Lea Kissner on user privacy, encryption and 'tricky human implications'
"I'm not satisfied with any privacy settings set-ups I've ever seen" — on why fixing digital privacy is complex but not impossible.
Eva Short
Writer & journalist / Berlin
Irish writer and journalist covering tech, culture, business, health and harm reduction. Over a decade of staff and freelance work at the Business Post, Silicon Republic, The Phoenix and spunout.
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Published in Business Post / Silicon Republic / The Phoenix / spunout / RIP.ie / i-D / The Next Web / Dublin Inquirer / RTÉ Radio 1 / Totally Dublin
Selected work
Technology
Privacy, AI, security and the people building the tools we live with.
Futurist Amy Webb on how AI could go off the rails
Futurists, Amy Webb explains, are not oracles but they can give a good indication of the direction in which society is going.
Deepfakes and non-consensual porn: inside the Deeptrace research
New research by cybersecurity firm Deeptrace has found that, overwhelmingly, most deepfakes online are non-consensual porn.
Digital notebooks and body cameras: how tech is transforming police work
Motorola Solutions' technology chief on partnering with police forces, edge intelligence, and where facial recognition should — and shouldn't — be used.
Digital governance is the new normal — here's how we can keep it ethical
As governments rush municipal services online, how can roll-out and delivery stay ethical?
Today with Seán O'Rourke
Discussing Facebook's move to end-to-end encryption on its messaging services.
Business & politics
Investigations, interviews and analysis from the Business Post, Silicon Republic and The Phoenix.
Taking a stance: what we should talk about when we talk about Irish neutrality
PostPlus cover story, with Barry J Whyte. War in eastern Europe has sharpened focus on a century-old policy most of the public remains reluctant to abandon.
Global 'Big Tobacco' firm lobbied government to set up cannabis cultivation in Ireland
A Canadian medicinal cannabis supplier, owned by one of the world's largest tobacco companies, lobbied to establish production in Ireland.
Watchdog and gardaí launch probe into gold and silver bullion dealer
A Dublin dealer under joint investigation by the CCPC and the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.
Clear vision: what are Netflix's next moves?
After losing 200,000 subscribers in a quarter, can a crackdown on account sharing reverse the trend?
In Santa Barbara, a 'tech billionaire' and candidate for Senator is taking aim at Tesla Motors
Dan O'Dowd's single-issue Senate campaign to make software "safer for humanity" — and whether he cares about winning at all.
Facebook's civil rights audit and the white supremacy problem
Facebook has conceded that its previous ban on praise of white supremacy was not exhaustive enough, and so has rolled out a series of new policies designed to curb hate speech on the platform.
The disinformation campaign targeting Northern Ireland
A campaign making various false claims about Northern Ireland has been linked by researchers to a Russian intelligence agency.
Can 'venture philanthropy' help to solve vital social issues?
Deirdre Mortell, CEO of the Social Innovation Fund, explains why she feels her ‘innovation-first’ philanthropy philosophy is the way to combat social issues.
The dizzying political ascent of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown TD drafted in amid 'Swingate' — and why her rise is likely to continue.
The young Fianna Fáil candidate who was lucky to land on the Cork East ticket — and the rivals who could yet undermine him.
The rich-kid founder squaring up to Airbnb with 'premium' short-term lets — and the planning objections piling up around him.
The Big Interview: Shane Scully, Eagle Street Partners
How a lockdown-founded property firm committed €150 million to projects across Britain and Ireland in under a year.
Kavanagh faces legal battle to hold onto firm after subcontractor seeks to wind up company
A High Court petition against one of the developer's firms over an alleged debt of close to €130,000.
How a straight-talking solicitor became a surprise hit on TikTok
Richard Grogan's short, factual employment-law videos made him a folk hero to 107,000 followers.
How TikTok is helping businesses to take off
Irish companies like Gym + Coffee are finding the platform can turbocharge sales, not just entertain.
Is now the time to switch to a neobank?
With KBC and Ulster Bank withdrawing, fintechs and neobanks are reshaping Irish retail banking.
Health & psychology
Grief, harm reduction and mental health, including my work as Health and Harm Reduction Editor at spunout.
Grief as a shared experience: from Kisa Gotami to men's sheds
On communal mourning — from the Buddhist parable of the mustard seed to the quiet grief work of Ireland's men's sheds.
Grief, substance use and recovery: how they intersect
If left unchecked, the occasional use of substances to help cope with and express grief can curdle into something much darker and, in fact, become its own problem.
6 books to help you make sense of your grief
Grief is complex and all‑consuming; the emotions it inspires can range from anger to heartbreak to complete numbness. It can be hard to know how to manage these feelings and continue moving through life while carrying them, especially if those around you can’t relate to what you’re feeling.
Microdosing psychedelics: what the UC Davis research found
Research from UC Davis suggests that taking small doses of psychedelics can allay depression and anxiety – but it also revealed some negative side effects.
Simone George and Mark Pollock on the fight to cure paralysis
‘History is filled with accounts of the impossible made possible’
'I always had entrepreneurial ambitions and this was first-hand evidence of an unmet need'
Dr Ross O'Neill of Neuromod on treating tinnitus, the Lenire device, and why the US veterans system is central to its expansion.
SeshSafe: staying safe with drug harm reduction
Campaign page · I designed this campaign
Vaping demystified in a non-judgmental way
Campaign page · I designed this campaign
Arts & culture
Film, music, art and internet culture, from student papers to i-D.
TikTok has fallen in love with 70s roller rink aesthetic
50 years after the roller skating boom of the 70s, Gen Z is buying skates in droves amid a viral TikTok craze.
No clear vision for Dublin's music scene to step out of Covid-19 restrictions, some say
"It's like the government doesn't see music venues as something they have to deal with," said Vinny Casey of The Workman's Club.
Francis Bacon's studio and other hostile and beautiful spaces
An essay on chaos, curation, and the fetishisation of the artistic mind, from the Hugh Lane's recreation of Bacon's studio.
Film interview: Paddy Breathnach — Viva
The director on Havana's drag bars, Marcuse, and truth: "the film is about becoming, finding your voice, singing for the first time."
The singer not the song — Peter Campion interview
The Sing Street and Love/Hate actor on drama school, misplaced patriotism, and returning to Ireland from London.
Golden Vault: Nina Simone — 'Pastel Blues'
Reappraising the 1965 album that distils Simone's voice, technical daring, and deepening involvement in the civil rights movement.
A$AP Rocky's 'L$D' is an unsung hero of the Grammy music video nominations
On Dexter Navy's neon-drenched promo and what psychedelic hip-hop says about the drug experience.
Interview: Girl Band — 'Mania is a castle built on sand'
Daniel Fox and Dara Kiely on touring, in-joke-laden noise rock, and the episode behind 'Holding Hands with Jamie'.
Finding the American Reflexxx
Signe Pierce and Alli Coates on the viral performance-art film — a mirror-masked woman, a Myrtle Beach mob, and what it reflected back.
All the music, the beat, the tempo: interview with Mark McCabe
For Mark McCabe, Maniac 2000 (which is, as it stands, Ireland's fourth best-selling Irish single of all time) has become somewhat of a long-standing legacy.
Very NYSE
Over the heads of the tech hubs, bleeping happily, were the oddly ecclesiastic gold awnings and beige pillars.
Commissions & enquiries
evadiminutive@gmail.com