2016

S1.E1 ∙ #blacklivesmatter

Thu, Jan 21, 2016

Black Lives Matter is a twenty-first century civil rights movement born and bred on social media. Created by a group of young, female activists in the wake of Trayvon Martin's death, the movement grew as instances of American police brutality were broadcast around the world. Activists at the forefront of the movement soon discovered that their activities had not only sparked a nationwide social justice movement but had also caught the attention of the FBI and local law enforcement who have been using their own sophisticated technology to track them. Their surveillance recalls law enforcement and the FBI's treatment of civil rights movements of the past and controversial programs enacted to dissuade progress. This episode charts the explosive growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, spotlights its key figures and examines the government's tactics to surveill them. How far will law enforcement go in its efforts to track the organization, and what does this mean for democracy?

6.5 /10

S1.E2 ∙ Government-Sponsored Spyware

Thu, Jan 28, 2016

The rise of government-sponsored spyware is examined through the eyes of two young Moroccan activists and the team of innovative hackers who uncovered the foreign government tracking their every move online. During production of this episode, the commercial spyware company behind the malicious software was itself hacked, revealing countless secrets about the lucrative business of selling spyware to oppressive regimes that track dissidents, activists and journalists.

6.6 /10

S1.E3 ∙ The Stingray

Thu, Feb 04, 2016

Daniel Rigmaiden- a brilliant, young scam artist turned whistleblower-evades the FBI for months after being accused of filing fraudulent tax claims and illegally collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the IRS. After being tracked down and arrested by the feds, Daniel becomes convinced his location was identified through illicit means. He uses his time, then in prison, to investigate. His obsessive search for the truth leads to a groundbreaking discovery: law enforcement used a secret technology called a Stingray to intercept his phone calls and personal information, as well as those of millions of unsuspecting Americans. He takes his discovery public, and the revelation not only carries implications for his case, but also for the fate of the Fourth Amendment.

7.6 /10

S1.E4 ∙ Prisoners for Sale

Thu, Feb 11, 2016

Two former prisoners turned journalists are among the private prison industry's most out-spoken critics. They take viewers into the controversial issue and multi-billion dollar business of mass incarceration. Their story illuminates the messy entanglement of lucrative contracts, extravagant lobbying, fierce secrecy, and deplorable conditions that distinguishes the United States' prison industrial complex.

6.9 /10

S1.E5 ∙ Activists or Terrorists?

Thu, Feb 18, 2016

A journalist and a punk-rock academic who are passionate about animal rights become government targets for their efforts to expose controversial treatment of animals. Undeterred, they use freedom of information laws to uncover a troubling link between the U.S. government and big agriculture that has silenced animal rights activists.

7.7 /10

S1.E6 ∙ Shooting the Messenger

Thu, Feb 25, 2016

Equipped only with smart phones, citizen journalists expose controversial police tactics. They set out to effect change within law enforcement with their bold guerrilla reporting and, along the way, forever change how the public gets information.

7.8 /10

S1.E7 ∙ Hacking the Presidency

Thu, Mar 03, 2016

A Harvard professor ventures out of the Ivory Tower and leaps head first into the cutthroat race for the presidency with a bold goal: to completely overhaul the campaign finance system.

7.6 /10

S1.E8 ∙ Data Vampires

Thu, Mar 10, 2016

A diverse group of consumer privacy advocates take on the most voracious of data vampires: little known corporate entities that gather and manipulate consumers' personal information in an effort to influence their behavior. Advocates use various tools in the battle against data-gathering corporate goliaths from litigation and enacting regulatory standards and policies to experiments designed to outsmart online tracking. Along with privacy experts and industry insiders these technology and civil liberties advocates unravel the inner workings of this elusive 21st century data economy.

7.9 /10

S1.E9 ∙ Camp Justice

Thu, Mar 17, 2016

A small chain of islands in the Indian Ocean was the site of closely guarded secrets from the War on Terror. The island's native inhabitants, and their advocates, fight to uncover the island's role in that war and regain access to their homeland.

7.5 /10

S1.E10 ∙ Flying Robots

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Drones are rapidly populating skies all over the world. Overseas, military drones are masters of surveillance and precision killing. At home, they're small flying cameras, research tools, and toys. It isn't just hobbyists sending cameras into American skies: law enforcement is rapidly incorporating drone surveillance into routine missions, and the law is struggling to keep up. Individuals of varied backgrounds-a young American activist, a North Dakota farmer, and a robotics expert-help us navigate this Wild West of new technology.

7.3 /10