WEBVTT - Tech News: OnlyFans does a 180

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,

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<v Speaker 1>Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>and a love of all things tech. This is the

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<v Speaker 1>tech news for Thursday, August twenty one. Should be a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty short and sweet episode. Let's get to it now.

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<v Speaker 1>Last week, I reported the Only Fans, which is a

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<v Speaker 1>content platform that is most famous for hosting adult content

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<v Speaker 1>and sexually explicit content, was promoting a streaming video app

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<v Speaker 1>that would strictly stick too Safe for work content because

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<v Speaker 1>that was the only way the company was going to

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<v Speaker 1>get the app through and accepted into the Google and

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<v Speaker 1>Apple app stores. But following that was a roller coaster

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<v Speaker 1>of a story. First, the company said it was planning

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<v Speaker 1>to change its content policies, and namely Only Fans initially

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<v Speaker 1>announced that it would no longer allow for sexually explicit

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<v Speaker 1>content on the site, and it sounded as though nudity

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<v Speaker 1>would not be forbidden, but anything expressly sexual would be.

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<v Speaker 1>That precipitated a protest, which included content creators who essentially

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<v Speaker 1>made the site what it is, the argument being this

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<v Speaker 1>site wouldn't exist without that content. Sex workers were among

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<v Speaker 1>those protesting and other supporters they were criticizing the company's decision.

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<v Speaker 1>Well now only Fans has since reversed that decision and

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<v Speaker 1>said this planned change in policy will not happen. After all,

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<v Speaker 1>it was supposed to happen October one, and now it's

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<v Speaker 1>not going to happen. Moreover, the company said the whole

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<v Speaker 1>reason for this proposed change the first place wasn't necessarily

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<v Speaker 1>because the company had shifted towards a more conservative philosophy,

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<v Speaker 1>but rather it comes down to money, or maybe more precisely,

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<v Speaker 1>it comes down to payment processing. So, according to this

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<v Speaker 1>argument at issue, our companies like MasterCard and Visa, these

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<v Speaker 1>are payment processing companies that facilitate financial transactions, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>obviously for thousands of companies, right, not just only Fans,

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<v Speaker 1>but all around the world. Now, without these transaction services,

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<v Speaker 1>it becomes increasingly difficult to handle financial transactions, particularly at scale,

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<v Speaker 1>and so companies depend upon these very large entities to

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<v Speaker 1>make the flow of money possible because obviously without money

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<v Speaker 1>there's nothing, you know, creators want to be paid, the

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<v Speaker 1>site needs to make money. So these processing services hold

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of power and hold a lot of power

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<v Speaker 1>over the payment processing services are various conservative groups that

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<v Speaker 1>object to sexually explicit content. This is not the first

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<v Speaker 1>time we've seen platforms, you know, either bow or attempt

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<v Speaker 1>to bow to pressure from payment services. Patreon went through

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<v Speaker 1>something very similar. There were also reports that Only Fans

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<v Speaker 1>was struggling to secure investment money, and that the issue

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<v Speaker 1>of sexually explicit material on the site was the reason

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<v Speaker 1>for that challenge. But at any rate, the protests seemed

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<v Speaker 1>to have swayed Only Fans to change course yet again

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<v Speaker 1>and reject the requirement for content creators to follow a

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<v Speaker 1>new policy. Now, the reason I wanted to cover the

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<v Speaker 1>story was not for its salacious nature. It wasn't because

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<v Speaker 1>of controversy or to you know, throw sex into the mix,

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<v Speaker 1>but rather to highlight how politics and influence groups and

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<v Speaker 1>money play a huge role in everything in including in

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<v Speaker 1>the tech sector and on online platforms, and that we

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<v Speaker 1>can't really look at any issue without taking the larger

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<v Speaker 1>context into account, or else we miss important details. So

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<v Speaker 1>while your personal stance on the appropriate or inappropriate nature

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<v Speaker 1>of sexually explicit content is valid, like that's part of

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<v Speaker 1>your philosophy, and I do not wish to put my

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<v Speaker 1>own thoughts on there I would say that, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>ultimately we're looking at a lot of people using a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of influence to try and push things towards a

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<v Speaker 1>specific agenda, and that's where the conflict comes out of.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't think it was a lot of people reduced

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<v Speaker 1>to this to essentially say that only FANS was turning

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<v Speaker 1>its back on the people who had made the site

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<v Speaker 1>what it was. I think there's an element of that

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<v Speaker 1>that is true, but I think it is far more

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<v Speaker 1>complicated than that summary. Moving on, Earlier this week, I

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<v Speaker 1>talked about the ongoing semi conductor shortage and how we

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<v Speaker 1>might see that issue affects stuff like, you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>supply of various technologies and products. Well, the Wall Street

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<v Speaker 1>Journal reports that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which is

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<v Speaker 1>the largest semi conductor chip manufacturer in the world, is

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<v Speaker 1>going to increase its prices potentially by as much as

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<v Speaker 1>twenty percent. Now, if you're gonna bump up your prices

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<v Speaker 1>by a fifth, that's pretty significant. And most of these

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<v Speaker 1>chips are not going to people like you and me.

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<v Speaker 1>These are being purchased by other companies which are then

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<v Speaker 1>using those chips as components in other products, which can

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<v Speaker 1>include anything from advanced technology to simple gadgets. But if

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<v Speaker 1>the semi conductor companies are raising their prices and these

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<v Speaker 1>other secondary companies are going to have to pay more

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<v Speaker 1>money to buy a basic component, I bet you can

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<v Speaker 1>guess where that bumping cost is gonna go next. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>this very likely means that for a fairly wide range

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<v Speaker 1>of products, we're likely to see prices start to go up. Otherwise,

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<v Speaker 1>the companies that are selling this stuff will have to

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<v Speaker 1>do so at a loss, and that's, you know, not

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<v Speaker 1>great in the business plan. You don't want to sell

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<v Speaker 1>things for less than what you paid to make them.

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<v Speaker 1>And we've definitely seen this already happen in the automotive world,

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<v Speaker 1>although that's a more complicated issue. You've got a limited

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<v Speaker 1>supply of cars and you've got steady demand, and by

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<v Speaker 1>the laws of supply and demand, if the supply is

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<v Speaker 1>low and the demand is high, then prices tend to

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<v Speaker 1>go up. Just kind of how it works in in

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<v Speaker 1>that free market sort of approach. However, it would not

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<v Speaker 1>surprise me to see this tent trend kind of affect

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<v Speaker 1>a wider variety of technology in the months to come,

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<v Speaker 1>which is not great new especially as we move towards

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<v Speaker 1>the holiday season, we will have to see. One group

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<v Speaker 1>of policies that has had an enormous impact on business

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<v Speaker 1>in general, but the tech world in particular, is the

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<v Speaker 1>g d p R, or General Data Protection Regulation in

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<v Speaker 1>the European Union. These rules restrict how companies can collect

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<v Speaker 1>and use personal information of EU citizens, and it includes

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<v Speaker 1>numerous protections for citizens of the EU in an era

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<v Speaker 1>where data collection is pretty much the name of the game.

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<v Speaker 1>This is why a lot of sites include those little

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<v Speaker 1>pop up notifications about cookies and tracking and whatnot and

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<v Speaker 1>allow you to opt out of that or to leave

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<v Speaker 1>the site before you know the data collection begins. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>the UK famously said peace out to the EU, and

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<v Speaker 1>now Oliver doubt In, the Culture Secretary for the UK,

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<v Speaker 1>says that the nation is going to take a slightly

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<v Speaker 1>different path from the EU and leave at least parts

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<v Speaker 1>of the g d p R regulations behind. However, this

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<v Speaker 1>is all much easier said than done, because while the

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<v Speaker 1>UK might not be part of the EU anymore, it

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<v Speaker 1>definitely has lots and lots and lots of transactions with

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<v Speaker 1>the EU. Frequently, I mean as as much as a

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<v Speaker 1>small subsection of Brits might like to think that they

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<v Speaker 1>are a world unto themselves, something that a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>Americans can identify with the fact is there are actually

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<v Speaker 1>a lot more people outside of the UK than there

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<v Speaker 1>are in it. Anyway, whatever new rules take the place

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<v Speaker 1>of g d p R in the UK, we'll have

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<v Speaker 1>to meet EU approval or else the UK might see

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<v Speaker 1>various data channels connecting it to the continent, kind of

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<v Speaker 1>shut down. The UK has named John Edwards, who currently

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<v Speaker 1>is the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand, as a potential

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<v Speaker 1>candidate to take over the job of Information Commissioner, which

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<v Speaker 1>would start in November of this year, and that he

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<v Speaker 1>would then oversee the drafting of new rules. It will

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<v Speaker 1>likely be a pretty complicated process to make certain that

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<v Speaker 1>the new rules are compatible enough with g DPR and

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<v Speaker 1>protect British citizens adequately, and to you know, kind of

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<v Speaker 1>remove some of the stuff that the UK sees as

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<v Speaker 1>being unnecessary or counterproductive. And I wish them luck in

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<v Speaker 1>those endeavors. I have a few more news stories, but

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<v Speaker 1>before we get to that, let's take a quick break.

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<v Speaker 1>BuzzFeed News published an article that reveals that twenty four

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<v Speaker 1>countries have made use of clear View ai s facial

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<v Speaker 1>recognition technology, and you may have heard me talk about

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<v Speaker 1>clear View AI before. That company has actually run into

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<v Speaker 1>some trouble with various online platforms after using technology to

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<v Speaker 1>scrape those platforms for publicly posted images in order to

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<v Speaker 1>build out an enormous facial recognition database without the consent

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<v Speaker 1>of the people who's you know, images they collected. And

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<v Speaker 1>you might say, well, if someone posts a photo publicly

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<v Speaker 1>on their Facebook profile, like if their profile is public

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<v Speaker 1>and they post it to the public, you know, setting,

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<v Speaker 1>then it's fair game because it's all public, right, But

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<v Speaker 1>what if that photo includes other folks in it? It's

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<v Speaker 1>not like just a selfie. What if a friend of

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<v Speaker 1>yours takes a photo that has you in it, and

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<v Speaker 1>then they post that photo on their public Facebook profile,

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<v Speaker 1>and then clear View AI scoops up that photo and

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<v Speaker 1>now your face is also in that database, even though

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<v Speaker 1>you never gave consent. You don't publicly post pictures, at

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<v Speaker 1>least in this hypothetical situation, and so you never had

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<v Speaker 1>an option to opt in or opt out of this.

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<v Speaker 1>It just happened because a friend of yours decided that

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<v Speaker 1>that picture just needed to go up on that Facebook profile.

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<v Speaker 1>All of that just stinks, right, I mean this affects

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<v Speaker 1>people who aren't even on Facebook. Right. You've got people

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<v Speaker 1>who just know people who are on Facebook, and they

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<v Speaker 1>happen to show up in pictures and they had no

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<v Speaker 1>saying any of this. This is just one of the

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<v Speaker 1>many problems that privacy rights advocates have with clear view AI.

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<v Speaker 1>Another big one is that facial recognition technologies are notoriously

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<v Speaker 1>prone to bias, and that this frequently means the tech

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<v Speaker 1>is just playing bad at recognizing images, specifically of non

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<v Speaker 1>white people, and this can lead to false positives. That

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<v Speaker 1>has actually happened in numerous cases around the world where

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<v Speaker 1>police have acted upon uh incorrect facial recognition hits. So

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<v Speaker 1>this disproportionately affects people of color. It is, It is bad.

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<v Speaker 1>Buzzfeeds report shows how widely used this tech is within

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<v Speaker 1>various institutions around the world, old including agencies that are

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<v Speaker 1>funded by taxpayers. So in other words, we're all paying

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<v Speaker 1>to be spied upon and potentially misidentified. There's been a

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<v Speaker 1>growing movement around the world to restrict facial recognition technology use,

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<v Speaker 1>especially in investigations, and some communities outright ban police use

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<v Speaker 1>of that technology. Honestly, I'm all for banning facial recognition

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<v Speaker 1>tech for those kinds of investigations. And I've said this before.

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<v Speaker 1>Relying on technology to solve a social problem when the

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<v Speaker 1>tech just isn't there yet, that's just a recipe to

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<v Speaker 1>make a bad social problem even worse, or to create

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<v Speaker 1>new social problems that interact with existing ones. Not a

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<v Speaker 1>good thing. Tech is not a solve all approach to

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<v Speaker 1>all of our problems, and relying on tech to be

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<v Speaker 1>that is a recipe for disaster. I see the same

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<v Speaker 1>thing playing out with climate change, where people are saying,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not worried the as we're gonna come up with

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<v Speaker 1>tech to solve this problem. There's no guarantee will do that.

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<v Speaker 1>There's no guarantee it will be on a timeline that

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<v Speaker 1>will actually make a difference. You cannot use the you

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<v Speaker 1>know tech as some sort of literal deos X makena

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<v Speaker 1>to come in and rescue us. All right, soap box

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<v Speaker 1>set aside, but sticking with facial recognition tech, The Register

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<v Speaker 1>reports that a South Korean government agency called the Personal

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<v Speaker 1>Information Protection Commission or p i p C, found that

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook created facial recognition templates for two thousand South Koreans

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<v Speaker 1>without first securing proper consent, and that this happened between

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<v Speaker 1>April two thousand eighteen and April two thousand nineteen. The

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<v Speaker 1>government has then find Facebook six point four six billion one. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>that's about five and a half million dollars, and let's

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<v Speaker 1>be honest, that is a lot of money. Five and

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<v Speaker 1>a half million dollars, that's a ton of money. I

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<v Speaker 1>would I would be gob struck to get five and

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<v Speaker 1>a half million dollars, But for Facebook, that probably doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>even amount to a catered dinner at Facebook anyway. The

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<v Speaker 1>organization also told Facebook that it would need to destroy

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<v Speaker 1>the facial recognition info the company had developed for South Koreans,

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<v Speaker 1>and then if it wanted to rebuild it, it it would

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<v Speaker 1>first have to obtain consent from each person before starting

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<v Speaker 1>back into that process. It also issued a warning to

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<v Speaker 1>Google and told the company to make its privacy policies

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<v Speaker 1>and settings more transparent. And Netflix got hit with a

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<v Speaker 1>two million one or are just under a hundred dollars

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<v Speaker 1>in fines for collecting the data of users without first

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<v Speaker 1>gaining their consent. So we're seeing more pushback in this field.

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<v Speaker 1>But again, like those amounts I mean, they might probably

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<v Speaker 1>make sense within the context of South Korea, but they

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<v Speaker 1>are so small in the grand scheme of these come

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<v Speaker 1>as that while you know, no one ever wants to

0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:09.040
<v Speaker 1>pay a fine, it's barely an inconvenience. The EU is

0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.160
<v Speaker 1>looking to chip away at some of the features that

0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:16.160
<v Speaker 1>cryptocurrency enthusiasts happen to like a lot, namely that whole

0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:19.560
<v Speaker 1>bit about privacy, you know, being able to make transactions

0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:24.400
<v Speaker 1>without everyone knowing your business. The EU wants companies like

0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:28.480
<v Speaker 1>coin base and cracking, so essentially companies that handle like

0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.960
<v Speaker 1>digital wallets and stuff, to collect information on people who

0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:36.000
<v Speaker 1>are conducting cryptocurrency transactions. And this gets really interesting to

0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:41.240
<v Speaker 1>me because it actually shows how how there's some conflicting

0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:45.240
<v Speaker 1>philosophies at play in the EU when it comes to

0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.480
<v Speaker 1>digital information. Because on the one hand, you have some

0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.160
<v Speaker 1>fairly extensive data protection laws on the books that are

0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:56.400
<v Speaker 1>meant to help citizens protect their privacy and their security

0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.160
<v Speaker 1>and to know who has their data and how they

0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.920
<v Speaker 1>are using that. But on the other hand, well, you know,

0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.520
<v Speaker 1>they want to keep track of these transactions, and thus

0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.080
<v Speaker 1>that means giving up some privacy in order for that

0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.760
<v Speaker 1>information to be traceable. Uh. And there's a couple of

0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.840
<v Speaker 1>reasons for that. One is that you clearly are thinking

0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:21.080
<v Speaker 1>about taxation, right if you want to tax transactions that

0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:24.280
<v Speaker 1>otherwise are going hidden. Another is that a lot of

0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:28.000
<v Speaker 1>criminals use cryptocurrency in an effort to launder money from

0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:32.840
<v Speaker 1>illicitly gained sources. That's something clearly the authorities would want

0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:34.880
<v Speaker 1>to know about. They'd want to be able to trace that,

0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.320
<v Speaker 1>So there are some legit reasons for countries to want

0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.880
<v Speaker 1>to do this. This rule would require crypto companies to

0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.520
<v Speaker 1>make these transactions traceable, and it would bring cryptocurrency kind

0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.640
<v Speaker 1>of in line with the rules that guide other banking

0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.600
<v Speaker 1>and financial institutions, including the fact that you would not

0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.400
<v Speaker 1>be allowed to have an anonymous digital wallet. Like digital

0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:01.440
<v Speaker 1>wallets would have to be tied to specifick individuals and

0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.280
<v Speaker 1>that would need to be traceable. And finally, the search

0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:09.439
<v Speaker 1>business is seriously big business, like like wicked big. And

0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.480
<v Speaker 1>one way to try and wrap your head around how

0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.960
<v Speaker 1>big search is in the sense of like how much

0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.520
<v Speaker 1>money it makes is to look at how much Google

0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.560
<v Speaker 1>will pay Apple to allow Google Search to be the

0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.880
<v Speaker 1>default search engine for Safari and thus the default search

0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:31.560
<v Speaker 1>engine for Mac and iOS devices. Now. Back in Google

0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:37.080
<v Speaker 1>reportedly coughed up ten billion dollars for that privilege, and

0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.360
<v Speaker 1>this year, according to an analyst firm called Bernstein, the

0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:45.960
<v Speaker 1>amount might be closer to fifteen billion dollars and it

0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.240
<v Speaker 1>would just increase from there, so next year would probably

0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:53.359
<v Speaker 1>be closer to eighteen to twenty billion dollars. That is

0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:57.760
<v Speaker 1>a princely sum. Indeed, now the analysts say this isn't

0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.119
<v Speaker 1>set in stone, and Google might ultimately decide that the

0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.160
<v Speaker 1>expense it pays is not worth the benefit it gets,

0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.440
<v Speaker 1>or you might have a regulatory agency step in and say, hey,

0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:14.000
<v Speaker 1>this doesn't seem like it's a good practice. It seems

0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.960
<v Speaker 1>anti competitive, and that would mean that you're falling into

0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.160
<v Speaker 1>some you know, trends of monopolies and you start getting

0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.760
<v Speaker 1>into illegal territory. But what it really shows you is

0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.560
<v Speaker 1>that Google is definitely an ad company, right, Like that

0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:33.359
<v Speaker 1>is Google's business. Search just happens to be the prime

0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:37.879
<v Speaker 1>way that Google gets eyeballs on advertisement and that's what

0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:41.399
<v Speaker 1>generates revenue for the company. So, yeah, Google provides a

0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:47.000
<v Speaker 1>search service, but it's business is in advertising. So I

0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.679
<v Speaker 1>guess it's true that you've got to spend money to

0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.000
<v Speaker 1>make money, and that applies even when you're looking at

0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:56.479
<v Speaker 1>multibillion dollar corporations. Now, if like me, you're wondering how

0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:01.280
<v Speaker 1>much Google pulls in from its search business, like, what

0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.800
<v Speaker 1>is justifying this incredible expense, Well, in the company reported

0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.600
<v Speaker 1>revenues of a hundred four billion dollars in the search

0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.760
<v Speaker 1>and other category, and that in turn was more than

0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.000
<v Speaker 1>all of Google's revenue for that year. So yeah, these

0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.399
<v Speaker 1>are the big leagues we're talking about. Still blows my

0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.919
<v Speaker 1>mind that it's that big, though. And that's it for

0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:27.840
<v Speaker 1>the news that I have for you guys on Thursday,

0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.600
<v Speaker 1>August one. Will be back next week with more tech

0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.320
<v Speaker 1>news and episodes. If you have suggestions for topics I

0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.560
<v Speaker 1>should cover on tech Stuff, reach out to me on

0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.840
<v Speaker 1>Twitter to handle is tech Stuff hs W, and I'll

0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:48.680
<v Speaker 1>talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an

0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.399
<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.879
<v Speaker 1>visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

0:19:55.960 --> 0:20:00.159
<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows. GW