WEBVTT - Tech News: You're Being Tracked And Here's How 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.320 Hey there, and welcome to text Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.200 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.360 a love of all things tech. And today's episode requires 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.439 a bit of an explanation. You see, this is going 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:30.840 to be the episode I recorded for yesterday, Thursday, March one. 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.680 It's a news oriented episode, but I did that forgetting 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:39.519 that I had already agreed to run the trailer for 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.960 the next season of Smart Talks, hosted by Malcolm Gladwell, 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.760 and so I didn't want to get rid of the 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.879 episode I had researched and written and recorded because I 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.760 felt like there was a lot of good information there. 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.080 Even though the news is a little less fresh than 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.160 it would have been yesterday, it's still an important stuff 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.920 because it's really focusing on a lot of stories about 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:09.399 how tech and governments and companies are using technology to 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:15.679 track us and to mass huge amounts of data, sometimes 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:20.280 without our knowledge, sometimes explicitly without our knowledge, and what 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.520 does that mean and is there anything we can do 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.680 about it? I feel like this is an important thing 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.720 to know about, even if you don't really have any 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.200 plans to change things. It's good to at least be 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.160 aware that it's going on. So with that in mind, 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:40.919 I hope you enjoy this slightly stale tech News episode. 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.040 I mean, it's only a day late, and that means 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.320 no classic episode this week. But next week we should 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.640 be pretty much back to normal. And in the coming 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.360 weeks tech stuff is going to change up a little 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.840 bit and that occasionally we will run an episode of 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.200 smart Talks in the tech Stuff feed. And again that's 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.640 going to be hosted by Malcolm Gladwell, not by me. 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.920 That is a big level up, but that's only going 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.520 to be occasionally. Most of the time, it's gonna be 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.119 the regular old tech stuff, so you're stuck with me. Anyway. 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:18.720 Let's listen to a slightly less fresh tech News episode. 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:24.119 Take it away, Jonathan from the past. Wikipedia the online 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.320 resource that you're not supposed to cite in your term papers, 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.160 and for good reason. But I won't get off track here. 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.639 I'll just say Wikipedia is a great resource to use 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.359 as a starting point. It just isn't a primary resource 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.760 and was never intended to be anyway. It will soon 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:45.079 launch a paid for service, but don't worry. This won't 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.480 mean you'll have to cough up cash the next time 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.000 you want to read up on, you know, Michael Bay 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:54.240 Transformer movie, or you want to learn about medieval villages 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.560 in the Netherlands, or you want to skim articles about 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:00.839 quantum entanglement or whatever. The paid for service customers will 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:06.320 actually be really big companies like Google and Amazon and Facebook. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.400 The service will offer up developer tools, so these companies 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:15.440 can use those to republish database information on other platforms, 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.800 you know, to repurpose the info that's on Wikipedia for 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.119 their own you know uses, and presumably these customers will 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.600 have access to tools and data that aren't necessarily available 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:31.720 to the average Wikipedia user. According to Lane Becker, Senior 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.240 director of the Wikimedia Foundation, some companies have been repurposing 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.520 Wikipedia articles on their own sites for years, and often 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:44.400 they employ people to clean and reformat articles to better 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.320 fit the owned and operated sites design. I see this 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.280 all the time, where I'll be doing research and it 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.600 will send me to a page that looks like it's 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:54.520 an owned and operated page. But as I read, I 0:03:54.560 --> 0:04:00.200 realized this is literally pulling the article from Wikipedia into 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.280 this page. That's the kind of thing that this paid 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.920 for service will cover. Wikimedia has formed a division called 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:11.160 Wikimedia Enterprises to develop this tool and to negotiate agreements 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.880 with various customers. Now the company is still working out 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.760 the finer details, and I could see this being used 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.440 in lots of ways, including with Google Smart Home products. 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.640 Asking a Google Home device a question could lead it 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.440 to pull from data that originated from Wikipedia, and it 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.960 would be enabled by this sort of licensing agreement. It's 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.880 also good to remember that the Wikimedia Foundation is a 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:40.520 nonprofit organization. The money from these projects would presumably go 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:45.360 back into supporting the hosting and continued development of Wikimedia itself. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:51.640 Now cast your memory back to the summer of twenty twenty, which, 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:57.280 by my reckoning, was approximately a lifetime ago. One of 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.920 the many news stories that summer is how the Twitter 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:06.039 accounts for several prominent people, including Bill Gates, Elon Musk, 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:10.640 and Joe Biden all got hijacked by hackers, and they 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.960 used those accounts to perpetuate a scam. Now, basically, the 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.640 scam promised a big return on investments in a supposed 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:23.280 money making strategy. In fact, that scam claimed that participants 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.440 would double their money. They would give a certain amount 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.320 in bitcoin, and they would get twice that back, and 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.200 of course some folks fell for it and handed their 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:36.320 hard earned cryptocurrency cash over to the hackers to the 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.560 tune of more than a hundred fifteen thousand dollars. Well. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:44.479 One of those hackers, Graham Ivan Clark, was caught and 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.400 charged and he pled guilty to charge as a fraud. 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.160 In return, he received a sentence of three years in 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:56.200 prison or a junile boot camp type thing, followed by 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.600 three years of probation. And during that probation he's not 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.120 supposed to use a computer without actual permission and supervision. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.159 At the time of the crime, Clark was seventeen. He 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.640 has since turned eighteen, so he was sentenced as a 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.120 youthful offender. Otherwise he would be looking at a mandatory 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.159 sentence of ten years in prison. He and the other 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.080 two hackers used social engineering to get administrative access to 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:24.880 various Twitter handles. So, according to investigators, what they did 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.599 was they scoured linked in to find profiles of Twitter 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.640 employees who could have you know, like administrative access to 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.320 the back end. Then they did deep dives to find 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.880 how to contact their marks, typically by phone, and then 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.359 convinced those Twitter employees that the hackers were in fact 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.719 authorized to access Twitter systems for the purposes of maintenance. 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.719 They tricked the Twitter employees to go to a mocked 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.200 up log in page, which was really just a means 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.599 to fish those login credentials in order to get access 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.119 to the back end of Twitter, and then they moved 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.760 on from there. The two of or hackers, Nema Fazelli 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:05.559 and Mason Shepherd, are older than Clark and will likely 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.600 face more serious sentences for their part in the crime. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.200 And I just want to point out social engineering is 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.520 a major tool in the hacker tool set. It's one 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:17.640 of those things where you know, you don't have to 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:22.480 figure out how to crack a security system or find 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.680 a vulnerability if in fact you just leverage the people 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.840 who have access to that system and you go into 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.120 it through there. That's a very effective means. And you know, 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.760 with COVID nineteen making a lot of people have to 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.240 work from home, it created a lot of and still 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.000 does creates a lot of opportunities for hackers to go 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:45.440 after that social engineering point of attack. So just be 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.120 aware of that, and you know, use critical thinking whenever 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:54.400 you get requests to perhaps sign into something that you 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.559 know you didn't anticipate. It's not to say that every 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:03.520 case of that is, you know, not legit, but it's something. 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.480 It's a red flag, so you know, just be wary. 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.040 Another big tech story in twenty twenty was how companies 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.840 like Uber campaigned really hard to defeat a proposition in 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:19.400 California that would have forced the company like Uber in 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.240 this case, but also companies like Lift to classify drivers 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.600 as employees rather than as contract workers as as sort 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:32.240 of independent contractors. Such a classification would require Uber to 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:36.040 provide additional compensation and benefits to drivers, and that's something 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.880 that the company is not too keen on doing. While 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:42.280 Uber was successful in convincing enough voters to oppose the 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:46.640 proposition in California, things are different across the pond. The 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:50.360 courts in the United Kingdom, after five year legal battle, 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.520 ruled that Uber drivers are effectively employees, and Uber says 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.880 now that drivers will earn at least the UK's national 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:02.280 living wage, which is currently set at eight pounds seventy 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.560 two pence per hour. It will also offer holiday pay 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.800 and pensions to drivers. Uber already offered free insurance to 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.600 cover cases of sickness or injury. Those will remain in place. 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:18.199 The change only applies to those who are driving passengers around. However, 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.360 Uber drivers who are delivering food as part of Uber 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.920 Eats still classified as being self employed. Also, that hourly 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.040 rate only applies to the times when Uber drivers are 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.800 actually transporting customers. Once someone has dropped off, that clock 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:38.199 effectively stops until another fare enters the car. That's something 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:42.120 that unions say is inadequate. But still this may mark 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:46.360 a change in direction for the gig economy in general, 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.880 and possibly will see further measures in the future. Meanwhile, 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.679 over here in the United States, the Washington Post had 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.000 a pretty critical piece about Uber, saying that while the 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.480 company was seeing huge boosts to its stock, you so, 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.319 the value of the company was going through the stratosphere 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.840 back in especially after it helped get that California proposition 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:13.400 off the table. It also wasn't really helping out when 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.000 it came to things like unemployment benefits for drivers. That 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.920 left a lot of drivers in a very tough economic position. 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.480 So those drivers instead largely depended upon government assistance. Around 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.080 eighty million dollars of it all told, they received funds 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:32.000 from the Economic Injury Disaster Loans Program. Now, as the 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:36.360 name suggests, that program gives out loans and grants two 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.400 small businesses in times of economic upheaval to help those 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.360 businesses survive as well as you know, the people who 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.640 run those businesses. That's really what's important here. So you've 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.559 got a multibillion dollar company with Uber, which I should 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.840 add has never once turned a profit by the end 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.520 of a fiscal year in its entire existence, and meanwhile 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.760 it has workers who have qualified for a small business 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:05.640 government assistance program. Again, because Uber was able to maintain 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:10.320 that arrangement that these workers are independent contractors, they're they're 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.040 self employed, they're not employees according to the law. So 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.120 Uber saw its value increase while the US government took 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.720 over the job of helping Uber's drivers make ends meet. Now, 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.080 this experience really points to how people in the gig 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:27.600 economy are particularly vulnerable to economic disruption, which I know 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.400 is kind of like me telling you that water is wet. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:34.520 These are people who have to hustle constantly just to 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.440 make ends meet. So if you are someone who works 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.040 in the gig economy, my hat is off to you, 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.400 and I really hope things are going well for you 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.880 right now and that they just keep getting better. Joseph 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.120 cox Over at Vice Media has written a piece titled 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.720 cars Have Your Location. This spy firm wants to sell 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.880 it to the US military, which is a heck of 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.320 a headline. I mean it made me click on the story. 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.200 So what's going on here? Well, it really kind of 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.760 boils down to telematics. Telematics is a kind of portmanteau 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:11.560 of telecommunications and informatics. So modern cars have numerous sensors 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:14.480 to monitor car performance and safety parameters. You know, that's 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.520 when you get that check engine light or whatever. Someone 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:19.600 always has to plug your car up to a computer 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.840 to read what is actually going on. Well, that's kind 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.079 of what I'm talking about here, But these sensors are 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.480 doing more than just keeping an eye on how things 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.880 are handling while you're driving the vehicle. Many of these 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:35.520 systems pair with communications devices essentially like a simcard and 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:39.520 a modem, and it sends data back to automotive companies. 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.800 So what do these companies do with that data? Well, 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.040 they do a lot of things. They might use that 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.240 information to help design the next generation of vehicles based 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.200 on how people are using their cars today, or they 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.760 might have deals with major insurance companies which then use 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.880 those telematics to figure out what kind of driver you are, 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.440 how big a risk you pose, and that in turn 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.240 affects the rates you pay for car insurance. Or they 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.400 might sell data to other parties, which is probably where 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:10.000 the company mentioned in the Vice article comes in. That 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.760 company is called the Ulysses Group. It's a company that 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.080 has worked in various surveillance related products and services for 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:20.679 several years. Ulysses has proposed a deal with US government 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.800 to provide data that could give real time location information 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.880 about more than fifteen billion vehicles around the world in 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:33.200 pretty much every country except North Korea and Cuba Gali. Now, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.560 according to ulysses own document about this proposal, quote, the 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:41.480 data can be used to geolocate, track and target time 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:46.720 sensitive mobile targets, tip and que sensors, developed patterns of life, 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:52.480 identified networks and relationships, and enhance situational awareness, among many 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:56.840 other applications end quote. See this is the kind of 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.280 thing that makes me long for the old days of cars, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:03.080 where the systems were really more just like mechanical devices 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.800 and they were less like computers. Now I should add 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.840 that Ulysses doesn't have some sort of magic bug or 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.280 tracker that's installed in every car. The company would be 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:16.080 relying on data provided by those telematics systems. It's just 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.640 a question of how they get hold of that data. 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.240 So in a way, ulysses could be sort of a 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.640 resale business in that regard. Now, I presume the company 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.640 would first purchase the data from some other party and 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.360 then package it specifically for the US government, should the 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.480 government want to pursue this opportunity. I should also add 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:39.000 that not every vehicle out there actually has onboard telematics systems. 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.360 They are really common in the commercial vehicle markets, so 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.080 play you know, businesses that have fleets of cars frequently 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.000 have this just so that they can keep an eye 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.440 on how all those cars are doing in order to 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.320 you know, maintain the proper efficiencies. And some automakers have 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:59.920 embraced telematics more passionately I suppose than others like BMED 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.920 you and GM are are leaders in the space. Now, 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.360 there's not a whole lot you can do about this 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.240 as a as a driver, apart from maybe buying and 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.800 maintaining older vehicles that don't have onboard telematic systems. But 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:16.880 those have their own issues. For example, they might not 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.800 be terribly efficient, they could have some emissions problems. Getting 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.600 them repaired can sometimes be a bigger bit of a 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.680 pain because it may be hard to find parts for them, 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.520 So there is definitely a trade off there. But I 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.840 did want to cover the story because it's one of 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.560 those things that people just should be aware of. Ours 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:39.920 technical reports that TikTok parent company Bite dances investigating ways 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.880 to track iPhone users with the intent of serving those 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:47.720 users targeted advertisements. But see that happens to be against 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.840 Apple's privacy rules, which now state that apps have to 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.280 alert users before they can track those users, and they 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.800 have to give users the option to opt out of tracking. 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.040 But that's something that companies in general aren't too keen 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:07.560 on because targeted advertising is really a cash cow in 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:12.160 revenue terms. It's an incredibly valuable tool for companies like Facebook, 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:18.520 for example. It's very valuable to sell that capability to advertisers. However, 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.400 these companies worry that if you give people the choice, 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.400 they're gonna opt out of being tracked, because hey, you 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:26.880 know what, most folks aren't super keen on feeling like 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:30.560 they're in a song by the police. You know that song. 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.040 Every little thing she does is magic. Wait, no, no, no, no, 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.920 I'm sorry. I'm sorry man, every breath you take. Anyway. 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.520 The China Advertising Association, which I'm sure you will not 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.040 be surprised to hear, is a state backed institution in China, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.040 is now trying an alternative way to track iPhone users 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.560 that bypasses the methods that apps are using right now now. Essentially, 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:57.880 this group is looking to sidestep the process and keep 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.280 tracking people without having to them know about it and 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.480 potentially opt out of it. Apple says it is going 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:08.320 to ban any app that tries to circumvent the privacy rules. 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.359 But on the flip side, if most of China's apps 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:15.360 are actually using this alternative method, it would be very 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.520 weird to see Apple actually take advance action against all 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.199 of them, because doing so would essentially open up the 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:25.320 opportunity for the Chinese government to just outright ban Apple 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:27.679 from operating in the country. They could say, hey, you 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.040 need us more than we need you. You're out of here, 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:34.880 And you know, China's got a lot of people over there. Anyway. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.600 While TikTok tries to downplay its connection to its Chinese 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:43.000 parent company, it is worth remembering Byte Dance is definitely 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.880 one of the companies that is pursuing this, and we're 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.439 not done with stories about companies and governments tracking people. 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.600 Apple's new privacy rules also meant that companies had to 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:58.120 disclose more information about how they track and use personal 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.760 data from users, and that includes Google, a company that 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.680 has built its entire empire around the aggregation and exploitation 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:09.560 of data, personal and otherwise. Google took a long time 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.560 to comply with Apple's new rules, but once it did, 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:16.280 it became clear that the company collects a lot of 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:20.040 data for lots of different reasons. Uh. Sometimes it's to 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:24.119 provide a personalized experience through an app. Sometimes it's just 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.320 a monitor app functionality. Make sure that if an app 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:30.720 keeps crashing, figure out why it's doing that. Sometimes it's 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.720 general analytics. But it prompted duct duct Go, a web 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.399 browser and search engine, to take to Twitter and fire 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:41.000 a few shots at Google. The company posted quote. After 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.400 months of stalling, Google finally revealed how much personal data 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.560 they collect in Chrome and the Google App. No wonder 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.440 they wanted to hide it. Spying on users has nothing 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.000 to do with building a great web browser research engine. 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.800 We should know our app is both. In one end, quote, 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.080 some serious shade there, duc duct go. Meanwhile, Google is 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:04.199 also facing a class action lawsuit brought against the company 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:08.080 by users who allege the Google violated their privacy by 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:12.000 collecting data while the users were using Chrome in in 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.960 incognito mode. The claim is that Google was collecting info 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:19.320 on browser history even when people are in private mode. 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:21.960 Google has moved to have the case dismissed, but a 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.520 judge then denied that request, so it's going to go 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.919 to court. Google representatives have pointed out that when you 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.800 open an incognito window and Chrome, you're greeted with a 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:34.240 page that says Chrome doesn't say browsing history, but the 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:36.879 activity could still be visible to other websites that you 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.119 visit and moral on those lines. So I suppose this 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.479 case we'll try to determine if Google is being a 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:46.520 bit coy about that whole browser history thing or not. 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.520 And finally, do y'all remember the Apple commercials in which 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.600 Justin Long would come on screen he announced that he's 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.639 a Mac, and then John Hodgman would come on screen 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.600 and announced that he's a PC. And Austin Long was 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.760 always portrayed as kind of a hip, young, cool guy 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.520 with a lot of creative ideas, and Hodgment always came 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.239 across as outdated and out of touch and a bit 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.840 of a fuddy duddy. Well, now how the turns have 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:17.280 tabled or whatever, because Justin Long is now appearing in 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.880 a series of commercials for Intel in which he's kind 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.520 of slagging off on his old Mac buddies. The ads 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:29.720 show Long comparing Max, which now sport the Apple designed CPUs, 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:34.159 not the Intel processors, and he compares them against PCs 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.560 that do have Intel chips inside them. And I guess 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.119 you can figure out where this is going over and 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.359 over in each of these ads. Justin Long's job is 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.199 to suggest that Apple is really a hassle and that 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.359 Max limit what users can do with their machines, and 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.760 he's particularly brutal when it comes to gaming. Now, I 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.000 normally wouldn't report on ads, but this was just one 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:56.880 of those things I found kind of amusing for those 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.880 of us who have been subjected to tech company adver 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.679 tisements for a few decades. So if you remember the 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.520 I'm a Mac, I'm a PC ads, maybe you watch 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.040 a couple of the new Intel ones just to see 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:11.919 how they are leaning hard on that history. And it 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:14.600 just makes me think, as someone who has read plenty 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:20.800 of ads himself, how awkward that initial conversation must have been. Um. 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.439 I mean, granted, Apple's very different company now than it 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:25.919 was when Justin Long was doing ads for it, but 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:31.520 even so awkward. That wraps up the news for Thursday, 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.000 March one. If you have any suggestions for topics I 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.520 should tackle in future episodes of tech Stuff, let me know. 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:41.280 The Best way to get in touch with me is 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:44.119 over on Twitter. The handle for the show is text 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.639 Stuff H. S W and I'll talk to you again 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:56.520 really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.600 For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.960 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:08.320 your favorite shows. H.