On the NPR TED Radio Hour, Sunday 16th  August, Newstalk FM

'Keeping Secrets':

Who should get to keep secrets and who should demand to know them? 

The Secrets of Strangers:

"Secrets...can be shocking, or silly, or soulful" 

Frank Warren is the founder of PostSecret, a community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.

Everyday, strangers share their most intimate statements with Frank, in what he believes is a process that off loads the weight people have carried for too long. "It's great to see someone share a secret and let go all the defenses installed to protect it."

Statements sent to PostSecret include some spine tingling revelations such as "everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I am dead" and "I had an abortion and to this day I wonder if my baby forgives me."

After Frank collects the postcards sent to him, he scans some and posts them to his website PostSecret.com. However not all secrets are published. The ones deemed too personal, too sensitive, have a different fate. 

A Secret Sexuality:

Equality advocate Ash Beckham kept her sexuality a secret from her family and friends for fear of being judged. 

"I was so angry, bitter and uncomfortable with who I was."

Eventually Ash's mother coaxed her out of the closet. She argues that 'the closet' doesn't just apply to coming out as gay, "a closet is a hard conversation" that everyone and anyone can face.

Ash offers a fresh story about empathy and openness.

Exposing Secrets:

Charmian Gooch's mission is to 'out' corrupt companies. Her organisation 'Global Witness' works to uncover corruption and end crimes that devastate the poorest regions of the earth.

From illegal timber trading in Cambodia to the illegal diamond trade in Angola, Global Witness has spent the past 20 years exposing million dollar secrets to the World.

She highlights the accepted business practice of "anonymous companies" which makes it impossible to identify the actual human beings responsible for "genuinely terrible crimes."   

For now, Charmain and Global Witness must go undercover to bring those responsible to the surface. 

Staying below the radar:

Journalist Glenn Greenwald makes the case for why you need to care about privacy, even if "you're not doing anything to hide."

In 2013 Glen received thousands of classified documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden which revealed how multiple Governments were gathering data about civilians. 

He says that "people living in a surveillance society are being harmed by it, even if they don't realise it", as human beings instinctively understand the importance of privacy.