WEBVTT - Tech New: The Era of Killer Robots 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.080 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.800 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.079 and I love all things tech. And this is the 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:27.520 tech news for Tuesday, June one, twenty twenty one. And 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.160 one story that I haven't really covered on this podcast 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:36.080 is that there is a global semiconductor shortage and that 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:40.720 has a cascading effect on the computer and electronics industries 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.680 and beyond. So let's dive into that really quickly. Now. 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.560 It mostly comes down to a couple of big things 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.839 that happened in twenty and one of those is, of course, 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:59.200 the pandemic. The global shutdown of various industries disrupted supply chains, 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:03.160 and that meant that shortages and raw materials became an 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:07.800 issue really quickly. It just had this you know, ripple effect. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:10.680 And it's not like the whole world went on pause 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.759 at the same time, and it certainly isn't like they 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.520 all started up again in synchronization along with everyone else. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:20.840 So in a way, this kind of led to the 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.800 supply chain version of a traffic jam, except instead of 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:28.080 cars going through you know, stop and start traffic, because 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.479 of some other event that happened Further down the road. 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.600 You have various manufacturers who found themselves waiting on other 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.120 elements in the supply chain, and thus they had to 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.440 go idle because they didn't have the stuff they needed 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:46.200 to do their part in the chain. Everything got knocked up. 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.880 Related to that, the silicon used to create the vials 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.040 to hold vaccines is the same stuff that's used in semiconductors. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.960 And you know, because the vaccines are understandably of very 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.200 very high priority, it meant the semiconductor industry experienced a 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:09.240 silicon shortage, and thus the price for silicon went up. Now, 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:12.280 when the price for materials goes up, you get one 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.960 of two outcomes. Either the companies that are making stuff 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:19.919 out of that raw material have to increase prices or 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:25.280 they experience a smaller profit margin. Either way, the squeeze 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.200 is felt further up the chain. But the other big 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.000 issue on top of that is that the demand for 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:35.519 semiconductors grew a lot in by nearly seven per cent. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:41.359 More of our everyday tech relies on semiconductors, everything from 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:45.400 you know, video game consoles to automobiles. Now, because of 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.200 the shortage of semiconductors. Everything else down the line gets 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.560 held up too, and this is likely to lead to 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:57.360 massive losses in several industries. Automakers are probably going to 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.760 be losing billions of dollars in the short term because 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:06.040 semiconductors are important components for nearly every system inside a car, 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.760 like there's more than fifty of them, and that includes 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:14.080 everything from entertainment two breaks to steering. Pat Gelsinger, the 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.520 new CEO of Intel, warrants that this could just be 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.839 the start of a shortage and that we could see 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.960 the effects of the shortage stretch on several years. Gelsinger 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.480 has said that the semiconductor industry has reacted quickly to 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.280 near term challenges, but that the long term effects are 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:37.080 still a big concern. Meanwhile, on the consumer side, we're 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.520 seeing the effects of this crisis. The laptop maker ACER 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.680 has said that due to this semiconductor shortage, the company 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.640 is only able to fill half of worldwide demand for 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.840 laptop production on any given day. So what this means 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.520 for all of us, you know, you and me is 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.200 that the supply for all sorts of tech, from smartphones 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.600 to computers to cars is going to be more limited 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:03.880 than what we've come to expect, at least for the 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:08.000 near term, and demand is likely to be high. So 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.600 when you've got high demand and you've got limited supply, 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.200 the next thing you typically see is prices go up. 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.000 So get ready to spend more money to buy your 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.520 tech over the next year or two until things shake 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:26.160 out and while we get ready to pay out more money, 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.280 the Guardian reports that the Silicon Six have actually paid 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.480 out less than they claimed. The Silicon Six refers to 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:39.400 six gargantuan tech companies. That would be Alphabet, which is 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:49.040 Google's parent company, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Netflix which interestingly, 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.760 uh is the first time I've seen Netflix added to 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.560 this particular list. Totally makes sense though, and according to 0:04:55.640 --> 0:05:00.280 the Guardian, these six companies overstated their tax payments by 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.520 nearly one hundred billion dollars over the last ten years. 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.839 A report from the Fair Tax Foundation claims that these 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:13.640 six companies paid ninety six billion dollars less in tax 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.120 between two thousand and eleven and two thousand twenty than 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:22.640 their annual reports indicate. Moreover, these six companies paid a 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.600 tax rate that you or I would go bonkers over. 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.760 According to Fair Tax Foundation, these companies paid out three 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:34.560 point six percent of their total revenue in tax that's 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:38.080 two d nineteen billion dollars of taxes. And yeah, that 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.400 is an astounding amount of money, two hundred nineteen billion dollars. 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:46.359 But let's compare that to the amount of revenue they generated, 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:52.880 which was more than six trillion dollars trillion. That goes 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.760 beyond a princely sum. Now let's be fair. That is 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:01.200 revenue that is not profit, right, Like, profit is what 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.000 you get after you remove all the costs from the 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.000 money that you've brought in. So luckily the Guardian digs 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:11.800 down into that a little bit as well. Over that decade, 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.640 you know, the last ten years, Amazon collected around one 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:20.440 point six trillion dollars in revenue but collected a mere 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:26.400 sixty point five billion dollars in profits. So I mean, 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.600 I'm being a little flippant because honestly, these numbers are 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.560 so big I can't actually comprehend them. Like, from an 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.120 abstract perspective, I kind of get it, but you know, 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.360 if I try to dive any further down, it's just 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.760 too big. But you see that the amount of profit 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:47.880 compared to revenue is very, very tiny when you look 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.960 at them in ratio right, not by sheer amount. Sixty 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.960 billion dollars is a huge amount of money anyway. The 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.120 Guardian reports that Amazon ended up paying well below what 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.720 it should have been expected to pay, almost half as much. 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.800 In fact, there's a shifting movement around the world to 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.120 apply new tax laws that would limit companies from being 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:14.480 able to to put profits over into tax havens. Whether 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.400 that actually happens or not, whether countries around the world 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.440 really act on this, Uh, that remains to be seen, 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:23.840 because I'm sure there will be more than a few 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:27.880 dollars spent on lobbying to oppose those measures. So we'll 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:32.400 have to see how this develops further. Okay, but what 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:36.640 if money is no object to you? What if you 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.400 are swimming in the stuff you know, Scrooge McDuck style, 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.080 How do you flaunt your wealth in a way that's 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:49.840 both flashy and environmentally friendly. Well, my friend, maybe it's 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:54.320 time you look into the silent Shadow, a luxury electric 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:58.280 vehicle concept in the works over at Rolls Royce. Now, 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:02.640 the brand Rolls Royce has long been associated with luxury 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:07.360 and opulence, and the word shadow has significance for the 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:11.840 company because back in nineteen Rolls Royce introduced the Silver 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:16.200 Shadow luxury car. When it comes to the Silent Shadow, well, 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:20.360 we don't really have that many details about the car. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.240 The company says that the plans are to have the 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.360 vehicle ready for purchase within the decade, but we don't 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.560 know any specs. We don't know what the projected prices, 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.280 although you know, if you have to ask, you can't 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:37.920 afford it. We don't know really any real details except that, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.040 of course, you know, Silent Shadow. The name tells us 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.120 that we know it's going to be very, very quiet. 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.920 But then again, Rolls Royce is known, at least in 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.520 part for engineering cars that operate quietly, because the whole 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.480 point of a Rolls Royce is that the experience of 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.760 driving it, or for those who prefer to employ a driver, 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.840 the experience of riding in a Rolls Royce is to 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:06.080 enjoy luxury rather than that you know, chassis shaking, engine 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.280 revving experience you get with like muscle cars. Rolls Royce 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.680 isn't the only luxury car maker that's diving into electric vehicles, 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.760 and as I've reported in previous episodes of Tech Stuff, 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.199 that's pretty much a necessity because a lot of places 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.520 around the world intend to phase out the sale of 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.160 new fossil fuel powered vehicles over the next decade and 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:31.800 a half. Earlier this year, I talked about how the 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.360 electronics company l G was exiting the smartphone industry. The 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.720 company had shown off a couple of interesting concepts at CES, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.880 but it sounds like they're never going to hit store shelves, 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:50.200 So that magical expanding smartphone is just gonna be a 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.800 thing of legend. I think we're not, at least we're 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.720 not going to see it from l G now Korea. 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.680 Biz Wire reports that l G is switching its former 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.640 smart phone manufacturing facilities over to make home appliances instead. 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:08.559 The company is also consolidating its operations in Brazil, expanding 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.440 facilities in the city of Manouse. And I apologize for 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.480 the terrible mispronunciation of that. I am certain I got 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.760 it completely wrong. While LG pulled the plug on smartphones 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:23.520 after finding the market too competitive, it was dominated by 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.440 companies like Apple and Samsung, home appliances are a totally 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:32.199 different story. One of the many consequences of the pandemic 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.480 of twan. I guess I shouldn't give it a year. 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.560 It's still going anyway. One of the big consequences was 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:42.440 this increased demand in home appliances as people spent more 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:47.199 time at home, and LG saw its sales skyrocket as 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:52.200 a result. Now this move reflects that increased demand was 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.280 really the driver for l g S decisions. However, it 0:10:55.360 --> 0:11:00.280 will remain to be seen if that demand will contin nue, 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.119 right if the demands that were generated by the pandemic 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:08.080 in are going to stick around even as we start 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:12.640 to have a better handle on dealing with the consequences 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.360 of that pandemic. So we don't really know if this 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.960 is the start of a trend in home appliance sales 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:22.760 or if it's more of a blip in the radar. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.840 C Net reports that some recently unsealed court documents show 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:32.720 that Google purposefully obvious skated the location settings in its 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.120 Android phone software so that it would be harder for 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.880 users to find those settings and then turn them off. 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.040 As we've seen when numerous tech companies, including one we're 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.080 going to cover in a second, the real business of 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:53.360 those companies aren't necessarily in hardware or social networking sites 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:58.240 or whatever the surface level businesses. You know, Google's business 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:03.280 isn't really search. It's in data. That's where the real 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:07.960 money is collecting and then exploiting data in different ways, 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.920 primarily when it comes to user data that comes in 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:17.080 the form of the company's relationships with various advertisers. You know, obviously, 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.800 the more information you can give an advertiser about their 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:26.320 intended market, the more effectively that advertiser can serve up 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:30.400 ads to that market. So it becomes this the cycle, 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:35.920 this feedback loop between these companies and advertisers that in 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:41.960 turn inform the business decisions of those companies like Google. So, 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:46.400 according to this document, Google discovered that if the location 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:51.000 settings on an Android phone were relatively easy to navigate to, 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:55.600 a lot of people opted to turn off their location settings. 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.440 How about that folks are not super jazzed about being 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:04.440 tracked wewere and so google solution to this issue was 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:08.760 not to shift business operations away from the benefits of 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:14.160 harvesting location data. No, the answer apparently was to make 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.400 those settings just way harder to find so that users 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:22.240 would continue to generate those geo located zeros and ones 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.360 for Google, so that Google could profit off of them 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.160 without those users actually really being aware of it. On 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.200 top of that, Google apparently reached out to various manufacturers 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.160 that make Android products in an effort to convince them 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:41.920 to hide the location settings away in deep various menus 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:47.480 and clunky user interfaces like LG pushed geolocation settings to 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:52.199 the second page of Settings and its phones, And anyone 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.719 who's had any experience on the Internet knows that if 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.480 you are below the fold, that is, if you have 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.800 to scroll down in order to see the ticular entry, 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.400 you lose like the vast majority of people who are 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.280 looking at your stuff like this is clear in Google Search. Right, 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.560 if you're not in those first few hits of a 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:15.000 Google search, the traffic that comes to you thanks to 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.880 Google Search is super low because you know, most people 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.320 don't bother to school down any further. Sayings true with 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.720 settings on phones. If it's not right there, a lot 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.000 of people don't take the effort to go any further. 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.080 This revelation comes on the heels of an investigation from 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.280 three years ago by the Associated Press into Google, and 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.760 that investigation found that Google was tracking location even if 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:44.200 users opted out of the location history feature. So apparently, 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.440 if you turned off location history on your Android device, 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:49.800 it just meant that Google was going to keep on 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:53.680 tracking you everywhere you go. They just wouldn't tell you 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.640 about it. I mean, why should you care about all 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.560 this anyway? Why why is this important? Well, location data 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:05.760 isn't just about collecting information on where you go and 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.800 when you go there. It's also about collecting the data 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.600 of everybody else at the same time. Anyone who has, 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.480 you know, a device that has geolocation connected to it, 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.640 if you're in a space that has a lot of 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:22.760 folks with phones in it. Well, now, as a data 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.480 collection company, you can do all sorts of interesting things. 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.200 So I'm going to give you an example. And this 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.960 is actually something that's related to a Twitter thread I 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.920 saw and I wish I could remember the person who 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.320 posted it because it was very good. But I'll give 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.160 you kind of an example. So let's say that you've 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:42.800 got a good friend of yours you haven't seen in 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.160 a long time, and you go to visit this friend 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.720 for a few days. So you're staying at your friend's house. Now, 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.360 your friend also has various devices, and you've got your smartphone, 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.280 and location tracking tells Google where you are. And assuming 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.560 Google also has at least some access to the data 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:05.040 that's generated by your friends devices, Google also knows who 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.320 you are with. They know that you're at this specific 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.080 person's house, and they know things about that specific person too. 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.680 Google knows all about your friends activities and what they 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:17.680 like and where they like to go and all that 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.360 kind of stuff. So now Google starts to integrate ads 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:26.040 into your various experiences that aren't just targeting you, They're 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:30.280 also targeting your friend. I mean, you like this person 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.600 well enough to stay at their house for a few days. 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:37.160 Maybe you like them well enough to shop for a 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.800 birthday present for them, and Google happens to know when 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.880 their birthday is because that's some of the data that 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:48.720 these companies collect, like email, addresses, birthdays. A lot of 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.960 the stuff these companies collect not through directly grabbing it 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:57.400 off of your device, but by you know, cross referencing 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.040 the databases that have your information in them from across 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.920 all the different services you use. So if you've ever 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:06.640 used a service where you've had to put in things 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.880 like your name and address and phone number and your 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.359 birthday and your email and all that kind of stuff, 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.119 all that data ends up getting mixed up with information 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.800 that's gathered from sources like devices, and that's a really 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.160 powerful thing. So now, because Google knows where you are 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.000 and who you're with, and they know about that person's birthday, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.359 maybe they serve up ads about something that this friend 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.560 of yours really likes, and the suggestion is, hey, it's 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:36.520 it's it's my friend's birthday coming up. I should, you know, 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:41.280 click on this ad and buy this stuff. So now 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:44.720 you get this weird sensation that you're getting served ads 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:49.560 that are very specifically targeted at you and the experiences 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:54.000 that you've recently had. It feels like Google is listening 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.040 in on you right, like it's just spying on you, 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.879 and it's picking up stuff from say you're your phone's 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.000 microphone or whatever. But no, Google doesn't have to do 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.200 any of that. Google doesn't have to do any active 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:09.200 spying on you. It doesn't have to listen to you. 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.800 It's just collecting all the data from you and your 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.320 friend just by being who you are and where you are, 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.280 and then cross referencing that data with other data sets, 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.200 and then analyzing that data and then acting on it. 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.240 This is just one way where data collection can become 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:32.399 intrusive and creepy. Now we're gonna take a quick break. 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.800 When we come back, I'll give another update about another 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:41.480 company that's equally obsessed with your information. It rhymes with 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:53.440 a space look. But first, let's take a quick break. Okay, 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.080 we're back, And before the break, I was telling you 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.840 about Google and geolocation data and how the company was 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:04.760 apparently trying to hide the settings for geolocation away so 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.560 that fewer people would turn it off. I mean, that's 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:12.480 the thing. These companies are often compelled by various legislations 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:16.880 around the world to offer up that solution. But then 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:20.719 the companies do their best to make that option, you know, 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.639 harder to find so that fewer people actually use it 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.320 because it's it's we've seen when people are given the option, 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.760 they often like to opt out of these features. And 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.320 when your entire business is dependent upon those features, that's 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:38.480 where you see these companies coming up with these clever 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:42.240 ways to try and get around the issue. So along 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.800 that same vein, remember how Facebook put up a fuss 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.840 about the new privacy settings that are included in the 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:53.400 latest version of Apple's iOS. So one of the new 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.880 features of the iPhone operating system, well really the iOS 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.159 operating system, because it's for all sorts of devices, not 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.320 just an iPhone anyway, one of the new features is 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:08.840 that users will get a prompt asking if they will 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:14.280 allow certain apps like Facebook, for example, to collect data 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.800 about themselves outside of the app itself, So that includes 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.560 data that comes from other apps that are on your phone. So, 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.560 for example, Facebook, if you were to allow this option, 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.920 would potentially be allowed to collect information about your shopping 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:35.040 habits on other apps, or what restaurants you like to 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:39.320 order from whenever you use delivery services and so on. Now, 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.239 because of apples change in policy, users will get a 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.320 message asking them to grant permission to allow apps like 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:52.040 Facebook to do this. And Facebook really hates that. And 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.200 the reason the company really hates it is pretty much 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:59.480 the same reason that Google was burying location settings. Because 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.840 data is money, and if you give people the option 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:07.520 to share less data about themselves, they might actually take 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:11.080 that option. And I mean, really, isn't that just stealing? 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.119 I mean, when you get down to it, isn't it 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:18.320 just ungrateful for users to not hand over all the 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:21.399 information about who they are and what they do and 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:25.879 who they know so that poor scrappy companies like Facebook 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.639 can just make a buck off that info. Now, I'm 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:34.000 obviously I'm being incredibly obnoxious and sarcastic here because I 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:39.800 think Facebook is like literally the worst anyway. Now, a 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:44.359 new study suggests that Apple's changes to privacy are in 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:48.920 fact bad. The study says Apple is doing a bad 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:52.480 thing by including these privacy options. It says that those 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:56.400 policies only serve to help Apple, and they hurt all 0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:00.159 other companies, and thus these are anti competitive practice. Is 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.239 that Apple has put in place, Apple saying if you 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:07.320 want to operate on our system, you must follow these rules, which, 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:10.320 by the way, we don't have to follow as Apple. 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:13.600 As Apple, we it's cool for us to collect all 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:17.200 the information, but you companies out there, you cannot do that, 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:23.400 and that this hurts other companies. Also, Facebook totally funded 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:28.280 that study. Now that might cause you to question the 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:35.240 studies objective perspective, right, Like, the studies outcome is essentially 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:40.080 in line with Facebook's complaints against Apple. So I think 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.280 that's actually a pretty darn healthy attitude to have to 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:49.399 question the objectivity of the results because the study itself 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:52.879 was funded by the company that has a beef against Apple. 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.680 But all that being said, does that mean it's possible 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.320 that the paper actually has a point in that Apple 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:01.320 is going to be fit while other companies do not. 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:06.600 I mean, maybe it's very likely Apple is certainly no 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.959 innocent lamb in this equation either. Right, You've got all 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:14.399 these different companies that are leveraging data in different ways. 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:18.520 Sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's subtle, but they're all 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:22.560 profiting off of it. Now. I don't have a solution 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:26.000 that addresses this whole issue unless it's just to give 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:30.119 up on smartphones in general and go to like really 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:33.920 simple cell phones and and just kind of opt out 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:37.439 of the online experience. That's not really an option for 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:41.560 most people, or at least not a you know, an 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:45.640 attractive option. But the flip side is, unless there's some 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:51.240 specific legislation in place that that directs how data can 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:55.000 and cannot be used, I don't see really a way 0:23:55.040 --> 0:24:00.960 of fixing this. Um it's a mess. It's speaking of messes. 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:05.680 In science fiction, autonomous killer robots are a common trope, 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:11.600 from terminator to RoboCop to the classic chopping mall. The 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:16.680 threat of AI powered killing machines is made apparent, and 0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:21.240 we've seen numerous experts in robotics and AI speak out 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:24.840 against the development of these kinds of devices. They've pointed 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:28.800 out that autonomous weapons would very likely lead to a 0:24:28.840 --> 0:24:31.680 new type of arms race, and that we would also 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:35.640 see horrific uses of this technology. It does not take 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:39.200 much imagination to conjure up a scenario in which a machine, 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:43.600 all under its own power, mistakenly identifies a group of 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:47.880 people as being targets and then attacks them. Or heck, 0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:51.119 it's not hard to imagine a machine that identifies a 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:56.000 group quote unquote correctly, But the people behind the machine 0:24:56.160 --> 0:24:59.399 are committed to wiping out specific populations, and they're just 0:24:59.480 --> 0:25:03.280 using the machin jeans to carry out the awful, horrific work. 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:07.040 And according to the u N, we are essentially in 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:12.120 that terrifying era. A u N Security Council reports said 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:16.159 that in March of twenty the Nation of Turkey deployed 0:25:16.200 --> 0:25:22.960 an STM cargo to military drone. This drone, apparently under 0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:28.199 autonomous command, attacked Libyan armed forces that were repositioning and 0:25:28.280 --> 0:25:32.200 withdrawing from an area. The report claims that the drone 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:36.600 could identify an attack targets without first establishing any line 0:25:36.600 --> 0:25:40.399 of communication back to a human operator. The u N 0:25:40.560 --> 0:25:44.639 had previously warned against this sort of thing, advocating for 0:25:44.680 --> 0:25:48.800 a global ban on the production of autonomous weaponry. That 0:25:49.080 --> 0:25:53.200 was a move that was opposed by two major world powers, 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:58.800 Russia and the United States. Now this was back in 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:03.120 the U S. Isn't a very different place politically today. 0:26:03.200 --> 0:26:08.280 In however, I am not confident enough to say that 0:26:08.840 --> 0:26:13.240 the US would unilaterally condemn the development of these kinds 0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:17.359 of autonomous weapons. And I say that mostly because the 0:26:17.440 --> 0:26:21.680 Obama administration had its own serious burden to bear when 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:25.440 it comes to the use of lethal military drones, though 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:30.199 those were under the control of human operators. Anyway, the 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:33.320 report has prompted more experts in the fields of AI 0:26:33.440 --> 0:26:36.159 and machine learning to speak out against the practice of 0:26:36.160 --> 0:26:40.160 developing and deploying autonomous weaponry. So it pretty much falls 0:26:40.160 --> 0:26:43.760 to governments to take action from here and perhaps give 0:26:43.840 --> 0:26:46.640