Steve Henn
Steve Henn is NPR's technology correspondent based in Menlo Park, California, who is currently on assignment with Planet Money. An award winning journalist, he now covers the intersection of technology and modern life - exploring how digital innovations are changing the way we interact with people we love, the institutions we depend on and the world around us. In 2012 he came frighteningly close to crashing one of the first Tesla sedans ever made. He has taken a ride in a self-driving car, and flown a drone around Stanford's campus with a legal expert on privacy and robotics.
But Steve's favorite technology stories are the ones that explain how little-understood innovations can change the way millions of us behave. Why do people buy cows in Farmville? Why are video games so compelling and why do some people have such a hard time setting Twitter aside? He is fascinated by how digital companies attempt to mold our behavior and study our every move in a world where we are constantly interacting with connected devices.
Prior to moving to Silicon Valley in 2010, Steve covered a wide range of topics for the public radio show Marketplace. His reporting kicked off the congressional travel scandals in late 2004, and helped expose the role of private military contractors at Abu Ghraib.
At Marketplace, Henn helped establish collaborations with the Center for Public Integrity and the Medill's School of Journalism.
Steve spent his early life on a farm in Iowa where his parents, who are biochemists, hoped to raise all their own food and become energy self-sufficient. It didn't work. During college Steve hoped to drop out and support himself by working in the fishing industry in Alaska. That also didn't work. After college he biked around the country with his sweetheart, Emily Johnson. He then followed Emily to Africa, volunteering at Soweto Community Radio. That did work out. He and Emily are now happily married with three daughters.
Steve graduated from Wesleyan University's College of Social Studies with honors and Columbia University's Graduate school of Journalism.
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Ross Ulbricht is accused of running the now defunct site. For years, the website allowed hundreds of thousands of drug buyers, and thousands of drug dealers, to find each other online anonymously.
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Doxing is the act of distributing personal information about someone online in an effort to embarrass, frighten or intimidate, and has become increasingly common during highly charged news events.
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The man behind the online drug market Silk Road dreamed of setting up a utopian marketplace. But when his dream was threatened, the FBI says he did some terrible things to try and protect it.
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With much fanfare earlier this month Apple launched its mobile wallet — Apple Pay. Now CVS and Rite Aid have disabled Apple Pay from working in their stores.
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Companies including PayPal and Apple are competing to convince merchants and consumers to use their swipe-and-go mobile payment systems. Credit card breaches may speed up the use of digital wallets.
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Steve Henn of NPR's Planet Money team profiles some entrepreneurs who are working on a novel business model to start up a new tech company. It's pay for service. What a concept.
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Collecting data about people has become $1 trillion industry, but keeping this information safe is proving near impossible. So, a small group of entrepreneurs and developers are building new technologies that don't rely on data as a digital currency.
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NPR's Steve Henn, along with two tech experts, allowed Internet traffic through his laptop and cellphone to be monitored. If someone tapped your Internet connection, what would he find out? -
Facebook has introduced a way for users to log into apps anonymously as a way to build trust and protect privacy. User info would be protected from app developers, but visible to Facebook. -
Broadcasters say the TV streaming company is violating copyright laws. The ruling will influence the future of television, and also affect technologies such as cloud computing.
