WEBVTT - Tech News: Nvidia Loses an Arm 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.040 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.520 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.000 And how the tech are you. I'm a little out 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.160 of breath because if you listen to yesterday's episode you 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:31.480 might have heard I, despite all of my precautionary behaviors, 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.920 caught COVID apparently, and that's all sorts of fun. But 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.400 the show, as they say, must keep going. I think 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.880 I don't know. I'm on pain killer. Let's talk about 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:48.720 the news for today, Tuesday, February eight, twenty twenty two, 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.320 and let's start off with some updates to a few 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:55.319 stories that I have talked about in recent episodes. First up, 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.720 the Nvidio bid for the semiconductor company ARM is a 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.920 fish lee off the table in video had been pursuing 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:08.039 a sixties six billion dollar acquisition of ARM, the British 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:14.240 semiconductor company, but encountered numerous regulatory obstacles along the way. Now, 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.120 I mentioned last week that it looked like this deal 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.640 was falling apart, and now we can definitively say that 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.920 the deal fell apart. Relatively recently, we've seen regulators in 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:30.000 regions like the European Union, the United States, and the 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:35.720 United Kingdom become more wary of large acquisitions and mergers, 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.280 particularly in the tech world, but not exclusively to tech, 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.720 and the proposed acquisition appears to be a victim of 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:48.400 increased scrutiny of such proposed deals. I'm sure this comes 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:52.640 as something of a relief to companies like Microsoft and Qualcom, 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:56.640 both of which depend upon ARM manufactured chips, and neither 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.120 of which would want to see in video get control 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.240 of that part of the fly chain. As for ARM, 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:06.480 it's current owner, which is the Asian conglomerate soft Bank, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.080 plans to prepare ARM for an initial public offering for 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.960 later in the year, that is, to spend it off 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.400 as a publicly traded company. Now we might see another 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.560 tug of war happen on that front, because in the 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.000 UK a lot of officials are really eager to see 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:28.920 ARM a British company listed on the UK's stock market, 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:34.160 but soft Bank seems inclined to instead list ARM on 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.239 the New York Stock Exchange, where you might see a 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:42.760 slightly better share price value listed initially so soft Bank 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.600 can make back some of the money it's spent acquiring 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.760 arm in the first place. Politics and business are fun, 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.040 continuing to update stories. Earlier this month, news broke that 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.079 the United States Internal Revenue Service or i r S, 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:00.280 everyone's favorite department in the US, was planning to use 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.880 a third party company for the purposes of authenticating people 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:08.679 who are trying to access some online i r S services, 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.240 and they would be doing that through facial recognition technology. 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.480 The plan would have required people to submit a video 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.400 selfie of themselves and then use a camera either on 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.600 their phone or on a webcamp to verify their identity 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.840 before they would be able to use certain features on 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.079 the i r S website. Critics objected to this practice 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:33.280 pretty quickly, pointing out that facial recognition technology has often 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:37.400 proven to be unreliable, particularly for anyone who doesn't happen 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:41.880 to be male and white. There's a pervasive issue with 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:46.720 bias in facial recognition. Uh some products have more of 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.560 a problem with this than others. In addition, critics argue 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.360 that the requirement would put an unfair burden on people 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:57.360 who don't have the access to smartphones or webcams, and 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.680 thus create a deeper digital divide between the haves and 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.680 the have nots, and because you know, everyone's supposed to 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.440 file taxes, that's a real problem. And then there's the 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.200 concern for privacy and security that comes along with using 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.960 a private, third party company to work so closely with, 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:18.360 you know, a government service like internal Revenue. That seems 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.560 to raise a few more concerns. And now the I 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:23.920 r S has walked back its decision, saying it's going 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.839 to transition away from using this facial recognition technology which 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.800 had already started to roll out, and that it will 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:35.080 quote develop and bring online an additional authentication process that 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:40.239 does not involve facial recognition end quote. Not too long ago, 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.240 I dedicated an episode of tech Stuff to talk about Peloton, 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:48.920 the company best known for its connected exercise bikes, also 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.640 does treadmills and you take online spin classes from the 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.520 comfort of your own basement, I mean home. And Peloton 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.839 has had a pretty dramatic fall from grace over the 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:05.239 last few months, with the company's sales slowing dramatically after 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.480 a big spike early on in the pandemic. And then 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:13.800 there are reportedly warehouses filled with Peloton products that just 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.560 haven't sold, And there are also some pr issues that 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.400 were exacerbated by a couple of fictional characters suffering fictional 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.000 heart attacks after working on the bikes. Because that's the 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.560 kind of world we live in. I guess where fictional 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.760 character's death on a show can actually put a stigma 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:37.120 against a company anyway. John Foley, the founder of Peloton 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:41.440 and now former CEO, announced that he was stepping down 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.640 from his leadership role. Um well, that leadership role fully 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:47.800 has led Peloton ever since he came up with the 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.239 idea more than a decade ago, and he will instead 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:54.320 become the executive chair of the board of directors, so 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.880 still very much, you know, part of the company. And 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.520 a man named Barry McCarthy, who had served as chief 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.480 financial officer of Spotify, another company that's been the hot 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:09.920 seat recently, will become the new president and CEO of Peloton. 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:14.880 Peloton's current president, William Lynch, is also stepping down. Foley 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:16.920 and Lynch aren't the only two people at Peloton who 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.960 will be updating their resumes. The Wall Street Journal reports 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.520 that the company expects to cut about twenty percent of 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:27.320 its workforce. That's around two thousand, eight hundred jobs. There 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.839 have also been calls from activist shareholders to sell the 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.880 company in order to get a little money back for 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:36.479 those shareholders, because of course, share prices in Peloton have 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.719 dropped more than fiftent this year. Although I saw a 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.320 headline just before I started recording that suggests a lot 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.880 of movement on that front, so it may be different 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.600 by the time you hear this. Now. I just mentioned Spotify, 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.240 so let's let's talk about that for a moment. First 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.479 of all, Spotify and I Heart Radio or I Heart 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.560 Media are competitors, and I work for I Heeart Media. 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.680 I'm saying that up front because context is important, and 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.600 also to say I'm not speaking on behalf of my 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.120 employer in any way. I honestly don't know what anyone 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.760 official and my heart thinks about what's going on at Spotify, 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.560 and there's certainly no official company position that I can 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.520 point to. So this is just me here, all right. 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.720 With that out of the way, Spotify has been trying 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.200 to walk a tight rope over the last few weeks, 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.520 all thanks to Joe Rogan. Spotify famously signed Joe Rogan 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.880 to an exclusive deal for his podcast for the princely 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.280 sum of one hundred million dollars. It's a heck of 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:38.160 a deal. So to get Rogan's podcast, you had to 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:42.200 use Spotify anyway. A couple of weeks ago, several musicians 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:46.720 began to pull their musical catalogs off of Spotify because 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.160 of Rogan's tendency to spread COVID misinformation on his show. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.680 The musicians expressed concern about the dangers this post, considering 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:59.080 Rogan's immense popularity. So Spotify's response was essentially, you know, 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.559 it's it's Joe Rogan show. We just licensed the show 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.960 from him. We don't take a hand in shaping the content. 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.880 We're not editors. Who he chooses to have on his 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.520 show and what he talks about are all up to him. 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.560 So we're just the platform and as long as he 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:18.480 doesn't violate our rules, the content stays. Those rules, by 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.800 the way, weren't public facing, Like there was no way 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.960 to see whether content was violent the rules if you 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.960 were outside Spotify, so you couldn't judge that. Uh. The 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.360 company subsequently then published those rules, so now they are 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:35.600 public facing, but at the time they weren't. And then 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:39.280 artists India are pulled her music off the platform because 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.640 of Rogan's history of using racial slurs on his show. 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.120 She actually shared a video montage of him doing so 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.840 over the course of numerous episodes, and this time Spotify 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:55.439 swept in and had behind the scenes discussions with Rogan 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.560 on the matter, and subsequently Rogan pulled down more than 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.480 a hundred of his past up episodes. Now The Verge 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.160 published an article about this titled Spotify is more Confused 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.839 about Joe Rogan than Ever, and The Verge pointed out 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:13.120 that the racial slurs, while horrible, don't actually seem to 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:17.720 violate Spotify's rules as they are written. It would take 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:22.520 some loose interpretation of the rules to say, oh, this 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.920 covers racial slurs as well, not that racial slurs aren't bad, 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.000 they're terrible, but rather that Spotify it didn't seem like 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.000 it was a direct violation of what Spotify's rules were. 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.800 So the Verge poses, why can Spotify pressure Rogan to 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:41.000 pull down those episodes in that case but do nothing 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.600 in the case of COVID misinformation? And this is a 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.360 really tough situation. On the one hand, creators value having 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.360 freedom and authority over their own work. I get to 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:53.840 choose what topics I cover for my show and how 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.960 I cover them. My heart does not pressure me to 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.520 do otherwise. You know, I might once in a while 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.440 get a Rik West like, Hey, would you do a 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.320 themed episode on such and such? But I can actually 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.680 say yes or no to that, and the time, whatever 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.439 the topic happens to be for that day is one 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.600 that I just chose myself, and it's my own way 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.720 of of expressing my thoughts on those topics. However, on 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.520 the other hand, spreading this information and promoting harmful portrayals 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:26.000 of people of color or giving white supremacists of platform, 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:30.280 which Rogan has done in the past, undeniably that causes harm. 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.400 And so you're left asking is it better to place 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:38.120 tighter restrictions on content and affect the creator's process, or 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.960 is it better to have the creator be free to 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.800 send out whatever message they want, even if that message 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.160 is harmful. Now, as a creator, I actually think tighter 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.360 restrictions are the better alternative. I mean, I value my 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.760 ability to say stuff, but I don't think that ability 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.280 is more important than the safety and dignity of other people. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.319 I think that's way more important than oh God, you're 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.880 not letting me say this word that I shouldn't say. Um, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.400 that's my own opinion, just my own personal opinion, not 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.800 again meant to be any kind of official stance on 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:13.120 the matter. All Right, we've got some more news stories 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.360 to cover, but before we get to that, let's take 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:26.200 a quick break. According to euro News, authorities in the 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.800 EU are looking at the concept of the metaverse with 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.880 regard to what, if any, regulations will need to be 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.160 in place to protect citizens from what some call the 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:40.199 future of the internet. In fact, Margreeth Vettiger, and I 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.520 apologize for butchering that name, she's an EU representative from Denmark, 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.920 went so far as to say, quote, the metaverse is 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.240 here already, so of course we want we start analyzing 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.120 what will be the role for a regulator, what is 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.600 the role for our legislature end quote. I actually take 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.160 issue with her statement that the metaverse is here are 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.520 already because no one has really defined what the metaverse 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.600 is or will be. There are a lot of kind 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:13.400 of vague ideas and proposals of what metaverse will actually mean. 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.560 Whenever we have something that we can definitively point to 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.720 and say that is a metaverse, and there's some examples 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.840 of stuff to have elements of some of those ideas, 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.240 I mean, minecraft roadblocks and even Second Life come to 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.760 mind as having some aspects of what people refer to 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:33.880 when they're talking about metaverse concepts, but none of those 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.960 seem to actually encompass everything that is brought to mind 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.600 when that vague term metaverse has mentioned. However, there are 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.600 definitely a lot of companies rushing into the metaverse space 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.120 convinced that it is in fact going to be the 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.760 future of the Internet. I'm still skeptical about that personally, 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:52.920 but I have a long history of being wrong about 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.640 this kind of stuff, and besides, I'm getting older and 0:12:55.679 --> 0:13:00.880 grouchier every day, so that could be affecting my perception anyway. 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.520 It's clear that EU officials are looking ahead and trying 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.200 to anticipate what sort of regulations will need to be 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.000 in place in order to ensure that the meta verses, 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.199 whatever those turn out to be, played by the use 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:18.400 rules about citizen data, privacy and security. The EU has 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:23.520 been very forward on those pushing for stronger and stronger 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:28.560 regulations and turning from the metaverse to meta You know, 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.080 the company formerly known as Facebook. We have a few 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:35.120 more stories. For one, Meta has said it might actually 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:39.880 shut down operations in Europe for Facebook and Instagram that is, 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:41.880 the folks in Europe may one day find they can 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.320 no longer access those platforms. Now why is that, Well, 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.319 it all has to do with those data privacy laws 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:52.760 and the EU I just referenced. See Facebook currently transfers 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.440 data back and forth between the UK and the United States, 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:00.520 or really the United States and everywhere else. Like if 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.760 you lived in Africa, that data would be making its 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.559 way back to the United States for processing and analyzing 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:13.040 um and so in the European Union there are these 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:17.160 transatlantic data transfers that happens so that Facebook can quote 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.720 unquote offers services to European users. And by offer services, 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:26.480 I suspect we're not just talking about features on Facebook 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:31.120 and Instagram, but stuff like you know, targeted advertising. That 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.040 that's part of what the data is being used for. 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:37.840 But the use data protection laws are closing off the 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:42.560 avenues that Facebook can legally use to transfer data from 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:46.800 the European Union to the United States, largely because there 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.720 are concerns that such data transfers could end up being 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.120 mined by organizations like the National Security Agency or in 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.479 essay here in the United States, and that EU citizens 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:02.080 should not be subjected to that, especially without their consent, 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.560 so that's what's at the heart here. And the EU 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.440 has started to shut down some of the avenues that 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.120 Facebook would use to send data back and forth, so 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.040 that would mean Facebook would have to silo information in 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.120 the European Union, it would have to set up operations 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.040 in the EU specifically to handle all that in order 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.560 to keep you know, it's its services essentially the same 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.040 as they are now, rather than just having it shipped 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:35.040 over to the United States that data. So they're essentially saying, Hey, 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.240 if we can't transfer data back to the United States 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.160 so that we can make use of it, we can't 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.040 operate in the U, so we're gonna shut down now. 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.520 I should also add that REPS that Meta have said 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.760 the company doesn't actually have plans to shut down operations 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:52.000 in the EU. Instead, they're sending the message that there 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.600 needs to be some sort of official structure in place 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:59.480 so that the company can continue on with business as usual. Meanwhile, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.080 REPS and EU are essentially saying, you need us more 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.160 than we need you. And in fact, Meta pulls about 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.840 its ad revenue from Europe. About half of all revenue 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:15.400 comes from North America and the remaining gets divvied up 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.400 around the rest of the world. So the United States 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.480 and Canada are the most important regions for Facebook when 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.640 it comes to revenue, but the EU that's significant. So 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.240 if Meta were not to comply, it could face some 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.840 pretty significant finds in Europe. And at the moment, the 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.080 matter is still one that's working its way through regulatory processes. 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.440 So it may turn out this whole kerfuffle dies without 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:43.800 much happening, but we'll have to keep an eye on it. Okay. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:47.360 Another story with Meta is that Peter Theel venture capitalist, 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.280 who has long maintained a seat at Meta's board of directors, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.440 is stepping down from the board. Feel himself is a 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:59.240 controversial figure, having become a prominent supporter of conservative politicians 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:03.960 in including former US President Donald Trump. Now I say 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:08.040 controversial because Trump of course got into hot water on 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:13.840 Facebook and other online platforms by repeatedly violating policies of 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:18.240 those platforms, including facebooks, and that necessitated his removal from 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.520 those platforms. In fact, I think Facebook was the first 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:24.160 one to do it. So, you know, Peter Theel being 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.440 a supporter of Donald Trump, there was this question about 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.320 whether his influence at the board level would cause Facebook 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:36.879 to make bad decisions regarding its content moderation policies, and 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.919 there were critics who were calling upon CEO Mark Zuckerberg 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:44.680 to cut tiles with feel but Mark Toads didn't do that. Anyway, 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.320 thel now appears to be interested in getting into politics himself, 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.600 so he has stepped down from Facebook's board, which would 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:57.160 absolutely be necessary before he could run for any kind 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.160 of office without you know, tons of people jump being 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.320 on his case for having conflicts of interest. Um. Yeah, 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:08.440 So the very important figure in Facebook's history and one 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:13.439 that has had an increasingly um prominent role in supporting 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.719 politics in the United States. As for Meta's version of 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:21.159 the Metaverse, the company has recently made a change to 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:25.000 its virtual reality social space called Horizon. It's got a 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.800 couple of different Horizon products out there, like Horizon World, 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.320 and the change now creates a virtual personal space perimeter 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.800 around each avatar. And you might wonder why, Well, it's 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:41.080 because people can be really awful, particularly in online spaces. 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.600 We've already seen early users of Horizon come forward with 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.640 complaints that they were being harassed in virtual spaces, some 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.359 of them saying that others were attempting to virtually grope 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.119 at them. And you know that might sound odd or 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.520 maybe even funny to you, but you know, when you 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:01.120 think about it, really is disturbing. Like first, I mean, 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:03.400 you have no idea what someone else has been through 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.920 in their life, and a virtual action like that could 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.920 be triggering. Like if someone actually has been the target 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:15.359 of sexual harassment or assault in their past, a virtual 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:21.359 representation of that is incredibly distressing. Beyond that, a good 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.600 virtual experience is really immersive. I mean, you know, they're 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.600 there therapists out there who use virtual reality to help 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.520 treat people who have various phobias as a kind of 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:37.439 immersion therapy where the the person who has like the 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:42.080 phobia can be exposed to a virtual representation of whatever 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:45.200 it is that triggers the fear and get more accustomed 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.800 to it without having to actually go in person and 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:53.439 experience that firsthand. Like they have that safety net of 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:56.480 it's a virtual experience. But I can tell you people 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.840 have had their bodies react just as if they were 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.520 in the real situation. So we know that these virtual 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:08.840 experiences can have real psychological effects on us. So if 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.199 you are the victim of assault, it can have a 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:17.440 real psychological effect. Even though you know You're ostensibly safely 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:21.000 at home in say your game room or office or whatever, 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:26.160 and nothing quote unquote real is happening to you. Um, 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.160 but yeah, having people blatantly deny you your personal space 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:34.440 is just awful. So this new system in Horizon creates 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:38.840 a two ft radius perimeter around every avatar by default, 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.320 and that is meant to set the stage for behavioral 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.560 norms within the metaverse. Now, keep in mind, this is 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:50.480 just one way people could harass one another in virtual space, 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.520 right to get all up into someone else's personal space. 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:57.080 That's one way that you could really harass somebody, But 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.199 there are lots of other ones, and Meta executive have 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.920 already indicated that moderating the metaverse to counteract toxicity will 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:08.560 be difficult, and actually, according to Andrew Bosworth of Meta, 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.800 if you're talking about metaverse at scale, it will be 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:17.720 practically impossible, which does not sound particularly fun to me. Okay, 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.520 we've got a few more news stories to cover before 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:30.879 we close out, but let's take another quick break. Let 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.040 us turn our attention now to Apple. The company is 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.720 also coming under fire recently, as eight state treasurers in 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:42.200 the United States have contacted the Securities and Exchange Commission 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:46.680 or SEC over allegations that Apple has been forcing employees 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.840 to sign non disclosure agreements more commonly referred to as 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:56.399 in DA's and use them as quote unquote concealment clauses. So, 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.399 in other words, the allegation is that Apple co versus 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.920 employees to sign an agreement that says the employee will 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.920 not reveal the existence of unlawful acts committed by people 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.399 within the company or facilitated by the company itself, that 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:16.000 you are not allowed to talk about that outside of 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:21.080 specific uh contexts within the company itself. You could not 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:23.320 go to a lawyer, you could not go to the press. 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:26.840 You weren't supposed to talk about to anyone. And the 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:31.399 letter from these state treasurers urge urges the SEC to 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:36.000 form rules that expressly forbid companies from using India's in 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:40.920 order to silence employees and prevent reports of discrimination, harassment, 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:45.240 and other illegal activities from being exposed outside the company. Further, 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:49.840 the treasurers are accusing Apple of not just using India's 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:52.960 in this way, but also then lying about that practice 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:57.840 because Apple has said that it does not require employees 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:01.840 to agree to concealment clauses, and so these allegations are 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:06.240 stating that that's categorically false, and that Apple then misrepresented 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:12.360 that when talking to official US regulators. The Treasurers are 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.720 now calling for an investigation and potentially action against Apple 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:20.240 should those allegations prove to be true. So that's still, 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:23.359 you know, again, working its way through that process. We 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:26.840 don't have anything hard to report on that yet, but 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:29.920 it does seem to be an escalation of what has 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:34.119 been called the Apple two movement t oo like me too. 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:39.560 Over in Europe, Apple is facing more fines. The Authority 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:43.240 for Consumers and Markets Department in the Netherlands has issued 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:46.480 a fine for five million euros for the third week 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:49.240 in a row, stating that Apple has failed to comply 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:52.640 with an order to allow dating apps to offer alternative 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:57.560 payment systems to Apple's own in app system. This ties 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:00.800 in with a global story of Apple racing pressure to 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:05.199 relinquish some control of the in app experience in iOS. So, 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.479 in case you're not familiar with that, Apple's policy was 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:12.760 that developers who created apps for iOS devices had and 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:16.159 any of them that included in app purchases would have 0:24:16.240 --> 0:24:19.400 to use Apple's payment structure. So, in other words, let's 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:23.080 say I create a game for iOS devices, and within 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:27.520 the game, players can purchase different skins for their character 0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:30.600 so that they have a different appearance. Well, I would 0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:34.040 have to use apples in app payment structure for that, 0:24:34.119 --> 0:24:37.480 and that would give Apple a cut of each transaction, 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:42.320 which ranged from fifteen depending upon the size of the 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:45.959 developer that was, you know, submitting the app app. And 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:50.520 because Apple controls the entire ecosystem for iOS apps, you 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:53.960 either played by Apple's rules or your app would not 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.240 get carried by Apple. And of course, you know, people 0:24:57.320 --> 0:25:01.640 know that the folks who own iPhones are more prone 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:06.000 to in app purchases than other platforms, like even though 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:09.800 there are way more Android systems out there, the people 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:12.840 who spend the most money are those who have iOS systems. 0:25:13.080 --> 0:25:18.760 So that would represent a pretty lucrative vein of revenue 0:25:18.760 --> 0:25:22.280 for Apple. So Apple does not want to move away 0:25:22.320 --> 0:25:25.560 from that, obviously, because that revenue is an important stream 0:25:25.640 --> 0:25:28.439