1
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800
Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,920
Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,

3
00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,360
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and

4
00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,160
Speaker 1: I love all things tech. And this is the tech

5
00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:25,919
Speaker 1: news for Thursday, June tenth, two thousand twenty one. Let's

6
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:30,520
Speaker 1: get to it first. Some background. In two thousand nine,

7
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,479
Speaker 1: some hackers were able to access databases that were hosting

8
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,880
Speaker 1: a social app called rock You, and they got away

9
00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,400
Speaker 1: with more than thirty million user passwords, which was considered

10
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,960
Speaker 1: to be a lot. And those passwords, by the way,

11
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,279
Speaker 1: we're in plain text. In other words, they were unencrypted.

12
00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,760
Speaker 1: So once the hackers got them, they had, you know,

13
00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,800
Speaker 1: passwords that were as valid for as long as people

14
00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,800
Speaker 1: you know failed to change them. Well, now, where it

15
00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,560
Speaker 1: is out that a data breach could mean anywhere from

16
00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:06,760
Speaker 1: eight point four billion to potentially as many as eighty

17
00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:12,960
Speaker 1: two billion passwords have been leaked billion. Now eight point

18
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:20,200
Speaker 1: four billion unique users or unique logins were identified of

19
00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:25,400
Speaker 1: this batch, so that's already bad. But multiple passwords belonging

20
00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,960
Speaker 1: to the same logan could be in that group. So

21
00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,000
Speaker 1: that's why the eight two billion is on the upper level.

22
00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,480
Speaker 1: So people are calling it rock You twenty twenty one

23
00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,280
Speaker 1: in reference to that you know data breach from two

24
00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,920
Speaker 1: thousand nine. I would like to suggest an alternative, rock

25
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,679
Speaker 1: you like a hurricane. But what's actually going on here?

26
00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:51,240
Speaker 1: That's a good question. Someone, some hacker has posted a

27
00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:56,520
Speaker 1: text file that is one hundred gigabytes in size. That

28
00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,200
Speaker 1: is huge for a text file, and they've post did

29
00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:04,880
Speaker 1: it on various hacker forums. This text file contains billions

30
00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:09,639
Speaker 1: of user names and passwords for various sites and services.

31
00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,480
Speaker 1: All the passwords are between six and twenty characters long.

32
00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,360
Speaker 1: There's no telling how many of those passwords are currently

33
00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:21,239
Speaker 1: valid versus inactive. In fact, I would not be surprised

34
00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,079
Speaker 1: if a lot of those log ins were for services

35
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,760
Speaker 1: that don't even really exist anymore. But generally speaking, it's

36
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,320
Speaker 1: a good idea to check to see if you were

37
00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,360
Speaker 1: potentially affected. One way you can do that is to

38
00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:37,120
Speaker 1: search your email address against tools like have I Been Pooned?

39
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,080
Speaker 1: But another is to use a password vault program because

40
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,200
Speaker 1: a lot of those will monitor news about data breaches

41
00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,120
Speaker 1: and they will proactively reach out to users and prompt

42
00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,800
Speaker 1: them to change their passwords at various sites and services.

43
00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 1: It's also by the way, a very good idea to

44
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:59,480
Speaker 1: activate two factor authentication for those services that allow for that.

45
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,680
Speaker 1: If it allows for it, you should probably do it.

46
00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:05,639
Speaker 1: These sorts of data breaches are the kind that are

47
00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,160
Speaker 1: outside of our control as users, so we kind of

48
00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,000
Speaker 1: have to take steps to protect ourselves. We also have

49
00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: to remember every time there's a big data breach like this,

50
00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,880
Speaker 1: then those passwords, even if they're not active, even if

51
00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:22,639
Speaker 1: they aren't currently associated with those accounts, they go into

52
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:29,160
Speaker 1: an ever increasingly huge dictionary of existing passwords. So if

53
00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,680
Speaker 1: you're the type of person who creates a password and

54
00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,440
Speaker 1: then over time cycles back to that password, let's say

55
00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,400
Speaker 1: that you know you alternate between a few uh, that

56
00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,600
Speaker 1: means that if you're part of this breach, then even

57
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,320
Speaker 1: a password you're not using right now but could use

58
00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,880
Speaker 1: in the future, that could mean that you leave yourself vulnerable.

59
00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,240
Speaker 1: So again, always a good idea to get like a

60
00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:57,680
Speaker 1: password vault program. There's some that will generate very tough

61
00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,280
Speaker 1: passwords on your behalf and store them for are you

62
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,280
Speaker 1: and you don't have to keep track of all that. Uh,

63
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,560
Speaker 1: it is a little bit more of a hassle, I mean,

64
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,240
Speaker 1: obviously more than a hassle than just using the single

65
00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:13,480
Speaker 1: password for everything. But obviously that is not safe and

66
00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,880
Speaker 1: it means that everywhere you go you're potentially vulnerable. So

67
00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,479
Speaker 1: I recommend getting a password vault and using it. There

68
00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:23,840
Speaker 1: are a lot of good ones out there, uh so

69
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,680
Speaker 1: I recommend researching those and choose one that fits your needs.

70
00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,080
Speaker 1: And speaking of hackers, the video game developer and publisher

71
00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,559
Speaker 1: Electronic Arts or e A, got hacked, and I feel

72
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:38,440
Speaker 1: like a lot of people outside of the A don't

73
00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,960
Speaker 1: have a whole lot of sympathy for the company. But

74
00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,960
Speaker 1: that's more because there are people with very strong negative

75
00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,159
Speaker 1: opinions about e A. I think it is a shame.

76
00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,320
Speaker 1: I don't like it when any company gets hacked. And apparently,

77
00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,200
Speaker 1: in this case, the hackers were able to access some

78
00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,880
Speaker 1: of e a's internal systems and they gained access to

79
00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:01,040
Speaker 1: the source code for certain game as well as access

80
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,800
Speaker 1: to other internal tools. Now, according to e A, no

81
00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,040
Speaker 1: user data was compromised as a result of this breach,

82
00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,600
Speaker 1: so in theory at least users were not affected by this.

83
00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,520
Speaker 1: The company also says it's are A taking steps to

84
00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,840
Speaker 1: address the issue by changing things up so that the

85
00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,880
Speaker 1: source code that the hackers access would be useless. In

86
00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,200
Speaker 1: other words, that they wouldn't be able to exploit e

87
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,279
Speaker 1: A titles because e A is going to change those

88
00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,040
Speaker 1: titles significantly enough where that source code will be you know,

89
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,640
Speaker 1: a moot thing. Now, unless the source code was for

90
00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,080
Speaker 1: some pretty minor stuff, I imagine that last bit is

91
00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,880
Speaker 1: going to be really challenging to pull off. It's not

92
00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,839
Speaker 1: as easy as just waving your hand at it. The

93
00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:48,320
Speaker 1: hackers claim to have stolen around seven hundred eighty gigabytes

94
00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,400
Speaker 1: of data, though so far the hackers have largely just

95
00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,880
Speaker 1: alluded to what they've stolen. They've shown some screenshots and stuff,

96
00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,560
Speaker 1: but they haven't actually shared the information itself. They are

97
00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,000
Speaker 1: advertising the data is being up for sale on various

98
00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:07,960
Speaker 1: black market forums, so there's some crime right there. El

99
00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:12,520
Speaker 1: Salvador recently announced that the country may soon accept bitcoin

100
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,360
Speaker 1: as legal tender and consider it parallel to the Salvadoran dollar,

101
00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:19,080
Speaker 1: and in the sense that you know, this would be

102
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,800
Speaker 1: an accepted currency that you could use bitcoin anywhere within

103
00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,279
Speaker 1: El Salvador and it would be accepted just as the

104
00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,440
Speaker 1: actual currency of the country would. And the government of

105
00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,520
Speaker 1: El Salvador says that this will aid people who are

106
00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,440
Speaker 1: from El Salvador but who are living abroad to be

107
00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,599
Speaker 1: able to send remittances back home. That it will remove

108
00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,960
Speaker 1: some of the barriers that would exist otherwise when they

109
00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,680
Speaker 1: want to transfer funds back to people in El Salvador.

110
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,640
Speaker 1: But the International Monetary Fund has expressed concern for this move,

111
00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:55,200
Speaker 1: stating that cryptocurrencies in general and bitcoin in particular, represents

112
00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:58,800
Speaker 1: some legal and economic concerns that have yet to be addressed. Uh,

113
00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,080
Speaker 1: they didn't go into a whole lot of detail on that.

114
00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:03,680
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's a lot of different things that we

115
00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:09,040
Speaker 1: could easily point to, like the fact that cryptocurrencies frequently

116
00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:13,880
Speaker 1: get used in concert with illicit activities, not not exclusively,

117
00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:19,320
Speaker 1: but it does have that association unfortunately. And also taxation

118
00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,800
Speaker 1: becomes an issue, and that brings us to here in

119
00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,280
Speaker 1: the United States, where the Internal Revenue Service where i

120
00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:31,240
Speaker 1: r S, is seeking authority from Congress to oversea operations

121
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,440
Speaker 1: that relate to cryptocurrencies. So as it stands, there is

122
00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 1: no clear law that gives the i r S authority

123
00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,640
Speaker 1: to do stuff like collect taxes on gains that are

124
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,360
Speaker 1: generated through cryptocurrency transactions. Um and Further, the i r

125
00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,080
Speaker 1: S lacks the legal foundation to go after instances of

126
00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:55,720
Speaker 1: fraud that involve cryptocurrencies. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies is

127
00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,120
Speaker 1: one of the many features that attract people to it,

128
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,760
Speaker 1: and another is that a lot of transactions, while part

129
00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,640
Speaker 1: of a publicly viewable ledger, are otherwise kind of off

130
00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,640
Speaker 1: the radar. And it remains to be seen if Congress

131
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,360
Speaker 1: will grant the authority to the I r S in

132
00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:15,240
Speaker 1: order to pursue, you know, more responsibility with regard to cryptocurrencies.

133
00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,760
Speaker 1: And I imagine that this news is affecting the cryptocurrency

134
00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,720
Speaker 1: market a bit, because everything seems to affect the cryptocurrency

135
00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:26,640
Speaker 1: market a bit. I mean, if Elon Musk tweets about

136
00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 1: it, it it will really get going. Sticking with politics for

137
00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,720
Speaker 1: a moment, a group of Democrat politicians in the United

138
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,920
Speaker 1: States have proposed a few different pieces of antitrust legislation

139
00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,760
Speaker 1: that seems to be aimed specifically at really big tech companies,

140
00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:48,080
Speaker 1: and particularly the Big Five of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook,

141
00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:52,280
Speaker 1: and Microsoft. While there are draft bills on the matter,

142
00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:54,839
Speaker 1: and there are several of them, and they come from

143
00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:58,199
Speaker 1: different people and they say slightly different things, you can

144
00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,360
Speaker 1: kind of boil them all down own to trying to

145
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:06,400
Speaker 1: deal with two main concerns. Concern number one regards companies

146
00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,199
Speaker 1: that can both operate a marketplace and sell their own

147
00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:14,160
Speaker 1: goods and services through that marketplace, along with goods and

148
00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,520
Speaker 1: services from other companies. So this would include corporations like

149
00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,120
Speaker 1: Apple and Amazon. Both of them have their own products

150
00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:27,520
Speaker 1: listed for sale in market places that they each control, respectively. Right,

151
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,520
Speaker 1: So Amazon's got its own shop obviously, and it has

152
00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:34,280
Speaker 1: its own products in that shop side by side with

153
00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,559
Speaker 1: products from other companies. That's kind of what they're talking about.

154
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,360
Speaker 1: That represents a conflict of interest, and it means that

155
00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:46,040
Speaker 1: these companies could conceivably promote their own products over those

156
00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,160
Speaker 1: from other entities. So if you've ever done a search

157
00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,640
Speaker 1: for a product on Amazon and you notice that the

158
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:55,239
Speaker 1: first few results all seem to be Amazon branded products,

159
00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,640
Speaker 1: then you get what I'm saying. This is a little

160
00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 1: different than stores that have a store brand. Usually in

161
00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,880
Speaker 1: those stores, you don't see the store brand presented in

162
00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:11,000
Speaker 1: a way that obscures or you know, eclipses the other brands.

163
00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,280
Speaker 1: It's side by side, and the idea is that, well,

164
00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:17,960
Speaker 1: it's not promoted over these others. It may be cheaper

165
00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,200
Speaker 1: and thus more attractive. But it's not like the store

166
00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,440
Speaker 1: is necessarily using tricks to promote one over the other.

167
00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:30,840
Speaker 1: The concern here is that through technology, those are tricks

168
00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,240
Speaker 1: that these companies are using, and it's there's a worry

169
00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:36,800
Speaker 1: that creates an unfair market and sets all the other

170
00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:40,520
Speaker 1: parties at a disadvantage over the main company. The other

171
00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,840
Speaker 1: big concern is about acquisitions. So a lot of these

172
00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:48,480
Speaker 1: big tech companies got that big not just through organic growth,

173
00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,920
Speaker 1: but by gobbling up other companies along the way. Sometimes

174
00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:57,280
Speaker 1: these acquisitions lead to less competition in a market, which

175
00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,640
Speaker 1: is rarely good news for consumers, and we see this

176
00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:06,439
Speaker 1: across numerous industries, from tech hardware to entertainment media and beyond.

177
00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,240
Speaker 1: The draft bills generally are going to make it more

178
00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,960
Speaker 1: difficult for a large company to pursue acquisitions. Now all

179
00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,400
Speaker 1: the stuff is again just in draft form. It could

180
00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,920
Speaker 1: change significantly before it ever goes to the floor for

181
00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,320
Speaker 1: a vote, and of course there's no guarantee that any

182
00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,240
Speaker 1: of these bills will even get that far, but it

183
00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,520
Speaker 1: is interesting to see where things are going. Speaking of Amazon,

184
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,400
Speaker 1: the company could face a fine in excess of four

185
00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:38,599
Speaker 1: hundred twenty five million dollars in the EU for violations

186
00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,120
Speaker 1: of the g d p R. That's the General Data

187
00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,520
Speaker 1: Privacy Regulation. The g d p R is a set

188
00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,400
Speaker 1: of pretty strict rules that dictate how companies can collect

189
00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:52,719
Speaker 1: and use information that's generated by citizens of the EU.

190
00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,840
Speaker 1: And apparently Amazon's approach was not in line with those rules,

191
00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,360
Speaker 1: and now the company will have to pay up. I

192
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,120
Speaker 1: recently did a couple of episodes about privacy and how

193
00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,760
Speaker 1: tech companies collect and use our personal information, so I

194
00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,640
Speaker 1: recommend you check out the episodes that published on Monday

195
00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:12,960
Speaker 1: and Wednesday to learn more about that. And related to

196
00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,920
Speaker 1: Amazon is Ring, a company Amazon purchased in two thousand

197
00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:21,240
Speaker 1: and eighteen. Ring is famous for its smart doorbells, and

198
00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,920
Speaker 1: it's also famous for being a part of massive surveillance

199
00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:29,680
Speaker 1: systems utilized by police forces around the United States. Ring

200
00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:32,840
Speaker 1: filed a report earlier this year that showed that in

201
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,760
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, the company received more than eighteen hundred legal

202
00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,760
Speaker 1: demands to share video footage with various agencies, which was

203
00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,400
Speaker 1: more than double than the year before that. But what

204
00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:48,199
Speaker 1: the report does not include is how many users actually

205
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,680
Speaker 1: had footage from their Ring systems shared with police. You know,

206
00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,760
Speaker 1: that's eighteen hundred separate demands. Those demands could have included

207
00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,280
Speaker 1: more than one video source, and RING didn't really say

208
00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,160
Speaker 1: how many users had their their footage shared with police.

209
00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:09,559
Speaker 1: Privacy advocacy groups and civil rights organizations have long protested

210
00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:13,840
Speaker 1: how RING will work with law enforcement, including the fact

211
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,400
Speaker 1: that you know, you can have instances in which surveillance

212
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,480
Speaker 1: is being shared with police without the police first securing

213
00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,760
Speaker 1: a warrant for that information, which does seem to to

214
00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:28,080
Speaker 1: tread pretty close to unreasonable search and seizure, which is,

215
00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:32,080
Speaker 1: you know, something that we should be protected against by

216
00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:37,120
Speaker 1: the Bill of Rights to the Constitution of the United States. Meanwhile,

217
00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:40,400
Speaker 1: over at Google, the company has recently made changes to

218
00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,559
Speaker 1: down list search results from sites that focus on slander.

219
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,360
Speaker 1: That is, sites that are perpetrating slander. So if you've

220
00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:51,120
Speaker 1: ever googled someone's name and you saw some results that

221
00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,160
Speaker 1: seem to be targeting that person for whatever reason and

222
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,840
Speaker 1: slagging off on them, that's really what we're talking about here.

223
00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:00,280
Speaker 1: And some of these sites have been using very as

224
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,520
Speaker 1: tactics to kind of game the system and rise up

225
00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,920
Speaker 1: the page rankings so they dominate the top search results

226
00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,000
Speaker 1: for the those people, and now Google is going to

227
00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:13,920
Speaker 1: actively remove that advantage. They're going to start down listing

228
00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,760
Speaker 1: or pushing down the results for sites that appear to

229
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,200
Speaker 1: be dedicated to dragging other people down. But this is

230
00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:24,240
Speaker 1: a really delicate thing. You know, over in the EU,

231
00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,400
Speaker 1: there's this concept of the right to be forgotten, and

232
00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,040
Speaker 1: that's caused Google a lot of grief. And some folks

233
00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,560
Speaker 1: point out that if it is easy to get negative

234
00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,560
Speaker 1: things removed from search results, that could be doing a

235
00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:42,400
Speaker 1: public disservice in some cases. So for example, let's say

236
00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,480
Speaker 1: you've got a high ranking public official and this person

237
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,240
Speaker 1: does something truly terrible. It is in the public's best

238
00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:53,400
Speaker 1: interest to know about that thing, and having a means

239
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,840
Speaker 1: to squelch that kind of information would effectively be suppressing

240
00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,160
Speaker 1: the truth. So I am interested to see how this progresses.

241
00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,760
Speaker 1: I do think it's important to knock down the trolls,

242
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:07,320
Speaker 1: who are, you know, slagging off people in bad faith,

243
00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,120
Speaker 1: usually as a way of either harming those people or

244
00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,600
Speaker 1: profiting off of this, versus the cases where you have

245
00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:19,720
Speaker 1: actual journalists who are attempting to document misbehavior. The Verge

246
00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,680
Speaker 1: reports that Facebook is working on a smart watch that,

247
00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:27,000
Speaker 1: should things go as planned, will debut next summer. The

248
00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,560
Speaker 1: smart watch will have a display that incorporates two cameras,

249
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,400
Speaker 1: and that display will be detachable from the watch band.

250
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,840
Speaker 1: One of the two cameras will be forward facing, and

251
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,200
Speaker 1: users will rely on that one to make video calls

252
00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,800
Speaker 1: and the like. The second cameras rear facing, and thus

253
00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:46,640
Speaker 1: it's really only useful if you detach the smart watch

254
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,480
Speaker 1: display from the band, Otherwise you're just taking very dark

255
00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:54,280
Speaker 1: pictures and videos of your wrist I imagine anyway, the

256
00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,640
Speaker 1: rear facing camera will have a ten a DP resolution.

257
00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,840
Speaker 1: Facebook is already reportedly working with other companies to develop

258
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:05,240
Speaker 1: tech that could house the smart watch display. Like you

259
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,760
Speaker 1: could plug the smart watch into other types of stuff,

260
00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,760
Speaker 1: like maybe a backpack. Or imagine a robot that can

261
00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,360
Speaker 1: accept this little smart watch in a in a slot

262
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,560
Speaker 1: in the robot and then it uses that smart watch

263
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,400
Speaker 1: to power some functions. I might just be dreaming here, anyway.

264
00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,200
Speaker 1: The watch might also include a heart rate sensor, as

265
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,840
Speaker 1: well as other sensors. That, of course, has raised questions

266
00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,920
Speaker 1: from people and organizations that are concerned about privacy because

267
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,760
Speaker 1: Facebook has well, let's just say it's known for being

268
00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,760
Speaker 1: pretty darn hungry when it comes to personal information, and

269
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,160
Speaker 1: so if you've got yet another device feeding data points

270
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:47,840
Speaker 1: to Facebook, that's even more juicy information that the company

271
00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,440
Speaker 1: can use to sell to advertisers and whatnot. But a

272
00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,520
Speaker 1: year is a really long time in the tech industry,

273
00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,920
Speaker 1: so we'll have to wait and see if this watch

274
00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,720
Speaker 1: ever really comes out. If it doesn't, it will have

275
00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,960
Speaker 1: been a very expensive lesson for Facebook, because the company

276
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,880
Speaker 1: has reportedly invested around a billion dollars in this endeavor already.

277
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,440
Speaker 1: And finally, Liz Hameron, the c v P of xboxes

278
00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:16,480
Speaker 1: Gaming Experience and Platforms, laid out future plans to games

279
00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:20,600
Speaker 1: Radar with regard to where Xbox is going next. Hameron

280
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,679
Speaker 1: says that the company will continue to develop new consoles

281
00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,440
Speaker 1: and hardware, so that's not going away, but we shouldn't

282
00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,679
Speaker 1: expect anything new for a while because the series X

283
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,200
Speaker 1: console is still a very young one. Also, I would

284
00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,639
Speaker 1: like to propose that the name of whatever follows should

285
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:42,000
Speaker 1: be the next box, so I'll take my check, thank you.

286
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:46,560
Speaker 1: Beyond that, however, it appears that you know, Microsoft is

287
00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,920
Speaker 1: really focusing on creating a way for gamers to access

288
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,200
Speaker 1: the company's services. That includes partnerships with various smart TV

289
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:58,320
Speaker 1: manufacturers so that future televisions have a version of Xbox

290
00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,160
Speaker 1: Game Pass just built right into them. So that means

291
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,240
Speaker 1: all you would need is a compatible controller to connect

292
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,160
Speaker 1: to your TV, and then you could stream games from

293
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:08,960
Speaker 1: the cloud to your TV and you don't need a

294
00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:13,600
Speaker 1: console at all. There's also talk of standalone games streaming devices,

295
00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,679
Speaker 1: you know, kind of the little gaming sticks that you

296
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,480
Speaker 1: could plug right into a smart TV, possibly like through

297
00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:23,480
Speaker 1: an HDMI connector, and then you link that device to

298
00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,479
Speaker 1: your WiFi network at home and you stream games through that.

299
00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,280
Speaker 1: So if your television doesn't come with Xbox Game Pass

300
00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,760
Speaker 1: built into it, you could use this method to do it.

301
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,240
Speaker 1: In other words, Microsoft's really exploring ways to reach beyond

302
00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,480
Speaker 1: the consoles themselves to let players get access to games

303
00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,359
Speaker 1: content through the cloud. And this is really interesting to

304
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,520
Speaker 1: me because not that long ago Microsoft was really pushing

305
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,040
Speaker 1: consoles as being sort of a a nexus for cloud

306
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,080
Speaker 1: based services. You would buy a console, and then that

307
00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,680
Speaker 1: console would be your gaming rig. It would be your

308
00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,439
Speaker 1: your set top device where you could watch YouTube or

309
00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,840
Speaker 1: Netflix or Hulu or whatever. Plus it could interact with

310
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:07,280
Speaker 1: live television broadcasts and cable. And now Microsoft is sort

311
00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:09,720
Speaker 1: of taking an opposite approach, at least when it comes

312
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:13,240
Speaker 1: to the games themselves. Again, the company is not abandoning

313
00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,400
Speaker 1: hardware or consoles or anything like that, and I'm sure

314
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,160
Speaker 1: that future consoles will continue to support that nexus approach

315
00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,200
Speaker 1: to services, but this does show a change in strategy.

316
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,400
Speaker 1: I like to think of it as the Netflix approach,

317
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:29,520
Speaker 1: where your goal is to get your service on every

318
00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:34,119
Speaker 1: possible platform you can, and you extend your reach that way.

319
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,320
Speaker 1: And that wraps up the news for Thursday, June two

320
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,240
Speaker 1: thousand twenty one. I hope you're all doing well and

321
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:51,280
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is

322
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,440
Speaker 1: an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my

323
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,160
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

324
00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,919
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite It's only