WEBVTT - More Top Tech Stories of 2019 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:13.880 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to Tech Stuff. 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.040 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:20.439 I Heart Radio and I love all things tech. And 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.200 we are continuing on our look back on the big 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.799 text stories of twenty nineteen. Now, the last episode was 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:32.160 all about bummers. This one is only mostly about bummers. 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.240 But don't blame me. I didn't make the news. Also, 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.840 I should point out that, of course I'm just giving 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.240 kind of a high level overview of stuff that happened 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:43.960 in twenty nineteen, because to cover everything that happened in 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:49.040 tech would be beyond even my impressive capabilities. And I 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:52.159 should also add that I've got some updates to stuff 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:56.400 what happened in the last episode, because, as it turns out, 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.840 when I recorded part one and when I'm recording part two, 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:04.320 time past and stuff continue to develop. That's how news works, 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.280 and I resent it. But one story I do need 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.680 to follow up on broke between that time and that 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:16.320 was that Dennis Muhlenberg, the CEO of Boeing, resigned from 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.600 Boeing as the company was dealing with the consequences of 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.520 the seven thirty seven max fleet being grounded, among other 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.120 problems at the company. Generally speaking, analyst said that his 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:29.679 stepping down was sort of a necessary part of Boweing 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.200 regaining confidence among customers and shareholders. Not that all blame 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.600 should be put on the CEOs shoulders, but that this 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:39.920 was one of those steps a company has to take 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.240 in order to convince people, hey, we are really taking 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.440 this seriously and we need to make some changes. Now. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.480 The next two stories that I want to talk about 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:55.120 are related, and they are both extremely dark and upsetting, 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.720 but I also feel they are important to acknowledge and consider. 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.480 And for some of you you might feel as though 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:05.040 I'm going to get really preachy about this. I am 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.440 not going to apologize for that in this case. Now, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.440 the first dark story is about March fifteen, two thousand nineteen. 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.639 That was when a gunman carried out attacks on two 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.720 different mosques in christ Church, New Zealand, killing fifty one 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.280 people and injuring another forty nine. Now, the reason the 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:27.000 story gets included in tech news is that the gunman 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:31.720 streamed the attack on the first mosque over on Facebook Live. 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.240 Other people grabbed the video feed, and then they began 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.920 to post it elsewhere, which ensured that even as platforms 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.760 were removing it, others were hosting it. The New Zealand 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.840 government classified the video as objectionable, which is a legal 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.320 classification in New Zealand. It meant that distributing, copying, or 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.200 exhibiting the video would be against the law, but the 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.440 video was already out on the internet. Now most platforms 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.200 have created digital fingerprints of the video in order to 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.680 detect future uploads, thus blocking it automatically and then removing 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:08.160 them very quickly. The gunman, identified as Britain Tarrant, had 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.280 been active in far right organizations and white supremacy groups 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.760 online and off, and there's been a rise in activity 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.160 in online communities of such radical groups, raising warnings of 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.000 extremists using the Internet to recruit others and reinforce some 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:28.919 truly awful beliefs. And this brings me to story number two, 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.600 which is that these groups have made use of some 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.600 notable online communities to encourage one another and create a 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:40.400 space for extremism. One of those online communities, and perhaps 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.240 the most infamous, is eight kun formerly known as eight chan. 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.960 The history of eight chan dates back to when Frederick 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.600 Brennan created it, as an alternative to an earlier online 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.960 message board community called four chan. Now, Brennan felt four 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.640 chan was becoming too restrictive, which is a sentence that's 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.520 hard to even believe if you're at all familiar with 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.040 four chan. The only rule on a chan was that 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.400 you weren't supposed to post or link to any content 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:14.240 that would be illegal in the United States. Brennan ended 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.680 his association with the site in two thousand eighteen. In 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.760 two thousand nineteen, in the wake of shootings in christ Church, 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.880 New Zealand, also in Poway, California, and El Paso, Texas, 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.680 and also links back to eight chan showing how the 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.680 perpetrators of those three different shootings had used eight chan 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.840 to publish their own manifestos. Brennan, the founder of the site, 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:37.920 was one of the voices calling for the site to 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:42.160 get shut down. That actually did happen in August two 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.920 thousand nineteen, but the site since returned as a con 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.760 as of November two thousand nineteen. And there is a 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.440 pretty complicated situation going on here. On the one hand, 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.680 the founders of the Internet and of the Worldwide Web 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.640 envisioned a platform that would support freedom of speech and 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.279 the exchange of ideas. On the other hand, many people, 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:06.920 particularly those from already vulnerable communities, are put in danger 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.000 as extremism is on the rise. The safe haven for 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:17.120 those who espouse these extremist, radical, racist, and misogynist and 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:23.760 violent beliefs as contributing to an increasingly toxic subculture. In addition, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:29.640 several tech companies have enabled this subculture. It hasn't necessarily 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.360 been a conscious decision, but the principles of running a 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.160 business in which your goal is to return value to 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:41.200 shareholders isn't always in alignment with doing what's actually best 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.560 for the general population. In fact, those two things can 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.320 often come into conflict with one another. In some cases, 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.760 like eight Kun, this is far more apparent, but it's 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.920 also the case with stuff like more public platforms such 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.600 as Twitter and Facebook. Those companies struggle with how to 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.719 deal with a particularly thorny subject to varying degrees of success, 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.280 most of which satisfy very few people. I wish I 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.040 had a solution to this very large problem, but I 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.560 believe such a solution has to go much deeper than 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.240 taking a website offline or removing an option for people 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.640 to voice these hateful philosophies. That's part of it, but 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.440 it doesn't address the deeper underlying problems that feed into 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.839 that toxicity to begin with. So all I can really 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:33.320 do is appeal to you guys to exercise compassion and 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:38.039 critical thinking. Those two things are absolutely necessary in my view. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:42.200 All Right, the darkest of the dark stuff in this 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.760 episode is over, so let's move on. One thing that 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.800 happened in twenty nineteen might set us on a path 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.920 for widespread use of drones to deliver packages. In the 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.680 spring of twenty nineteen, the Federal Aviation Administration or f 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:01.119 A a certified Wing that's the drone delivery startup company 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.320 that's owned by the Google parent company alphabet UH. They 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.560 certified them to operate as an air carrier. This regulatory 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.960 step allows Wing to make commercial deliveries in the United States. 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.480 The company had already been conducting tests in Australia in 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.160 anticipation of receiving government approval in the United States. And 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.720 there's still many questions that need to be answered, and 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.720 we're likely to see very limited roll out of drone 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:30.320 delivery services in specific regions as companies and local governments 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.120 kind of hash out the best way to move forward now. Personally, 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.600 I'm curious to see if drone delivery will prove to 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.840 be a more efficient means of delivering packages on a 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:44.200 large enough scale to make sense. I mean, I can 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.920 see how it could be incredibly useful in scenarios where 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.400 getting to a location is challenging and the need to 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.920 deliver something important like medication is really urgent, but I'm 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.800 not entirely convinced yet that it would make sense from 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.960 a more general use standpoint. However, I also haven't run 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.400 the figures, nor do I know how much it costs 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.960 to operate delivery services as they stand right now, So 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.840 it's entirely possible that this is a viable alternative to 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.160 more traditional delivery services. I just don't know enough to 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.200 comment on it firmly, But it's hard for me to 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.320 believe that, on the face of it, that it would 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:24.560 be more cost effective and efficient unless you just had 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.280 truly enormous fleets, in which case then you have the 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.840 technological and administrative difficulties that come with managing that large 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.319 of a fleet. So I just don't know. Sticking with 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.800 government approval, because there are a lot of stories that 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:42.360 fall into that category this year, the Federal Communications Commission 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.920 in the United States, or the FCC, approved the merger 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:51.080 of telecommunications companies T Mobile and Sprint. Now. According to analysts, 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.559 the chief purpose of this merger is to enhance T 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.200 mobiles five G technology rollout to give it a stronger 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.920 position in the United States as a As you know, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.640 five G networks are starting to come online. Just a 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.400 few years ago, according to reports from a consulting firm 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.800 called McKenzie, T Mobile was eyeing a merger was Sprint, 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.280 but for a different reason. It was in an effort 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.079 to become more competitive against A T and T and Verizon, 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.439 which are the other two major cellular phone carriers in 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:22.319 the United States. While the FCC has given its approval, 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.640 that's just one regulatory hurdle that telecommunications companies have to 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:30.559 overcome before they can merge. Regulatory agencies at both the 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.240 state and federal levels are still considering this plan, and 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.679 they may place restrictions or limitations on any merger, or 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.440 they might deny it outright. T Mobile has reportedly been 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.920 renegotiating the deal in the meantime, and the old reports 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:47.560 from two thousand and fifteen, the ones that stated tea 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.640 Mobile was first looking at Sprint for a possible merger, 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:55.480 said that t Mobile also entertain the notion of allowing Comcast, 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:01.240 the mega cable corporation, to acquire Team Bowl. There may 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.880 well be some serious offers for acquisitions like that in 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.439 the near future of either te Mobile or Sprint, or 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.440 emerged version of the two from such a cable company, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:16.839 whether it's Comcast or a different one. Speaking of corporate maneuvers, 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:22.520 one drama that finally finished playing out in nineteen really 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.640 kind of fizzled out and sputtered a bit was the 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:30.280 tale of Amazon's HQ two in New York City. So 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.640 let's backtrack a bit. The company initially announced it was 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.959 looking into expanding its corporate headquarters, which are based out 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:41.880 of Seattle, Washington, into a different city. In two thousand eighteen. 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:46.839 They famously held a Request for Proposals in asking for 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.679 cities that were eager to host this new headquarters to 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:55.360 present their their proposals their deals. That in turn prompted 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.559 a series of stories about incredibly generous tax breaks and 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.920 other incentives, as well as some fairly absurd publicity stunts 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:09.000 that stretched throughout most of until in November of that year, 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.400 Amazon announced it had settled on two locations that would 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:17.760 share the duty of being HQ two. One is in Arlington, Virginia, 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.840 and the other was in New York City, New York. Now, 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:25.000 there was some pretty hefty criticism early on from various 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.880 sources that alleged Amazon had chosen these two locations from 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.600 the beginning, that had these in mind when they even 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.439 asked for the proposals in the first place. One of 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:40.120 the pieces of supposed evidence that they used to support 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:44.679 this claim is that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apparently had 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:49.079 homes near those two proposed locations, and that the whole 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.760 selection process was therefore nothing more than an effort to 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.439 create a competitive environment so that both New York and 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:01.600 Arlington would continuously improve their deals so Amazon we get 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:06.160 the sweetest tax break, but that presumably the plan all 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.439 along was to move into those two locations. Whether that's 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.640 true or not, we get to two thousand nineteen, and 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.839 early in twenty nineteen, New York City residents voiced some 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:21.400 rather critical opinions about their new proposed neighbor. Journalists reported 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.720 that the proposed HQ two site in New York City 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.839 would take up land that had previously been intended for 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:32.160 the use of six thousand homes, including a significant number 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:37.439 of low income homes. Alexandria Accacio Cortez, a US representative 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.839 from New York, voiced concern that the incentives offered to 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.599 Amazon would hurt the city both in the near and 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:47.320 the long term, that it would undermine efforts to fund 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.760 government improvements to critical infrastructure in the city because of 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.920 these enormous tax breaks. You know, if Amazon is not 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.520 paying taxes, that revenue is not coming from them, the 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.520 financial burden falls on everyone else in New York and 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.199 frequently that means that programs have to get reduced or 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.160 cut so that you can, you know, make your money 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.960 stretch out further. In February two thou nineteen, Amazon announced 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.000 it was canceling its plan to build out its location 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:17.400 in New York City. Amazon does lease out some office space, 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.240 a significant amount of office space in New York, but 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.360 it no longer plans to have a second corporate headquarters there. 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.480 And since we're talking about Amazon, let's move on to 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.360 one of the properties that Amazon owns, and that would 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:33.840 be the Ring Company. That's the company that produces surveillance 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.959 cameras and and surveillance doorbells, you know doorbells that have 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.600 the cameras and communication systems. Well, in twenty nineteen, there 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.520 were a few stories of hackers who had gained access 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:47.880 to users Ring equipment, whether it was the surveillance cameras 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.400 or the Ring doorbells. Some hackers did this in an 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.920 effort to expose vulnerability, so they were doing it to say, hey, 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.240 we need to fix this because it's a problem. But 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.600 others did it specifically to her asks or exploit people, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.400 and those stories were alarming and continue to be alarming. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.000 Some of them involve kids, and it's incredibly disturbing, and 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:14.280 they've led to at least one class action lawsuit against Amazon. 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.319 The allegation is that Ring isn't doing enough to ensure 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.680 customers privacy and security are maintained, which is particularly a 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.680 problem for a company that markets equipment that's meant to 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:31.680 enhance security, not exploit vulnerabilities. Now I haven't seen all 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:35.360 the details about how the Ring systems were actually hacked. 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.000 There are different ways to gain access to connected systems 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.360 on a network. Sometimes you can find a vulnerability in 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.880 an endpoint, such as an actual device connected to the network. 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:47.760 So in those cases you would say, all right, the 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:53.640 hacker managed to hack into the network via this RING device. 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.720 That very well maybe the case maybe they were able 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.120 to brute force a password through that and the got 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.840 access that way. But other times hackers might find a 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.440 way to compromise the network itself and then they can 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.960 access the various components connected to that network as if 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.680 they were, in fact the legitimate administrator of the network. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.360 In the case of Ring, it sounds to me as 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:20.080 though they found it through password vulnerabilities. The lawsuit states 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.040 that Ring should have required users to create more robust 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:27.160 passwords and to require two factor authentication to prevent abuse. 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.600 And just in case you're not familiar with the concept, 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:33.760 two factor authentication is a subset of what is called 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.360 multi factor authentication, which just means that you're using two 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.800 or more factors, which really just means two to three 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:45.960 factors to authenticate your identity. And those factors are categories 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:50.160 of stuff, right. Those categories are what you know. This 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.880 would be something like a password or a pin, so 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:54.760 it would be something that you have knowledge of and 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:59.040 you provide when you're accessing a system. The second factor 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.560 is what you have, like what you physically have on 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.600 you that could be a mobile device, So it could 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.320 be that you provide your password or pen and then 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:10.480 it sends a code to your mobile device, which you 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:12.720 also have to enter, or you might have a token 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:15.600 that you have to use in some way to access 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.640 the system. And then the third factor is what you are, 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.120 and this would refer to things like biometric data. Maybe 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.680 it's a retinal scan or fingerprint scan or voice scan. 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.320 Multi factor authentication requires you present at least two of 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.600 those three factors, possibly one of all three. It all 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.840 depends on the implementation. So you might enter a password, 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:37.760 then you receive your code, you enter the code, and 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.920 then you get access. But that proves you both know 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.400 the password and you also have possession of an authorized 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:48.560 mobile device, which limits the possibility that an unauthorized person 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.240 is going to gain access to that system. Now, this 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.000 touches on an issue that I think is really important 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.840 and is growing more important as the Internet of Things 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.000 gets bigger. And I'm sure you've heard the saying that 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.200 a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.800 In network security, there are many potential weak links. You 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.320 could have a badly designed piece of hardware or software 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.840 that has vulnerabilities in it, and that offers an in 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.200 road for an intrusion into a network. You can also 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.479 have users who practice really poor security habits, like they 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:26.040 choose common passwords like a common dictionary word as a password. 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:28.600 That's a terrible, terrible habit and no one should do it. 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:32.640 Or they're using the same password for multiple services, also 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:36.040 a terrible idea. But this raises a question who should 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:40.639 be accountable for data security? After all, users should be 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.159 employing strong, unique passwords as a matter of habit. And 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.959 if you heard about someone's house being robbed because they 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.800 forgot to lock the door, I don't think your first 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.760 instinct would be to sue the lock company for letting 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.160 it happen. I think end users are at least partly 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:00.280 accountable for good data security. However, that being said, I 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.480 also think that companies have a responsibility. They need to 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:09.440 create rules that require strong passwords and multi factor authentication 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.040 by default. They need to essentially force users to be 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:17.600 more careful. They enable users to practice good security, and 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.800 by enable users, I really mean limit the options that 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:25.560 users have that that result in poor security. I think 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.560 it's the user's responsibility to be more secure and the 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.720 company's responsibility to enable it. But that's just me. Now, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.280 when we come back, we'll look at some more stories 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:46.280 from twenty nineteen. Here's a story that started making the 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:48.920 news just before twenty nineteen wrapped up. I mean I 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.840 learned about it shortly before coming into the studio. So 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:58.399 Devin Wilson, or at Atomic Thumbs on Twitter, criticize the 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.679 company so Nos for what he saw as a particularly 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:06.679 egregious example of trying to control the aftermarket on electronics now. 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:12.160 Sons is primarily known for making speaker systems, particularly smart speakers, 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:15.840 and like a lot of tech companies, it depends heavily 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:20.920 on creating incentives for established Sons customers to upgrade and 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.760 update their equipment. You know, if everyone just went out 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:28.359 and bought the latest Sons speaker and they thought, oh, 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.840 this works great and had no reason to upgrade, the 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.879 company would have a very rough year. So they have 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.679 to create incentives for people to keep buying their stuff. 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:40.840 In that way. Sonas is strategy is really similar to 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.840 that of things like smartphone handset manufacturers. It's the Apple 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.960 iPhone model. In other words, each subsequent generation of devices 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.440 incorporates features that older devices cannot support, whether that lack 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.000 of support comes from technical limitations of the hardware or 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.320 managerial decisions. Is a moot point as a pose, I 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.200 mean it could come down to executives say, just don't 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:06.680 let this run on older stuff, not that the older 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.879 stuff is inherently incapable of running. It doesn't matter. The 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.040 end result is the same. So NOS has a trade 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.879 up program that gives existing so nos users a thirty 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:22.280 credit toward a new so nos device if those users 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.879 activate what is called recycle mode on their older so 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:31.480 nos device. Now, recycle mode starts a countdown clock. It's 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.680 a twenty one day countdown, and at the end of 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.080 that SONS puts the device on a blacklist so that 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.720 it is bricked, meaning you can't use it at all. 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:46.359 It will not work, it is ineffective, and it also 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:48.399 means that you can't give it away or sell it, 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.160 or at least you can't do so ethically because you'd 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.800 just be handing over what amounts to being a giant 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.840 paperweight with a lot of circuit boards and wires in it. 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.800 So really the only options are to try and hack 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.200 the speakers, which isn't really an option most people would 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:06.919 feel comfortable trying to tackle and would probably have limited 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:10.000 use anyway, or you could send the speaker to an 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:13.360 e waste recycling facility, or you just throw the darn 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.200 thing away. That's not a great option. It adds e waste. 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.479 E waste is bad stuff, and recycling, while better than 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:25.080 throwing stuff out, isn't as environmentally friendly as reusing stuff. 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:28.840 If you've ever heard reduce, reuse, recycle, well it's in 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.840 that order of preference. You want to reduce the amount 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:35.080 of waste you generate. You want to reuse stuff as 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.200 much as you can. The stuff you can't reuse, you recycle. 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:42.040 The stuff you can't reuse or recycle, then you can 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:45.960 throw away. But even that is, you know, not great. 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:51.680 So Wilson's point was that so NOSES program actually incentivizes 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.520 creating e waste. It encourages people to break their old 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.040 device in order to get this thirty percent credit towards 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:03.240 their next purchase, and it makes those old devices useless 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:07.080 to anyone. And sure, they these people might go and 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:11.399 recycle their old Sons speakers, but it's not as good 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.120 an option as to keep the equipment in working order 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:16.680 so that someone else can actually make use of it, 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:19.800 rather than for it to just go to waste. Critics 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:24.040 have said, this really isn't about reducing waste, it's about 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:27.680 so Nos limiting the viability of a secondary market. Because 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:31.560 Sonas doesn't make money off of someone selling off an 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.879 old pair of speakers or anything like that. The company 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:39.040 has a financial incentive to discourage aftermarket resales and to 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:42.159 create pathways for people to buy directly from Sons or 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:46.159 or from retailers who are carrying so Nos speakers. So 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:49.280 the criticism states that this is a devious way for 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.000 Sons to play the environmentally conscious card, you know, to 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:56.640 make it look like they're being eco friendly, while actually 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:59.800 they're taking aim at a market that can undercut their 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:03.119 own and revenues, that being the resale market. You know, 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:05.960 we've seen this with other properties as well, other types 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:09.000 of gadgets and electronics as well as video games. This 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:12.120 idea of getting rid of that resale market in order 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:14.600 to create the incentive for people to go out and 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:18.280 buy new copies as opposed to used copies or used 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:22.240 devices in this case. All right, well, how about we 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:25.800 do some Apple news. A big piece of news regarding 0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:29.320 Apple broke in late June two thousand nineteen, when Jonathan I've, 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:33.119 better known as Sir Johnny I've announced he was leaving 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:36.800 the company. He had been with Apple for nearly three decades, 0:23:37.160 --> 0:23:40.000 working primarily in design. He joined the company back in 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:42.560 nineteen nine six when it wasn't a bit of a pickle. 0:23:42.760 --> 0:23:45.480 That was a year before the ousted Steve Jobs would 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:48.440 return to the company. He was one of the influential 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:52.200 designers who defined Apple's iPhone approach, setting the stage for 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:56.800 the company's meteoric rise in success. He announced he would 0:23:56.800 --> 0:23:59.800 be heading up a new design company called Love From 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:03.240 and that he would still work with Apple on projects, 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:06.840 just from an independent business owner standpoint as opposed to 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:11.119 an Apple executive. I've played an intrinsic role in designing 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:13.960 some of Apple's defining products over the last twenty years, 0:24:14.200 --> 0:24:16.000 so it will be interesting to see how the company 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:21.160 moves forward. I've and Jobs together were often cited as 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:24.479 the visionaries who kind of set Apple on its course, 0:24:25.240 --> 0:24:28.560 and people have been asking what Apple's up to ever 0:24:28.680 --> 0:24:32.159 since Jobs passed away. So with Ive's departure, I'm wondering 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:35.080 how that's going to affect the company as well. Apple 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:37.600