WEBVTT - Tech News: Meta Messed with Texas 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.120 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:21.720 And how the tech are you? It is time for 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:25.880 the tech news for Tuesday, February twenty two. Let's get 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.040 to it. The State of Texas has sued Meta, you know, 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:35.920 the company formerly known as Facebook, for violating state privacy laws, 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:41.479 specifically Texas UH. The Attorney General for Texas accuses Facebook 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.760 of collecting facial recognition data without alerting or getting consent 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.800 from users. The state also says Facebook shared this information 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.760 with third party companies and failed to delete the information 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.560 in a timely manner, as is required by Texas law. Now, 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.240 this relates back to a feature that face Book, the platform, 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.360 used to have, which is that you would upload a 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.320 photo to Facebook and the site would suggest people you 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:11.360 could tag in the photo by using facial recognition technology 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.240 and looking for matches, mostly within your social network. The 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:19.640 state says that the violation's number in the billions with 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.360 a b, which is a pretty staggering thing to consider. 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.360 What's more, according to Texas law, each violation could result 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.240 in a fine of twenty dollars, so you know, you 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.160 take grand and you multiply it by billions and you've 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:37.720 got um. Hang on, let me see here, my calculator 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:43.200 says a metric buttload of cash. Wild this last time, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.160 I'm buy a calculator out of a vending machine. Anyway, 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.880 Meta reps say the case is without merit, though I 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.760 should also add that the company has previously settled a 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.280 class action lawsuit about a similar issue just last year, 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.720 and the company actually did stop the facial workingition practice 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.280 late last year, and that might take a little bit 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.240 of the staying out of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.840 comment quote, Facebook will no longer take advantage of people 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.640 and their children with the intent to turn a profit 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.880 at the expense of one's safety and well being end quote, 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:20.639 because apparently the company has already stopped this particular practice. However, 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.119 I'll give some credit Baxton might be speaking more generally here, 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.600 because of course Facebook and Meta do collect an awful 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.200 lot of information, not just facial recognition information, but all 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.079 sorts of information about people in lots of different ways, 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.040 and share that with various third parties, so it goes 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:43.320 well beyond a facial recognition problem. Tesla is facing another 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:47.800 legal challenge, this time in South Korea. The country's antitrust 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.480 regulator accuses Tesla of misrepresenting the range that the electric 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.120 car company's vehicles can achieve on a single charge of 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:00.200 the battery. For example, the Model three is advertised being 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:04.440 able to travel up to three miles or kilometers on 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.520 a single charge, but the antitrust regulator says that that 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.720 is not true and that this means Tesla has violated 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:15.200 a South Korean law called the Act on Fair Labeling 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:20.200 and Advertising. Essentially, in America we would call it false advertising. Now, 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.120 apparently at the heart of all this is the fact 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.680 that batteries just don't work very well in cold weather, 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.160 or at least less well as in weather with temperatures 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:34.040 that dip below freezing. In those conditions, the cold actually 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:38.520 inhibits the chemical reactions that happen inside a battery, and 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.320 that's the Those are the chemical reactions that generate the electricity. 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:47.520 So until the battery warms up, it can be you know, 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.440 putting out less energy. And this is not a new thing. 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.360 I mean, you might have heard the folk wisdom that 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.880 if you have unused batteries like you know, you've opened 0:03:57.960 --> 0:03:59.760 up a new pack of batteries and you want to 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.000 keep the other ones as long as possible, you should 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.720 put them in the freezer. Uh. Not a good idea. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.280 I mean, it does inhibit the chemical reactions where the 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.520 battery might be you know, just leaking energy over time. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.320 But it also means that when you take the batteries 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.480 out of the freezer and you put them into something, 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.960 they're not gonna be working very well. You might not 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:23.279 even generate enough electricity to do whatever it is you 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:25.000 need to do. So, like you put the batteries into 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.080 a flashlight, You turn the switch and maybe you get 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:31.599 a really dim light out of the bulb, but nothing, 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.320 you know, useful. We've known this forever, right, So it 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.960 appears to be that the issue here in South Korea 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.760 is that Tesla vehicles that are in very cold temperatures 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.880 are not able to achieve these distances on a single charge, 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.839 and therefore Tesla was fibbing in its advertising. Now y'all 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.640 know I can get a bit harsh on Tesla, but 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.480 in this case, I think this lawsuit might be a 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.200 bit much. I mean, it's pretty well understood that cold 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:05.080 temperatures effect battery life. Folks using internal combustion engine vehicles 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.080 have had issues where in very cold temperature, starting the 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.120 car is a challenge because the car battery that's responsible 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.720 for doing things like sending energy so you can get 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.240 a sparkle of the spark plugs. If that's too cold, 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.200 then nothing happens when you try and turn the engine over, 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.040 and people have experienced that, so it's not like it's 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:29.360 just unique to electric cars. So I guess Tesla could 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.479 have put an asterisk or something by the claims to 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.640 explain that in colder temperatures you should expect a different result. 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.919 But all in all, I'm not entirely certain that this 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.839 lawsuit is a fair one. A regulatory filing reveals that 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:48.440 Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company owned by Warren Buffett, one 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.400 of the wealthiest people on the planet, but fourteen point 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.800 six six million shares an Activision Blizzard late last year, 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.000 which means that it made the purchase a couple of 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.280 weeks before news broke that Microsoft was set to acquire 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.440 Activision Blizzard. That is pretty darn good news for Buffet, 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:11.600 because that deal means Microsoft is gonna pay nine dollars 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:16.080 per share of Activision blizzards shares to buy it out, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.000 and based on my quick math, buffets holding company bought 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.279 shares when they were somewhere in the mid sixty dollar range, 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.599 So it means you'd be making about thirty dollars per share. 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:32.279 And remember they bought fourteen point six six million shares, 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:37.080 that's a pretty hefty profit. Also, just an interesting side note, 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.400 one of the former board members of Berkshire Hathaway was 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:44.239 Microsoft co founder and former CEO and chairman Bill Gates. 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:46.920 I mean, he stepped down from Berkshire Hathaway a couple 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.119 of years ago, but he did serve on the board 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.080 once upon a time. And um, you know, I'm not 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:54.800 saying that there was any kind of insider trading going 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.279 on there. I have no evidence of that, so I'm 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.120 not saying that. I'm just saying it's fortuitous timing and 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:06.920 some interesting coincidences. Intel announced it is acquiring a company 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.679 called Tower Semiconductor for the princely sum of nearly six 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.800 billion with a B dollars. Tower Semiconductor is an Israeli 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:19.920 company that has semiconductor fabrication plants also known as fabs 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.560 not fabulous but fabrication and they're locating places like the 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:28.160 United States, Japan, Italy, and of course Israel. Intel is 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.560 currently investing heavily in creating new fabrication facilities in an 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.880 effort to not just alleviate the current semiconductor shortage because 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:37.640 it's going to take a while for those facilities to 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.720 come online, but also to distribute the fabrication load beyond 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:46.600 where it currently kind of rests, which is mainly in Taiwan. Plus, 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.880 the chip shortage really has proven how dependent we are 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.600 on semiconductor chips, and that means manufacturing chips is pretty 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.320 much a guaranteed way to make money, and it's just 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.960 good for safety to spread that out a bit more 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.360 so that if some thing goes wrong, the entire chain 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.040 is not disrupted as a result. Now, we'll have to 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.000 see if regulators in various countries allow this deal to 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.680 go through. I honestly don't know how that's going to go, 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:17.800 because we have seen a general trend where regulators are 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:23.320 a bit more cautious about big companies and their acquisitions. However, 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.560 in a lot of places like in the United States, 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.080 we might see regulators who want to see this deal 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.760 go through because the concerns of supply chains and chips 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.880 are very much prevalent right now. I also wonder if 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.360 Israel's regulators will be as enthusiastic, because a lot of 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.079 countries view the semiconductor industry and companies within it as 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.960 being key to national security. We saw that in England 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:52.480 with arm where UK regulators were concerned about national security issues. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.600 Should an American company purchase a semi conductor company that 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.720 was currently held by a Japanese conglomerate. It's a complicated 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.280 thing anyway, interesting story. Over the last two years, we've 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.000 seen a lot of reports about tech companies announcing and 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.760 then subsequently pushing back dates relating to when corporate offices 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:15.280 will reopen COVID, and pressure both from within the companies 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.000 and outside of them has forced those dates to slip 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:23.600 again and again. Well. Now, Microsoft says that starting February twenty, 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.360 corporate offices in the San Francisco Bay area and in 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.680 Washington State, which is the home headquarters state for Microsoft, 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.560 will reopen once again, and not just to employees, but 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.840 also to visitors and two guests. Now, that does not 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.600 mean that all employees will be required to come into 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.080 the office full time. Microsoft has a new work from 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:49.920 home policy that allows for the possibility of more flexibility, 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.120 but employees will have to work with their managers to 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.720 find an arrangement that is acceptable to all parties, so 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.520 it's not like a work from home guarantee. But Microsoft 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:03.080 recognized is that people have grown used to that flexibility, 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.960 and as we've seen across multiple industries, there's this tendency 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.720 toward early retirement, you know, the great retirement is what 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:12.959 people have been calling it, and that is a big 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.480 concern for a lot of executives because it's awful hard 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.200 to be an industry leader if you ain't got no 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:23.400 one to lead anyway. Here's hoping that COVID actually really 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.080 for real zes this time is easing off and that 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.040 we're going to have a manageable baseline to work from, 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.679 because the only major variants I want to see from 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.920 here on out are Marvel characters. Um. But you know, 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.040 it's impossible to predict the future. We're definitely going to 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.320 be dealing with COVID from now on. The question then, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.000 is just can we make it a manageable experience so 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.520 that things like working in an office in person with 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.600 your co workers doesn't come with a massive risk attached. 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.520 So here's hoping. Well, we're going to have a few 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.880 more news stories, but first let's take a quick break. 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.520 We're back. Last week, a court filing in an ongoing 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:16.680 age discrimination lawsuit brought against IBM included some documents in 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.400 which an executive referred to older employees as quote dino 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:25.120 babies end quote. Now, the plaintiff in this case suing 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:28.840 IBM says that these documents back up the plaintiffs assertions 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.559 that IBM is trying to get rid of older employees 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:35.760 in an effort to replace them with younger employees, presumably 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.240 for way less money. And you know, there's all the 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:42.960 different arguments about IBM executives apparently thinking that their aging 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.199 workforce is out of touch, that they're not as capable 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:51.200 in lots of very important uh tasks these days, like 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.000 promotion on social networks, things like that. UM and I 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.760 am of I'm of two minds on this. UM. So, 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:02.240 on one hand, age discrimination is just gross and it 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.360 should be dismantled. People should not be discriminated against because 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.800 of their age. They shouldn't be discriminated against period, right, 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.520 that should not be a thing. However, one of the 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.480 longstanding perceptions of millennials is that they're lazy and they 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.360 don't want to work, which is unfair, I think, because 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.760 the truth of the matter is way more complicated, and 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.080 it includes the fact that you have this aging workforce 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:30.640 in various industries, and that aging workforce is not budging 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.960 from their jobs, right, They're not leaving those positions open. 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.000 So there aren't that many opportunities for younger workers that 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:43.080 are in, you know, kind of the traditional stable career paths, 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:47.079 Like millennials often take jobs, but it's a lot more 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:51.720 challenging for them to get into a career right. And 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.080 I don't think the answer is just to get rid 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.679 of older employees because that doesn't seem fair either, Like, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.360 if if they need to work, then that also is 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.600 an issue, um, and it's not fair to just get 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.240 rid of them to hire younger employees, especially if that's 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.560 part of the company strategy of let's save money because 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.319 we don't have to pay the young people as much 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.640 as we're paying the old people. That also seems kind 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.000 of gross. And this whole lawsuit followed a time when 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:21.480 IBM infamously laid off thousands of workers over the age 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.160 of forty. However, IBM has issued statements saying that it 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.000 does not engage in systemic age discrimination and that the 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.240 messages and the documents don't reflect ibm s stance at all, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.720 and that they they claim at least that the average 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.320 age of the IBM employee has not changed. Right when 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.520 you average the ages across the entire company. It's not 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.000 like the age is suddenly dept because they got rid 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:47.520 of a lot of old people and hired a lot 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:51.280 of new people. Are younger people, I should say, and um, yeah, 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.439 I guess we'll have to wait and see how this 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:57.320 lawsuit plays out over time to see, you know, one 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.040 if the parties settled of court, or two if we 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.240 get some sort of definitive proof one way or another. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.720 J Freeman a k a. Sark is in the news again. 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:11.640 Very timely for me, because if you listen to my 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.560 recent episodes, you might have heard me talk about Sark 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.440 with regard to the practice of jail breaking, that is 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:22.360 the practice of disabling Apple's protection on iOS devices so 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.280 that you can load whatever software you would like onto 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.080 them and not just be limited to whatever Apple allows 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.000 in the app store. Well, now Freeman is in the 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.880 news again because he found a way to essentially print ether, 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:40.040 the cryptocurrency on the Ethereum blockchain. So Ethereum uses a 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:45.320 scaling solution called optimism, and Freeman found an exploit in 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:50.000 the optimism solution that would have allowed him to essentially 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:55.040 create or meant his own bogus Ether. Now, Freeman didn't 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:59.360 start printing counterfeit crypto bucks. Instead, he reported this flaw 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.560 to optimist them, and in return received a two million 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:06.320 dollar bug bounty for his troubles, which, honestly, when you 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.760 think about it, that's chump change in the grand scheme 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.560 of things. Because one of the basic foundational ideas with 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.600 cryptocurrency and blockchain is that you shouldn't be able to 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.240 mint your own coins, right. You should have to mind 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.440 them or otherwise earn them in the system, but you 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.960 shouldn't be able to just create them, nor should you 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.240 be able to do stuff like spend the same coin 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.600 more than once. You know the way you could do 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.240 if there were no other protections in place, Because you're 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:39.240 just talking about digital information that's easy for you to 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.040 to create, right, so you have to have these systems 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:46.400 in place to protect against that. So Freeman's discovery was 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:51.720 one that could literally undermine confidence in an entire cryptocurrency system. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.040 If it were discovered that an exploit could allow you 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.400 to print your own ether, well, that system could ultimately 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.800 just collapse as a result, because you know you have, 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.760 all confidence would be drop out of it since no 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.080 one would know. Hey, the ether I got from that transaction? 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.520 Is it real? Is it? Is it counterfeit? Is that 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:11.680 ether going to go away? If it does go away? 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:13.920 Am I going to be compensated because I accepted it 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.840 in good faith? It's scary stuff. I mean, these are 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.760 This is why we have like the Secret Service in 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.440 the United States is in charge of investigating stuff like counterfeiting, 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:28.040 because it very much gets to the heart of an 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:33.240 economic system, and if if confidence drops in an economic system, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:37.040 the system itself falls apart. So pretty scary. A company 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.480 called cha Analysis released a report saying that three quarters 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:44.200 or nearly three quarters, of all ransomware attacks appear to 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:48.560 originate from or are connected to Russia. Further, they also 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.440 said that a significant amount of the money laundering that's 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:56.400 taking place in the cryptocurrency world is filtered through Russian companies. 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.160 The researchers pointed to certain key indicators that back up 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.760 their claims. For example, they showed that a lot of 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.080 ransomware code out there. We'll first check to see if 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:10.199 the infected computer is located in Russia or not. And 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:14.000 if it's in Russia or one of the few territories 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.480 that were part of the former Soviet Union, then the 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.720 ransomware isn't going to encrypt all the data on the 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.240 machine and lock it down, so it does not target 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:28.880 and infect uh those computers that specifically holds off on 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.720 on locking them down. That suggests that the ransomware originated 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:38.440 out of Russia or is operating with the consent of Russia, because, 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.200 as they say, you do not poop where you eat. 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.560 The researchers are very quick to say that they followed 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:48.159 the money in ransomware attacks, and that really could just 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.560 mean that the folks who are calling the shots are 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.639 in Russia. But it's possible that the ground soldiers and 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:55.960 then the hackers who are putting in the work could 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.080 just be cyberguns for hire from you know, pretty much anywhere. 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.720 Russia leaders have repeatedly denied any connection to hacker groups 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.600 in ransomware, and not too long ago. Just last month, 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.040 the Russian government said it had dismantled the well known 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:15.040 ransomware group revel r E v I L. But I 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:18.960 should add that that only came after numerous countries, including 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:23.040 the United States, had launched massive campaigns to go after 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:25.719 hackers believed to be part of the group, and some 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:29.920 of them had been arrested. So you could argue that 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.800 Russia's move here was one of self preservation by you know, 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:38.200 dismantling the group before it gets any worse. The Senate 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.560 Judiciary Committee in the United States recently passed a vote 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.760 to bring the earn It Act to a full Senate vote, 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.560 and that has a lot of privacy advocates worried. Also, 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.760 it's a story that involves protecting children, so it's highly 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.160 charged on an emotional level. And we often see these 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.760 kind of things play out this way, where you'll have 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:05.000 the surface, uh issue that you're targeting, which in this 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:09.200 case is about protecting children, and I think everyone agrees, yes, 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.720 that is something we should be concerned about. But then 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:16.000 underneath it there are implications that go beyond protecting children 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:20.320 and could mean disaster. So a lot of this is 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.720 about removing certain protections that online platforms currently enjoy with 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.800 regard to user generated content see if you're a platform 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:32.639 that allows users to post stuff to that platform. Whether 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.719 you are running a social networking platform or a blogging site, 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.159 or maybe a video sharing site like YouTube or whatever, well, 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.240 if you're running that platform, you are not held liable 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.639 for the stuff that people share, because you didn't generate it. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.840 The users did. Now you're also supposed to take appropriate 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.600 measures whenever material that is illegal or against your own 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.840 policies pops up. You're supposed to actually take action in 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.160 those cases when it's brought to your attention, but earn 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:06.480 it would actually remove those protections that would make you liable, 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.520 and it would force the companies that are running these 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:15.159 online platforms to seek out and report instances of child 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.760 sexual abuse material or see SAM. So this would mean 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:23.120 platforms would have to go from being passive and only 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:28.080 taking action when alerted to an infraction to becoming an 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:32.000 active investigator on their own platforms. They would have to monitor, 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:36.800 not just respond, but be more proactive and seek out 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:41.440 instances where people are violating the rules. Now already, for 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.960 certain platforms, the scale of that responsibility would be beyond 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.840 their capabilities, like hundreds of hours of video or upload 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.840 to YouTube every single minute, it is literally impossible to 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.600 monitor all of that in real time and make sure 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:02.119 that nothing illegal is slipping through. So you could argue 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.120 that some platforms are just too big to be able 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.080 to do this, at least to the letter of the law. 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.080 If it should in fact pass into law. It hasn't yet, 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:14.000 that's important. And beyond that, there's this concern about encryption 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:18.439 and privacy. So Senator Richard Blumenthal has indicated that if 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.720 a platform allows for end to end encrypted communication, that is, 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:25.920 only the people who are communicating are able to see 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:29.680 what is being sent back and forth. Well, such a 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.920 service would not immediately be assumed to be liable for 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.560 c SAM right because the service wouldn't know about it. However, 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:41.399 Bluementhal says, the bill also says this encryption ability does 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.800 not give a platform the chance to deflect responsibility either. 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:48.560 So in other words, let's say, let's give it a 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:52.920 hypothetical example based upon my understanding of this legislation. Let's 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.920 say some investigators are doing a sting operation and they're 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.760 communicating with someone through into into encryption on a platform, 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.520 and they find out that that person is trafficking in 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:08.320 see SAM through encrypted messaging. Well, the investigators could charge 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.960 the platform with violating the earn It Act. And I 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:14.920 hear some of you saying, wait a minute. If the 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.399 actual communication channel really is encrypted end to end, then 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:22.360 there would be no way for the platform, no matter 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:24.800 who it is, to know if see SAM was part 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.800 of that communication, because that's what end encryption means. It 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:32.000 means that only those parties in the communication would see 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.119 what was going on. That's the that's the promise of 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.640 end end encryption is that your communications are protected their 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:42.119 private not even the provider can see them. And that 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.200 is the issue that critics are worried about, because it's 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:50.440 just that platforms would have to abandon encrypted communication altogether 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.240 or risk being liable for earn It violations that it 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:58.240 could not possibly avoid. Otherwise there's no way to detect it, 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.239 so there's no way to act on it, and yet 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:02.480 they would be held liable if this Act were to 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:05.480 become law as it appears to have been, you know, 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.199 designed so far. Anyway, keep in mind this Act can 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:12.480 still change dramatically and it may not ever go to law, 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.359 but it does put platforms in an impossible position, at 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.200 least with regard to allowing a cryptic communication so the 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.000 critics are saying earn it would effectively mean the risk 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:26.280 of providing encrypted communication services at least the United States 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:29.200 would be too great and would lead to a surveillance 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:32.600 culture of unprecedented proportions, or that we might even see 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:37.879 platforms abandoned supporting user generated content altogether, although for some 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:40.560 platforms like Facebook and YouTube that would pretty much mean 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:43.240 they would just have to close up shop. So we'll 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:45.800 have to see where this proposed legislation goes next and 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:51.000 whether or not it uh it survives being altered and 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:54.520 being voted upon. All Right, I've got several more little 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:57.000 stories to cover before we get to that. Let's take 0:23:57.000 --> 0:24:06.920 another quick break. Okay, we're gonna close out with some 0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:10.680 futuristic stuff for this episode. First, we're going to go 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:14.760 back to the future because the DeLorean Motor Company recently 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:19.800 posted a promo before the Big Game that promises we're 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:24.119 gonna get a new DeLorean and electric DeLorean with a 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:28.240 focus on luxury. Apparently, the promo just really kind of 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:31.720 shows a silhouette of gull wing doors of one of 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:35.560 the the beautiful features of the original DeLorean. And you 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:38.000 might remember the DeLorean as being the car that Doc 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:40.320 Brown turned into a time machine in the Back to 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:43.159