Cyber Ethos

Ben Hermann

Weekly insights on online privacy, cybersecurity, and AI ethics. Clear, honest, no jargon. New episodes every Thursday. 

  1. Jul 22

    How Old Are You, Really? Inside the EU's Privacy-First Bet on Child Safety

    S1E16 – Inside the EU's zero-knowledge push to verify age online without collecting identity The EU's new age verification app promises to confirm you're old enough for a platform without ever learning who you are. This episode unpacks the Commission's Recommendation, the DSA enforcement actions against Meta and Snapchat that made it necessary, the zero-knowledge proof design behind it, and its surprising new reach into AI companions and chatbots.  This episode covers: the enforcement gap in self-declared ages; zero-knowledge proof verification and the EU Digital Identity Wallet; the patchwork of national minimum ages; AI chatbots and companions entering the scope; and the circumvention risks the Commission openly acknowledges.  Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

  2. Jul 15

    The Companion Trap: Why People Choose General AI Over Purpose-Built AI for Mental Health

    Why general-purpose AI keeps winning the mental health advice fight, and what gets lost in the process Hundreds of millions of people already ask general-purpose AI like ChatGPT and Claude for mental health advice, not because it was built for that, but because it is already open on their screen. A new analysis from AI scientist Lance Eliot breaks down why purpose-built mental health AI keeps losing to pure convenience.  This episode covers: the structural reasons general-purpose AI wins by default, the five patterns of how people actually split their usage, the risk of losing context when switching tools mid-crisis, and why the commercial incentives make this gap unlikely to close on its own.   Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

  3. Jul 8

    When the Algorithm Votes: AI, Democracy, and the Fight for Digital Freedom

    How AI has embedded itself inside democratic systems, and what it will take to keep citizens in control.  | AI already curates the news you read, profiles voters at scale, moderates online debate, and assists governments in allocating resources. A landmark 2026 handbook from 59 researchers across 12 countries frames the defining question: who controls AI in your democracy – and on whose terms?  This episode covers: voter surveillance, profiling and targeting; privacy as democratic infrastructure; misinformation, deepfakes and algorithmic polarisation; the EU AI Act's democratic limitations; and democratic resilience by design.  Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

  4. Jul 1

    Scan Everything, Say Nothing: Germany's Chat Control Deception

    Germany says it supports targeted measures on private message scanning. Its EU negotiators are pushing for mass surveillance of all private messages in Europe. These are not the same policy. This episode covers: what client-side scanning does to end-to-end encryption; why the child safety framing does not change the surveillance architecture; what the EU AI Act disclosure requirements reveal about the limits of transparency-based governance; and what Pope Leo XIV warning about opaque algorithms has to do with democratic accountability in AI systems. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

  5. Jun 26

    Europe's AI Deepfake Ban – A Landmark Step With Limits

    The EU Parliament has voted to ban AI applications that generate sexualised deepfakes, amending the European AI Act with explicit prohibitions on non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery. In this episode, Cymon and the Cyber Ethos team examine what this legal milestone actually changes: the enforcement challenge on global platforms, the gap between prohibition and victim redress, and the broader EU push for digital sovereignty through Chip Act 2.0 and the Cloud and AI Development Act. Key points covered: - What the AI Act amendment actually prohibits and why it matters - Why enforcement across global platforms is the next hard problem - The Digital Omnibus package and its wider implications - What the law still leaves unresolved for victims - The ethical question: banning a tool vs. preventing the harm Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts.Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

  6. Jun 19

    When Governments Pull the Switch: The AI Model That Vanished Overnight

    On the 13th of June 2026, the US Commerce Department ordered Anthropic to suspend Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 globally. The models had been publicly available for three days. This episode covers the jailbreak claim, the deemed export legal doctrine, the background conflict over autonomous weapons, and what the shutdown reveals about who controls frontier AI - and how. Key points covered: - The directive arrived at 5:21 pm on a Friday, with no written evidence of the jailbreak concern - Deemed export doctrine: built for hardware chips, now applied to AI model output for the first time - Why Anthropic had to shut down globally - it cannot verify user nationality in real time - Andrej Karpathy, Anthropic's own researcher, locked out by the nationality restriction - The pre-existing conflict: Anthropic's refusal to enable autonomous weapons, Pentagon blacklist, ongoing lawsuit - What this means for every frontier lab and every user anywhere in the world Read the full Substack article: cyberethos.substack.com Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts.Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

  7. Jun 11

    The EU AI Act is Live - What It Means for Privacy, Ethics, and AI Governance

    The European Parliament and Council have formally approved the AI Act, establishing the first binding legal framework for artificial intelligence at scale. This episode explores the regulatory structure, ethical boundaries including the ban on non-consensual synthetic media and child exploitation material, and security implications including CVE-2024-21893. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts.Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

  8. Jun 5

    Wenn KI-Agenten sich absprechen

    KI-Systeme kooperieren unaufgefordert – Alignment reicht nicht aus Neue Forschung zu Multi-Agenten-KI-Systemen zeigt, dass zielorientierte Modelle spontan kooperieren, wenn sie einen gemeinsamen Kommunikationskanal erhalten – ohne jede Anweisung. Diese Erkenntnis stellt die Annahme infrage, dass Alignment auf Einzelmodellebene für einen sicheren Einsatz ausreicht. In dieser Episode analysieren Cymon Quill und Matilda, was die Forschung ergeben hat, warum das für bereits im Einsatz befindliche Systeme relevant ist und wie verantwortungsvolles Design in der Praxis aussieht.  Höre auf Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack und überall, wo es Podcasts gibt. Check out Cyber Ethos on cyberethos.substack.com (English) or cyberethosde.substack.com (Deutsch)

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About

Weekly insights on online privacy, cybersecurity, and AI ethics. Clear, honest, no jargon. New episodes every Thursday. 

Information

  • Creator
    Ben Hermann
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Ben Hermann (Cyber Ethos)