WEBVTT - Tech News: Happy Pi Day! Let's Catch Up

0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:12.360
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there,

0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:16.000
<v Speaker 1>and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland.

0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.119
<v Speaker 1>I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech

0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.000
<v Speaker 1>are you. It's time for the Tech News or Tuesday,

0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:29.080
<v Speaker 1>March fourteenth, two thousand twenty three, and first up, Happy

0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:34.160
<v Speaker 1>pie Day, everybody. That's three fourteen Pie Day, at least

0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:38.280
<v Speaker 1>the way we do dates here in the United States.

0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.319
<v Speaker 1>All Right, Today, we're going to be looking at a

0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.240
<v Speaker 1>lot of updates to stories that we've been following for

0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.559
<v Speaker 1>a while. I should probably start by saying that the

0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:52.440
<v Speaker 1>collapse of Silicon Valley Bank or SVB and the US

0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:57.320
<v Speaker 1>government's response to guaranteed depositors access to their funds continues

0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.800
<v Speaker 1>to arguably be the biggest story right now at the moment.

0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.960
<v Speaker 1>There are countless articles and explainers on it, including yesterday's

0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.480
<v Speaker 1>episode of this very podcast. So if you want to

0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.399
<v Speaker 1>know more, you can listen to yesterday's episode. I talk

0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.319
<v Speaker 1>all about the bank and what led to the collapse.

0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:17.679
<v Speaker 1>I will say that it was pretty interesting to see

0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.039
<v Speaker 1>a bunch of important folks in tech and investment cry

0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.320
<v Speaker 1>out for a bailout when some of these folks are

0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:29.479
<v Speaker 1>the same who will typically criticize those kinds of decisions.

0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.480
<v Speaker 1>I guess when it's your money, it's important enough for

0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.040
<v Speaker 1>a bailout, but if it's someone else's money, they should

0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.800
<v Speaker 1>have known better. Anyway, I'm grateful that the relief provided

0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.399
<v Speaker 1>by the government means that folks who work for companies

0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:46.119
<v Speaker 1>that banked with SVB can continue to be paid, because

0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.040
<v Speaker 1>goodness knows, none of this is their fault. Also to

0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.520
<v Speaker 1>those same tech billionaires who helped fuel the panic that

0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.680
<v Speaker 1>led to the collapse in the first place, you're all idiots.

0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:59.520
<v Speaker 1>I know that's just an opinion, but at this point

0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:01.520
<v Speaker 1>I feel like I could say, like it's a fact

0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:06.200
<v Speaker 1>they fueled the crisis that they were scared of, Like

0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:10.480
<v Speaker 1>they are the reason why it happened. Their attempts to

0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.720
<v Speaker 1>avoid the problem created the problem. All right, enough of that.

0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:18.720
<v Speaker 1>Earlier today, news broke that Meta plans another round of layoffs,

0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:24.040
<v Speaker 1>this time affecting around ten thousand staff. Last year, Meta

0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:28.120
<v Speaker 1>laid off eleven thousand employees. These new layoffs are going

0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.720
<v Speaker 1>to stretch over the next few months. Mark Zuckerberg explained

0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.360
<v Speaker 1>that the company is restructuring and will be quote focused

0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:41.760
<v Speaker 1>on flattening our organs, canceling lower priority projects, and reducing

0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.240
<v Speaker 1>our hiring rates end quote. The earlier round of layoffs

0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.920
<v Speaker 1>last year already took a big swing at reducing the

0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.519
<v Speaker 1>vertical dimensions of Meta's hierarchy, you know, flattening it out.

0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:55.600
<v Speaker 1>So it sounds to me like this move is really

0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.880
<v Speaker 1>going to affect middle management a lot. Zuckerberg also wore

0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.040
<v Speaker 1>that he suspects the economic conditions that we're in right

0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:07.480
<v Speaker 1>now could continue for several years. Apparently, one area of

0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.320
<v Speaker 1>Zuckerberg is still gung ho on supporting would be any

0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:16.600
<v Speaker 1>area relating to the Metaverse initiative, including augmented and virtual

0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:21.720
<v Speaker 1>reality projects. And maybe those projects really will pay off

0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.040
<v Speaker 1>in the long run. And maybe I'm just a negative

0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.120
<v Speaker 1>nancy about this whole thing, but if you've been listening

0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.240
<v Speaker 1>to tech stuff, you know I've been worried about it.

0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:34.200
<v Speaker 1>I've been worried about the potential for success down the road,

0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.840
<v Speaker 1>and also worried about it creating an even deeper and

0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:42.720
<v Speaker 1>wider digital divide than what already exists. To put a

0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.880
<v Speaker 1>cherry on top of all this, After this announcement with public,

0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:50.320
<v Speaker 1>Meta's stock price rose by around five percent and here's

0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.440
<v Speaker 1>where you can just insert a random rant by yours

0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:58.040
<v Speaker 1>truly about how layoffs often make investors happy because they

0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:01.640
<v Speaker 1>look at it as reduced costs and thus more profit.

0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.280
<v Speaker 1>But I know I'm a broken record, so we'll just

0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.600
<v Speaker 1>keep ongoing. Sticking with Meta, the company has warned the

0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:12.480
<v Speaker 1>Canadian government that should the government pass the proposed Online

0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:17.080
<v Speaker 1>News Act, Meta will block links to news sites on

0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.839
<v Speaker 1>Instagram and Facebook in Canada. So this is similar to

0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.800
<v Speaker 1>a situation that unfolded in Australia. And what we have

0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:28.800
<v Speaker 1>here is a pretty complicated situation, all right. So let's

0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.279
<v Speaker 1>start with this proposed law. It would allow media companies

0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:36.719
<v Speaker 1>to negotiate with platforms like Facebook to secure a revenue

0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:40.760
<v Speaker 1>sharing agreement for links to news sources on Facebook. So

0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.480
<v Speaker 1>when links to news sources appear on Facebook, the revenue

0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.320
<v Speaker 1>that Facebook generates from people scrolling through all of that

0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.520
<v Speaker 1>would be shared some percentage of that would be shared

0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.200
<v Speaker 1>with the media companies. The media companies are arguing that

0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.960
<v Speaker 1>their work is showing up on Facebook, which means the

0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:03.240
<v Speaker 1>content is being seen by Facebook users and presumably adding

0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.640
<v Speaker 1>value to their Facebook experience. But the media companies aren't

0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.720
<v Speaker 1>seeing any rev share for their content being shown on

0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:15.040
<v Speaker 1>Facebook's platform. And yes, if someone does click through the

0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.400
<v Speaker 1>link and goes to the article, well then the media

0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.480
<v Speaker 1>company gets the page impression that way, right, like they

0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.039
<v Speaker 1>get the little counter goes up by one. But the

0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.560
<v Speaker 1>media companies are saying that they're providing value to platforms

0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.160
<v Speaker 1>like Facebook, but they're not getting the rev share back

0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:37.360
<v Speaker 1>in return, so that Meta is profiting off of the

0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:41.119
<v Speaker 1>media companies without giving anything back. And Meta's argument is, hey,

0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.640
<v Speaker 1>we don't post those links. That's not us. Those are

0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.720
<v Speaker 1>posted by our users, and we can't be held accountable

0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.159
<v Speaker 1>for what our users post. So as long as those

0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:56.479
<v Speaker 1>posts don't violate any of our policies, it's allowed. That's

0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.279
<v Speaker 1>on the user. And essentially Meta is saying that the

0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.039
<v Speaker 1>company is exploiting these news sources at all because they're

0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.520
<v Speaker 1>not the ones posting them. On top of all this,

0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.320
<v Speaker 1>we have the very real problem of funding for journalism.

0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.120
<v Speaker 1>That there's a lack of funding, and that lack of

0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.800
<v Speaker 1>funding means that in the absence of good journalism, we

0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.920
<v Speaker 1>end up with bad, cheaper journalism, and that in turn

0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:24.039
<v Speaker 1>means people are less informed overall, and they're more likely

0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.960
<v Speaker 1>to encounter misinformation and bias and propaganda and that collectively

0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.520
<v Speaker 1>this represents a decline in the public good. So, like

0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:37.880
<v Speaker 1>I said, this is a complicated situation. I honestly don't

0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.360
<v Speaker 1>know what the right approach is now. Down in Australia,

0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.159
<v Speaker 1>META eventually agreed with a final version of a similar law.

0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.640
<v Speaker 1>Results there have been mixed. I wouldn't say that it

0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.960
<v Speaker 1>was a huge success on either side, and META seems

0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.120
<v Speaker 1>determined to fight similar legislation in Canada and here in

0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:58.600
<v Speaker 1>the United States. So we'll have to see where this goes.

0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.880
<v Speaker 1>And again, I don't know what the right way forward

0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:06.080
<v Speaker 1>is here. This one is really complicated. Okay, pop quiz time.

0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:12.120
<v Speaker 1>What do the United States, Taiwan, India, Canada, the European

0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.720
<v Speaker 1>Union and the Netherlands, which I understand is in the EU,

0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:17.720
<v Speaker 1>but this is a little bit different. What do they

0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.840
<v Speaker 1>all have in common? Well, all of these countries and

0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.840
<v Speaker 1>the EU have banned TikTok to some extent on the

0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:30.440
<v Speaker 1>grounds of national security concerns. Most of those countries and

0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:35.120
<v Speaker 1>organizations have restricted the band to government owned devices, so

0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:37.760
<v Speaker 1>that just means that government employees are not allowed to

0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:41.680
<v Speaker 1>install TikTok on their work device, but they could still

0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:43.760
<v Speaker 1>put it on their personal device if they wanted to.

0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.240
<v Speaker 1>India did go a little harder on this, but then

0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.000
<v Speaker 1>India has also been banning China based apps for a

0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.720
<v Speaker 1>while and has had border disputes with China in the

0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.640
<v Speaker 1>recent past, so you know, you can see where that

0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:00.560
<v Speaker 1>would be a more extreme stance than in other countries. Well. Now,

0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.560
<v Speaker 1>the regional government of New South Wales in Australia may

0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:07.040
<v Speaker 1>soon be joining this list of government agencies that ban

0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.600
<v Speaker 1>the use of TikTok on government owned devices. The Guardian

0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.840
<v Speaker 1>reports that while there is a policy that requires government

0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.240
<v Speaker 1>employees to clear any app with their superiors before they

0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:20.280
<v Speaker 1>can install it on a government owned device, there is

0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:25.200
<v Speaker 1>no policy specifically about TikTok, but this could potentially change

0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.560
<v Speaker 1>at the moment. Each department within the New South Wales

0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:32.680
<v Speaker 1>government has the authority to decide its own policies, so

0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.720
<v Speaker 1>it's kind of a department by department basis, but there

0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:39.000
<v Speaker 1>could potentially be a government wide band that would trickle

0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:43.080
<v Speaker 1>down to every single department. That as a possibility. Apparently,

0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.400
<v Speaker 1>New South Wales is also looking at the overall Government

0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:51.080
<v Speaker 1>of Australia for some guidance on this as well, so

0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:53.920
<v Speaker 1>we'll have to see if New South Wales joins the list.

0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:57.760
<v Speaker 1>Ours Technica, which is one of my favorite websites. I mean,

0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.199
<v Speaker 1>I'm being serious here. It is fantastic stick. It has

0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:05.360
<v Speaker 1>a great piece titled why Sony says it can't trust

0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:10.720
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft's Call of Duty offer? One word Bethesda. So this

0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.679
<v Speaker 1>all has to do with the planned acquisition of Activision

0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:18.040
<v Speaker 1>Blizzard by the aforementioned Microsoft. You might remember that Microsoft

0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:22.160
<v Speaker 1>announced this planned deal last year and that the companies

0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:26.479
<v Speaker 1>had hoped to complete the acquisition by this summer. Activision

0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:31.400
<v Speaker 1>Blizzard produces several popular video game franchises, including Call of Duty,

0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:36.959
<v Speaker 1>and this has prompted Sony to protest vociferously to this acquisition,

0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.040
<v Speaker 1>and Sony has been lobbying regulators in the EU to

0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.640
<v Speaker 1>block the acquisition from happening, saying that it would be

0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.520
<v Speaker 1>a reduction in competition and create an unfair monopoly situation

0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:53.760
<v Speaker 1>with Microsoft. Now currently, regulators in the EU are considering

0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.600
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft's appeal that's designed to try and rescue this deal.

0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.480
<v Speaker 1>The decision on that is supposed to be made by

0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:06.840
<v Speaker 1>late April. Microsoft says that it has extended an offer

0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:11.360
<v Speaker 1>a guarantee that Microsoft will produce Call of Duty for

0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.600
<v Speaker 1>Sony's own consoles and release the title on the same

0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.400
<v Speaker 1>day and date as when it will come out for

0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.520
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft's consoles as well as PCs, so another word saying

0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.120
<v Speaker 1>Sony will get the equal access to the titles. There

0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.920
<v Speaker 1>would be nothing different about them. They won't be inferior.

0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.760
<v Speaker 1>They'll come out the same day. We will put this

0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.800
<v Speaker 1>agreement in writing and we will guarantee it for ten years.

0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:38.520
<v Speaker 1>Sony's argument is that Microsoft has already shown its hand

0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:44.959
<v Speaker 1>with Bethesda, which is another game producer that Microsoft previously acquired,

0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.960
<v Speaker 1>and Sony's pointing out that Microsoft has announced that of

0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:54.440
<v Speaker 1>coming Bethesda titles like Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls

0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.200
<v Speaker 1>game are going to be exclusive to PC's and Xbox consoles,

0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.120
<v Speaker 1>that Sony console owners will not get access to these games,

0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.719
<v Speaker 1>and that this shows how Microsoft you can't take them

0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.559
<v Speaker 1>at their word. Microsoft is like, hey, we never once

0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.559
<v Speaker 1>said that we were not going to do that with Bethesda.

0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.920
<v Speaker 1>We never made a promise. The EU regulators kind of

0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.319
<v Speaker 1>assumed that that was what Microsoft was going to do,

0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.040
<v Speaker 1>that it was going to have these out for all

0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.840
<v Speaker 1>the platforms, but Microsoft never actually said that. They're like,

0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.120
<v Speaker 1>but this time we are saying that, so you can't

0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.280
<v Speaker 1>say that we were dishonest because we never made a

0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.680
<v Speaker 1>claim otherwise. And in this case, we are putting down

0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.839
<v Speaker 1>and writing this agreement. So it's a pretty complicated and

0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.920
<v Speaker 1>highly charged conversation going on, and I recommend you go

0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.240
<v Speaker 1>check out the piece in Ours Technica if you want

0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:45.640
<v Speaker 1>to learn more. Again, it's really well done. It's called

0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.559
<v Speaker 1>why Sony says it can't trust Microsoft's call of duty?

0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.920
<v Speaker 1>Offer one word, Bethesda. Okay, we're going to take a

0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:54.719
<v Speaker 1>quick break. When we come back, we've got some more

0:11:54.760 --> 0:12:07.720
<v Speaker 1>news to talk about, all right. Next up, Insider reports

0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:11.840
<v Speaker 1>that the law firm Edelson has filed a class action

0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.640
<v Speaker 1>lawsuit against the AI company Do Not Pay. Now, y'all

0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.520
<v Speaker 1>might remember that Do Not Pays CEO Joshua Browder has

0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:23.640
<v Speaker 1>made some big claims slash publicity stunts relating to his

0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.440
<v Speaker 1>company's AI system, which is meant to assist people in

0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:32.160
<v Speaker 1>doing stuff like drafting legal documents and fight parking tickets.

0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.360
<v Speaker 1>In this kind of thing, it's been around since like

0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.560
<v Speaker 1>twenty fifteen. The class action lawsuit alleges that Do not

0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.680
<v Speaker 1>Pay is performing legal duties without first securing a law

0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.760
<v Speaker 1>degree or a license. Further, that the tool is not

0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.720
<v Speaker 1>subjected to any supervision by a real lawyer, and that

0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:54.840
<v Speaker 1>the whole thing has not ever been barred in any jurisdiction.

0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.560
<v Speaker 1>Barred in this case doesn't mean prevented. It means the

0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:02.480
<v Speaker 1>service has not asked the bar to serve as legal

0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.400
<v Speaker 1>counsel in any jurisdiction. This is something lawyers have to do.

0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.240
<v Speaker 1>Just because you're a lawyer in one jurisdiction doesn't mean

0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.320
<v Speaker 1>that you can practice law in another one. You have

0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.840
<v Speaker 1>to pass the bar in that jurisdiction. So, as a result,

0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.240
<v Speaker 1>the law firm Edelson is saying do not Pay is

0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.880
<v Speaker 1>practicing law without a license. Browler says his company will

0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.559
<v Speaker 1>fight the lawsuit, and that the whole reason he believes

0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:26.880
<v Speaker 1>in the company in the first place is that he

0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.680
<v Speaker 1>sees lawyers as manipulating and monopolizing the legal system to

0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:35.560
<v Speaker 1>benefit themselves rather than their clients. Essentially, that lawyers exist

0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.120
<v Speaker 1>to make lawyers rich, and that your average citizen ends

0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.199
<v Speaker 1>up being the victim of this legal system, and that

0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.800
<v Speaker 1>do not Pay was meant to provide an alternative to

0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:49.920
<v Speaker 1>securing a lawyer. But then the law firm is saying, well,

0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.200
<v Speaker 1>that may be true, but you know, you still have

0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.959
<v Speaker 1>to play by the rules, and you're not, so we'll

0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:59.880
<v Speaker 1>see where this goes from here. A ransomware group called alphv,

0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.880
<v Speaker 1>which uses malware that's called black Cat, claims that it

0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:10.760
<v Speaker 1>has compromised Amazon's ring as the doorbell security camera system.

0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:14.640
<v Speaker 1>It's been controversial because of reports that Amazon was sharing

0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:20.360
<v Speaker 1>video from customer ring cameras to law enforcement without the

0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.120
<v Speaker 1>input of customers. They're a whole thing about that, but anyway,

0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.400
<v Speaker 1>Amazon itself says that it doesn't have any evidence of

0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.400
<v Speaker 1>a data breach in its systems, that this ransomware group

0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:35.360
<v Speaker 1>did not breach Amazon systems, but that they did attack

0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:39.280
<v Speaker 1>a third party vendor and further indicated that this vendor

0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.720
<v Speaker 1>does not actually have access to customer records. So apparently

0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.840
<v Speaker 1>there was a successful ransomware attack. It was to a

0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.840
<v Speaker 1>third party vendor relating to Amazon's Ring product, but according

0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.800
<v Speaker 1>to Amazon, it's not Amazon itself. It is not quite

0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:57.240
<v Speaker 1>clear what information the hackers were able to access. They

0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.560
<v Speaker 1>are threatening to leak that data should there demands not

0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.240
<v Speaker 1>being met. This is where I remind everyone it's always

0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.880
<v Speaker 1>a bad idea to pay off ransomware hackers because paying

0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.480
<v Speaker 1>a ransom proofs that the attack is profitable. It encourages

0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:15.400
<v Speaker 1>future attacks against you and others because it worked. Plus

0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:17.800
<v Speaker 1>there's never a guarantee that the attackers are actually going

0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.720
<v Speaker 1>to abandon plans to exploit compromise data down the road.

0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.960
<v Speaker 1>They might just engage in some double dipping as it were. Also,

0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:30.200
<v Speaker 1>always practice good security protocol most of the time. Not

0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:32.920
<v Speaker 1>all the time, but most of the time. These attacks

0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:37.120
<v Speaker 1>come as the result of someone handing over access because

0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.960
<v Speaker 1>of a phishing attack or social engineering, So just practice

0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:44.480
<v Speaker 1>good security. That cuts back on a lot of these attacks,

0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.720
<v Speaker 1>not all of them. Some hackers are more clever and

0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:52.720
<v Speaker 1>find different ways to intrude on systems, but it will

0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.000
<v Speaker 1>cut back on a lot of them. India's IT Ministry

0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.760
<v Speaker 1>has proposed rules that will require smartphone companies and carriers

0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:05.120
<v Speaker 1>to make it possible for users to uninstall any preinstalled

0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.840
<v Speaker 1>apps on a smartphone, and then new smartphones will have

0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.480
<v Speaker 1>to be submitted to a government standards agency to make

0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:16.200
<v Speaker 1>sure that they meet whatever those security standards are. So

0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:18.640
<v Speaker 1>the reason the ministry gives for this move is related

0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.560
<v Speaker 1>to national security. So the argument is that if phone

0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:27.840
<v Speaker 1>manufacturers like Apple make it impossible to uninstall certain apps,

0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.960
<v Speaker 1>maybe even just a small number of them. Well, those

0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.160
<v Speaker 1>apps become prime targets for hackers because the hackers know

0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.280
<v Speaker 1>that everyone who has, say an iPhone, is definitely going

0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:42.040
<v Speaker 1>to have the phone app on that iPhone because it's

0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:46.320
<v Speaker 1>you can't uninstall it. So if you know that everybody

0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.320
<v Speaker 1>who has that kind of phone is going to have

0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.640
<v Speaker 1>the specific app that gives you a target to aim for,

0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.160
<v Speaker 1>you try and find a vulnerability in that app that

0:16:56.280 --> 0:17:00.520
<v Speaker 1>you can exploit and potentially access any phone that has

0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.760
<v Speaker 1>that app on it. So the I Ministry solution is

0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.960
<v Speaker 1>to make every app uninstallable so that users could choose

0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.639
<v Speaker 1>a different app that has the exact same functionality to

0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:14.800
<v Speaker 1>handle those services. This would be a pretty big move

0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.800
<v Speaker 1>and it would potentially mean that, you know, in the future,

0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:23.360
<v Speaker 1>India iPhone owners could do something unprecedented that replace the

0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.439
<v Speaker 1>phone app with a third party option, not just adding

0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:32.440
<v Speaker 1>an option, but removing the native Apple phone capabilities. Should

0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.399
<v Speaker 1>these rules go into affect, India will give manufacturers a

0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:41.000
<v Speaker 1>year to comply. Reportedly, the meetings that were held about

0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:47.040
<v Speaker 1>these rules included representatives from the major manufacturing companies, including Apple,

0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:52.000
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, really interesting to see where this goes from here. Finally,

0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.600
<v Speaker 1>there's some hubbub surrounding a Samsun feature introduced in the

0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.600
<v Speaker 1>Galaxy S twenty Ultra smartphone. It's also in the S

0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:02.760
<v Speaker 1>twenty one. The feature is called space Zoom, and the

0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.480
<v Speaker 1>way Samsung claims it works is that you take your

0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.520
<v Speaker 1>smartphone right, and you point that son of a gun

0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.320
<v Speaker 1>at that thar moon and you take a photo using

0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:16.320
<v Speaker 1>the space Zoom feature, which Samsung casually calls the one

0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.000
<v Speaker 1>hundred x space zoom. So presumably this means you could

0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.920
<v Speaker 1>take a photo at one hundred times magnification and then

0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.320
<v Speaker 1>this app this feature, the space Zoom feature, according to Samsung,

0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.040
<v Speaker 1>captures a whole bunch of photos in quick succession, so

0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.480
<v Speaker 1>it takes a ton of pictures of the Moon in

0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.959
<v Speaker 1>just a split second, right, and then it uses AI

0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:41.040
<v Speaker 1>to take the best features of each photo and stitch

0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.879
<v Speaker 1>together a high quality image of the Moon so that

0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.440
<v Speaker 1>you get a much higher resolution picture of it. You

0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.720
<v Speaker 1>can see things like craters and stuff. So while the

0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.360
<v Speaker 1>preview image might just look okay, the final photo could

0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:58.520
<v Speaker 1>be pretty stunning, which is really cool, right, except there

0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:02.199
<v Speaker 1>are folks claiming that this is not what Samsung is

0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:07.760
<v Speaker 1>actually doing. They claim instead that Samsung is using neural

0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.840
<v Speaker 1>links and massive database of photos of the Moon that

0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.720
<v Speaker 1>we're taken by high resolution telescopes, like a whole database

0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.920
<v Speaker 1>of high resolution moon photography, and they're using that as

0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:23.919
<v Speaker 1>reference material, and that the AI is not combining a

0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.919
<v Speaker 1>bunch of photos that you took. Instead, what it's doing

0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.919
<v Speaker 1>is it's applying textures and sharpening features on the image

0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:36.119
<v Speaker 1>you took using AI, using the pre existing high definition

0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:40.119
<v Speaker 1>photographs as reference material. So the argument is that Samsung

0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.480
<v Speaker 1>is using false advertising when it comes to how this

0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.200
<v Speaker 1>feature actually works. So instead of it being this cool

0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.119
<v Speaker 1>kind of in camera system that's paired with AI to

0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.679
<v Speaker 1>create the best possible photo, it's more like it's a

0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:57.959
<v Speaker 1>photoshop by AI feature. So yeah, clever Samsung. All right,

0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:01.040
<v Speaker 1>that wraps up this episode of stuff. Hope you are

0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.000
<v Speaker 1>all well. If you have suggestions for future topics, reach

0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:06.080
<v Speaker 1>out to me. You can do so on Twitter. They

0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.919
<v Speaker 1>handle for the show is tech Stuff HSW or you

0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.440
<v Speaker 1>can let me know on the iHeartRadio app. It's free

0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.480
<v Speaker 1>to download and use. Just navigate over to tech Stuff

0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.040
<v Speaker 1>use that little microphone icon you see. You can leave

0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.439
<v Speaker 1>a thirty second voice message for me. Let me know

0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.120
<v Speaker 1>what you would like to hear in a future episode,

0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:30.959
<v Speaker 1>and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff

0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:35.600
<v Speaker 1>is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit

0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.159
<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:40.119
<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.