1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: and all of all things tech. And this is the 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: tech news for Tuesday, June eight, twent d twenty one. 6 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: And if you were up in the wee hours of 7 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: the morning today, if you were in the US, or 8 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:33,519 Speaker 1: you know, if you're not in the United States, if 9 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: you were just you know, up, you might have noticed 10 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: that some popular websites were not up. They were down, 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: big big websites, including sites like Spotify, Twitch, Reddit, HBO, Max, Stripe, PayPal, 12 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: and then news organizations like The Guardian, The New York Times, 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: CNN and many more. Also, some government websites in the 14 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: UK were down. So what was going on? One? I mean, 15 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: when this kind of thing happens, clearly something major is 16 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: going down on the back end. The possibility that all 17 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: of these sites would suffer unrelated issues at the same 18 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: time is just too low, right, So what happened? Well, 19 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: apparently the root cause was a problem with a c 20 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 1: d N provider called Fastly, But that naturally raises a question, 21 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: what in the blue blazes is a c d N. Well, 22 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: that initialism stands for content delivery network, which kind of 23 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: gives you an idea of what it does, but it's 24 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: a little you know, misleading as well. So a c 25 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: d N is a collection of Internet servers that are 26 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: distributed across different regions that collectively work to deliver faster 27 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: Internet content to end users. It's kind of like an 28 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: edge network strategy essentially, you can think of it. It It 29 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: is almost like a dispersed team of experts who are 30 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: all working on the same problem, except, of course we're 31 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: talking about computer servers here. And interestingly, these servers don't 32 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: actually host any content themselves. They aren't like holding the 33 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: videos on HBO Max or anything like that, so they're 34 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: not the repository of information that we find from the 35 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: various sites we visit and services we use. Instead, these 36 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: servers will load content into a cash memory, so you 37 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: can think of this as like very temporary storage, and 38 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: then they can serve that up to end users. So 39 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: if you're trying to watch a movie on HBO Max, 40 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: the host server for that content could be sending out 41 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: data to c d end servers, which in turn consent 42 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: that to you, and that helps relieve the host server, 43 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: the one that actually contains all the stuff for real zs. 44 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: It saves them from having to handle all of that 45 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: load all by itself, and it helps ensure a faster 46 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: experience for the end user. But Fastly apparently had some 47 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: sort of massive malfunction that brought down the c d 48 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 1: N system, and that meant that the support that these 49 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: these different sites usually have was suddenly gone. As a result, 50 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: millions of people found that numerous websites and services were 51 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: totally unreachable, and in the case of stuff like Stripe 52 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: and PayPal, that could be a really big disruption for commerce. 53 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: Plenty of small merchants depend upon these services, so this 54 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: was more serious than just not being able to watch 55 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: a twitch streamer or have a twitch stream or access 56 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: of Spotify playlist for an hour. Fastly was able to 57 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: resolve the problem after about an hour, with service appearing 58 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: to be restored by noon in UK time. So it's 59 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,119 Speaker 1: a really good thing that Fastly's response didn't move slowly. 60 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: Our next story for today's news makes me feel like 61 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: I kind of got into a time machine and then 62 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: somehow went back to the late nineties and early two 63 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: thousand's and that's because this story involves big music labels 64 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: suing the proverbial pants off of an Internet service provider 65 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: because of alleged piracy committed by that I s P 66 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:26,159 Speaker 1: s customers. And y'all, we went through this two decades 67 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 1: ago and the music companies did not come out looking 68 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: real good back then, So what exactly is going on now? 69 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,119 Speaker 1: While back in two thousand eighteen, a group of music 70 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:43,160 Speaker 1: companies that include Sony Music, no surprise there, Universal, and 71 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: Warner filed a joint lawsuit against Cox Communications, and the 72 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: claim was that Cox did not do enough to curtail 73 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: piracy across its network as an I s P. The 74 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 1: claim said that despite these companies direct in Cox to 75 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: specific I P addresses that were linked to music piracy, 76 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: the company didn't actually go so far as to ban 77 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: people from its service, and thus Cox was culpable for 78 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: the losses that these companies suffered due to piracy. And 79 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,280 Speaker 1: by the way, it is actually impossible to calculate the 80 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: losses from piracy because there's no way to establish if 81 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: someone would have purchased a piece of media legitimately if 82 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: they hadn't pirated it first. Because this isn't like physical media, right, 83 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: It's not like someone broke into a warehouse and stole 84 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: a palette of albums or something. They took a copy 85 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: of a digital file which can be copied infinitely. And 86 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: so unless you can actually prove that that person was 87 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: going to buy that digital media but didn't, then how 88 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: can you actually say the company was out any money? 89 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: I mean, if I don't buy an album, right Like, 90 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: if I just decide, oh, I don't want that, well, 91 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: it's not like I cost Sony Music money and that 92 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: that seems like a pretty reasonable argument, right I decide 93 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: I don't want that album, I didn't rob anyone of 94 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: that sale. So you can't actually establish how much money 95 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: was lost as a result of piracy. There probably is 96 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: some amount lost, I mean, it's not like it's not 97 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: like it's a victimless crime. It's not that it's you know, 98 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: you just can't actually put a value to that loss 99 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: because there's no way of knowing what it could be. 100 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: And yet the jury in this case back in two 101 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: thousand eighteen, actually they found uh in the favor of 102 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:46,360 Speaker 1: the music labels. In two thousand nineteen, not only did 103 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: they agree with the music labels, they agreed to an 104 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:55,840 Speaker 1: award of nearly one hundred thousand dollars per instance of piracy, 105 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: and there were more than ten thousand instances of piracy, 106 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: which meant that Cox's court mandated fine is that the 107 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: billion dollar mark yaws a one billion dollars in fines 108 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: to pay to these music labels. Anyway, obviously, Cox appealed 109 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: that decision, and so that trial went to appeal, and 110 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: earlier this year that appeals court upheld that first decision. 111 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: So they said, no, the court got it right. And 112 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: now groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation or e f F, 113 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: and the Center for Democracy and Technology and a couple 114 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: of others have issued their own court filing regarding this case. 115 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: These organizations point out that the court decision is incredibly harmful. 116 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: If I s p s potentially face fines in the 117 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: billion dollar range, they are far more likely to boot 118 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: people off their service if they get a notice from 119 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: a music label. But it's never as simple as that. 120 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: For example, let's just take my house, right, I live 121 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: with my wife as long as you know she lets me, 122 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: which so far has gone pretty well. Don't mess this 123 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: up for me anyway. My wife and I use a 124 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: household internet connection, right, It's not like we have two 125 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: separate internet networks, and she uses one and I used 126 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: the other. So if one of us were to run 127 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: a foul because we were, you know, being a dirty, 128 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: dirty pirate and I don't know, we were like trying 129 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: to steal the SpongeBob SquarePants musical soundtrack, our I s 130 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: P could get a notice from the copyright holder and 131 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 1: then give us the boot. But let's say that I 132 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: was just the one who did this, right, Like it 133 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: was just me that wanted that soundtrack so darn badly. 134 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: My wife is completely innocent. She doesn't know about it, 135 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: she's never listened to it. She certainly wasn't aware that 136 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: I was stealing it. Well, clearly, if the I s 137 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: P boots us, that doesn't just affect me, It affects 138 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: my wife, who is completely innocent of having pirated the music. 139 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,680 Speaker 1: About how a simple sponge say bikini bottom And the 140 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: e f F points this out. It says, this is 141 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: just the tip of the iceberg, and IP address could 142 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: mean that the I s P has to boot off 143 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: an entire college, or a hospital, or a library, or 144 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: even municipality WiFi. I mean, the group rightly points out 145 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: that these damages aren't anywhere close to the realities of 146 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 1: any harm suffered, and that it punishes the innocent as 147 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: well as the guilty. So essentially, these groups are saying 148 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: that the court got it totally wrong, that the court 149 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,320 Speaker 1: misinterpreted the law, and that allowing for an award that 150 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: is completely out of alignment of any actual damage suffered 151 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: is also unjust, and that the consequences will be catastrophic 152 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: because I s p s will be far more trigger 153 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: happy to boot people off of their service if the 154 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: if the alternative means that these companies are going to 155 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: get you know, hit by bill in dollar fines, so 156 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: this is just a bad situation. They also make the 157 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,439 Speaker 1: point that the internet access these days is really an 158 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: integral component in participating in modern society, and if you 159 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,200 Speaker 1: cut someone off from that, that's a non trivial problem. 160 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:20,880 Speaker 1: It's like saying, all right, well, because you you know, 161 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: stole a bottle of water at the local convenience store, 162 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: we're shutting waters off at your house. Like that's not cool. 163 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 1: And Cox has appealed the court's decision, so this is 164 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: going to go to another appeals court. Uh And currently 165 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: the company, the I s P actually has a lot 166 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: of support behind it from various legal scholars and advocacy groups, 167 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: which is interesting. I s p s frequently get a 168 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 1: lot of flak because of anti competitive stuff that I 169 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: s p s tend to be at least tangentially involved in. 170 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: But in this case, you have a lot of people 171 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: siding with the I s P and we'll have to 172 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: where this goes next. Meanwhile, it's still a bumpy ride 173 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: for bitcoin. Back in March, the cryptocurrency hit an all 174 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: time high value of nearly sixty five dollars per bitcoin. 175 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: Later that value plunged to nearly half of that, in 176 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: fact lower than half of that at some points, hitting 177 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: close to thirty dollars, and after a brief recovery, the 178 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: value took another hit again earlier today. So what's going on, Well, 179 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: there are a few things that are happening all at 180 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: the same time, and it's really impossible to say which 181 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: things are chiefly responsible for this. But one thing is 182 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: we could be seeing a bear market in which the 183 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: value will be on the decline until enough people start 184 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: buying into bitcoin again on a really large scale to 185 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: cause this to switch over to a bowl market again. 186 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:57,959 Speaker 1: Bull market is where the value starts to climb because 187 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: more and more people are buying into it. But a 188 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: different contributing factor could be that recently, the US government 189 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: managed to recover most of a ransom that Colonial Pipeline 190 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,440 Speaker 1: paid to ransomware hackers earlier this year. Alright, so quick 191 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:18,079 Speaker 1: summary of that story. Colonial Pipeline supplies fuel to the 192 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: eastern half of the United States, and the company was 193 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 1: hit with a ransomware attack that shut down its pipeline, 194 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:27,680 Speaker 1: or really the company shut down its own pipeline sort 195 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:29,599 Speaker 1: of as a precautionary measure to make sure that the 196 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: malware did not spread throughout the entire system. But this 197 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: caused a short term gas shortage and a massive spike 198 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,480 Speaker 1: in fuel prices in much of the US, and then 199 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,679 Speaker 1: the shortage got way worse because some people decided to 200 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 1: hoard gasoline, which is both selfish and stupid. Gasoline does 201 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: not keep forever, so if you hoard more than you need, 202 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: there's a good chance that gasoline is going to essentially 203 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: lose its potency before you get around using it. And 204 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: of course it's really dangerous to store gasoline unless you 205 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,080 Speaker 1: have the proper storage containers, and a lot of people 206 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: were filling up all sorts of stuff with gasoline and 207 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: just creating massive potential disasters. Anyway, Colonial Pipeline actually got 208 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: things back in action fairly quickly, but it turned out 209 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: the reason they were able to do so was that 210 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: the company actually complied with the hackers demands and paid 211 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: the ransom, which is something that most people, including me, 212 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: say is a dumb, dumb idea because it reinforces that 213 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,599 Speaker 1: strategy in the first place, and it makes future ransomware 214 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:41,680 Speaker 1: attacks more likely. Bad move Colonial Pipeline. Now we hear 215 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: that the US government was able to seize most of 216 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 1: that ransom that was paid to the hackers, which of 217 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: course had been paid in cryptocurrency. And these kind of 218 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: stories definitely are a bad look for cryptocurrency in general, 219 00:13:55,360 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: which frequently gets associated with illegal and unseemly active ds. Now, 220 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,199 Speaker 1: I want to point out that's not necessarily the fault 221 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: of the currencies. The idea behind cryptocurrency is that it 222 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: should be usable for any sort of transaction, not necessarily 223 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 1: illegal ones. But just like technologies such as peer to 224 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: peer networks, we see folks associate the technology with illegal 225 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: activity and these kind of stories don't help. And how 226 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: did the US recover more than two million dollars in 227 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: ransom Well, they apparently got access to the decryption key 228 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: for one of the ransomware attackers digital wallets, which is 229 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: kind of like handing someone the key to a vault. 230 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: And hearing that a government managed to take money away 231 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: from someone using cryptocurrency probably has at least some percentage 232 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: of bitcoin enthusiasts upset. Anyway, that may have contributed to 233 00:14:56,040 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: another slip in bitcoin value, which dipped below thirty dollars 234 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: this morning. Oh I should also mention that just a 235 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: few days ago, Elon Musk once again managed to weigh 236 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: in on this whole thing. He tweeted a breakup meme 237 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: suggesting that he has fallen out of love with bitcoin, 238 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: and the bitcoin value took a little hit at that point, 239 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: to which of course lead to more complaints that Musk 240 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: is manipulating markets. That's something he's been accused of multiple 241 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: times at this point. And what all this says to 242 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: me is that people should just stop following Elon Musk 243 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: on social media. That guy. All right, we have a 244 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: few more stories to get through today, but first let's 245 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: take a quick break. Having just spoken about, you know, 246 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: government turning the tables on tech, let's continue that for 247 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: a second and talk about the FBI's massive staying operation 248 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: with regard to an encrypted mess saging service. So here's 249 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: the pitch. You got your criminal types right, you got 250 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: your Tony sopranos and whatnot. These folks need to communicate 251 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: with one another, but they also need those communications to 252 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: be secure or else the heat catches on right next thing, 253 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,320 Speaker 1: you know, you've got the FEDS on your case. So 254 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: you seek out services that allow you to communicate over 255 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: encrypted lines so that anyone who intercepts that communication will 256 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: just get absolute nonsense out of it. They'll be unable 257 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: to tell what has been said between the two or 258 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: more parties. But what if it turned out that the 259 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: FEDS were the ones who designed the communication tool in 260 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: the first place. Well that's what's happened here with various 261 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: law enforcement agencies around the world, not just the FBI. 262 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: UH law enforcement in Australia and other places have played 263 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: a major part as well, and they all work together 264 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: in order to make this happen. It started out back 265 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: in and it became known in turn only as Operation 266 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: Trojan Shield. So law enforcement created a what was said 267 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: to be a secure messaging app called a NOM a 268 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:13,879 Speaker 1: n O M. The phones that a NOM we're on 269 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: couldn't make calls. They weren't enabled to make phone calls 270 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: or really do anything else other than use this app. 271 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: This a no mapp. They could only really communicate that way, 272 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 1: And the FEDS made sure that these phones would only 273 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: be available through the black market, and that made them 274 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: look real legit shady, like this is this is illegal stuff, 275 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:37,720 Speaker 1: and so the only way to get it is through 276 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: the black market, and thus it seems in a weird 277 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 1: way legitimate. Right. So some Australian agents who were deep 278 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: undercover had phones with a NOM on it, and they 279 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:52,919 Speaker 1: gave those phones out to high ranking profile members of 280 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:57,120 Speaker 1: various crime groups and syndicates and families so like the 281 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: mafia and outlaw biker gangs and stuff like that, and 282 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: gave them recommendations to use the app for communication. Those 283 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:09,160 Speaker 1: recommendations filtered through the various organized crime groups with more 284 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:13,120 Speaker 1: people switching over to it, believing that this would mass 285 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,120 Speaker 1: their activities from government agencies. But in fact, the law 286 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: enforcement groups had backdoor access to that messaging the entire time, 287 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: and they can monitor communications and set up a massive 288 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 1: sting operation. So law enforcement intercepted millions of messages between 289 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:34,199 Speaker 1: folks like drug traffickers and weapons smugglers, Asian crime syndicates, 290 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,440 Speaker 1: outlaw biker groups, and more. And the public only learned 291 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,200 Speaker 1: about this operation on Monday, when it was revealed that 292 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:44,160 Speaker 1: law enforcement had made hundreds of arrests, like around eight 293 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: hundred of them all around the world. Yauza and now 294 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: for a story about Apple, actually a couple of them. 295 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: The company recently announced some privacy related features at the 296 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: Worldwide Developers Conference or w w d C, and one 297 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 1: of those is called Private Relay, which sounds really interesting. 298 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: It prevents any entity from tracking your browser history that 299 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: includes your I s P and it includes Apple. So 300 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:16,480 Speaker 1: in other words, you can browse using Private Relay and 301 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:20,399 Speaker 1: there's no there's no one out there who's tracking which 302 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: sites you have visited during that browsing session. However, this announcement, 303 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: which I think is really cool. I think private Relay 304 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: is really interesting. I'm very curious how it actually works. 305 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,199 Speaker 1: But there is a qualifier, and that is this feature 306 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,919 Speaker 1: will not be available worldwide. Apple is not going to 307 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: make it available in Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa, Belarus, Egypt, 308 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,640 Speaker 1: Kazakhstan and a few other countries. The company so far 309 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: has not actually commented on why these regions will not 310 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,880 Speaker 1: have access to this particular feature, but I'm pretty sure 311 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: most of us can make at least some educated guesses, 312 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,640 Speaker 1: because in many of these countries, governments are not too 313 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:05,639 Speaker 1: keen on citizens having unfettered and thus uncontrolled access to 314 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: the Internet for various reasons. In places like China, accessing 315 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: sites outside of the country itself typically requires you to 316 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: make illegal use of VPNs to spoof where your location is, 317 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,439 Speaker 1: and that way you can bypass the Great Firewall of China. 318 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:27,639 Speaker 1: But should China come after a VPN service, then the 319 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: user data that that VPN service is steward of could 320 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: be at risk. So let's say that it's a VPN 321 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: that keeps at least a short term record of what 322 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,159 Speaker 1: sites users have accessed. Well, if China goes after that 323 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: VPN service, they could presumably get hold of that information 324 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:48,119 Speaker 1: and thus ultimately come after citizens who are making use 325 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,879 Speaker 1: of that VPN service. Now, some VPN services are great 326 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,640 Speaker 1: and that they wipe all that data very quickly regularly, 327 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,199 Speaker 1: so that there's nothing for anyone to get hold of. 328 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: There's no there's no uh, no footprints left behind or 329 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,399 Speaker 1: anything like that. But not all VPNs are like that. 330 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 1: And if you've got, you know, the power of the 331 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 1: Chinese government coming after you, you might be compelled to 332 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: hand over user data. So a feature like private relay 333 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,239 Speaker 1: could serve as a protection against that. You can use 334 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: private relay in conjunction with a VPN and leave no 335 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: trace behind and thus have better access to information. Well, 336 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: I would hazard a guess that the Chinese government really 337 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: doesn't want Apple to include a feature that would allow 338 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: citizens to potentially bypass national restrictions on Internet access. And 339 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 1: China represents a truly huge market for any company. I mean, 340 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 1: that's more than a billion people live in the country, 341 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: so obviously it's an enormous market. So most companies are 342 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,159 Speaker 1: not so firm in their convictions about providing stuff like 343 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: privacy and security in order to give up on that 344 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,880 Speaker 1: lucrative a market. Apple is by no means the only 345 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,840 Speaker 1: company to make allowances for governments that a lot of 346 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 1: folks would refer to as oppressive. So while I am 347 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,160 Speaker 1: singling out Apple here because that's what the story is about, 348 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:13,439 Speaker 1: I do want to make it clear they ain't the 349 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,920 Speaker 1: only ones who do this sort of thing. It's not 350 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:20,440 Speaker 1: like Apple is being particularly disingenuous. Uh, this is pretty 351 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: much across the board. Next, we have a story about 352 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: a lawsuit aimed at Apple. This one claims that the 353 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: most recent versions of iOS have caused older phones to 354 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: encounter performance issues, namely around slower processing speeds and shorter 355 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: battery life. Now, if this sounds familiar, it's because we've 356 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: actually seen this happen a few times before. But the 357 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: argument now is that as Apple releases new hardware and 358 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: new versions of iOS, it is at least somewhat intentionally 359 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: designing the OS to make older iPhones perform at a 360 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 1: substandard level as part of a planned obsolescence strategy, thus 361 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,240 Speaker 1: incuraging customers to upgrade to the latest version of the iPhone. 362 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:08,200 Speaker 1: The complaint actually includes this passage quote Apple benefits from 363 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: not having to tell existing and prospective iPhone users that 364 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: updates touted to add desirable features and to fix security 365 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,919 Speaker 1: and other bugs have a significant countervailing downside in the 366 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: form of decreased processing speed and battery life end quote. So, 367 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: in other words, this complaint is saying Apples hyping up 368 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: all the new features of the more recent versions of 369 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: iOS in an effort to convince people to download those updates. 370 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: But then the update allegedly nerves older iPhone models and 371 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: thus pushes customers to have to buy new iPhones. So, 372 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: in other words, they're saying that this is this is 373 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,439 Speaker 1: unfair market practices essentially, is what this comes down to. 374 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: So I'll have to keep an eye on this and 375 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: see how this goes. Typically you see issues like this 376 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: gets settled out of court. It's very rare that it 377 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:02,159 Speaker 1: actually goes the distance. In drone news, for the first time, 378 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: an unmanned aerial vehicle served as the refueling aircraft for 379 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: a piloted US jet fighter in mid air. The drone, 380 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,679 Speaker 1: manufactured by Boeing, connected via hose to the jet fighter 381 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 1: as the two flew over the midwestern United States in 382 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,159 Speaker 1: a four and a half hour long test flight. So 383 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,959 Speaker 1: the drone flew ahead of the jet fighter and so 384 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: it extended a hose behind it, and it was the 385 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 1: jet fighter pilot's job to position the jet so that 386 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:34,200 Speaker 1: it could follow the drone at the proper distance and 387 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: dock with the end of that hose, and then the 388 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: refueling followed more than three gallons of fuel were transferred 389 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,359 Speaker 1: from the drone to the jet fighter. So the test 390 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: was a success, and it could point to a future 391 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,159 Speaker 1: in which militaries are able to free up pilots from 392 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: flying refueling missions. You know, they could shift that responsibility 393 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: over to unmanned drones and the human pilots could be 394 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: then go on to perform or mother tasks, presumably you know, 395 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: ones that are are more oriented towards specific mission goals 396 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:12,880 Speaker 1: as opposed to support. So that is interesting. And finally, 397 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,880 Speaker 1: we've talked about autonomous cars and trucks and drones and stuff, 398 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: but now it's time to talk about autonomous boats. Over 399 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 1: in Amsterdam, the city is testing out autonomous boats in 400 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:29,159 Speaker 1: its various canal systems. The row boats, which is not 401 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: a rowboat as in row row row your boat, but 402 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:36,320 Speaker 1: as in a robot boat, are part of a five 403 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: year project to test how the boats will be able 404 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 1: to navigate the various waterways of Amsterdam and how they 405 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:47,360 Speaker 1: might become an integral part of Amsterdam's transportation infrastructure. So 406 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: some of the proposed uses for these boats include promoting tourism. 407 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: That's a big one, so allowing tourists to get around 408 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:59,120 Speaker 1: the city in an interesting way, also to reduce traffic 409 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 1: congestion Sterdam's roads, because the canals are actually underutilized compared 410 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:09,160 Speaker 1: to the surface roads of Amsterdam, and because the boats 411 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: are actually modular in design and thus can easily fit 412 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:16,640 Speaker 1: together to create larger structures. They could possibly serve as 413 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: floating bridges or stages should the need arise. But that's 414 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: all going to be in the future, because as of 415 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: right now, the engineers at M I T and other 416 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:29,280 Speaker 1: places who are working on this project, they say that 417 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,200 Speaker 1: the boats are probably two to four years out from 418 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:37,439 Speaker 1: having a sophisticated enough navigation and UH and and motor 419 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: system to get around reliably and safely without having an 420 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,640 Speaker 1: operator on board, So it will be a little while 421 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: longer before they can enter full operation, assuming it all 422 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: works out. But next up, I say, is Venice, because 423 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 1: I want my robot gondolier baby. I want that that 424 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: robo voice singing out as we go through the canals 425 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: of Venice. A guy can dream. I'm wouldn't a robot 426 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: be cute wearing a little striped shirt and little straw hat. 427 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,439 Speaker 1: You know, I'm just saying. Anyway, that's it for the 428 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: news for today. June one. If you have suggestions for 429 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,199 Speaker 1: topics I should cover on tech Stuff, reach out to 430 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 1: me on Twitter. The handle is tech stuff hs W 431 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:31,880 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff 432 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,120 Speaker 1: is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from 433 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:38,920 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 434 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.