WEBVTT - Tech News: Crypto Winters and GPU Summers 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.800 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.840 And how the tech are you? It is time for 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:25.800 the tech news for Tuesday, January twenty five, twenty twenty two, 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.480 and the first item is sort of a good news 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:34.080 bad news situation. The bad news, at least if you're 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:38.040 heavily invested in cryptocurrency, is that the value of various 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.880 cryptocurrencies have really taken a serious hit over the last 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:46.440 several weeks. It's been quite a time for bitcoin. Bitcoin 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:51.160 saw its value peak to nearly seventy thousand dollars last 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:55.040 year per bitcoin, So one bitcoin was worth nearly seventy 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:59.000 grand at its height last year. But as I was 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:04.040 writing this episode, it's around thirty six thousand dollars per bitcoin. Now, 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:05.680 that's still a heck of a lot of money on 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.800 a per bitcoin basis, obviously, right, particularly for those of 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.440 you out there who were aware of cryptocurrency back when 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.120 bitcoin's value was a fractions of a dollar, It is 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:21.000 still a remarkable story. However, it means folks who invested 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.800 when the cryptocurrency was at a higher value, are probably 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:29.280 not too happy right now. Likewise, ethereum, which nearly reached 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.480 five thousand dollars per unit earlier in the you know, 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:38.920 last year, now it's currently at around dollars, so less 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.640 than half of that. Now, keep in mind, at the 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.959 beginning of twenty twenty, ethereum was actually below two thousand 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.520 dollars per ether so it's still above where it was 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.760 early twenty. So again, I don't want to paint the 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.040 picture of saying crypto isn't worth anything. That's not the case. 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:01.120 We're just seeing a massive drop off in value. Now. 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.480 There are some people who are predicting that this could 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.560 be the end of cryptocurrency. I think that that is 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:11.240 way too dramatic a prediction. A lot of other folks, 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.040 myself included, are saying we're probably looking at maybe a 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.560 rough trend for a while. Uh. After all, the crypto 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.480 market collectively has lost around a trillion dollars since that 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.440 high point in bitcoin's history. But there are a lot 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.680 of factors that are contributing to this all around the world. 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.359 I'm not gonna make any predictions about what's gonna come next, 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.440 because again, if you actually look at any chart that 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:40.880 plots the value of major cryptocurrencies over time, you'll see 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.760 that there are periods of wild growth and wild decline. 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:47.400 And this is one of the reasons why I actually 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.040 get down on cryptocurrency so much, because it's so volatile 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.080 that it's not really an effective currency. It's more of 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:59.960 a speculative investment. Anyway, that's the bad news. That crypto 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.120 is down right now and it is probably in for 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.560 a rough time in the near future. I suspect we'll 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.800 see it recover, unless you know, things around the world 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:13.120 developed to a point that really spelled doom for cryptocurrency, 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.520 which could happen. But now let's talk about the good news. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.760 So Tom's Hardware reports that the price of GPUs, that 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:25.079 is graphics processing units has come down for most models 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:30.280 across eBay, and this is most likely linked to the 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.639 decline in cryptocurrency value. So let me explain now, for bitcoin, 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.360 GPUs aren't really in the picture, and that's because bitcoins 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.000 value is so high that people have moved away from 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:46.480 GPUs to more specialized processors and systems in order to 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:51.280 get the competitive advantage over other Bitcoin miners. Remember to 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.680 mind cryptocurrency in a proof of work model anyway means 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.320 you're using computer systems to generate the right answer to 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.800 what is the actually a math guessing game, and you 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:04.920 want to do it first before anyone else does, so 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:09.320 you need computer systems that generate guesses faster than anyone 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:13.680 else's system does. With Bitcoin, GPUs just can't keep up 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.560 with the much more expensive specialized hardware that's used by 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:24.240 serious bitcoin mining organizations. But Ethereum is different. See Ethereum 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:28.040 isn't worth as much as bitcoin is, so it wouldn't 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:32.600 make economic sense to use that specialized bitcoin mining equipment 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.080 for Ethereum because the equipment would cost more than what 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.719 you would get out of mining the ethereum. So that 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.080 is where folks typically are relying upon GPU cards for 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.320 their mining rigs. It's in the Ethereum ecosystem, not the 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.720 Bitcoin one. But with Ethereum's price falling, the demand for 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:54.880 cards has changed, and that means that the price for 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:59.200 cards has changed, at least on eBay. Uh it's still 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.320 danged hard to find a graphics card on the primary market, 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:06.800 like the the original points of sale, that is still 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.159 very hard to do, and those cards there are pretty 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.280 much holding their market value. So a lot of folks 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.760 have to look to the secondary market for their equipment, 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.159 like eBay. I should add that when I say the 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.960 price has come down, it doesn't mean that the cards 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.600 are now cheap. For example, the r t X, which 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.120 is kind of the creme de la creme in the 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:32.360 GPU space right now, it is going for around two thousand, 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.039 five hundred fifty bucks on average for just the graphics card. 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.040 Remember that's one component in a computer. You would actually 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:40.840 have to build out the rest of your computer too. 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.760 Now that is about a thousand fifty dollars above the 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.479 cards M S r P. Meaning you know, you should 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:52.240 be able to find the the actual card for dollars 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:55.040 on the regular market. It's just that people have bought 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.440 up all the cards and are trying to sell them 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.000 for a markup on sizes like eBay. So it's still 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.640 a heck of a markup, right, A thousand dollars, a 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.320 thousand plus dollars, that's a heck of a markup. But 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.479 Tom's Hardware points out that if we were to see 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:16.000 cryptocurrency value decline further and as companies eliminate shortage issues 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.400 in the supply chain, as we start to see those 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.400 ease up, where the supply chain starts to get back 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.320 into a good working order, then we should see prices 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.280 in the secondary market continue to come down. In fact, 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.400 we might even get to a point where people will 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:32.520 stop buying up the cards in bulk and trying to 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.360 sell them on eBay in the first place, because the 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.719 profit margin will be too low to deal with the hassle. 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:43.120 At least a gamer can dream. While we're talking about 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:47.200 graphics cards and processors, let's revisit the story of Nvidios 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.600 quest to acquire ARM, that is, the British chip designer company, 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.239 or at least founded and operated in Britain, currently owned 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.960 by a Japanese conglomerate called soft Bank. Well, we first 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.880 learned of this and acquisition back in September of twenty twenty. 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.799 It was announced it would be a forty billion dollar deal, 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.039 and that deal made news around the world for lots 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.240 of different reasons. There were people who were afraid that 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:17.600 in Nvidia buying up ARM would consolidate the semiconductor industry 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:21.520 and limit competition, and that would hurt customers down the line, 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.920 whether those customers are you know, computer manufacturers or end 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:31.320 users that you know. Consolidation and markets rarely benefits the 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:36.080 end customer. It really benefits whomever is consolidating all the power, 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.440 but not so much everybody else. And over in the UK, 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.920 where ARM is based, there were worries that a foreign 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.840 company America purchasing a British chip designer could open up 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.240 the possibility of national security issues, ignoring the fact that 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:55.040 soft Bank already owned ARM. But whatever, and CNBC now 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:59.000 reports that in Video may be ready to abandon their 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.960 f their f you know this this quest to purchase 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.600 ARM that you know, regulatory bodies around the world are 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.320 maybe putting up a little too much resistance and the 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.239 company is kind of mired and all that and wants 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.120 to extricate itself. CNBC also reports that soft Bank is 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.360 preparing to launch an i p O, that is, initial 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:22.680 public offering for ARM if this acquisition deal actually does 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.160 fall through. So in that event, ARM would then spent 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.200 off to become a publicly traded company on the market, 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:32.400 and it would not be acquired by you know, in Vidio. 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.679 The collapse of the deal would be a pretty big 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:39.160 setback for Invidia. Uh and while in Video would no 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.480 longer be obligated for that forty billion dollar deal, I 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.679 imagine the company has already spent a healthy chunk of 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.960 change and resources on the acquisition efforts to date. The 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.720 news perhaps contributed to Invidious share price, which fell three 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:58.520 in pre market trading today. The attorneys general for Washington, 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.920 d C. And the states of Indiana, Texas, and Washington 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:05.360 State are coming after Google. They have filed lawsuits against 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.240 the company alleging that Google purposefully misled users from two 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.920 thousand fourteen to two thousand nineteen with regard to location tracking. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.480 So the attorneys are saying that Google indicated if you, 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.640 or at least implied that if you turned off your 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.960 location history setting on a Android device, for example, that 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.640 the company would no longer track your location and thus 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.199 you wouldn't have to worry about them selling your location 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.760 information to advertisers and the like. But the truth of 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.520 the matter was that you would actually have to dive 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.920 a little bit further into your settings and go to 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:46.079 the Web and App activity section to turn off location 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.840 tracking for real z s. So, in other words, it 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.640 was like there were two switches. There was a more 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.360 obvious switch labeled location history, but turning that off didn't 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.560 actually turn off location tracking, and the switch that would 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.800 turn off location tracking was a trickier one that did exist, 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.679 but it wasn't as easy to find. It actually reminds 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.160 me of a sequence in the novel and the radio 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.840 play and the television series in the movie Hitchhecker's Guide 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:19.600 to the Galaxy, where Arthur dent Uh, the protagonist of 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:24.720 the series, was trying to seek out a a city 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.760 Uh press release essentially, or a city order, and that 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:33.800 it was purposefully kept in an in an almost inaccessible 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:38.440 location to avoid people discovering it. Uh. Kind of similar 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.080 to that, And the attorneys say that Google didn't really 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.199 indicate to users that the web and app activity setting 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:48.040 was even something they should know about until around two 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.880 thousand eighteen. Now, the lawsuits that these attorneys general have 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.480 filed are somewhat similar to one that the State of 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.560 Arizona filed against Google back in twenty twenty, But the 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:03.280 new lawsuit are targeting something that the attorneys general are 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.720 calling dark patterns, and that's starting to sound a little 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.400 bit like an epic fantasy, you know, perhaps a plot 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:11.680 that used to do or the Wizard would oppose. But 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.040 in this case, dark patterns really refer to choices made 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.959 in user interface or UI design, and these are choices 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:23.080 that would guide people down certain pathways and de emphasizing 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.040 other pathways. So, in other words, it's a kind of 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.240 UI design philosophy meant to provide all the options that 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.760 you're obligated to provide because of various laws and regulations. 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:34.840 Like if the law says you have to give users 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.160 the option to turn this off, well, this UI design 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:43.560 technically fulfills that obligation, but you kind of use like 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:47.280 smoke and mirrors so that very few people actually take 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.920 the effort to go down the correct pathway to find 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:53.959 that setting and turn it off. You make it inconvenient, 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:58.600 and you make other stuff far more accessible and easy 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.240 to understand in an effort to try and discourage people 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:06.800 from turning off this otherwise extremely lucrative setting. The lawsuit 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.440 also has something that I've never seen before, which is 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.400 that the attorneys general are demanding that Google ditch any 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:16.240 algorithms that the company created with the money that was 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:20.760 generated from leveraging this location data collected from users during 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:24.800 that time frame. That's an addition to surrendering any money 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.960 the Google made during that time from the use of 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.360 location data. I don't think i've ever seen a case 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:35.320 where lawyers were demanding a company surrender algorithms. I'll have 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.599 to keep an eye on this story as it develops. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.040 I also wonder, you know, like, how would they hold 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:44.640 Google accountable to determine exactly what money came from what 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.000 sources and how much would have to be surrendered. It's 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.640 a pretty complicated thing, and I don't know how it 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.760 would all be resolved. I'm guessing that the ultimate goal 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.280 is to force Google to make changes and perhaps pay 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.680 out a settlement. But um, we'll have to wait and see. 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.400 I I this one is beyond me. We have a 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:04.760 couple more stories about Google, plus a whole lot of 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:15.240 other tech news after we come back from this break. Okay, 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:18.280 We've got a couple of other little Google news items 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.920 to talk about before and move on. One is that 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.880 the company announced it would soon block ad targeting for 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:29.000 users under the age of eighteen. Specifically, a press release 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.720 from Monday says quote, We've already made progress on delivering 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.640 a safer experience to kids and teens online by expanding 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.720 safeguards to prevent age sensitive ad categories from being shown 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.640 to teens, and we block ad targeting based on the 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.600 age gender or interests of people under eighteen end quote. 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.079 I'm actually surprised that it took this long for enough 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.160 pressure to mount against Google to a point where the 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:57.360 company made this kind of release. But this is another 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.720 example of how big tech companies are feeling a pushback 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.560 from arious governments and agencies around the world. In Europe, obviously, 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:09.560 there's been, uh for a while, a growing emphasis placed 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:14.840 upon citizen privacy and security and that the companies have 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:20.120 to give citizens enough information and options so that they 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.280 can choose whether or not to have their data collected 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.080 by various entities and in what context. And we're starting 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.600 to see that kind of expand to other places in 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.800 the world, including here in the United States. And obviously 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:38.080 the the safety of children is always something that is 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:43.480 considered pretty important for obvious reasons, and in recent years 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:48.240 we've seen a lot more scrutiny dedicated to that, particularly 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:53.000 towards Google, UH, with things like you know, the Google's 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:57.720 YouTube algorithms being potentially harmful toward kids. We've also obviously 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:02.560 seen it applied to other platform was like Facebook. UH. 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.840 Now this is also not to say that Google is 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.480 stopping its practice of pouring resources into developing new ways 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.600 to track and categorize people now. Previously, Google developed a 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:19.360 project that it called Federated Learning of Cohorts, or FLOCK, 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.640 which aimed to phase out tracking cookies for the purposes 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.880 of gathering information about users as they navigate online. Cookies 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:33.800 have had a pretty the controversial past as well. The 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.520 whole idea behind cookies is that a browser is able 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:41.920 to collect certain information through these cookies that remains relevant 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:46.040 to that user, so that between browsing sessions, or even 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:51.280 within a browsing session, things are smoothed over, right Like otherwise, 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:55.800 you might have to log in and adjust your settings 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.040 for a particular web service every single time you visit it, 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.680 which is kind of a hass. But cookies can also 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:07.040 be used to track your activity and be used in advertisements, 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:11.440 so that like an advertiser knows that you were looking at, 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:16.000 I don't know, uh, hiking boots, and so the next 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:17.960 time you're on Facebook you just see like tons of 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:20.800 ads for hiking boots because these cookies have tracked that 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.480 activity and Facebook was able to leverage that and serve 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.480 you ads based upon that. Well, now things are changing 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:30.600 a little bit. See FLOCK was an idea that would 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.119 instead lump users into groups of folks who have similar interests, 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.400 so you would be in independent flocks based upon whatever 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.840 you were showing interested in. Flock however, now is could put. 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:46.120 Google now has a project called Topics, which doesn't sound 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.600 that different to me. Topics is a project that would 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.880 track a users activities across the web an attempt to 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.520 infer what kind of stuff that user was interested in, 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.760 and Topics will hold on to browsing data for sort 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.200 of a rolling three week periods. Your last three weeks 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:06.480 of browsing will be what determines which topics are tagged 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.280 to you like, which ones you appear to be interested in. 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.159 And they're starting off, I think with three topics, but 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:16.119 could potentially expand that, and that would be handy information 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.440 for advertisers, right They would look to see which users 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.520 have specific topics tagged to them and those would be 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:25.920 the ones that would be most relevant to those advertisers. 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.560 So if an advertiser is looking for someone who like 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.600 has been tagged as having an avid interest in outdoors 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.520 the activities, well, they're likely not going to find me 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.000 on that topics list, and I won't get targeted for 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.040 those ads. Now, Topics will just be one of several 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.760 signals that advertisers can select when they work with Google 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.840 to serve ads to customers. They're not required to use topics, 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.080 and users will have some control over this as well. 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.639 You'll be able to view the list of topics that 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.800 Google has determined your into, and then you can go 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:57.840 and strike any off the list you would rather not 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.400 see advertising four and for looks like yours, truly who 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.440 I would do pretty much all of my research online. 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:06.760 That would be handy for me, because I don't want 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:11.040 to be served ads for say, cryptocurrency, all day every day. 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.159 It's not really my bag. Okay, let's transition to some 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.000 other stories in activism news. A group of hackers have 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:22.680 infected the state run railway system in Belarus with ransomware 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:27.199 and essentially locking down the computer systems of the railway system. 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:31.160 The activists have said their ransom is that the President 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:36.680 of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, must stop helping Russian forces as 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.480 they amass in preparation for a potential invasion of Ukraine. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:47.080 Ukraine is south of Belarus. Belarus is between Russia and Ukraine, 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.520 or at least partly that the borders are longer than that, 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.080 but you get what I'm saying. And the hackers released 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.159 a message that reads, in part quote, as part of 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:01.840 the Peclo cyber campaign, we encrypted the bulk of the servers, databases, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:06.679 and workstations of the bell ZHD being the Belarus railway 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:10.160 station or system in order to slow down and disrupt 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.400 the operation of the road. The backups have been destroyed 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:16.800 end quote. The group then goes on to say that 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:21.400 the automated systems in this computer network have not been 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:25.679 targeted because the group wished to avoid quote unquote emergency situations. 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:29.320 In other words, they didn't want to completely cripple the 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:35.000 system and deny the capability of responding to an emergency 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:39.639 because that would obviously bring harm upon people. That seems 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.400 pretty darn considerate considering we're talking about, you know, hackers. 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.520 The activists have demanded the release of fifty political prisoners 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.560 that are held in Belarus and whom they say are 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.280 most in need of medical attention, and they also are 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.520 seeking a commitment from the President of Belarus to resist 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:04.280 Russian invasion forces or what they're what they believe to 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:09.480 be Russian invasion forces in Israel. A law that would 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:13.760 give judges within Israel immense power to force websites to 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.080 remove content is back on the table after having been 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.560 rejected back in TwixT. The law, which is casually referred 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.679 to as the Facebook Law, would grant quote Israeli courts 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.960 the power to demand the removal of user generated content 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.399 on social media content platforms that can be perceived as 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:36.439 inflammatory or as harming the security of the state or 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.880 the security of people, or the security of the public. 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:45.720 End quote. That's some pretty vague wording. Now, in practice, 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:50.360 we tend to see these kinds of policies specifically target Palestinians, 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:55.240 especially Palestinians who wish to hold Israel's government accountable for 0:20:55.400 --> 0:21:00.840 alleged human rights violations, for uh aggress of actions against 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:07.960 the Palestinian people, for lots of issues surrounding those aspects 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:13.960 of life in Israel and around Palestine, and Israel's right 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:18.120 wing government officials have a history of of censoring Palestinian voices. 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:22.879 Ramsey Borrowed, a journalist and author, has a detailed post 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:27.560 about this law, its history, and what is intended to 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:31.640 do in an article titled quote how Israel's Facebook Law 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:36.040 plans to control all Palestinian content online? End quote, and 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:38.360 Burud points out that the law, while referred to as 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:41.639 Facebook Law, would reach far beyond social networking sites to 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:45.520 potentially any website at all, and warns that should websites 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:49.040 comply with this, it would set a dangerous precedent. That's 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:51.879 that's assuming that the law is passed as written, but 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.120 also that you know, if companies actually agree to it. 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.160 The article is a very good read. I recommend you 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:02.199 seek it out. All right, We've got a few more 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.360 stories to cover before we wrap up this news episode. 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.920 But before we get to that, let's take another quick break. 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:20.000 In Myanmar, the military, which effectively rules the nation after 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.119 a military coup from last year, is preparing to pass 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:26.520 a cybersecurity law that would make it illegal for citizens 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:31.080 to use virtual private networks, or VPNs. The regime has 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.879 previously banned the uses of social networking services like Facebook 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:38.440 and Twitter after the military coup, but people in Myanmar 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:42.240 can still access those services if they use a VPN. 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.320 You log into the VPN, the VPN then logs into 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.000 the service and it's a work around. But now the 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:52.080 military wants to outlaw VPNs and close that loophole. This 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:54.639 is yet another move by the military to control the 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.280 population of the n bar. In fact, last month, the 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:01.440 regime doubled the amount of tax that the government places 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:06.960 on mobile internet data, so they're really trying to crack 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:11.440 down on citizens abilities to communicate with one another and 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:16.720 to communicate ideas that are in opposition to the military regime. 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:21.160 The law goes much further than just banning VPNs, however, 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:25.080 it essentially grants the government unlimited rights to access citizens 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:29.000 data and to ban any content that the regime objects to. 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:33.320 In fact, just reading over reports about this law makes 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:36.240 the Great Firewall of China seem tamed by comparison, at 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:39.439 least to me. Activists around the world are raising alarm, 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:42.560 with many saying that the regime should have no power 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:46.120 to draft and enact laws because it's not a democratically 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:48.159 elected government in the first place, and thus has no 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:51.639 authority granted to it by those who are governed. The 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:55.359 watchdog organization Global Witness recently released a report that says 0:23:55.480 --> 0:23:59.120 the QUEST, which is a carbon capture and storage facility 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:04.080 co located with Oil Shans operations in Canada, captured five 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:09.399 million tons of carbon dioxide since opening in However, it 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:13.280 is also released seven point five million tons during that 0:24:13.400 --> 0:24:17.280 same period, meaning it's emitting more carbon dioxide than it 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:21.639 is capturing, which isn't great. Shell, which owns the QUEST, 0:24:21.800 --> 0:24:24.600 has released a statement saying that the analysis is wrong. 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:28.359 General Witness says that the sales pitch for carbon captions 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:32.160 capture systems is that they'll capture up to say, nine 0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:36.080 percent of all emissions and thus store the carbon dock 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:39.240 side underground at where it will solidify and not be 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:42.919 released into the atmosphere. But Shell says, no, the QUEST 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:45.520 was not designed to eliminate nine of emissions. It was 0:24:45.560 --> 0:24:49.360 designed to capture about a third of the emissions. But 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:51.640 you know, the reason why I even want to bring 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:55.280 this up at all is whether you're talking or thirty percent. 0:24:56.119 --> 0:25:00.440 I think carbon capture and storage operations and the emphasis 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:03.720 put behind them are kind of dangerous. Not because they 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:07.400 don't work, because they can work, and if they're implemented properly, 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:10.040 they will store a carbon dioxide in a way that 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:12.560 doesn't get released to the atmosphere. That's a good thing. No, 0:25:12.760 --> 0:25:17.520 I think it's dangerous because those operations presume that we 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:20.439 should remain dependent upon fossil fuels in the first place, 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:24.440