Episode 28: Kawhi Leonard and the Expectation of Privacy in the Public Sphere

After the Toronto Raptors won their first championship in franchise history, attention quickly shifted from celebration to discussions of whether or not the team’s star player and finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard, would resign with the team. What ensued was commonly referred to by media as the “Kawhi Watch,” which captivated the city, and perhaps even all of Canada, and led media and fans on path that would see them attempt to track and monitor Kawhi’s every move, on and offline.

Perhaps predictably for Tommy and I, this whole thing led to questions related to the expectation of privacy in the public sphere. Why do we care so much about our own privacy and yet completely disregard the privacy of notable people? Why don’t people respect the privacy of individuals who may be – willingly or unwillingly - in the public eye? What do moments of extreme surveillance of notable people tell us about the so-called “surveillance society”? These are just a couple of the questions we touch on in this episode which, I must admit, is one of our personal favourite episodes of “What’s That Noise” to date.

The voice that you hear in the intro and outro is none other than Kristi Lee, host of the podcast Canadian True Crime. Please support Kristi's excellent work by checking out her show on any of your favourite podcast apps.

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