WEBVTT - Tech News: IBM Considers AI Over New Hires 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.239 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. He there, 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.760 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:18.919 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.200 are you. It's time for the tech news for May 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:27.200 second two, thy twenty three and first up. You may 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:31.600 have seen some headlines like Godfather of AI quits Google 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.080 to warn us about artificial intelligence, or something along those lines. 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.920 The godfather in question is not Don Corleone. It is 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.279 doctor Jeffrey Hinton. He's been a researcher in AI in 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:49.000 general and deep learning in particular for decades, and he 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.320 says that he quit his job at Google so that 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.440 he could speak out about his concerns centering around artificial 0:00:55.480 --> 0:01:00.560 intelligence without having those concerns impact Google directly. He says 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.840 that generally speaking, Google has behaved in a responsible way 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.160 with regard to AI research. Now, I'm going to do 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.920 a full episode about doctor Hinton and his concerns next week, 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.200 so be on the lookout for that episode. Rather than 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.000 dive into all those details here, I'll say that when 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:22.240 someone who is deeply entrenched in AI research comes forward 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.160 to talk about the potential dangers of the technology, it's 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.600 probably a good idea for the rest of us to listen. Personally, 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.880 I've been concerned, but not quite at the point of 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.160 being worried about AI for a while now. But I'm 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.960 also worried about the fact that people tend to overgeneralize 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.280 when they talk about AI, or they use one aspect 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.240 of AI to represent the entire field. Maybe, however, it's 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:50.440 time for me to crank the threat level up a 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.360 notch or two in my own brain. We'll talk more 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:55.800 about that next week, but we do have a few 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.000 other AI stories today. We're going to get to those 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:00.920 in a second, but spoiler alert, several of them fall 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:06.280 into the bad news category. Before we jump into all that, however, 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.600 I wanted to give an update on the legal crusade 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.440 some film studios are on in order to defeat evil 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.920 content pirates, who clearly are the most substantial threat to 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:19.880 the entertainment industry's quest to make all the money in 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.200 the world. Little editorial note, I might be a little 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.800 bit facetious here. The film studios have sued an Internet 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:32.559 service provider formerly called RCN, now known as Astound Broadband, 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.399 saying that this ISP did nothing to stop its customers 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:41.079 from downloading more than thirty different films illegally. As part 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.480 of the studio's quest for justice, they have applied for 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:50.119 subpoena against Reddit. Why well, because the studios had identified 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.440 a few user handles that had posted in various piracy 0:02:55.680 --> 0:03:01.440 and intellectual property and ISP related subreddit and the studios 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.600 wanted names. Gush darn it, They wanted to know who 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.320 those users were, and they were ready to force Reddit 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:11.240 to hand over any data it had about those users. 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:17.320 Reddit told the studios to pound sand saying, these people 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.639 you've identified, most of them aren't even talking about the 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:25.919 topic that's relevant to your case, and by any standard, 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.120 we will not hand over that information. And now a 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.079 US District court judge has cited with Reddit, saying that 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.560 the studios cannot force Reddit to violate the First Amendment 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:41.600 rights of those users, that the barrier to doing that 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.200 has not been met. And again the judge said, the 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.480 identity of those folks really has nothing to do with 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.320 the studio's actual legal case. As for the case against 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.800 the former RCN, well that's probably going to be a 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.160 bit of a tricky path as well. As a platform 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:02.040 RCN isn't actually responsible for what its users do, though 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.560 those protections only extend so far. If a platform is 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.520 told about illegal activity, then it's supposed to take reasonable 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.320 action to stop that activity or else potentially lose legal 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.599 protection in the process. But it's a tricky thing to 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.760 argue in court, so there's no guarantee that the studios 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.799 will get the justice they so want. Now, I decide 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.159 to include the story to illustrate how these protections can 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:32.360 be important. That they can shield platforms and users platforms 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.160 like Reddit or internet service providers from becoming a big 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.880 old target from a heavy hitting industry like the film industry. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:44.040 And while I love film and I think film commerce 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.360 is a valid business that has real challenges facing it, 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.919 I also recognize that media companies in general historically have 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:56.239 used disproportionate response to perceive threats to their bottom line, 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.880 even when the threat ends up being unquantifiable. Next up, 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:06.640 the Writer's Guild of America or WGA, is now on strike. 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.240 The WGA represents writers who work for film and television 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.279 here in the US, and the strike means that members 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.960 of the union cannot do any work relating to that. 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.760 They can take no meetings, they can't pitch story ideas, 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.279 they aren't allowed to communicate with collaborators about a project 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:28.800 as long as the strike is going, all work relating 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.799 to producing, writing for TV and the films in the US, 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.200 they it has to stop. The WGA is in negotiations 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.680 with Hey, those film studios that we were talking about 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.000 a second ago, and at stake are several elements that 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.400 relate to tech, which is why I'm covering this story 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:51.760 in tech stuff. For one thing, streaming has really changed 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:56.159 the economics of media. In the old days, before streaming 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:00.480 platforms are really a thing, writers would receive compensation not 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.039 only in the form of a fee for their work, 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.599 but they would also receive something called residuals, which are 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.520 kind of like royalties. So let's say you write an 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:12.720 episode of a television show We're just going to make 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.719 one up. We'll call it Cyborg John and his Amazing 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.520 Tech stuff, and you get paid for your work. You 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:23.360 write a teleplay, it's used, you're paid. Then about a 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:27.840 year later, a television channel airs the episode a second time. Well, 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.160 the station is making money by selling advertising against an 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:35.200 episode you wrote, so the channel is profiting off of 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.159 your work. Thus it stands to reason that you should 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.840 get a share of that money, so you get some 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:45.359 in the form of residuals. If Cyborg John the TV 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.279 series hits that magic number of episodes that are needed 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.960 to go into syndication and that number varies depending upon 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.479 the nature of the show, well that's even better news 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.760 because it means your episode could be showed again and again, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.840 and every time it is you get a little payout. 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.520 This becomes part of your long term income. It kind 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.679 of becomes passive income at that point. But streaming really 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.920 changed things. Streaming doesn't always depend upon advertising for one thing, 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:17.240 so residuals become a lot trickier to figure out. How 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:21.160 do you determine the value of a view if there's 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.960 not directly advertising served against that view. It really does 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.880 become tricky. This means that writers are seeing a hit 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.920 to their long term compensation as people turn more and 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.440 more to streaming. Plus, a lot of shows have really 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.040 slimmed down their pool of writers. They used to have writers' 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.000 rooms filled with lots of writers, and now you have 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:46.000 these sort of micro writer rooms where a couple of 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.200 writers have to share the whole workload for a full 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:52.040 season of shows. So workload is going up and compensation 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.320 is not. On top of that, there's a fear that 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.240 shows will start to lean on AI tools to take 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.200 over part of the writing process, which will push more 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.679 creatives out of the industry. So the strike is really 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:09.000 about the WGA trying to force Hollywood to adjust to 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:13.000 the current environment because the old economic model just doesn't 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.360 work due to the changes in how the business itself works. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.280 How long this strike will go on will remain to 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.200 be seen. Already, it's affecting stuff like late night talk shows, 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.960 which can't go on without writers, and we're likely to 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:31.000 see more effects the longer the strike goes, like possibly 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.920 next year, some shows will have truncated seasons, they won't 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.120 have as many episodes because the writers went on strike. Also, 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.760 there are two other major unions in Hollywood, the Screen 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:47.559 Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists aka 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.199 sag AFTRA, and then there's also the Director's Guild of 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.640 America or DGA. Both of those unions have their own 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:00.920 contracts with film studios expiring on June thirtieth. Probably also 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:05.360 want to renegotiate, especially with things like streaming being part 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.360 of the mix, and for Screen Actors Guild AI and 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.199 Deep fakes are definitely something that I'm sure a lot 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.559 of people are concerned about. So I feel like the 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.480 Writer's Guild of America is kind of forging a path 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.360 that these other two unions are likely to follow, at 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:23.400 least in large part. And potentially this could mean we 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:27.480 could see all three unions, you know, strike that's like 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.240 the worst case scenario for consumers, because that would mean 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.240 that pretty much all activity in Hollywood shuts down period 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:39.960 TVs and movies, so it can be a real dry 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.640 spell until things get hashed out. On the other hand, 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:47.000 maybe the writers end up making some progress with the 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:51.280 Hollywood studios that then the DGA and SAGAFTRA can build on. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.840 We'll just have to wait and see. Now, that bit 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:59.640 about AI taking an important part in the creative industry 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.480 might seem a little premature, but then you just need 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.360 to look at Bloomberg News and it's interview with IBM's 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.440 CEO r Vind Krishna, and that will change your mind. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.400 Toot sweet. So in that interview, Krishna revealed that IBM 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.319 plans to put its hiring plan for nearly eight thousand 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:20.800 jobs on hold to see if maybe possibly AI could 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.440 do those jobs instead. I mean, why hire real human 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.480 beings if the robots can do all the work. I mean, 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.760 robots don't get sick, they don't go on maternity leave, 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.080 they don't ask for a raise, robots don't organize into 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.559 a union and threaten to stop working if their demands 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:40.640 for stuff like health care and benefits aren't met. Krishna 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.800 was talking about jobs that do not face customers, so 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:46.920 these would be behind the scenes, in house roles, stuff 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:52.040 like HR jobs. So maybe that HR robot will actually 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.280 listen when someone brings up a concern, or maybe that 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.600 robot will just be really really efficient at minimizing the 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.600 potential impact to the business while trying to make the 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:06.920 problem go away, not resolve, go away. I am salty 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:11.599 today must be because yesterday was May Day. Anyway, Krishna's 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.960 comments are not likely to make anyone feel better about 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.040 the fear of AI replacing them, of taking our jobs, 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.160 because that's exactly what IBM appears to be exploring. And y'all, 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.360 I am not a doom sayer. I don't believe AI 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.400 is going to replace us all. For one thing, it's 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:32.199 just not practical. If AI did replace us, if AI 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.120 got all the jobs, well, no one would be able 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.640 to make a living. And if no one's making a living, 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.920 then they can't afford to buy stuff. And if you 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.400 can't afford to buy stuff, these companies can't make any money. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.960 They just go out of business because who are their customers. 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:51.280 Even businesses that have other businesses as customers, those secondary businesses, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.079 they're going to go out of money right because there's 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.160 no one buying anything. It literally becomes a self defeating 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.439 strategy in the long run. So it ultimately does matter 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.880 how much cost you eliminate from your operations if you're 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:07.200 also eliminating the ability for people to buy your product 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.360 or service. Hey, maybe I'm giving companies like IBM too 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:14.439 much credit for thinking ahead and considering consequences. Okay, we 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:16.400 got a lot more news stories to go today. We're 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:28.920 gonna take a quick break. Okay, we're back, and we've 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:33.079 got more AI stories. So Samsung is now telling employees 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:38.520 to avoid using AI. Specifically, Samsung wants its employees to 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:44.600 avoid generative AI tools stuff like chat GPT, which employees 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.840 had been using to do stuff like you know, alter code, 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.240 create new code, that kind of thing to help with 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.960 basic steps along those lines. So why is Samsung saying, hey, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.320 don't do that. Well. Last month, Samsung had a couple 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.480 of embarrassing incidents in which employees had shared company IP 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:07.120 on chat GPT and that information subsequently leaked to the 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:10.960 general public. So folks were working on stuff like Samsung's 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:15.240 own proprietary code and also sharing stuff like meeting notes 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.840 in an effort to use generative AI to create stuff 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:22.360 like reports and presentations, but then that sensitive information got out, 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.760 and that's not great for Samsung. If I were to 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:29.400 create an analogy, I would say, as a Southern fella 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.160 brought up in the state of Georgia, this would be 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:36.640 like if someone from Coca Cola had shared Coke's formula 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.920 with chat GPT in an effort to brainstorm new co 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.320 Cola ideas, and then the formula would then leak to 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.760 the public. That would be disaster. That's kind of what 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.680 happened to Samsung. So now Samsung is saying that these 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.240 AI tools aren't secure, and to be fair, they are not, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.920 and that employees shouldn't be using them to do work. Now, 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.680 I think this makes a lot of sense because until 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:06.120 companies have their own sequestered generative AI tools, not necessarily 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.280 created by the company itself, but one that is is 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.160 only being used by that company. It doesn't have connections 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.320 to the outside world. It can't send information outside of 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.320 the organization. Well until that day happens. You have to 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.960 treat these AI tools as a security flaw. Really, generative 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.440 AI is highlighting a lot of issues in the way 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:31.160 that companies currently do business. We've seen the cloud computing 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:35.520 industry grow and evolve and adopt tight security controls in 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.080 the process as a necessity so that they can continue 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.160 to do business. If your cloud computing company can't show 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.880 that your operations are secure on their network, well they're 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.080 not going to have any customers. So generative AI needs 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.760 to follow that same pathway. Moving on to Twitter, because 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.400 Heaven help us if we can get through a news 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.680 episode without having to talk about it. The reports that 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.680 brands are still pretty iffy about posting on Twitter or 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:09.120 using it as an advertising platform because the transition of 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:13.280 the blue check mark from being a verification mark into 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.720 becoming a paid subscription feature has led to a rise 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:22.440 of impostors posing as all sorts of things, including official brands, 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:28.920 and with Twitter's moderation team absolutely decimated by rounds of layoffs, 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.200 and we'll come back to that in a bit too. 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.480 It is harder and harder for Twitter to respond to 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:38.360 violations like that in a timely fashion. Plus, as a 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.960 fun little bonus news item regarding Twitter blue check marks, 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.960 some formerly verified Twitter users found out that by changing 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.000 their bios they could get their check mark back, at 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:53.880 least temporarily now. Originally the word was that if you 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.720 put former blue check in your bio, you put the 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:01.600 actual words former blue check part of your bio, your 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.080 little check mark would return. And sure enough a lot 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.600 of formally verified users tried this out and it seemed 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.720 to work. But then later on some folks said this 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.640 would happen if you just updated your bio in any way, 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.240 so you didn't have to put those specific words in 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:18.120 for it to happen. It would just happen if you 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.640 made an edit to your bio, and also that this 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.320 change was temporary. I did not try it out myself, 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.360 but my buddy Tom Merritt tested the former blue check method, 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.680 and sure enough he got his check mark back before 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.520 he deleted the phrase from his bio and went back 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.000 to being an unchecked shlub like the rest of us. 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.760 It really shows that Twitter's systems are held together tenuously 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.760 at this point, and that again is not a surprise, 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.440 because there's hardly enough folks at the company to keep 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:52.760 things running, let alone implement new features. Yesterday, Twitter appeared 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.320 to have some technical issues, as many users reported that 0:16:56.360 --> 0:17:00.400 the service had logged them out of the desktop website 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.640 and then wouldn't let them log in again. So. I 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:07.800 know a lot of folks these days access everything via apps, 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:10.879 but I'm an old person, so I still go to 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.960 websites and stuff, including for the rare times when I 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:20.359 pop on Twitter. I typically use the desktop Twitter website. 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.520 Sometimes I use tweet Deck, but either way, I'm using 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.000 a desktop version. I almost never am on my phone 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.359 looking at this, but I am on I'm typically looking 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.280 for the tech stuff feed. So for folks like me, 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.440 getting logged out and then being prevented from logging back 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:39.680 in is kind of akin to being exiled from Twitter, which, 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:41.560 come to think of it, doesn't sound like that bad 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:44.679 of a fate these days. The Verge reported on this 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.800 issue and pointed out somewhat snarkily that there was no 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:49.760 telling how long it would take for the problem to 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.400 get fixed, because we really don't know how many folks 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:54.560 are even working on those kinds of things at Twitter 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:58.560 these days? And any inquiry to Twitter's defunct PR department 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.000 comes back with the infamous oop emoji. The Verge did 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.840 hypothesize that maybe this had something to do with Twitter 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.840 trying to fix that problem of formerly verified people getting 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.880 their check marks back, but who knows. I will say 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:16.040 that today, when I was checking on Twitter, I had 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.800 no issues, I was not logged out, I was fine. 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:22.480 So whatever it was, I assume has been fixed, or 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.200 at the very least hasn't affected me. Now. I mentioned 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.080 that Twitter's moderation team has been nearly eliminated as part 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.119 of the massive cuts Musk has made to the company's staff. 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.920 That led to a real doozy of a problem. Over 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:40.479 the weekend, some Twitter users were posting the Super Mario 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:44.160 Brothers movie to Twitter, the new one, the animated film, 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.320 not the Bob Hoskins film, although someone might have done 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.120 that too, I don't know, but I'm specifically talking about 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.840 the movie that's out in theaters. They posted the whole 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.440 darn movie start to finish, and these tweets stayed up 0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:01.240 for hours. They gained millions of views. I think the 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.119 primary one got more than nine million views before it 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.280 got taken down, and then Twitter finally clamped down on 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:12.360 them and even started to suspend accounts as a result 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.760 of this. Of course, once it goes up somewhere, it 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:17.800 can pop up somewhere else. Someone else can do the 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:21.159 exact same thing. And I mean, it is understandable that 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.840 Twitter has now suspended accounts that have been found to 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.640 do this. But if Twitter failed to act, then those 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.119 movie studios we've been talking about, they sure would not 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.719 go easy on Twitter. If Twitter is shown to not 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.360 respond to stuff like DMCA violations, it can be held 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:42.400 responsible for hosting illegal material. Again, platforms enjoy a lot 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:47.040 of legal protection, but only if they can show that 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:51.160 they're making their own steps to curtail illegal activity. If 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.000 they are aware of illegal activity and they're not doing 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:59.080 anything to stop it, then sometimes those protections can go away. 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.040 Us for how this happened in the first place, well, 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.239 part of it is because Musk loosened the restrictions on 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.560 how long a video that's posted to Twitter is allowed 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:10.600 to be so a lot of it also has to 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:12.439 do with the fact that the company has virtually no 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:16.200 one to watch out for stuff like this. Anymore. So, Yeah, 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:23.200 Twitter's idiosyncratic woes continue. Some environmental activist groups have filed 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:28.640 lawsuits against the US Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA. This 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:33.920 is with regards to SpaceX's test flight of its Starship vehicle. 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:38.440 You might remember that Starship launched off the ground successfully 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:42.359 last month, but subsequently malfunctioned when the first and second 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:46.240 stages failed to separate. This prompted SpaceX to hit the 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:50.160 self destruct button. But during the launch, the force from 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:54.120 those massive engines, the thirty three engines of the first 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.240 stage of the Starship that caused a lot of damage. 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:01.280 It created craters in the launch pad, It hurled debris, 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:05.679 including large heavy debris, all around the area, and that 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:10.359 area happens to include some really sensitive wildlife habitats, something 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.040 that SpaceX has had to contend with since setting up 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:17.520 operations in Texas, and the environmental groups are accusing the 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:21.920 FAA of failing to put SpaceX through proper environmental reviews 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:26.000 before signing off on the test flights of the Starship. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:30.200 As part of this lawsuit, these environmental groups are seeking 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:34.320 to force the FAA to revoke its license to SpaceX 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:38.080 until a more thorough environmental review can happen in order 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:42.119 to prevent further destruction to these habitats. That area is 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:46.440 home to several endangered species, some of them critically endangered, 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.480 and I do think a thorough review is a reasonable request, 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.680 particularly in the wake of the damage the starship's engines 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.119 did to the launch area. No one really anticipated it 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.800 being that bad, not that it was, you know, widespread destruction, 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:05.879 but it was enough to cause some concern, and I 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:10.800 think a review is probably warranted. It may turn out 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:14.080 that everything's fine and still within the parameters of the agreement, 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:17.240 which is that's fine too. SpaceX should be able to 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:22.800 continue then, but without a review, we just don't really know. Okay, 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:25.960 I've got a few more stories to cover before we 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.119 get into any of that. Let's take one more quick break. 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:43.520 We're back. An inquisitive bitcoin enthusiast has used their knowledge 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:48.840 of blockchain to identify nearly one thousand digital wallets held 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:53.760 by various Russian governmental agencies, including ones like the Foreign 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:59.000 Military Intelligence Agency and the Foreign Intelligence Service. The anonymous 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:03.280 detective accuses the owners of these digital wallets of using 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:08.240 the accounts to finance stuff like hacker groups. So it's 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:11.480 an open secret the worst kept secret in tech really 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:15.919 that Russia relies on hackers to conduct espionage, sabotage, and 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:22.320 infiltration campaigns on various targets. It's entirely possible that official 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:26.760 government agencies are using these digital wallets to fund those efforts. 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:30.800 A lot of hacker groups lean heavily on digital currency 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:35.280 because there's less government regulation and oversight. It's easier to 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:40.960 avoid imperial entanglements, as obi Wan would say. Further, this 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:44.639 secret sleuth claims to have seized control of at least 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:49.320 some of these wallets, which they have backed up by 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:55.719 then burning through money like literally destroying digital currency. So 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:59.760 that suggests this is not an empty boast because according 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:05.359 to Reuters, they destroyed around three hundred thousand dollars worth 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:09.280 of bitcoin while making their claims. And that's putting someone 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:11.480 else's money where your mouth is, all right, I mean, 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:14.600 it's like you mean business if you're just burning three 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:18.400 hundred grand in order to get attention. According to Yahoo 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:22.560 Finance and the firm ch Analysis, the vigilante has even 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:26.040 taken Russian money held in these digital wallets and then 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:31.160 funneled that money to Ukrainian aid groups. Ultimately, this does 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:35.720 not speak well of Russia's security practices. If they've managed 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:40.320 to lose control of all these digital assets. Speaking of Russia, 0:24:40.480 --> 0:24:43.040 by the end of June, it's going to be just 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:46.960 a bit harder to find love in that country, or 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:51.639 maybe not love, maybe you know, casual flings. You see, 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:54.280 the Match Group has announced that it's going to be 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:58.480 shutting down operations in Russia on June thirtieth. The Match 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:03.280 Group owns, among other things, Tender, so Russians will soon 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:07.680 find themselves unswipeable at least on Tender, and at least 0:25:07.680 --> 0:25:10.520 while they're in Russia. Why is the Match Group pulling 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:14.240 out of Russia, Well, basically, it's because Putin's government does 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:19.120 terrible things. So the Match Group said that the importance 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:21.639 of human rights was the main reason for closing up 0:25:21.720 --> 0:25:25.160 shop in Russia. That contributing to an economy that supports 0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:28.720