Privacy is the New Celebrity EP 14: Todd Huffman

In this episode, MobileCoin founder and CEO Josh Goldbard interviews Todd Huffman, co-founder and CEO of the biomedical imaging company E11 Bio, which is a neuroscience research foundation building new tools for brain mapping. Todd discusses his fascination with the nexus between neuroscience and imaging technology.

Josh asks Todd about his experience volunteering in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in 2008. Todd explains how he accidentally found a tiki bar formerly run by Australians and decided to keep it going. Although alcohol is illegal in Afghanistan, they had an understanding with local police that only non-Afghans were allowed into the bar. The bar became a central hub for non-Afghans in the region, providing a meeting place for people that didn’t require coordination with security teams.

Todd tells us about the “beer for data program” where folks who uploaded useful data to a hard drive chained to the bar could earn a free beer. The program which started out as a joke soon became an attractor to professionals new to Afghanistan who were seeking information they needed to do their jobs.

When asked what technology he thinks should exist but doesn’t yet, Todd says, “social networking that gives you ownership over your data and has enough privacy on there to be real”. Todd also raises the question, “how do you do communications where trust is low and conflict is high?”

You can check out the entire conversation with Todd Huffman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Buzzsprout. While you’re listening, don’t forget to subscribe to Privacy is the New Celebrity Podcast on your favorite streaming service.

If you enjoyed this blog, subscribe here for privacy commentary, product updates and news about upcoming events.