WEBVTT - Tech News: South Korea Brings the Hammer Down on Apple 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.960 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:18.080 Jothan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.160 and I love all things tech. And before we get started, 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.680 I wanted to say I hope that all of you 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.840 are all safe and well and that your loved ones 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.480 are as well. Here in the United States, we've seen 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:34.440 Hurricane Ida cause enormous damage along the coast of Louisiana. 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:39.000 Large parts of that region are without power. There are 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.720 emergency situations all over there. If any of y'all are 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.680 out that way, please stay safe and take care of 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.160 yourselves and of each other. And really that goes out 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:52.240 to everyone. A little kindness goes a long way. But yes, 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.680 I'm I'm definitely thinking of all of you out there, 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.920 hoping that you're staying safe. All right, let's get to 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:02.240 the tech news for Tuesday, August thirty one, twenty one. 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.240 Here in America, there's a brewing battle between the US 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.000 government and companies like Apple and Google over whether or 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:15.000 not requiring app developers to use the Apple and Google 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.160 in app purchasing systems for all in app purchases is 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:23.000 anti competitive. Now, this gets a little muddled, so we're 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.520 going to use an example to kind of clear things up. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.720 So let's say that you are a developer, an app developer, 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:33.160 and you create a SimCity like game, and in that game, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.120 players can you know, zone and build out virtual cities. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.839 And in this game, maybe you've built some in app purchases, 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.440 and that way players can pay to access say certain 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.000 types of resources or types of buildings, or they might 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.080 be able to speed up construction or otherwise take you know, 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.200 shortcuts in the game, which without these shortcuts would take 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.160 a really long time to play out. Well, right now, 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.400 both Google and Apple take a cut that's anywhere between 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.920 fifteen tot of all in app purchases for stuff like 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:12.079 that is if it's a smaller developer, is if they 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.359 are you know, considered to be a larger developer, and 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.560 you have no other option but to go that route, Like, 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.440 you have to play by those rules because both Apple 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.640 and Google say that trying to work around that means 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.160 your app will not be allowed in those app stores. Also, 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.120 this is different if your app is used to purchase 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:33.800 real stuff out in the real world. So for example, 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.320 let's say you run a taco restaurant and you develop 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:41.160 an app so people can order tacos to pick up 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.560 at your store. They just use the app, they say 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.760 what they want, it goes to you, They pay for 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:47.840 it and everything. They just come in and pick it 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.520 up and go. Well, Apple and Google don't take a 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.520 cut of those kinds of purchases. It's only for things 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.840 that are in app. Also, I would like some of 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.560 your finest tacos. I don't know why you've been holding 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:02.840 out on me for so long. Anyway, here in the 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.360 United States, government offices and congress people are beginning to 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.799 push back on this practice, saying it is any competitive 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.400 and it traps developers and systems that they have no 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.799 control over. While that's playing out here over in South Korea, 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.880 things have taken a more drastic turn. The South Korean 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.800 government passed a bill that now bands Apple and Google 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:26.960 from forcing developers to use this kind of in app 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.280 purchasing system. They can use it if they want to, 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.520 but they're not forced to according to this new band. 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.480 So now companies like Epic Games, which makes the game Fortnite, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.120 could do the thing that got Epic in hot water 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.040 with Apple in the first place, and that was that 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.760 Epic gave players a way to buy in game Fortnite 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:51.440 currency without going through Apple's in app purchase system. Also, 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.800 while it doesn't get much coverage, Google was equally miffed 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.680 at Epic for the exact same reason. It will be 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.720 interesting to see how Apple and Google respond to this. 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.760 According to CNBC, the Apple App Store grows more than 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:11.080 sixty four billion dollars in twenty twenty, a princely some now. 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.680 Keep in mind, that's what the app store brought in. 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:15.920 Not all of that money actually is going to Apple. 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.719 Apple gets a chunk of it, but a lot of 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.360 that money is also going to various developers. However, it 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.640 still represents a major source of revenue for Apple. Also, 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.520 Apple doesn't actually report on how much the app store 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.520 makes in particular in its quarterly earnings reports. Instead, the 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:37.240 company lumps that into a category called Apple Services, and 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.240 that includes other stuff as well. But however you slice it, 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.440 the app store is one of the contributing factors to 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.640 Apple's colossal success as a modern tech company. I should 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.520 add that the company also sees a lot of revenue 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.680 from its physical products like iPhone and mac computers, so 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.920 it's not like Apple's just turning into an app store, 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:57.640 kind of like how a lot of people point to 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:01.960 Valve and say Valve very rarely makes any games these days. 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.680 Now it's more of an online game store. If other 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.480 countries follow South Korea's lead, Apple and Google could see 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:14.719 important revenue streams diminish as a result. And now for 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.640 a curious story about Apple that shows how serious the 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.200 law he is is. Here in the United States, So 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.400 more than a decade ago, Apple was in a long, 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:29.480 ugly legal battle with the telecommunications company Nokia, the Finnish company. 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:33.760 Nokia was at the time the largest worldwide smartphone and 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.159 mobile phone manufacturer, and at the heart of the legal 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.479 battle were a series of patent disputes, and each company 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.359 was claiming that the other company had violated one or 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:47.640 more patents that they they held. So Nokia saying hey 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.640 you violated X, Y and Z, and Apple saying hey 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:52.520 you violate A, B and C. And it all was 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.960 going into all these different court cases. Now it recently 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.760 came to light that in one of these court cases, 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:02.839 and this case happened way back in two thousand eleven, 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.440 the judge who was presiding over the case turned out 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:10.440 to actually have held some stock in Apple. I don't 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.839 know how much stock the judge held that has not 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.360 yet been reported as of the recording of this podcast, 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.239 but it was at least some stock. Typically, in cases 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.599 like this, if a court judge has a conflict of interest, 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.640 they are required to recuse themselves from the case. They 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:31.159 cannot over see the case because clearly they might otherwise 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.520 find their judgments swayed by their own personal, you know, 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.000 financial interest in one of the parties involved in the case. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.359 This judge did not recuse himself. Now it sounds to 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.240 be like the judge might have held Apple stock and 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.520 perhaps just forgotten about it. That could be the case 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.520 if the judge had a pretty wide stock portfolio, right like, 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.400 the judge might not have been aware of it. Moreover, 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:58.160 in that particular case, the end result actually favored Nokia 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.680 more than it favored Apple. So even if the judge 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.320 had been aware of the stock, I mean, he should 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:08.120 have disclosed that, but it didn't seem to impact his 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.520 decision upon the case. However, rules are rules, and these 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.240 rules state that if a judge discovers a conflict of interest, 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.040 then that judge is required to report on it, even 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.160 if the case happened a decade ago or longer. So 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:25.920 on August, this particular judge filed a letter revealing the conflict, 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.600 and now both Apple and Nokia have the opportunity to 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:34.640 respond to this revelation by October. But here's some other 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.600 interesting things to consider. Nokia's smartphone and cell phone business 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:43.080 entered into a state of decline not long after these lawsuits, 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:47.480 and Samsung overtook Nokia to become the the global leader 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.880 in smartphone and mobile phone manufacturing UH, and of course, 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:56.560 Apple has grown in popularity year over year. Eventually, Microsoft 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:00.920 swooped in and purchased Nokia's mobile phone divis Vision and 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.960 had it for itself, and so these days Nokia doesn't 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.920 even have its own mobile phone division. It's got a 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:11.040 couple that are related to Nokia, but not like its 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:17.400 own in house mobile phone manufacturing department. So Microsoft would 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:21.680 then go on to sell off the Nokia assets after 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.680 it became clear that Microsoft's own mobile phone efforts were 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:30.280 flailing against Android and iPhone handsets. Fox con took ownership 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:34.160 of those assets. At that point. The Nokia brand, which 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:38.680 did not go along with this whole Microsoft Fox Cotton 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:43.480 transaction UH, is actually licensed to another company called hm 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:48.640 D Global. So Nokia is not Nokia anymore. It's a 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.720 it's a brand name that's held by a different company, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.640 and Nokia doesn't really have a a financial stake in 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.760 him D Global. So while this disclosure is interesting, it 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:00.520 sounds to me like there's not really going to be 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.440 any big brew haha to come out of it, because 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.520 that's kind of all water under the bridge at this point. 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:10.960 I'm not sure if anyone would hold any specific objections 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.319 at this stage, and as far as I know, the 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:17.120 judge doesn't stand to face any um, you know, any 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:21.160 any punishment for this. Uh. Like I said to me, 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.640 it sounds like it came out of an oversight as 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:30.200 opposed to a purposeful uh you know, obfuscation of a 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.440 conflict of interest. Next, any of y'all who have listened 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:36.440 to my show for years will know that I have 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.920 had conflicting feelings when it comes to stuff like autonomous 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.240 cars and smart infrastructure. I was really hot on it 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:47.840 for a while. Then I became a little more hesitant. Uh, 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:52.520 not like resistant to it, but more more like someone 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:57.840 who went in bright eyed and bushytailed and then thought, oh, 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.360 the reality of this is different. For um the ideal. Now, 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.560 on the one hand, if you assume everything works properly, 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:09.880 technologies like autonomous cars and smart city infrastructure would drastically 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.240 reduce the number of accidents that happened on the road, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.960 and that also means a big reduction in injuries and fatalities. 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.640 That would be incredible. And then of secondary importance, it 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.920 could also reduce traffic congestions, so folks would spend less 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.360 time sitting in a car in order to get to 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.760 where they're going, and that also means fewer carbon emissions. 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.559 And obviously we're moving more toward electric vehicles, but that's 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.760 going to take some time. So the benefits of this 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:42.920 technology are really you know, they're enticing, they they're compelling. However, 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.920 I did say, we have to assume everything's working properly, 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:47.680 and that's where we are hit. You know, a really 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:49.720 big sticking point. We're seeing that play out in the 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:54.200 UK country that has deployed digital signs across hundreds of 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.080 miles of roads that connect to a software platform and 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.960 the signs are meant to display stuff like need limits 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.840 or information about lane closures and that kind of thing. 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:09.040 It's part of the UK's smart Motorways initiative. Unfortunately, this 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.680 past April that system crashed three times, the system that 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.360 would send information to these digital signs across hundreds of 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.199 miles of road, and that left the signs stuck in 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:24.200 whatever their last message was, even if conditions were changing. 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.679 So staff working for this department in the UK are 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:33.200 reportedly worried that future computer crashes could lead to motorists 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.880 getting the wrong information and that this could ultimately contribute 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.920 to serious car accidents. And that sounds like it's a 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.920 reasonable fear, because one of the things that Smart Motorways 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:47.480 project is doing is not just putting out digital signs. 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:52.359 They're actually removing the hard shoulder along the side of motorways, 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.400 which is the place where you would normally pull over 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.600 if your car were experiencing problems and that way you 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:01.480 would be out of traffic. They are replacing those hard 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.280 shoulders with an additional lane of traffic to be used 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.360 just in normal day to day use. The digital signs 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:13.160 are supposed to signal a large red X to indicate 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.560 that a lane is occupied when a vehicle has to 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.640 be pulled over because it's no longer operational for whatever reason. Right, 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.360 So you've got a breakdown or a flat tire or something, 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.000 well you would come to a stop in this lane 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.000 of traffic, and then these signs are supposed to say, hey, 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.280 don't travel in this lane of traffic because there's a 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.040 car that's stopped up ahead. Maybe the driver is even 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.840 out of the car trying to fix their vehicle. Maybe they're, 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.400 you know, trying to change a tire or something. And 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.520 if the system crashes during one of those incidents, which 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.680 happened a lot by the way, I mean, I'm sure 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.200 you've seen as you've traveled, like it's pretty common to 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.640 see at least a couple of cars pulled over on 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.560 the side of the road in different places where motorists 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:02.200 are having to deal with unexpected problems. Well, if the 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.040 system crashes, then those signs don't update and you don't 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.440 get those red exits, which means that you could have 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:12.400 drivers traveling at full speed down that fourth lane of travel, 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:17.560 and then you could have potentially cataclysmic collision. You could 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.880 have fatalities as a result of this has gotten to 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.880 the point where some of the staff have started giving 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.040 the system a new name. The system has the proprietary 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.480 name d Knack d Y n A C. And some 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.280 of the staff have called it die now, which is 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:39.160 pretty grim stuff. So here's an example where a technological 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.920 solution could potentially make a problem worse. Now. I'd argue 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.600 this is also because the decision to add that fourth 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.080 lane and not have a hard shoulder there really contributes 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.520 to the the problem at hand. So this is a 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:58.480 combination of technological fails and I don't know, Hubris maybe 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.040 so a lot of the staff are saying we need 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:02.960 to have a backup, we need to have that hard 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.720 shoulder and not to get rid of it, and I 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.680 tend to agree with the staff on this one. We've 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:10.760 got a few more stories to cover, but before we 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:21.360 get to that, let's take a quick break. We're back. 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.720 So Patreon is making some interesting moves lately. The company 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.440 has acquired a New York based recruiting firm called Clear Talent, 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.040 and from what Reuters is reporting, it sounds like Patreon's 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.440 goal is to expand beyond being a platform that creative 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.720 types can use in order to monetize their talents. If 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.760 you're not familiar with Patreon, the general way it works 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.760 is that creators of all different kinds will establish an 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.560 account and then they generally offer one of two things 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:54.680 to their followers. Some creators will establish a monthly subscription fee, 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:59.760 and you subscribe, you pay a certain subscription and sometimes 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:03.040 this is and different tiers, with subscribers getting access to 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.560 content that relates to those tears. So you might have 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.400 like a five dollar per month charge and that provides 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:13.160 you with access to a certain subset of content, and 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.360 then if you were to upgrade to ten dollars a month, 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.640 you would get additional content and so on. Another way 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.840 that creators can choose to go is to instead to 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.280 have subscribers pay only when new content comes out, So 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:26.760 instead of it being a flat fee every month, it's 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.960 a let's say, let's say you're a video content creator. 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.960 Every time a new video comes out, then a charge 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.320 would go out to your followers. But otherwise, uh, if 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.160 you went like several weeks without creating a new video, 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.520 then no one would get charged. So there are different 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:46.480 ways of going about it. Anyway. Now, Patreon seems to 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.640 be heading in a direction to try and become more 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.000 of a one stop shop as far as content creators go, 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.800 and it's supposed to give them other ways to manage 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:01.640 their businesses. So it's almost like a small business toolkit 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.640 in a way. UH that could include stuff like ways 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:09.080 to sell merchandise and other add ons in addition to 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.920 the money that creators earn uh from subscription models, and 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:18.240 it could be a really good way for creatives to 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.000 manage their businesses. It's challenging to both be a creative 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:27.680 content person and to oversee all the business elements of 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.760 your endeavors. This does mean that creators will see some 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:34.600 of that money go towards the platform rather than to themselves. 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.600 That's just the nature of things. But on the flip side, 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.720 they get heightened visibility because Patreon is a visible platform, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.160 and a lot of the hassle of managing your business 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:49.400 is removed from the operational standpoint. I think, based on 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.760 the very little I know, that this could be a 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:53.920 good move for all parties, but we're obviously gonna have 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.560 to pay attention to make sure. In the past, we've 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.640 covered how various online platforms have tried to tackle the 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:06.199 huge problem of misinformation and disinformation campaigns. So Twitter tags 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.119 labels on stuff and bands accounts that are repeat offenders. 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.280 Facebook takes down groups, although you could argue they don't 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.800 take them down as quickly as new ones pop up. 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.560 But one platform I have not talked about is Reddit. 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.959 Last week, a number of sub credits And if you're 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:26.320 not familiar with Reddit, uh, it's kind of like a 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:31.760 user generated link farm in a way, but it's organized 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.800 in various fields of interest, so you can think of 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.040 subredits as sort of like channels of Reddit that focus 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:42.520 on specific interests or topics. Anyway, a bunch of subredits 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.600 petition the administrators of Reddit to do something about the 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:50.440 proliferation of disinformation about COVID nineteen that is running rampant 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.320 on the platform. The subredits claim that Reddit has done 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:59.280 little to curtail disinformation campaigns about stuff like vaccines and 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.879 masks in the spread of COVID nineteen, and thus is 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.840 contributing to people getting a false view of how things work, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.879 which subsequently puts more people at risk of getting sick 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:16.520 or worse. Reddit has effectively sequestered a subreddit that focused 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.560 on these topics, so you could still access it if 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.840 you were a member of it, but otherwise you wouldn't 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:24.960 come across it. But according to the subredits, it really 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.520 hasn't done much else to stop the spread of false 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:31.119 information on the platform. So in protest, large groups of 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.720 subredits have switched to private membership, which means you can't 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.280 just pop in there and brows the posts in that subredit, 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.920 or leave a message on there or anything like that. Effectively, 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:46.119 to the outside world, these subredits are going dark, but 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.000 they're not completely going dark, because anyone who actually is 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.680 an existing member of those subredits can still access them. 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.840 But clearly the admins of these subredits will be able 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.720 to give the boot to anyone who tries to spread misinformation, 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.320 essentially saying that's not welcome in this community. Meanwhile, the 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.800 same subreddits are continuing to appeal to Reddit and to 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.320 go beyond Reddit by talking about this in other forums 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.000 and to news media outlets in order to take a 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:17.960 more active stance against misinformation. The company's official stance is 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.280 that red is a place where users can hash it 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.760 out for themselves, and that sounds an awful lot like 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:28.639 what Mark Zuckerberg said about Facebook, that it's not the 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.680 platform's responsibility to take sides in this kind of thing. 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.080 There is, however, a really big problem with this, because 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.520 it's not just like a debate, and this is a 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.400 problem that people have known about for centuries. And that's this. 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.320 It's way easier for lies to spread than it is 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.440 to get the truth to take hold. Or, as Mark 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.119 Twain did not put it, a lie can travel halfway 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.360 around the world before the truth puts on its shoes. See, 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.960 a lot of folks actually attribute that quote to Mark Twain. 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.240 That's incredibly fitting because it wasn't Mark Twain who coined 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:07.600 that phrase. In fact, the earliest variation of this saying 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.160 that I have found came from seven from a sermon 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:15.600 delivered by a guy named Thomas Franklin. But that misinformation 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:20.080 you know about Mark Twain allegedly saying this has traveled 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.480 far and wide. In some other versions it's Winston Churchill 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.440 who gets the credit rather than Mark Twain. But all 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:28.960 of that just proves the point, right, It just proves 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.640 the truth that these lies travel far and wide much 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.479 easier than the truth does. So if you give equal 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:40.640 ground to truth and falsehoods, as if falsehoods have some 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.960 sort of legitimacy to them, falsehoods run away with it 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.879 because they don't require the burden of reality. So I 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.320 am fully on the side of the sub credits in 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:54.800 this case. In semi related news, Axios reports that Facebook 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:58.280 will be tweaking its ranking algorithm. That's the algorithm that 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:01.160 determines which posts you and to see when you log 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:04.480 into Facebook and you check out your news feed. Apparently 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.480 this will include de emphasizing elements that lead to people 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.399 figuring out how to you know, kind of gain the system, 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.359 like a prediction of how likely someone is going to 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:19.840 engage with specific content. So just as a quick refresher 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:25.000 to remind yourselves how Facebook works. Facebook makes a lot 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.240 of money. In fact, the vast majority of its revenue 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:33.200 through advertising. So the more time you spend on Facebook, 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:37.760 the more ads you will encounter. That means that Facebook 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:41.160 will make more money based off your visit. Because you're 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.920 spending more time, you're seeing more ads, Facebook makes more money. 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.680 One way to convince you to spend more time on 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.280 Facebook is for Facebook to serve up stuff that gets 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:54.200 a big reaction out of you, so that you comment 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.920 on things or you share them. If these posts are 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:00.920 actually ads and you are engaging with them, that's even 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.080 more valuable for Facebook. And you're also giving Facebook more 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:07.760 information about yourself, which makes you easier to advertise to. 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.720 Now a lot of the time this content that gets 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:17.280 heavily engaged is pretty darn toxic stuff and frequently includes 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:20.760 misinformation for the same reasons I was just mentioning in US. 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:25.359 You know, the previous news item. So folks who wanted 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:30.160 to spread certain messages, like a propaganda campaign, they could 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.959 build that into their posting strategy to get more circulation 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:38.080 of their work. Well, now Facebook is going to take 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:42.520 away some of that, making these types of campaigns a 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:47.760 little less effective. Facebook is likely to show less news 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:52.080 content in general, and less political content in particular. Uh. 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.679 The company has run numerous tests with focus groups that 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:58.520 showed that users really liked it when less of that 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.880 stuff was popping up in our news feeds. Now, these 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.520 changes are likely to roll out gradually, you know, kind 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.239 of over a long time frame. It's possible that we 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:12.119 won't even notice the changes happening because they'll happen so gradually. 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:15.480 But according to Axios, we should expect the Facebook of 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:19.520 the future to be slightly less political, which I think 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.920 is a good thing. There's a new rule in place 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:25.600 to combat what the Chinese government says is an addiction 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:30.160 among China's youth. And it's not drugs, it's video games. Yep, 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:32.560 they come a long way since pac Man. So the 0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:35.840 Chinese government has ordered online gaming companies to build in 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:39.080 time restrictions to prevent kids in China from falling into 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:42.280 the deep void of video game addiction. According to the 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:44.840 new rules, anyone under the age of eighteen will have 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:48.639 their game time restricted to between eight pm and nine pm, 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:51.840 so one hour a day, and the government issued a 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:54.960 warning that the video game companies would need to put 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:59.040 into place reliable verification processes to make sure kids weren't 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:02.240 skirting the rule by like using adult ideas to log 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:05.840 into games to get around the age gating system. The 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:08.679 government says it will increase inspections to these companies to 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:11.040