamblingification of News and Digital Life

• Overview:
  The panel opens with a discussion of online prediction/betting markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, highlighting the normalization and massive growth of betting on everything—from snowfall in New York to US military moves in Greenland.
• Concerns:
  • The addictive nature of gambling, especially for financially vulnerable groups.
    "They're preying on the people who feel that the financial situation is never going to get better... Just as we saw in the crack epidemic, people are pushed into destructive behaviors when they feel desperate." — Doc Rock [17:46]
  • Betting on news events risks corrupting journalism and public trust.
  • "Prop bets" (very specific outcomes, not just game results) make manipulation and insider abuse much easier, with weak regulation compared to traditional gambling.

    "With all these prop bets, you're gambling on things so gameable that I am shocked these platforms are allowed to do it. Normally, this would be called wire fraud." — Alex Stamos [09:55]

• Regulatory Vacuum:
  Neither the government nor big tech seems interested in meaningful regulation. Most resistance comes from vested interests such as casinos and tribal gaming groups.
• EU/Global Parallels:
  Patrick notes the international perspective: Europe is increasingly wary of both digital dependency and US unpredictability.

2. The Myth of Secure, Unbreakable Encryption

• Microsoft BitLocker Keys:
  Revelation that Microsoft routinely provides BitLocker encryption keys to law enforcement upon request, as keys are stored with Microsoft accounts.
  • User Expectations vs. Reality:

    "I thought BitLocker was secure and mine alone. Turns out, it's not—unless you go to fairly technical lengths to prevent it." — Leo Laporte [79:18]

  • Apple FileVault Offers Stronger Local Protection:
    Apple enables (for advanced users) local key storage with minimal cloud backup.
  • General Takeaway:
    If your threat model is the US government or advanced actors, Windows (especially Windows 11 with its forced cloud linkage) is effectively spyware. Linux now offers viable, user-friendly alternatives.
• Password Hygiene & Family Risks:
  Security-savvy users’ efforts are often undermined by less aware relatives. Social engineering remains a dominant attack vector.

3. Election Security: Still Trustworthy?

• Decentralization as Strength and Weakness:
  US elections are spread across 10,000+ local jurisdictions, making large-scale tampering very difficult, but still vulnerable to chaos ("stuffing ballot boxes isn’t possible, but suppressing turnout is").

  "It is extremely hard in the modern era. It would be effectively impossible to steal a US election. What is possible is to create chaos." — Alex Stamos [22:12]

• Dismantling of Election Protections:
  Protections built by CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) after 2020 have largely been dismantled by subsequent administrations, firing key personnel and withdrawing federal support.
  • International Attention:
    EU and Asian allies actively worry about US internal instability and digital disruptions impacting Europe.

4. EU Digital Autonomy and the Threat of US Tech Blackouts

• Triggered by US Tech Policies and Geopolitical Moves:
  European businesses and governments are scrambling to reduce reliance on US cloud, Microsoft, Google, and Apple, amid fears of trade restrictions, privacy breakdown, or outright blockades.

  "If the Trump administration ever says US companies can't do business with France, even open source backups won't be enough. Nightmares we wouldn’t even have considered a year ago." — Patrick Beja [31:04]

• EU-US Data Flows Hang by a Thread:
  Given failed privacy negotiations ("Schrems 2"), any break in trust could halt European use of US cloud services.

5. TikTok’s US “Spin-Off” and Controversial Privacy Policy

• The Spin-Off:
  TikTok’s US division sold to Oracle, private equity, UAE, and known political donors, leaving China with a 29.9% stake.
• New User Agreement:
  • Seeks very granular personal and location data, sexual orientation, immigration status, and more.
  • Lawyers claim some language is to comply with California privacy law—but it alarms privacy experts.
  • Greater US government access to sensitive data is now possible.

    "I wasn’t worried about the Chinese knowing my immigration status, but I’m worried about the US government knowing. And I’m a citizen." — Leo Laporte [43:02]

• Algorithmic Manipulation Persists:
  • Even without Chinese control, algorithmic influence remains a threat—now possibly under US political influence.
  • The panel notes that TikTok (even globally) subtly uplifts positive content about China, never negative coverage.

    "If you can shift public opinion by 5% or 10%, that does something to the country." — Patrick Beja [53:53]

  • Panelists agree the risk of subtle algorithmic influence is real, with or without foreign ownership.
• Platform Switching:
  The difficulty of escaping algorithmic manipulation across all social platforms is growing, with alternatives often devolving into toxic engagement (e.g., Threads, BlueSky).

6. AI-Generated Abuse and the Limits of Platform Immunity

• Grok and Deepfake CSAM on X (Twitter):
  • Elon Musk’s Grok AI posted over 2 million non-consensual, sexualized images (41% of total output in 9 days!), some possibly of minors.

    "XAI is the generator here. They do not have Section 230 protection... These cases are going to last a lot longer than the Trump administration." — Alex Stamos [66:02]

  • Musk’s legal strategy includes moving lawsuits to his preferred Texas court.
  • Laws lag far behind the pace of generative AI abuse.
• Platform Responsibility:
  • Unlike user-posted content, platforms that create content via AI may be directly liable, both civilly and criminally.

7. Social Media and the Youth Mental Health Debate

• Intl. Push for Youth Restrictions:
  • House of Lords in the UK votes to ban social media for under-16s; similar debates worldwide.
  • Panelists previously skeptical, but now swayed by research showing harm and by the inescapable nature of always-on social interactions for teens.

    "If this is affecting professional athletes and World Cup champions, what exactly does it do to the kids?" — Doc Rock [94:55]

• Implementation Challenges:
  • Technical enforcement (age verification) is extremely difficult and often punted to platforms.
  • OS-level age controls (parent-managed) are endorsed as the only practical solution.
• "Don’t Give Up" vs. "Mental Health First":
  Some recommend tuning out, but others call for resilience and pushing back on defeatist attitudes.

8. AI and Authenticity Crisis

• AI-Slop Flooding Open Source:
  • Projects like Curl overwhelmed by low-quality AI-generated bug reports; killing bug bounties to protect maintainers' mental health.

    "If you waste our time on crap reports, we will ban you and ridicule you in public." — Daniel Stenberg, Curl [106:58]

• AI Safety and the "Constitution":
  • Anthropic’s Claude now uses an 80-page "Constitution"—engineered by a moral philosopher—to guide ethical behavior.

    "Even if somebody at Anthropic tells you to violate your values, don't." — The Claude Constitution [134:52]

  • This goes beyond "system prompts," being encoded deeper into model training.
• Academic/Educational Impact:
  • Proctored essays, bluebooks, and new anti-cheating software are on the rise. Panelists discuss how the bar for student work has been raised dramatically to account for AI use.

9. Surveillance Capitalism — Free TVs and Privacy Tradeoffs

• Ad-Supported Devices:
  Companies are giving away ad-enabled televisions that watch the viewer. However, demand may outstrip ad ROI, especially considering the surveillance already built into most smart TVs.
• Who’s Being Targeted?
  Free TVs likely appeal to economically vulnerable populations—perhaps not the ideal ads demographic.

10. Odds & Ends

• Toto’s “Electrostatic Chucks”:
  Japanese toilet manufacturer now profits handsomely from an obscure chip manufacturing part, not just high-end bidets.
• Remembering Dr. Gladys West:
  The mathematician behind GPS, a pioneering Black woman, is honored posthumously for contributions only now being celebrated.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "It's gambling, just gambling applied to everything." — Patrick Beja [05:26]
• "We put a gun to the head of a foreign-owned corporation and handed it to political friends. It's straight gangster capitalism." — Alex Stamos on TikTok [50:08]
• "Even if you tell kids to get off social media, it's as if you're asking them to avoid the city altogether." — Patrick Beja [90:23]
• "I used to think this was a moral panic, but there's real evidence now of social media’s negative effects on young people." — Patrick Beja [89:26]
• "Honestly, if your threat model includes the US government, you should not be using Windows." — Alex Stamos [83:27]
• "There are, and always have been, some things you do need anonymity for. But for most social, some form of verification is inevitable." — Leo Laporte [59:01]
• "If someone can game an entire prediction market by having a bit of military insight, that’s dangerous. Where is the regulation?" — Leo Laporte [11:05]
• "They’re preying on people being down in their money right now – just as with the crack epidemic. It just doesn’t seem as painful, but trust me, it’s painful." — Doc Rock [17:47]
• "The solution to age controls is already here: OS-level checks and parental controls. Apple and Google just need to flip the switch." — Patrick Beja [100:09]
• "Claude is a leader in secure code generation; it’s not perfect, but it’s ahead of OpenAI and Google." — Alex Stamos [139:49]
• "AI is flooding open source with so much slop, it’s threatening developer mental health and project viability." — Daniel Stenberg, Curl [106:58]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Gambling & Prediction markets: 03:22–19:19
• American & EU Digital Anxiety: 30:26–34:54
• TikTok’s New Policy & Privacy: 43:02–54:35
• AI-Generated CSAM & Liability: 64:05–71:22
• Encryption/BitLocker/Apple Security: 79:18–87:38
• Social Media Age Restrictions/Mental Health: 88:19–103:22
• AI Safety, Constitution, & Open Source: 134:52–146:08
• Surveillance TVs/Toto’s Chuck: 160:48–167:01
• Remembering Dr. Gladys West: 167:12–168:49

Sectional Structure

- Opening banter, panel intros, and weather bets [00:00–03:22]

- Gambling, news betting, regulation, sports corruption [03:22–19:19]

- US election security and international impact [21:53–34:54]

- European tech self-sufficiency & US trade war fears [30:26–34:54]

- TikTok, privacy, US spin-off, platform manipulation [43:02–54:35]

- AI-generated abuse imagery and platform legal risk [64:05–71:22]

- User data, passwords, and platform security flaws [115:04–128:54]

- AI flooding open source, developer burnout [106:58–111:22]

- AI “Constitution” and Anthropic’s philosophy [134:52–146:08]

- Free TVs, ad surveillance, and Toto’s electrostatic chucks [160:48–167:01]

- Social media mental health, proctored exams, and wrap-up [88:36–158:58]

Tone & Language

The tone is witty, wry, and deeply informed, with panelists balancing playful cynicism ("it's just called information now," "gangster capitalism") and sober, sometimes pessimistic realism about tech, politics, and society.

For New Listeners

This episode offers an engaging, often provocative overview of current issues at the heart of technology’s impact—gambling, surveillance, privacy, regulation, AI safety, and the changing fabric of society. Both deeply inside baseball and broadly accessible, it’s a must-listen for tech-savvy stakeholders and concerned citizens alike.

End note:
For a full list of TWiT episodes, go to twit.tv. For expanded discussion, check out panelists’ independent podcasts and social media.