WEBVTT - Tech News: Tech and the Crisis in Afghanistan 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.000 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.240 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:20.840 and I love all things tech. And this is the 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:26.160 tech news for Tuesday, August twenty four, twenty twenty one. 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.960 Let's get to it, because there's a lot to cover. 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:34.440 The crisis in Afghanistan is devastating, but there are some 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.960 interesting ways that tech and tech related companies are trying 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.960 to help the people of Afghanistan. For example, Airbnb, which 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.760 often gets lumped in with tech companies because of the 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.279 software that handles bookings and such, has announced it will 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:54.000 supply temporary housing to up to twenty thousand Afghan refugees. 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.320 That's a lot of people, but that's less than half 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.840 of those the US says it has evacuated for Afghanistan 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.520 so far, with thousands more attempting to flee the country. 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.840 Airbnb says it will fund the stays for those refugees, 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.759 giving them a safe place to live while they look 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:16.880 for more permanent housing. Airbnb CEO Brian Cheski called quote 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.400 the displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.080 and elsewhere one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.920 time end quote, which I think is a pretty darn 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.480 good summary. He also said he hopes that other leaders 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:33.760 of business will step up to try and help as well, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.800 and I hope the same thing. In related news and 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:43.160 Afghan app called at t Sab, and my apologies for 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.959 butchering the pronunciation of that is trying to help the 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:51.120 people of Kabul stay safe. The app publishes real time 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:56.240 reports of conflict, including you know, reports of gunfire or explosions. 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.840 It also reports on traffic congestion as well, clearly very 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.400 important if there's an incident going on in the area, 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:05.680 and it's all in service of keeping the people of 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:10.000 the city informed and hopefully safe from harm. A ground 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:13.800 team in Cabool actually supplies the reports, so this isn't 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.240 some sort of automated service. It's rather one that's powered 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.720 by real humans that are on the scene. The team 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.840 posts the reports to a private WhatsApp group, and then 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.080 there's another team of fact checkers who review the reports 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.120 for accuracy. They remove any that are you know, unsubstantiated 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.440 in an effort to cut down on misinformation or perhaps 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.440 even disinformation. The app includes the ability to use location 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.520 data to send relevant alerts to people who could be 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.640 affected that way. Let's say that there's an incident in 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.680 your area, you would learn through it. You know about 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.600 it through the app through a notification, but for stuff 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:53.600 that would be happening, say across the other side of 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.240 the city, you wouldn't necessarily get that alert. Sarah Wa Hindi, 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.960 who founded the app, actually escape Cable for a second time, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.519 I should add, and has worked to raise money from 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:07.480 within Afghanistan to support her efforts. She also recently took 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.480 steps to protect her employees in Afghanistan. She went to 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:16.120 delete all information about the female employees of the company 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.679 in order to protect them as the Taliban was advancing 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:23.959 across Afghanistan. The Taliban has extremist beliefs regarding women, such 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.640 as they have to remain at home unless they are 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:32.760 accompanied by a male relative. That's one of many incredibly 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:37.040 extreme rules the Taliban seeks to impose upon the population. 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.200 I'm sure I'll be reporting on more stories from Afghanistan 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:45.200 in future episodes, but for now, let's switch our focus elsewhere. 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.800 So from Afghanistan to Malaysia, it's time to talk about 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:55.160 the semiconductor shortage and COVID nineteen again. Now, we've been 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:59.080 in a shortage of semiconductors for several months now, with 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.760 practically retext sector affected as a result of this, from 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:08.280 personal computers to video game consoles, to automobiles and beyond. 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:12.119 We're seeing the shortage impact the supply chains of multiple 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.480 industries and this has a ripple effect on stuff like pricing. 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:22.080 For example, the auto market has seen skyrocketing prices, which 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.159 is in part a consequence of this shortage. Though it 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.680 does get a bit more complicated than that. So what 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.680 does Malaysia have to do with all of this, Well, 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.200 the country has become an important part of the supply 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:38.839 chain for semiconductors. UH. They are a large center in 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:41.839 semiconductor testing, so they do a lot of the testing 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.400 of the tech to make sure that it's actually working 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.520 so q a UH. They also are a big part 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:52.400 of packaging, so they're part of that process too. But 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.599 COVID cases have been on the rise in Malaysia and 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.360 the seven day average of reported daily infections has gone 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:05.720 above windy thousand cases, which is pretty astonishing. The Malaysian 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.360 government has already granted certain exemptions to the manufacturing industries 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.440 in the country in an effort to keep the economy going, 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:15.760 essentially saying, you know, we're supposed to lock down, but 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.240 we're dependent upon you for our economy, so you can 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.040 continue to operate. But that has also meant that some 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.840 of these factories have had to shut down completely for 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:27.880 weeks at a time due to infected employees coming into work. 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.839 There's a serious vaccination push within Malaysia at the moment, 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.919 and according to the Health Ministry, fifty seven percent of 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.440 the country's population has received at least one dose of vaccine. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.880 We're likely to see the effects of these disruptions for 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:46.000 months to come across multiple product lines, and businesses are 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.839 likely to struggle with keeping production going as they encounter 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:53.960 component shortages. While the semiconductor shortage is a huge headache 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.279 for the automotive industry, one company in particular is dealing 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:02.040 with a different technical problem, and that company is GM, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:06.080 which has announced a recall of the Chevrolet Bolt as 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:11.479 in all of them. Every single Bolt vehicle that has 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.640 been manufactured and sold, including the newest ones on the market, 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:18.360 are all part of this recall. The issue is one 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.080 that folks in the text space have seen before, which 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.520 is battery problems, as in, you know, lithium batteries that 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.320 catch fire on their own. The batteries and Chevy bolts 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.919 come from the company l G. It's LG KIM to 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:36.440 be specific, and GM says after an investigation, the company 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:40.680 discovered ten cases in which faulty batteries caught fire. GM 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.720 traced the issue to two separate manufacturing problems that together 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.799 created a short circuit. And just in case you've heard 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:51.279 that term but you don't actually know what it means, 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:55.640 I'll give you a quick explanation. So electricity flows through 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.680 conductors right like you have a conductive substance, electricity can 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.479 flow to it. Well. Circuits are essentially a pathway made 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:07.240 out of conductive elements, and electricity will follow down this 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:11.160 pathway and somewhere along the way, the electricity does some work. 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.840 So like the classic example is it lights a lightbulb 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.640 or whatever before it continues on the rest of the 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.320 pathway and ends at the other terminal. But if you 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.960 were to create a shortcut that bypassed the lightbulb and 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.240 went from one terminal to the other directly, electricity would 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.720 take that path. It would be the easiest path for 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:32.960 it to get to where it quote unquote wants to go. 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.160 And when you're talking about batteries, if you create a 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.400 shortcut for electrons to go from the negative terminal to 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.960 the positive terminal really quickly, well, the battery tends to 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.960 heat up because the electrochemical process that generates the electrons 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.040 in the first place, it ramps up faster and faster, 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.280 and this can lead to a fire or even an explosion. 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.600 That was the case with Samsung's Galaxy phone a few 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.000 years ago, and it appears to be a similar issue 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:03.960 with a Chevy Bolt. GM says that the recalls, which 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:08.880 cover more than one thousand vehicles, are likely to cost 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.679 the company nearly two billion dollars, and it also said 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.120 it plans to seek reimbursement from LG, which just makes 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.680 me think of a very advanced version of the joke 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.440 from Better Off Dead two billion dollars, I want my 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.920 two billion dollars. I don't know how many of you 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.240 out there have actually seen Better Off Dead and recognize 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:34.559 that reference, but never mind. Making dense batteries is a challenge, 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:39.000 like making batteries that can hold enough energy storage so 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:40.800 that they can do what we need them to do 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.400 that's already very hard to do, making them in mass quantities, 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:48.439 while ruling out defects is even harder. But these are 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.520 challenges that will need to overcome as the world creeps 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.560 towards electrification of vehicle fleets. Right if we start to 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.160 push more and more towards electric vehicles, which you know, 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:03.040 we should in an effort to remove transportation as a 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:07.360 big source of carbon emissions, while we obviously have to 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.040 make sure that the batteries that were depending upon are 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:15.160 reliable and safe. US President Joe Biden is reportedly hosting 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.760 a cybersecurity meeting in the near future, and big names 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:23.120 like Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.480 are among the guest list. The assumption is that this 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:30.079 group will be called to discuss recent high profile cybersecurity 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.480 issues such as the rise of ransomware and the emergence 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.880 of supply chain cyber attacks. And just to define some terms, 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:42.839 ransomware is a specific subset of malware that locks down 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:47.079 systems or otherwise makes data inaccessible to users unless they 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.560 pay a ransom to the hackers, typically in the form 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:55.280 of cryptocurrency. These attacks can center on individuals like you 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.840 could get targeted by a ransomware attack, but it's more 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.200 common to see hacker take aim at really big organizations 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.520 where they can have a really big payday, particularly ones 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:10.080 that rely heavily on digital information, such as healthcare organizations 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.480 where that is critical to their operation, or you know, 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:17.080 companies in the tech sector in general. A supply chain 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.640 attack is a an attack where hackers focus on the 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:25.400 company that supplies software to other companies. So imagine a 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:30.720 company that creates like administrative software that's used in corporate offices, 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.960 and you've got a lot of organizations, like big companies 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.480 that rely on this particular administrative product. That's what they 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:41.160 use to keep their records or whatever. So these hackers 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.479 in this case would go in and target that software company. 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.920 They would try to infiltrate that company systems and then 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:52.800 plant malware into the code of a software patch. And 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.040 then when the patch goes out to all the company's customers, 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.400 the customers, because they trust the software patch because it's 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.680 coming from a known source, it's coming from a vendor 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.400 they work with, they install that patch, and unknowingly they 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.840 introduced the malware into their own systems. This is the 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.120 sort of thing we suspected happened with solar winds, though 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.479 later reports made that a little more muddy and complicated. 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.880 The Verge published an article about this. But the companies 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:25.360 I see listed, which include the Southern Company, IBM, Google, JP, 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.360 Morgan Chase, and Amazon in addition to Google and Apple, 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.760 all these companies are are obviously big tech companies. They 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.520 or they are related to tech, or depend heavily on tech. Undoubtedly, 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.640 they all have departments that focus on cybersecurity, but none 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:45.640 of them are actual cyber security companies. And I'm curious 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.120 if the White House is also inviting security researchers from 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.280 one of or maybe more than one of the big 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.800 security research firms out there, in addition to these high 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.000 profile companies. I don't know. The White House hasn't really 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.280 commented on it. We have some more stories to cover, 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.040 but before we get to that, let's take a quick break. 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:18.439 We're back turning to Apple. Apple turnomer. The company recently 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:22.199 announced that employees will not be returning to the office 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.320 in October after all, and October was already delayed. The 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.720 original plan was to come back in September, but then 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.320 the company pushed that back to October, and CEO Tim 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.520 Cook famously posted a memo that talked up the benefits 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.240 of being at work in an office environment with the 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.480 announcement that employees would be expected to go into the 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.640 office at least three days a week. While Apple employees 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.680 objected to this, and an internal survey showed that the 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.440 majority of employees were not in favor of a return 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.160 to the office while the pandemic was still going on 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.320 well due to coronavirus numbers continuing to rise and the 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.360 dangers of the delta variant as well as other ants. 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.440 Now Apple employees won't be expected to return to the 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.679 office until January of next year. Now I'm thankful for that, 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.000 because I really think pushing to go back to the 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:14.240 office while the numbers are so bad is beyond irresponsible. 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.600 Other tech companies like Facebook and Amazon have made similar 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:21.199 decisions for a corporate employees, and that brings me to 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.000 another point that I need to stress this really does 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.400 only apply to corporate employees. The people who work in 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:32.040 the corporate offices of these companies. Amazon and Apple both 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:34.200 still have employees who have to go to work in 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.280 various like warehouses and stores and whatnot, so there is 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:42.200 a sharp divide here. Right. The corporate employees are allowed 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.960 to continue to work remotely, but other employees they're required 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.640 to go in and that's a pretty tough issue to 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.040 get into. I'm gonna save that for a full episode 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:53.720 because I do think it's something that we need to 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:57.920 talk about. In other Apple News, employees are organizing at 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.760 the company to voice concerns about the company these policies, processes, 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.840 and culture. As part of that strategy, the employees have 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:09.240 launched a website. That website is Apple to dot us. 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.960 That's Apple t oo dot us. They have issued a 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:18.520 statement about their plans, which I'll read part of right now. Quote. 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.800 For too long, Apple has evaded public scrutiny. The truth 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.960 is that for many Apple workers are reality faced disproportionately 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:33.160 by our black, Indigenous, and other colleagues from minoritized, racial, gender, 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.040 and historically marginalized groups of people. The culture of secrecy 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:42.240 creates an opaque, intimidating fortress. When we press for accountability 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:46.479 and redress to the persistent injustices we witness or experience 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:51.000 in our workplace, we are faced with a pattern of isolation, degradation, 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:56.080 and gas lighting. No more. We've exhausted all internal avenues 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.440 We've talked with our leadership, we've gone to the people team, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:04.480 we've escalated through business conduct. Nothing has changed. It's time 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.280 to think different. A group of Apple workers have joined 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.880 together to organize and protect ourselves. We are asking fellow 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.200 Apple workers who want to see real change at Apple 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.160 to share their stories. End quote. This statement goes on 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.400 there's actually a lot more at the website, but you 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.760 can read the whole thing at Apple two dot us. 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:27.600 According to the Verge, the group of employees consisted of 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:31.600 around fifteen current and former Apple employees, so not not 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.160 a huge group. However, they are already getting support among 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.480 other current and former Apple employees who are posting their 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.480 stories and the site is publishing them as well. As 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:45.040 some of these stories are getting published in internal communications 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:49.080 channels like Slack channels and stuff at Apple. So we 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:53.600 will continue to follow this story as it develops. And 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.160 now for some stories about hacking and cryptocurrency. The Verge 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.800 reports that a hacker who stole around six hundred million 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.520 dollars worth a cryptocurrency from a company called the Polly 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:07.520 Network has returned the assets. And you might be saying, what, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:10.680 and I mean, I know I was, well it turns 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.680 out that this particular hacker found an exploit and decided 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.600 to take the assets and then store those assets, those 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:21.440 stolen cryptocurrencies into a trusted account while the hacker then 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:26.160 communicated with Polly Network and Polly Network worked to patch 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:30.000 the vulnerability. Apparently, the hacker decided to do this because 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.360 they felt it was just a matter of time before 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.640 someone else spotted this vulnerability and then stole crypto. But 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:41.760 for real zes, this hacker a a white hat hacker type, 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.360 was really making a big statement, and so once Polly 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:49.400 fixed the problem, the hacker returned all those assets, and 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.000 the Polly network then invited the hacker to serve as 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.480 the chief security adviser for the company, which was kind 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:58.520 of cute, and the hacker even asked that some of 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.320 the hacker's own money taken from a half million dollar 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.600 bounty that Polly Network paid for the reporting of the 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:06.679 bug in the first place, that some of that might 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.480 should be distributed to the quote unquote survivors of the 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.399 escapade to make up for the inconvenience and stress of 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.560 having money stolen, even though it was just a temporary thing. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.479 No word yet on whether Polly customers will stick with 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:21.800 the company in the wake of this experience, or if 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.800 they'll look to port their assets to some other organization. Meanwhile, 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:30.359 in Sweden, authorities are legally required to return bitcoins to 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.200 a convicted drug dealer because of the way things were 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:38.040 worded during the dealer's sentencing. See after being convicted of 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:42.679 the crime of dealing drugs, the court ruled that the 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.200 dealer should be stripped of his earnings as a drug dealer. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.400 Those earnings were in bitcoin. He had earned thirty six 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:54.040 bitcoin as a drug dealer, and around the time when 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.440 he was arrested, those bitcoin were worth around a hundred 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:02.159 thirty seven thousand dollars. Now, apparently the sentencing framed this 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.120 in the form of standard Swedish currency rather than bitcoin, 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:11.480 saying all right, well, we need the the equivalent amount 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:16.040 in cash seized from this drug dealer. But by the 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.200 time the Swedish enforcement authority was ready to actually auction 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:23.760 off the cryptocurrency to get the equivalent cash, the value 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:28.800 of bitcoin had increased dramatically and the whole one seven 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:33.359 thousand dollars worth of fine only required three bitcoins to 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.240 cover it. And because the court didn't demand the bitcoin instead, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.960 they demanded that cash equivalent of bitcoin at the time 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.159 of sentencing, which was around a hundred thirty seven thousand dollars. 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.639 That meant that the other thirty three bitcoin could not 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.439 be auctioned off because the court had already received the 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.480 amount of money and had demanded and those thirty three 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:58.480 bitcoin had to be returned to the drug dealer and 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:02.800 that is now worth around one point six million dollars. 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:07.119 Apparently crime does pay, and this is another example of 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.160 how courts around the world are really struggling to keep 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:14.320 up with how things change in the text space. Uh 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:16.679 and a lot of people have said, well, this just 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:21.600 shows that the sentencing needs to be more specific about 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:25.719 taking the bitcoin that was earned as opposed to the 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:30.359 cash equivalent of whatever the bitcoins value was at that time. 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:35.720 Lesson learned. Alright, that wraps up the big news stories 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.760 for Tuesday, August one. Will be back later in the 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:43.080 week with some more. If you have suggestions for topics 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.080 I should cover on Tech Stuff, reach out to me. 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.199 The easiest way to get in touch with me is 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.879 over on Twitter. The handle for the show is text 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:53.800 stuff H s W and I'll talk to you again 0:19:54.760 --> 0:20:03.119 really soon. Text Stuff is an I heart radio production. 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.159 For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:09.520 heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:10.479 your favorite shows.