WEBVTT - Tech News: Google Pulls Out of Russia 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.640 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.520 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.639 And how the tech are you? It is time for 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:26.800 the news for Thursday, May twenty two, and we got 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:30.000 a bunch of it to get through, a lot of 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:32.960 short pieces, but there are a lot of them, So 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.840 let's just get to it, shall we. And we'll start 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:39.360 off with just a quick update on the ongoing Twitter 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:44.200 Elon Musk situation, because we've been covering that extensively already. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.680 In the last couple of weeks, if you recall, Musk 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.720 announced that his deal to acquire Twitter is currently on 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.480 hold while he demands that Twitter provide proof that their 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.600 estimation that less than five percent of all monetize herbal 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:01.320 accounts on the platform are bots. They he wants to say, like, well, 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.600 prove that you've said it. But unless it's true, uh, 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.280 this this deal is not going forward, And some folks 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.800 speculate the perhaps Musk is maneuvering to either lower the 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.760 price of the deal after he's already agreed to it, 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.840 or to extract himself completely from the deal. Now that 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.600 stocks have really taken a tumble, because that does mean 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.360 that that forty four billion dollar price tag that he 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.800 agreed upon is way over market value at this point. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.440 And now Twitter's board says, no, man, we're holding you 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:38.360 to the deal. More precisely, Twitter Sentald a proxy statement 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.000 that said it wishes to complete the deal as soon 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:45.160 as is practicable and that they look to quote enforce 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.240 the merger agreement end quote, which suggests that the board 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.880 is willing to use legal pressure to hold Elon to 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.080 his agreed upon deal. Now, just to be clear, that 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.640 still does not mean that Musk owning Twitter is a 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.960 sure thing. If the matter does go to litigation, There's 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.000 a chance, maybe even a good chance, that the parties 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.320 will end up settling the matter out of court and 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.359 must will have to pay Twitter to essentially go away, 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:14.480 which is weird right Anyway. There's more speculation now about 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.760 what could happen next should the deal actually fall through, 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.280 which some people say is like a fifty fifty chance 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.639 or maybe even higher than that. H and some folks 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.800 like techn dirts Mike Masnick suggests that Twitter's board will 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.120 end up looking for another suitor if this deal does 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.560 fall through to buy the company because they appear to 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:40.520 have quote no clue what to do with it end quote. Yesterday, 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.519 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or n h t 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.480 s A here in the United States announced that it 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.120 was investigating a fatal car crash that killed three people 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:55.480 on May twelve. The vehicle that was involved was a Tesla, 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.560 and the n h T s A team is looking 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.880 to determine whether or not the Tesla was operating in 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:06.200 a mode like autopilot or full self driving. The Tesla 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.480 Model S hit a curb at five in the morning, 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.919 and then it went on to collide with some construction equipment. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:17.600 The three fatalities were all people inside the Tesla. Three 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:22.840 construction workers also suffered minor injuries. Over at Meta, the 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:27.120 company continues to ease off growing various departments and divisions, 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:29.760 and that in turn has prompted a little bit of 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:34.680 anxiety among employees. According to The Verge, Meta's twenty two 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.040 has been a little rough so far, with the company 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.600 reporting a net loss of active users on platforms like 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.440 Facebook during the first quarter of two, and then the 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.560 company's stock price has dipped in value by forty three 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.280 percent this year. Uh and in response, Zuckerberg and his 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:56.520 executives have adjusted their plans towards the end of one 0:03:56.640 --> 0:04:01.040 really the fall of one. To call Meta slash Facebook's 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:06.880 strategy aggressive would have been an understatement. The incredible investment 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.880 into developing the Metaverse, along with the commitment to developing 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.920 new mixed reality hardware UH, initiatives aimed at attracting younger 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.400 people to come onto the various platforms, even the renaming 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.919 of the company itself to Meta, all of that pointed 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:28.400 at a sort of full steam ahead mentality. But that 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:32.760 twenty twenty two Q one report, coupled with the high 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:39.040 profile PR disaster of Francis Hogan's revelations of internal documents 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.560 detailing all sorts of negative stuff about the company, those 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.640 all changed things up pretty fast. Now Meta is putting 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:51.560 on a hiring freeze for certain departments. UH. They have 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:56.040 frozen hiring of new data scientists as well as recruiters. So, 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.400 in other words, the company is hitting pause on a 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.240 few division and departments, at least as far as growth 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.440 is concerned. So those groups aren't going away, they're not 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.720 dissolved or anything like that, but they also are not 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.839 going to grow any larger for the time being affected. 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:19.239 Departments include Messenger, Kids, Facebook Gaming, Facebook Dating, the Remote 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:24.320 Presence department, and the Commerce department. The company is still 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:28.120 hiring and other divisions, particularly in the divisions that are 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:33.680 responsible for developing artificial intelligent systems UH. And this kind 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.320 of couples up with an earlier report we talked about 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.920 that revealed the company is also shelving a few projects 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.520 in the Reality Labs division, which is the part of 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.920 the company that creates mixed reality hardware. We've been told 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.360 that some of those projects are going to be at 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.560 least postponed, if not canceled. However, I have not yet 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.240 seen any clarification on which of those projects are going 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:02.360 to be affected. Zuckerberg attempted to reassure employees by communicating 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.920 that Meta is still in a very strong position, and 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.320 it would be weird to say otherwise. I mean, any 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.040 company that has a couple of billion users is in 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:16.080 a pretty strong position. It's not like they're on the brink, 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.160 as we used to say on the other show I 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.000 hosted for a while, Business on the Brink. But he 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.960 also said that while he can't make any promises that 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.080 there aren't going to be layoffs at some point there 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:30.720 are no current plans to go that route, So he 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.560 said essentially like, we aren't planning on firing anyone, but 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:40.240 if we do have other unforeseen events have a negative 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.520 impact on the company, we may have to revisit that 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.480 in the future. In other words, you can never say 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.760 for sure what's going to happen, but there are no 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:51.560 plans as of now to lay anyone off. Meta also 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.880 released its May quarterly report, in which it revealed stats 0:06:55.960 --> 0:07:00.560 about its attempts to moderate content on its various platforms. 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.640 I'll mostly be in fact, I'll really only be focusing 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.680 on Facebook for this particular news item, but it did 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.840 cover their other platforms too, so the full report is 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.920 available to read online. Anyone can go there and check 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.600 it out, and it categorizes content moderation in different buckets, 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:23.600 such as posts that are about violence or drugs or 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:28.880 firearms or self harm or child endangerment, and et cetera. 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.440 The report reveals that on the Facebook platform, there were 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:37.800 numerous cases of content moderation going too far, so in 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.480 other words, uh, Facebook ended up removing posts that did 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:47.560 not in fact violate Facebook's policies on content. For example, 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.920 in that first quarter, Facebook moderators, whether human or AI, 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:57.960 because Facebook uses both. Actioned on that's Facebook's term, which 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.000 means took some form of action on two and a 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:06.679 half million posts, uh that were identified as containing material 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:12.560 promoting terrorism and or organized hate groups, and out of those, 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:18.280 Facebook later restored four hundred fourteen thousand posts. The vast 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.880 majority of those were restored without anyone having appealed the 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.240 initial decision to remove the content, So, uh, you know, 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.040 that means that Facebook recognized its own mistake. In other words, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.200 Meta also revealed that COVID nineteen had a big impact 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:39.439 on their capacity to review appeals, which suggests to me 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.120 that the number of restored pieces could have been even 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:47.079 higher if Meta had had the capacity to process more appeals. 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.920 But that's just speculation on my part. Other categories show 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:56.160 similar trends. Wasn't just in uh, you know, organized hate 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:02.000 and terrorism posts? Facebook restored hundreds of thousands of posts, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.839 either after an appeal or otherwise after determining that the 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:10.079 posts did not in fact violate platform policies. Now, this 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:15.400 really illustrates how content moderation is hard, particularly when your 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:20.559 platform has reached a gargantuan size like Facebook has, It 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:25.240 is necessary to do content moderation, but it's not easy 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.439 to get it right. Of course, it is also impossible 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.199 for us to quantify how many posts that did violate 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.840 policies were missed. Now, surely there were lots of them, 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.839 but we don't know how many. There's no way to know, 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.440 right unless you were to actively go out seeking them 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.320 and then just track to see whether or not they 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.600 stay up or if they're taken down. Uh, And even 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:50.760 then it would just be an estimate based upon whatever 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:52.800 you were able to observe. So we don't have any 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.160 data on that. We do know that Facebook has been 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:59.880 cited numerous times as a platform that tends to amp 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:04.600 lafi harmful messages, some of which might actually skirt around 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.439 official policies, which means Facebook would not be able to 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.640 respond to those without first updating those policies. Right. We 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.360 had that representative from Facebook's oversight board, and one of 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.000 the important jobs that board has is to make sure 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.360 that when Facebook is enforcing its rules, the rules actually 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.800 give Facebook that authority. Right, The Facebook can't just remove 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.040 something for no reason. It has to have a stated 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:35.000 reason that users have agreed to by you know, agreeing 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.880 to to be part of the Facebook platform. In order 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:40.920 for them to be able to do that, they cannot 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.959 do it with impunity. There has to be reason behind it, 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:48.439 so it is really tricky. It is a tight rope 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.800 that you have to walk, and then finding a way 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.560 to do that efficiently across such an enormous platform presents 0:10:55.240 --> 0:11:00.640 a different challenge altogether. So it is complicated it and 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:05.400 it is messy. So good luck Elon Musk. If you 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.079 do end up with Twitter, you might find it more 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:13.360 hard work than you bargained for because free speech absolutists 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.440 often are going to get a pretty rude wake up 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:21.480 call when that free speech is used to do things 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:27.640 that are, you know, just really dangerous and hazardous sometimes 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.480 to the platforms themselves. Now, back when I was active 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.280 on social networks, one thing I really didn't like was 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.120 getting added into groups without being asked if I was 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.000 okay with that first, because it creates a kind of 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.440 social obligation that I wasn't seeking, and if I had 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.640 no intention of joining the group, it gets awkward, particularly 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.360 if when I leave the group, my departure is broadcast 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.040 to everyone else who's in that group. That just invites 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.680 the opportunity for those folks to reach out and say, hey, 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:00.319 why do you leave the group? And I just want 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.200 to be grouchy and alone and listen to neutral milk 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.199 Hotel Well. Meta is experimenting with a feature in WhatsApp 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.760 that would allow people who are in group messaging instances 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.400 to leave that group without it being broadcast to everyone 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:18.160 else there. Uh, the admin for the group would be notified, 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.520 but no one else would. And it lets you do 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:24.520 the classic Irish exit or the French leave. That's when 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.400 you dip out of a social gathering without first saying 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:29.880 goodbye or making the rounds one last time, or making 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.760 it a big thing. That's actually how I prefer to 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:36.439 leave a party. But it's because I've been through the 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.760 opposite experience and it find I find it exasperating. I 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.400 know too many actors, and if you go to a 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.679 party with actors and your ride happens to be an actor, 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.160 you might find that you're there for an additional hour 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.480 and a half after you said you were gonna go, 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.199 because your ride, the actor has to go and say 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.319 goodbye to every single other person. They're including people that 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.599 they had never met before that at night. And it 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.000 could just be that I'm becoming a misanthrope. In fact, 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:08.040 that's almost certainly the case. Anyway, the feature for WhatsApp 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.160 is reportedly in the testing phase, so there's no guarantee 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.000 that it will ever be rolled out to the service 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.520 at large. But I'm sure folks who are like me 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.920 who are on WhatsApp would really like that option. As 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.400 for myself, I'm not on WhatsApp, but if I were, 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.320 I would eagerly be awaiting that feature to get rolled 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:28.720 out into the service. All Right, we've got a lot 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.920 more stories to cover today. Before we get to that, 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:41.400 let's take a quick break. Hey, y'all, let's chat about 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:47.160 Google next. The Russian subsidiary of Google has declared bankruptcy. 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:51.199 That might sound weird because we all know Google is 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:56.160 a massive company has a huge amount of of money, 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:00.520 or at least value. So how could a citiary of 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.400 Google declare bankruptcy. Well, earlier this year, the Russian government 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:09.600 seized the subsidiaries bank account, and that meant that Google's 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.679 Russian subsidiary had no means to access its finances. It 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.719 could not do stuff like, you know, pay people for 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.680 working at Google, and so Google closed up shop. The 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.280 company also has not been selling ads in Russia due 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.000 to the ongoing war in Ukraine, so they had already 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.080 stopped that activity. In fact, that's part of the reason 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:34.400 why the government seized the assets, and the company says 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:39.000 it is committed to providing services like Gmail and YouTube 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.520 access to Russia, so those services are not going away. 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.880 The Russian government has been hitting the company with fines 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.520 for doing stuff like allowing media outlets that don't have 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.800 state support upload content to YouTube, but so far the 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.800 government has not taken the drastic step to actually cut 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.280 off access at the I s P level for stuff 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.720 like YouTube, presumably because if they did so, they would 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.640 upset too many Russians, and the desire to control the 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:11.400 narrative gets outweighed by the fear that the Russian people 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:15.040 would get upset enough to potentially oppose the government. It's 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.920 a delicate balance when you are running an authoritarian regime strategy. 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.320 The Intercept reports that shareholders in Google and Amazon will 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.560 soon have the opportunity to vote on resolutions that could 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.760 force those two companies to re evaluate their involvement in 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:34.560 Project Nimbus. So, if you're not familiar with Project Nimbus, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:39.480 that is Israel's push to create a cloud computer infrastructure 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.400 that has all of the components within the borders of 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:48.640 Israel itself, So a domestic cloud service, you might wonder 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:51.720 why would Israel want to do that. Well, if all 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.040 the servers and the rest of the infrastructure for the 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:58.480 cloud computing system are within Israel's own borders, then that 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:03.840 service gets insulated from international pressures. So should Israel do 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.000 something that the international community objects to, such as, you know, 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:12.200 launch an invasive surveillance program that uses the cloud computing 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:17.200 infrastructure as the backbone, or perhaps lean on cloud computing 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.640 technology to create oppressive measures that are used against a Palestinians. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.320 The cloud services would remain untouched because the international community 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.800 would have no authority to get involved on any of that. 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.200 So critics of Project Nimbus have pointed to these sort 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:37.360 of possibilities as reasons that these companies should abandoned that project, 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.560 that other countries would not be able to hold Israel 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:44.440 accountable in the in the event that it would initiate 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.920 policies that could violate human rights, at least not by 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.680 disrupting those operations by cutting off access to cloud services. 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:56.200 So shareholders are going to vote on resolutions that, if passed, 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.480 would force Google and Amazon to conduct thorough invest stigations 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.560 into the operation and determine whether or not the project 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.400 would lead to enabling Israel to commit human rights abuses. 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.240 Shareholders could support the resolution for a number of reasons. 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.280 An obvious one is that there are probably some shareholders 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.960 who would be concerned about the impact these technologies could 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.960 have on you know, vulnerable people. But another big reason 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.800 is that a negative perception of Project Nimbus could end 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.760 up hurting the companies, which in turn could hurt the 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:32.920 stock price, which ultimately hurts investors, you know, shareholders. So 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:37.480 there are altruistic and more selfish motivators at play here, 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:39.000 and and to be clear, I think a lot of 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.600 folks would experience some of both. Like I don't think 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.520 everyone is purely in one camp or another. I think 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.480 there are people who are going to take these things 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.720 into account and say I don't like what they're doing, 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.040 and I also don't want to see my investments suffer. 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.800 Whether that's going to be enough to get a majority 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.080 of shareholders to back those resolutions remains to be seen. 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.760 We also have to keep in mind that these really 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:05.280 big government projects have really big price tags attached to them. 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.400 They bring in a ton of money to these companies. 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:12.040 So it's also possible that shareholders will reject the resolutions 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.840 because that money is seen as a very valuable asset 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:20.040 for the companies that the shareholders are invested in. We'll 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.480 have to wait and see. The state of New York 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.960 has filed a lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the company 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:31.000 has engaged in discrimination against certain employees, namely employees who 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:36.040 are disabled or pregnant. The lawsuit accuses Amazon of forcing 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:40.840 those employees of making the choice of either taking unpaid 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:45.960 leave or they have to work in unaccommodating conditions, and 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:51.160 that furthermore, the company authorized managers to deny recommendations from 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:55.320 accommodation consultants, according to Business Insiders, So in other words, 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.480 they hired consultants to come in and say, how can 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:04.760 we make sure that this this workplace UH follows regulations 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.480 and has those accommodations for people who need them. And 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:13.040 the consultants gave their recommendations, but then Amazon told managers, yeah, 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:14.680 you don't have to follow those if you don't want to. 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.200 According to the lawsuit, that is and this is very 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.560 early on in the process at the time of recording. 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.680 In fact, as I'm recording this, Business Insider had not 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:28.800 yet received a comment from Amazon representatives addressing the matter. 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.000 That might have changed by the time you hear this, 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:33.879 so it will likely be something that will touch on 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:39.080 in future episodes. Corporate Apple employees have a temporary reprieve 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.800 from the mandate that would require them to return to 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.240 the office three days a week. They are currently under 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.680 a mandate that requires them to be there two days 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.480 out of the week from my understanding, but the three 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:54.160 day mandate was supposed to take effect on May twenty three. 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:58.480 You might remember from an earlier Tech News episode that 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.280 this was one of the reason and is previously cited 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:05.320 as why some Apple employees were considering leaving the company. 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:07.960 That was actually part of a survey which had a 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.000 fairly small sample size, so it's actually hard to say 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:14.479 how many employees were seriously considering this, let alone how 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.080 many would have actually gone through with it. But people 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.520 were pointing at maree is being kind of a a 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:23.840 pivotal moment, and that if the company continued to require 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:25.800 people to come in three days out of the week, 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.399 there was going to be the the equivalent of a 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:32.879 mass exodus or at least a significant exodus of employees. 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.399 But that mandate is now on hold and there is 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:40.040 no new date yet that is going to require folks 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.200 to come out and work in the office three days 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.720 out of the week. So why did the company change 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.359 its mind or rather, why did the company executives change 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:52.840 their minds? Well, Apple says it's because of a rise 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.280 in COVID nineteen cases. Now, I do think it's weird 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.920 that COVID nineteen rates would cause a company to pau 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:04.080 cause bringing workers in three times a week, But twice 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.560 a week is still okay. Now, you could argue there's 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:10.119 potential for a less overlap if people are coming in 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.600 two days out of the week, because maybe one person 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:16.000 comes in Monday Tuesday and someone else comes in Wednesday, 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.359 Thursday or Thursday Friday. So those two people are never 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:23.120 going to interact, right, and thus that limitation cuts down 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.160 on the possibility of COVID spreading in those specific cases, 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.760 I guess. But you would really think that if COVID 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:34.240 were truly the motivating factor to hold off on bringing 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:36.439 people in three days out of the week, you might 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.520 go back to a remote work strategy entirely, at least 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:44.159 until the COVID nineteen rates go down again. But you know, 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:48.639 maybe I'm just being unreasonable here. Anyway, One person who 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:52.399 did leave Apple, reportedly at least in part because of 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:56.560 the company's policy on remote work, was Ian Goodfellow, and 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.600 formerly he served as the director of machine learning at Apple. 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.720 Good Fellow is now set to join Alphabet, you know, 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:09.800 Google's parent company. So this is a high profile example 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:14.000 of someone leaving one company, and at least part of 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:16.880 the reason for leaving it was due to the demand 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:21.040 to return to the office at least three days out 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:26.720 of the week. Yikes. Down in Atlanta, that's my hometown. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:31.680 Apple stands accused of violating the National Labor Relations Act. 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.640 Employees claim that Apple forced them to attend meetings meant 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:40.800 to discourage unionization. Now, historically in the United States, the 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:46.879 National Labor Relations Board has accepted that captive audience meetings 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:51.119 those are meetings where employers can force employees to go 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.800 to the meeting and listen to anti union messaging. The 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:57.760 n l r B has previously said that does not 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:03.920 actually violate the law. However, the n l RBS General counsel, 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:08.560 a woman named Jennifer Abruzzo, says that that stance is 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:12.760 predicated upon a misinterpretation of an employer's right of free speech, 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:17.320 and in fact, is an opposition of the intent of 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.760 the National Labor Relations Act, which is to protect employees 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:25.440 freedom of choice. So she's saying, we have to change 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:28.840 the policy because it's in violation of what the Act 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:31.680 is supposed to do. So this is a pretty fluid situation, 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:34.800 not just for Apple, but for the interpretation of law. 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.240 And it really shows that, you know, making rules is 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:42.360 tricky and complicated, and sometimes there are loopholes. So we'll 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:47.320 have to see how this plays out. We've got more stories, 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:50.560 including more legal loopholes in just a moment, but first 0:23:50.640 --> 0:24:00.920 let's take a quick break. We're back, and we're not 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:04.560 quite done with Apple yet. So a Texas judge has 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:09.119 denied Apple the company's request to relitigate a matter that 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:11.680 currently has the company on the hook to pay a 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:16.480 three hundred million dollar fee to another company called Optus. 0:24:17.560 --> 0:24:21.520 All right, So all of this stems from a patent dispute. 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:26.560 Back in twenty nineteen, Optus sued Apple and accused Apple 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:31.600 of making illegal use of patented technologies that Optus held 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:35.400 and that the company thus infringed upon five patents relating 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:39.440 to four G LTE technology, in other words, cellular tech 0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:44.160 of the four G era of of of wireless communications. 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.119 So that matter went to trial and a jury found 0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:51.760 Apple guilty of those charges and ultimately decided that Apple 0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:56.399 should have to pay Optus a half billion dollars billion 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:59.840 with a B that is a lot of money. However, 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:04.800 a court then subsequently overturned that verdict because the jury 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:09.200 had not yet heard evidence that suggested Optus failed to 0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:13.720 provide a licensing option that was fair, reasonable and non 0:25:13.840 --> 0:25:18.280 discriminatory or frand f R A n D, which meant 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:22.560 Apple possibly didn't have a valid option to follow, at 0:25:22.640 --> 0:25:26.399 least one that wasn't predatory, and that that should factor 0:25:26.480 --> 0:25:30.840 into the jury's decision regarding Apple's punishment. So the overturning 0:25:30.920 --> 0:25:33.720 wasn't saying that Apple was innocent of the crime, but 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:38.040