WEBVTT - No Australian News is Good News for Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey thereon

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an executive producer with iHeart Podcast Send How the tech

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<v Speaker 1>are you? It is time for the tech News, ending

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<v Speaker 1>on Friday, June twenty eighth, twenty twenty four. It's going

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<v Speaker 1>to be a very short episode. There wasn't that much

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<v Speaker 1>tech news. Most of the news in the United States

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<v Speaker 1>has revolved around the election cycle, and thankfully I have

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<v Speaker 1>nothing to contribute to that. So let's talk about some

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<v Speaker 1>tech news. And first up in the haven't We been

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<v Speaker 1>here before? Category, we have a story about Meta potentially

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<v Speaker 1>blocking news content on Facebook in Australia. Now, if that

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<v Speaker 1>does sound familiar to you, it's because this actually stems

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<v Speaker 1>from a twenty twenty one law that would require company

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<v Speaker 1>like Meta and Google to negotiate with news media companies

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<v Speaker 1>in order to allow the inclusion of the news company's

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<v Speaker 1>content on their digital platforms. The purpose of this law

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<v Speaker 1>is to quote help support the sustainability of public interest

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<v Speaker 1>journalism in Australia end quote, and the justification for the

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<v Speaker 1>law appeared to be the assertion that platforms like Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>can at least partly thank news media for the platform's popularity.

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<v Speaker 1>That because people can find news on social media, they

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<v Speaker 1>spend more time on social media platforms, and so therefore

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<v Speaker 1>Meta owes some of its revenue that it generates from

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<v Speaker 1>user engagement to the companies that are providing this content

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<v Speaker 1>that's being posted to Meta, whether you know Meta's doing

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<v Speaker 1>it or a user's doing it. Further, there's an argument

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<v Speaker 1>to be made that if people are just you know,

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<v Speaker 1>scanning a headline and maybe a synopsis of an article,

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<v Speaker 1>they're not going to click through. They don't go to

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<v Speaker 1>the website to read the article itself, which means the

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<v Speaker 1>home website of that article doesn't receive a page impression

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<v Speaker 1>and though therefore it doesn't receive any ad revenue. So

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<v Speaker 1>the news media organizations are saying, you're benefiting from our

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<v Speaker 1>content and people aren't clicking through, so we're not seeing

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<v Speaker 1>any of that ad revenue, and that has been part

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<v Speaker 1>of this whole argument. Initially, Meta blocked news sites on

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook in Australia when this law was taking shape, but

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<v Speaker 1>eventually Meta backed off of that and negotiated with individual

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<v Speaker 1>Australian media sites, but those agreements expire this year and

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<v Speaker 1>Meta has already said it's not going to renew those agreements,

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<v Speaker 1>and in fact, it will take whatever steps are necessary

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<v Speaker 1>up to and including banning news on the platform in

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<v Speaker 1>Australia rather than continue to pay for that privilege. Meta

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<v Speaker 1>reps have argued that news is not a major driver

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<v Speaker 1>of user option or engagement, and that the absence of

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<v Speaker 1>news isn't going to have a negative impact on Facebook's numbers. Essentially,

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<v Speaker 1>and this Meta argues will contradict the point of view

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<v Speaker 1>that news has made a significant contribution to revenue generation

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<v Speaker 1>for Facebook. So if Facebook says now we didn't allow

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<v Speaker 1>news and we still did business like gangbusters in Australia,

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<v Speaker 1>you can't say that news is a driver for user

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<v Speaker 1>engagement if we're still doing just fine without you. That's

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<v Speaker 1>kind of Facebook's take on this. So the Australian government

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<v Speaker 1>has to decide whether or not to actually enforce this

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty one law, and there are a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>people wondering if that's going to happen. I don't know.

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<v Speaker 1>I have no insight into that, but it does sound

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<v Speaker 1>like unless the government steps in, Facebook's just going to

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<v Speaker 1>stop paying these negotiated fares that they have with all

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<v Speaker 1>these different media outlets. There's a lot more going on here.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of conversation to be had about this

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<v Speaker 1>law in general. There are plenty of people who argue

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<v Speaker 1>that the law does little to help the smaller media outlets.

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<v Speaker 1>It actually gives much more advantage to really large media

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<v Speaker 1>outlets that are already like multi billion dollar conglomerates. But honestly,

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<v Speaker 1>I would have to do so much more reading to

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<v Speaker 1>really get into that and to be able to give

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<v Speaker 1>my perspective on it. But is an interesting thing to

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<v Speaker 1>read about, and it's not like Australia's the outlier. There

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<v Speaker 1>are other places, such as Canada that have explored similar policies.

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<v Speaker 1>Meta is rolling out a suite of AI tools called

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<v Speaker 1>the AI Studio to certain Instagram users, So it's kind

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<v Speaker 1>of like an early test market. I think, sort of

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<v Speaker 1>like a closed beta. So AI Studio lets creators do

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<v Speaker 1>lots of stuff, including they can make an AI chatbot

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<v Speaker 1>version of themselves. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said quote, you

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<v Speaker 1>might start seeing ais from your favorite creators and interest

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<v Speaker 1>based ais in the coming weeks on Instagram. These will

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<v Speaker 1>primarily show up in messaging for now and will be

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<v Speaker 1>clearly labeled as AI end quote, so based on that,

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<v Speaker 1>from what I understand, this is a text based chat bot,

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<v Speaker 1>and essentially the chatbot is trying to impersonate an influencer,

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<v Speaker 1>And I guess I can see how influencers who don't

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<v Speaker 1>want to spend all day chatting with followers might want

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<v Speaker 1>to use this in order to drive further engagement without

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<v Speaker 1>actually having to do it themselves. But I honestly don't

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<v Speaker 1>know how I would feel about having a robo Jonathan

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<v Speaker 1>out there responding to people on my behalf. I'd be

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<v Speaker 1>really concerned that it could say something I would personally

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<v Speaker 1>object to, and that doesn't look good on me if

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<v Speaker 1>the chatbot's doing that, and I don't want it to

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<v Speaker 1>hurt anyone's feelings or to creep anyone out or anything

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<v Speaker 1>like that. Instagram warns that some messages may be quote

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<v Speaker 1>in acuate or inappropriate end quote, which does not raise

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<v Speaker 1>my confidence levels very much. Now, on the flip side,

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<v Speaker 1>I don't really see where the value proposition is for

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<v Speaker 1>fans right for the community. I mean, if I knew

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<v Speaker 1>that the entity I was chatting with was just an

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<v Speaker 1>AI copy of I don't know, insert influencer here, would

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<v Speaker 1>I even bother chatting with it. I mean, it's not

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<v Speaker 1>the person, it's just a chat pot. It's kind of

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<v Speaker 1>like finding out that a celebrity doesn't run their own

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<v Speaker 1>twitter feed or whatever. You know, if you know that

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<v Speaker 1>you're just interacting with a representative acting on behalf of

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<v Speaker 1>a celebrity, it just doesn't have the same pizazz. But

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know. Maybe some fans would just be thrilled

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<v Speaker 1>that an AI copy of the person they follow is

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<v Speaker 1>responding to them. I think that doesn't sound healthy to me,

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<v Speaker 1>but I'm not an expert. Maybe maybe there's nothing at

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<v Speaker 1>all wrong with that, but it just seems I don't know, icky,

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<v Speaker 1>But I can see this actually working better for businesses.

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<v Speaker 1>I can see that being much more effective. So let's

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<v Speaker 1>say that you run like a small business and you

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<v Speaker 1>have a strong Instagram presence, having a chatbot that's able

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<v Speaker 1>to answer questions and stuff on your behalf, I could

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<v Speaker 1>see that being really helpful. So that part, I totally

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<v Speaker 1>get the bit where there's a chatbot that is posing

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<v Speaker 1>as a person. That seems weird and creepy to me,

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<v Speaker 1>even if it's labeled as such. So I don't know,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe I'm just it's quite possible. I'm just too old.

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<v Speaker 1>I did have a birthday this week. That's also in

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<v Speaker 1>the Tech news. I had a birthday this week. It's

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<v Speaker 1>also why this news is going to be a little shorter,

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<v Speaker 1>because I got to get ready to head out of

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<v Speaker 1>town to celebrate a belated birthday gathering. But yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>don't really grock with this. Hackers have taken aim at

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<v Speaker 1>the US auto industry by targeting software used by many

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<v Speaker 1>car dealerships. So the software in question comes from a

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<v Speaker 1>company called seed DK Global, and a lot of dealerships

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<v Speaker 1>here in the United States use CDK Globals software in

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<v Speaker 1>order to handle transactions, so it's a fundamental component of

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<v Speaker 1>their operations. And because this software has such wide distribution,

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<v Speaker 1>it was a beautiful target for hackers. It was a

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<v Speaker 1>way for them to infect many separate dealerships simultaneously, not

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<v Speaker 1>by attacking the individual dealership like you didn't have to

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<v Speaker 1>go one by one. Instead, you target software that a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of these dealerships use, and that becomes your delivery

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<v Speaker 1>system for your malware. You compromise the software and then

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<v Speaker 1>you use that to push out updates that are really malware.

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<v Speaker 1>They're not updates and boom, you got these compromised businesses,

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<v Speaker 1>potentially thousands of them, all of them tied to the

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<v Speaker 1>auto industry and automakers themselves. So this is not an

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<v Speaker 1>unusual thing. We've seen it happen before. A couple of

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<v Speaker 1>massive hacker attacks over the last half decade have used

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<v Speaker 1>a method like this where the hackers, instead of targeting

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<v Speaker 1>individual businesses, go after a vendor that makes a software

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<v Speaker 1>package that's used by lots and lots of businesses. They

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<v Speaker 1>secretly exploit, you know, they penetrate the vendors' systems, they

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<v Speaker 1>exploit their software, they push out updates that include malware. Boom,

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<v Speaker 1>They've got themselves a long list of exploited systems. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty terrifying approach. The hacker group that did this

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<v Speaker 1>is called Black Suit, and according to cybersecurity researchers, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a relatively young group, like a year old, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>spun off a more established Russian linked hacker group called

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<v Speaker 1>Royal Locker. And like many hacker groups, it is a

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<v Speaker 1>ransomware operator. So they lock target data away, usually behind encryption.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes they'll lock down entire systems, not just the data

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<v Speaker 1>on those systems, and then they threaten to go nuclear

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<v Speaker 1>and delete everything, or make it impossible for the target

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<v Speaker 1>to access or possibly and or leak information on the

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<v Speaker 1>black market unless the target hands over some ransom money.

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<v Speaker 1>In this case, if in fact Black Suit is the

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<v Speaker 1>party responsible, it all comes down between them and CDK

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<v Speaker 1>at the moment. Dealerships in the meantime have had to

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<v Speaker 1>resort to desperate measures like using pen and paper for transactions,

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<v Speaker 1>though I understand CDK has started to restore functionality with

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<v Speaker 1>at least some dealerships. All right, we're gonna take a

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<v Speaker 1>quick break when we come back. I've got a few

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<v Speaker 1>more news items before we wrap this up. We're back.

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<v Speaker 1>So our next story is about Tim Griffin, Arkansas's Attorney General,

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<v Speaker 1>Arkansas's estate here in the United States for those of

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<v Speaker 1>you outside the US, and Tim Griffin has filed a

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<v Speaker 1>lawsuit against the Chinese shopping app Temu. I believe that

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<v Speaker 1>app is technically based in Ireland now, but all of

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<v Speaker 1>its major operations are still in China. Griffin alleges that

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<v Speaker 1>Timu is dangerous malware that's posing as a shopping app,

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<v Speaker 1>and that Timu is really designed to quote gain unrestricted

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<v Speaker 1>access to a user's phone operating system, including but not

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<v Speaker 1>limited to a user's camera, specific location, contacts, text messages, documents,

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<v Speaker 1>and other applications. End quote. Essentially that if you install

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<v Speaker 1>Timu on your phone, you are giving Timu access to

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<v Speaker 1>everything on your phone, ongoing access. So Griffin accuses Timu

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<v Speaker 1>of ignoring the privacy settings that a user has in place.

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<v Speaker 1>Like my phone, for example, I have it where if

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<v Speaker 1>I launch an app that requires access to certain things

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<v Speaker 1>on my phone, like my camera or my contacts, whatever,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm given a pop up where I can allow or

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<v Speaker 1>deny access to those things. Right, I can allow the

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<v Speaker 1>app to have access to my contacts, or I can

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<v Speaker 1>say no, don't bother my friends and family. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>want that to happen. So what Griffin is saying is

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<v Speaker 1>that Timu has designed their app in such a way

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<v Speaker 1>that it gets you install it on your phone, and

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<v Speaker 1>afterward it circumvents those permissions and you don't get a

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<v Speaker 1>pop up, you don't get the chance to allow or deny.

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<v Speaker 1>It just grabs hold of access to these things. And

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<v Speaker 1>that's a heck of an accusation, and it's a really

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<v Speaker 1>big claim to make. Griffin is relying heavily upon a

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<v Speaker 1>report that was created by an organization called Grizzly Research.

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<v Speaker 1>I am unfamiliar with that group. TIMU reps are saying

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<v Speaker 1>that this report from Grizzly Research is all just misinformation

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<v Speaker 1>and the accusation are unfounded. They accuse Grizzly Research of

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<v Speaker 1>trying to essentially short sell Timu and that that's like,

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<v Speaker 1>that's what Grizzly Research does, is that they make money

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<v Speaker 1>by company's stock going down. Essentially is the implication. I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know what the truth is, Honestly, I highly recommend

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<v Speaker 1>you check out Ashley Bellinger's article about this on Ours Technica.

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<v Speaker 1>It's titled shopping app Timu is dangerous malware spying on

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<v Speaker 1>your texts lawsuit claims. I think it's well worth reading.

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<v Speaker 1>Bellinger did a great job laying out all the facts

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<v Speaker 1>and also does a great job not like applying opinion

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<v Speaker 1>to it. It's very much a well, here's what's being claimed.

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<v Speaker 1>Here is how TIMU is trying to refute those claims,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is all we know at the moment. But

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<v Speaker 1>it's a it's a very well done piece. I recommend

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<v Speaker 1>reading it. YouTube is getting ready to launch more tiers

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<v Speaker 1>of YouTube Premium, so right now, the company offers three

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<v Speaker 1>tiers of service. There's a student version for seven dollars

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<v Speaker 1>ninety nine cents a month, there's the individual tier, which

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<v Speaker 1>is thirteen dollars ninety nine cents per month, and there's

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<v Speaker 1>a family tier for twenty two dollars ninety nine cents

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<v Speaker 1>per month. So that makes you wonder like, well, what

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<v Speaker 1>other tiers are they going to offer and how will

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<v Speaker 1>they be different from those three. YouTube has not shared

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<v Speaker 1>this information yet. We expect to hear more about it

0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.760
<v Speaker 1>in the weeks ahead. But these premium plans give you

0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.880
<v Speaker 1>access to YouTube videos without all those ads. You can

0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.680
<v Speaker 1>also do things like download videos to your local device.

0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.800
<v Speaker 1>You can access YouTube music without ads. I've had YouTube

0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.080
<v Speaker 1>Premium for several years now, although I never actually signed

0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.440
<v Speaker 1>up for it. Instead, I was subscribed to a different

0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:48.960
<v Speaker 1>Google service that, in true Google fashion, was later shut

0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.840
<v Speaker 1>down by the company and they just ported my subscription

0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.960
<v Speaker 1>over to YouTube instead, and I stuck with it because

0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.240
<v Speaker 1>I like watching YouTube videos without having ads. But it

0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.400
<v Speaker 1>comes at a cost. But honestly, I don't don't mind

0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.920
<v Speaker 1>paying it. I'm at a position where that is something

0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.280
<v Speaker 1>I can fit into my budget. I'm not suggesting that

0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.880
<v Speaker 1>everyone just fork over the money each month. A lot

0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.600
<v Speaker 1>of people are not in that position, and so I

0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.840
<v Speaker 1>get it. But other features that are coming to YouTube

0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.080
<v Speaker 1>Premium include some stuff like picture and picture capabilities with

0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:24.000
<v Speaker 1>YouTube shorts and a conversational AI assistant, which at first

0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.280
<v Speaker 1>I was not really jazzed about, but then I thought

0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:29.360
<v Speaker 1>about it. I thought, maybe I need one of those

0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.160
<v Speaker 1>something that can help me find, you know, like interesting

0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:38.840
<v Speaker 1>video essays. I really love in depth, interesting entertaining video essays,

0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.440
<v Speaker 1>but I want them that are coming from people who

0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.960
<v Speaker 1>are not like hateful people. Sometimes there's something that's posing

0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:48.520
<v Speaker 1>as a video essay and you get into it, like

0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.680
<v Speaker 1>you get five or ten minutes in, you're like, oh wait,

0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.480
<v Speaker 1>this is like propaganda for a hate group, and you

0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.680
<v Speaker 1>know it's not necessarily evident at the beginning, and you

0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:00.600
<v Speaker 1>start saying, I don't I don't want to be here.

0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.640
<v Speaker 1>If the AI assistant can help me figure those things

0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.880
<v Speaker 1>out from the get go without me having to watch

0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.640
<v Speaker 1>some of it first, I'm all for that, because I

0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.640
<v Speaker 1>do love watching really good content and I love avoiding

0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:16.040
<v Speaker 1>the kind of content I find to be upsetting. NASA

0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.720
<v Speaker 1>plans to bring down the International Space Station in a

0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.200
<v Speaker 1>few years, and it's going to pay SpaceX to get

0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.080
<v Speaker 1>the job done. Now, I'm tempted to turn this entire

0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.320
<v Speaker 1>news item into a spoof of mafia cliches, something like

0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.240
<v Speaker 1>you know, uh, this is a nice space station you

0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.720
<v Speaker 1>got here? Is suit would be a shame as someone

0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.240
<v Speaker 1>I don't know deorbited it. Well, A real story is

0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.000
<v Speaker 1>that the International Space Station was always going to have

0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:44.080
<v Speaker 1>a limited lifespan. The modules that make up the ISS

0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:48.359
<v Speaker 1>were mostly designed to have around a fifteen year lifespan,

0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.880
<v Speaker 1>longer if you did really good maintenance and repair on it.

0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.200
<v Speaker 1>And the very first of the ISS modules to go

0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.520
<v Speaker 1>into orbit is Zaria, and that actually went into orbit

0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.400
<v Speaker 1>back in nineteen ninety eight, so it's been up there

0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.679
<v Speaker 1>twenty five years. Reports say that there are cracks in

0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.560
<v Speaker 1>some of those older modules, particularly the Russian ones, and

0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:11.879
<v Speaker 1>that a lot of astronaut time is spent maintaining and

0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.200
<v Speaker 1>repairing the station in order to make sure it remains

0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:18.240
<v Speaker 1>safe to operate within. So it's growing close to time

0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.359
<v Speaker 1>for us to say goodbye to the old station and

0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.879
<v Speaker 1>make way for a new one. NASA's plan is to

0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.879
<v Speaker 1>deorbit the station in twenty thirty. To do so, the

0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.840
<v Speaker 1>agency has turned to SpaceX to design a deorbiting vehicle.

0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.880
<v Speaker 1>It's a vehicle that's going to guide the ISS down

0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.720
<v Speaker 1>so that it breaks apart and burns up over an

0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.800
<v Speaker 1>ocean as opposed to say, a continent, and the price

0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:44.680
<v Speaker 1>tag is eight hundred and forty three million dollars. As

0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:48.080
<v Speaker 1>for the successor to the International Space Station, NASA is

0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.720
<v Speaker 1>exploring the possibility of relying on commercial space stations, which

0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:56.120
<v Speaker 1>would be operated by companies and consortiums, and that NASA

0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.480
<v Speaker 1>would negotiate to have some space set aside for the

0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.040
<v Speaker 1>agency to be able to conduct experiments aboard these commercially

0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.360
<v Speaker 1>operated space stations. So we'll see how that goes. All right,

0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.600
<v Speaker 1>that's it for this episode. I do have a reading

0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.840
<v Speaker 1>recommendation on top of all that, I recommend Elizabeth Lopotto's

0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:17.320
<v Speaker 1>piece in The Verge titled Perplexities Grand theft Ai. So

0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:21.080
<v Speaker 1>Lopato reveals how a startup AI company is taking shots

0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.200
<v Speaker 1>at Google and how the biggest losers might be journalists

0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.880
<v Speaker 1>and subject matter experts. It's a story of ambition and

0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:32.680
<v Speaker 1>in my opinion, a flagrant disregard of copyright laws, not Lopato.

0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.080
<v Speaker 1>Lopato's work is solid. I mean it sounds like perplexity

0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:40.160
<v Speaker 1>AI is playing fast and loose with copyright law, but yeah,

0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.159
<v Speaker 1>you should check that out. That's it for this week.

0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.520
<v Speaker 1>I hope you are all well. Wish me a happy birthday,

0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:56.240
<v Speaker 1>and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff

0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:00.200
<v Speaker 1>is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iheartrate, you

0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:04.320
<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:05.399
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.