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SL / EN

Techno Enema
My tech critical radio show is nearing its tenth anniversary

Table of Contents

Introduction

I'm writing this post to find out whether there's an audience for (yet another) tech critical podcast. Yet another is enclosed in parentheses because this is technically not a new podcast. I've been co-creating the Techno Enema radio show on an independent community radio station Radio Student from Ljubljana, Slovenia, since 2017, but it is dedicated to Slovenian listeners, so episodes are at least partially in Slovene (usually introductions). I am thinking about starting producing the English versions of the show as podcasts for English-speaking audience. However, since this would take quite some time I'd first like to get some feedback about it. Would you be interested in such a podcast, and would you be willing to support the podcast with donations? You can get in touch with me on mastodon or via email (technoenema [ at ] kompot.si). Below you'll find the podcast concept, along with two sample interviews to give you a sense of the radio show.

The Techno Enema Concept

The initial concept for the Techno Enema, the one we presented to the editorial board when we applied for the radio show, was to report on regulation of technology from Free Software perspective. From the beginning we wanted to reject the prevailing (at least it seemed so at the time) standpoint that regulation of technology is unnecessary or even bad. Soon, we started critically addressing the opinion that technology is neutral and apolitical.

Currently, the description of the radio show stands like this (translated from Slovene): Techno Enema is cleansing your digital intestines, which is a dirty business. We respond to the current social and political events related to the information technology, and we put them in a social context. We comment on the regulation of technology through Free Software perspective and alternative modes of production, and we research alternative and marginal movements and communities. Furthermore, we are stripping the mystical veil of supposed mystical universality of technology and expose its social aspects.

The Techno Enema radio show also tried to fill a vacuum that emerged in Ljubljana after local hackerspace Cyberpipe was closed down. In the meantime independent tech community has emerged. For example, we have a self-hosting collective Kompot, a very recently opened hackerspace LeftClick, Open Source tech cooperative Na Prostem, a TOPLAP live coding community toplap.si, Emacs User Group Slovenia and Cyberpipe has become active again.

Format and topics

Current format of the show consists of three parts. In the first, we make an overview of nearby events that share our values and invite our listeners to visit them. In the second, we make a recap of the current news and policy changes that we find interesting and important. The third and main part of the show usually consists of an interview with a guest that's competent in the topic we choose to cover. These span from regulation of technology or lack of it, to interesting FLOSSH projects, women in FLOSSH, piracy, intellectual property and copyright, shadow libraries, open knowledge, alternative movements in tech, AI, tech sustainability, right2repair, digital sovereignty, digital colonialism, geopolitics, and so on.

Figure 1: This is a logo for Techno Enema radio show.

Examples of interviews

To get a feel for what the podcast looks like, I'm attaching two of the more recent interviews to this blog post.

Bram Vranken from Corporate Europe Observatory on Digital Omnibus

In February 2026 we spoke with Bram Vranken from Corporate Europe Observatory. We first discussed a lobbying report that was published at the end of 2025 that found that IT industry surpassed the pharmaceutical industry to become the largest spender on lobbying in the EU institutions. Secondly we discussed deregulation omnibuses proposed by the European Commission, namely Deregulation watch with the main focus on Digital Omnibus (First Legal Analysis by noyb.eu).

Listen to the interview with Bram Vranken from Corporate Europe Observatory (skip to 20:49 if you have js disabled):

Since February, parts of the Digital omnibus were legislated by European Parliament and Council of Europe which is a worrisome development for privacy of personal data.

Non-Aligned Technologies movement

We spoke about how superpowers exert political power and influence through digital infrastructure, nowadays with artificial intelligence.

Listen to the interview with Juan Ortiz-Freuler and Ghuilermo Calvacante Silva from Non Aligned Technologies movement: (skip to 12:18 if you have js disabled)

The Plan

I'm considering setting up a Castopod instance, were we'd publish podcasts. I'm eager to try out the federated podcasting platform since I don't really plan to publish Techno Enema on mainstream commercial services.

If this sounds interesting to you, please let me know on mastodon or via email (technoenema [ at ] kompot.si).

Post by @len@toot.si
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