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On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss the horrifying story that’s on everyone’s minds this week: the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant families crossing the U.S.–Mexico border. They focus on how tech’s big players—some of the most powerful companies in the world—are responding to the policy, and what we should expect from those companies and their leaders in the face of a humanitarian emergency.
The hosts also discuss the fallout from AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. Both Disney and now Comcast want to buy Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. And as always, Don’t Close My Tabs: some of the most interesting stories from the web this week.
A quick update to Will’s tab, in which he discussed Verizon’s announcement that it would stop sharing customers’ real-time location data with third parties: As of Wednesday, the other three major carriers have all announced that they will do the same.
Stories discussed on the show:
- Slate: “Here’s How You Can Help Fight Family Separation at the Border”
- New York Times: “Microsoft Employees Protest Work With ICE, as Tech Industry Mobilizes Over Immigration”
- The Verge: “The Court’s Decision to Let AT&T and Time Warner Merge Is Ridiculously Bad”
- Slate: “The Case for Fearing the AT&T–Time Warner Merger”
- Associated Press: “Mobile Carriers Cut Off the Flow of Location Data to Brokers”
Don’t Close My Tabs
- The New Yorker: “The Government Has No Plan for Reuniting the Immigrant Families It Is Tearing Apart”
- The Verge: “Verizon Will Stop Selling Real-Time Location Data to Third-Party Brokers”
Podcast production by Max Jacobs.
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
