Ronan Farrow ’04 Interviewed in NPR and the Guardian

Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist and Bard alumnus Ronan Farrow ’04 spoke to NPR and the Guardian about his new HBO documentary, Surveilled, in which he delves into the shadowy world of surveillance and the private companies that sell powerful commercial spyware technology. The documentary “records the emotional toll, scope and threat potential of a technology most people are neither aware of nor understand,” writes Adrian Horton for the Guardian. “It also serves as an argument for urgent journalistic and civic oversight of commercial spyware—its deliberately obscure manufacturers, its abuse by state clients and its silent erosion of privacy.” Farrow addresses how the lack of regulations surrounding this technology has wide reaching implications for political and social abuse. “In the film, I am motivated by having come face-to-face with surveillance and understanding how intrusive that is, how devastating it can be personally and invasive,” Farrow told NPR. “But also, more consequentially, how much it shrinks the space for the free flow of information and the expression of dissent.”

Post Date: 11-26-2024