WEBVTT - Tech News: A Perfect Storm Led to Microsoft's Big Breach 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.760 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.160 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.080 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.759 are you. It's time for the tech news for let's 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:28.960 see Thursday. That's it September seventh, twenty twenty three. Sorry, 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.360 holiday weeks always mess me up, but let's get to 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.080 the news. First up, we have an update on the 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:39.360 European Union's efforts to push back against big tech companies 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:44.360 via the Digital Markets Act or DMA. The European Commission 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:49.479 has designated six tech companies as quote unquote gatekeepers of 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.760 the digital market in the EU. Now. To qualify as 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.720 a gatekeeper, a company has to have more than forty 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.920 five million end users per month, more than ten thousand 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.680 business users per year, to be active in at least 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.200 three member states of the EU, and to have either 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.920 a market cap of at least seventy five million euro 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:14.319 or a turnover of seven point five billion Euro. The 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.440 six companies that have the honor of being called gatekeepers 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:25.240 include Alphabet that's Google's parent company, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.520 and byte Dance, which is TikTok's parent company. Just in 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.839 case you've forgotten now, I've talked about this a little 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.560 bit this year about how Amazon has tried to fight 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:38.880 this designation as gatekeeper. Amazon's argued that doesn't really qualify 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.959 under those terms, but it appears that those arguments have 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.440 fallen on deaf ears. The EU has singled out some 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.560 specific platforms and services in these companies that will have 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:55.600 to comply with new rules under the DMA. Those platforms 0:01:55.600 --> 0:02:00.640 include stuff like Apple's Safari browser or iOS, or Google's 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:06.560 Android or Chrome browser, Google Search, Google Ads, metas, Facebook 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.079 and Instagram, and messenger services. Those are just examples, that's 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:12.880 not all of them. In fact, the EU identified twenty 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.680 two services across the Big six, including some for the 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.519 companies I mentioned that I didn't go into. The rules 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.600 are meant to give EU citizens more control over the 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.880 services they use. So, for example, one rule states that 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.359 a company like Apple has to make all the pre 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:36.280 installed apps on iOS devices uninstallable and replaceable with third 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:39.760 party applications. So in other words, if you get an iPhone, 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.079 then you should be able to remove all the pre 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.080 installed Apple apps and just replace them with third party 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.679 apps if you want to. Now, that is to put 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:52.359 it lightly antithetical to Apple's approach, and there are a 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.480 lot of other rules. That's just one example, and they 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.720 really do push back hard against some of the key 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.320 strategies that tech company have been employing over the last decade. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.840 So this is a big deal. The gatekeepers have six 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.320 months to comply with these rules. If they are found 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.920 in violation of the rules, the EU can find the 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.720 company up to ten percent of its total worldwide turnover. 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.080 Remember we're talking like seven and a half billion at 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.240 least here, so ten percent of that. But if a 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.880 company continues to break the rules, that actually can go 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.280 up to a twenty percent fine, which is, you know, 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.480 twice as much if my math is correct. Also, the 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.920 Commission asserts that it has the authority to force companies 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.320 to sell off parts of their businesses if they're unable 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.960 to apply comply rather with the DMA. So I'll be 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:44.520 really interested to see how the gatekeepers respond to this. 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:50.400 My guess is unfavorably. Microsoft has released information about an 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:56.680 infiltration attack that ultimately had a Chinese backed hacker group 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.200 called Storm zero five to five eight gaining access to 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.480 email systems belonging to more than two dozen high value 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.760 targets we're talking about like big companies and also big 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:12.240 government agencies, And it sounds like the way this attack 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.200 happened was a convergence of a whole bunch of stuff 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.919 that wasn't supposed to happen, and it was like a 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:22.680 perfect storm situation for the hackers. So first up is 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:27.320 an expired account consumer signing key, kind of like a 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.600 key to get into a system. I mean, that's kind 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.760 of what this is. And the key could but should 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.520 not have been able to but it could create tokens 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.839 that would allow access to stuff like Microsoft's Azure service. 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:45.240 Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform. But the beginning of 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.600 the story actually dates all the way back to April 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.839 twenty twenty one, So see, the system that this key 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:56.400 was on was meant to be a very heavily protected system. 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.479 The only person allowed to access this workstation was a 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:05.080 specific engineer who had been thoroughly vetted by Microsoft because 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:10.280 they were working in a production development environment that other 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.120 people were absolutely not supposed to be able to access. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.880 So that also meant the workstation was not allowed to 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.679 have several basic applications and services on it because those 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.800 are frequently attack vectors. For hackers. So there was no 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.839 email on this thing, no web access on it, collaboration 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.839 tools couldn't be on it, that kind of thing. Essentially, 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.960 the workstation was approaching air gap status, although it still 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.920 had network connectivity, so it wasn't truly air gapped. If 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.680 it had been, then we'd have a different conversation going 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:46.480 on here. It also had multi factor authentication protection, and 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:48.359 all of this makes you wonder, well, then, how the 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.440 heck did the hackers get access to this If it 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.640 was such a heavily protected workstation, how did they manage 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:59.040 to get this key that had already expired, and how 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.360 then did they use to get access to all these 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:07.240 different organization's email systems. Well again, back in twenty twenty one, 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:12.360 in April, this particular workstation crashed and so Windows performed 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.880 a crash dump process. So this is when the computer 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.480 takes the data that's in the computer's memory and then 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.839 saves that data to long term storage. And the reason 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.680 for that is that someone can later look at the 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.719 data and kind of see what actually happened, what caused 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.520 the crash. Is there something that needs to be addressed 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:33.719 to prevent it from happening in the future. Well, it 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:39.240 turns out that this expired account consumer signing key was 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.520 in the computer's memory at the time of the crash, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:47.200 so it was part of this crash dump. Now, it 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.159 was supposed to not make it through the next step 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:55.480 because Microsoft scans data to look for things that could 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:59.240 potentially be a security vulnerability and to remove them before 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:05.200 transporting the data to, you know, the the bug development group, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.760 and that step failed. It did not detect the fact 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.880 that there was this key that was just sitting there. 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.040 It's like a shiny key hidden in a big pile 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:21.080 of dirty, old data, and so they didn't think that 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.960 there was anything problematic there, so they moved it on 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:29.720 over to the debugging environment. And sometime this year, hackers 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.560 were able to compromise a different Microsoft engineer's corporate account 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.200 and that gave them access to this debugging environment, which 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:41.000 normally wouldn't have anything in it that would be particularly dangerous, 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:45.840 but they were able to find that key, that gleaming 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:51.600 shining signing key in that crash dump data. And then 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.480 how could they then use an expired key, an expired 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.200 consumer key at that it wasn't even an enterprise key. 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:01.640 How could they use that to forge tokens that would 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:06.880 allow them to access enterprise accounts on Azure. Well, Microsoft 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.200 revealed that in twenty eighteen, the company created a new 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.560 framework that messed things up. This new framework couldn't actually 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.720 validate signing keys properly. It couldn't really tell the difference 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:20.720 between a consumer key and an enterprise key, and unless 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:25.840 system administrators had taken some pretty extraordinary steps, assuming that 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.720 Microsoft had not addressed this and automated the validation process, 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.000 which is a weird assumption to make, Like you would 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.040 assume that all of this would be taken care of 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.760 on Microsoft side, so there was no reason to take 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.480 these extraordinary steps. Well, unless you had taken those steps, 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.520 it meant that your system was potentially vulnerable to this attack. 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:51.080 And that's in fact what happened. That was the perfect storm, 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.120 and a lot of it ends up being the sole 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:57.560 responsibility of Microsoft itself. It actually gets way more technical 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.240 than the overview I just gave. I gave a very 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.319 very oversimplified version of what happened, But if you would 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.400 like to read up on the details, I recommend checking 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.760 out an article in Ours Technika. It's titled Microsoft finally 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:16.480 explains cause of Azure breach and engineer's account was hacked. 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.920 It goes into more detail and explains on a technical 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.640 level what was happening. So if you want to check 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:27.199 that out, I recommend it. Okay, we have now come 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.000 up to the section of tech news I like to 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:33.440 call AII because it's all about AI and so leading 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:39.440 the charge is Go Media that's the parent company of Gizmodo. So, 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.560 according to the Verge, on August twenty ninth, Geomedia fired 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:48.280 the entire staff of Gizmoto and Espanol, which, as I'm 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.920 sure you've gathered, is the Spanish language version of Gizmodo. 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:57.079 So the company replaced the staff with AI translators so 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:01.439 they would translate the English language articles into space Now. 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.880 Articles on the Spanish language site include a bit at 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:06.480 the end of the article at the bottom of the 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.400 page that says something like contents have been automatically translated 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.720 from the original. Due to the nuances of machine translation, 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.840 there can be slight differences. Well, readers have reported some 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:21.600 slight differences and some major ones too. They say that 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.840 this tool is far from perfect. They say there are 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.880 examples of articles that start in Spanish but then at 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.200 some way through the article, they change to English and 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.360 stay that way. As many have pointed out in recent months, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.720 the shift toward using AI for content creation or even 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:43.040 auto translation isn't necessarily as cost saving or labor saving 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.560 as you might first imagine, because you have issues with 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:52.600 factual errors, technical hiccups, the AI hallucinating and inventing information 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.240 that is incorrect, and that means that humans still have 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.360 to pour over AI's work to make sure that the 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:01.800 work is right. And at some point you have to 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.240 ask yourself the question, isn't it just easier and smarter 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:07.760 to just use humans rather than to have to deal 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:11.240 with all the instances of robot goofa mups? But then, 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.680 what do I know? Just a dumb human. Earlier this year, 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:19.320 a music creator with the handle ghost writer made headlines 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.280 when they released a song they had written called Heart 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.200 on My Sleeve. This was the song that was voiced 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:29.439 by an AI version of real human artists Drake and 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.280 The Weekend, and that prompted a big old brew haha 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.559 in the music industry. Music companies argued that it was 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:41.040 a copyright violation. That doesn't track for me at all 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:47.280 because ghostwriter apparently wrote the actual song. So Ghostwriter has 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.480 the copyright for the song, at least the lyrics and 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:54.839 presumably the music, and you can't copyright a person's voice. 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.280 So I don't know where you could actually argue, you know, 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.760 in a valid way, that this is a copyright violation. 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.040 But the issue raised a lot of questions and it 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.360 pointed out that there are some big old gaps that 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.360 we have in IP law as far as AI generated 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:16.040 content goes. And now The Verge reports that one Ghostwriter 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.440 has released a new song called Whiplash that features AI 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:23.360 impressions of Travis Scott and twenty one Savage and two 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.679 Ghostwriter has posted a message stating that they're going to 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.920 release a record of music with impersonated voices if the 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.040 artists who were impersonated sign off on it. So it's 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.680 not that Ghostwriter is saying this is going out. You know, 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.840 I'm gonna sell this whether you like it or not. 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.320 Ghostwriter saying, if you consent, then we'll start selling this 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.800 and I'll direct royalties to you. So you're gonna make 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.120 money and you never had to do anything now. According 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:55.600 to Harvey Mason, junior head of the Recording Academy, the 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.760 other thing Ghostwriter wants to do is a distinct possibility, 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.680 which is ghostwriter wants to submit Hard on My Sleeve 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:07.720 for Grammy consideration. The Recording Academy is the organization that 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.480 essentially runs the Grammys, and so the head of the 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.560 Academy says, well, from a creative standpoint, he totally or 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:19.679 they totally can submit this song for consideration because it 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:21.880 was written by a human. Might not have been performed 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:23.959 by one, but it was written by one. That's all 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:28.120 that matters. However, there are other metrics that the song 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.440 has to meet in order to qualify for consideration. These 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.960 are metrics that involve things like distribution, and because so 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.920 many platforms pulled the song after being pressured by the 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:46.120 music labels, chances are this song does not meet those qualifications. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.760 So I don't think it's going to be considered for 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.440 a Grammy, not because of the creative side, but because 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.280 of the business side. But according to the head of 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:03.280 Recording Academy, it totally could be Grammy eligible. Interesting. Okay, 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.160 We've got a lot more stories to cover before we 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.720 wrap up today, but first let's take a quick break 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:21.800 to thank our sponsors. NBC News reports that platforms like 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:29.400 Instagram and TikTok are being inundated with sexualized AI generated content. Essentially, 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:33.680 we're talking about chatbots and AI generated images. Here. The 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:37.640 news agency found thirty five app developers running more than 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.400 one thousand ads for these kinds of services on Meta's 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.840 various platforms, and that's notable for a few reasons. A 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.600 big one is that Meta has really cracked down hard 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:52.760 on sexualized content from human beings, so people like sex 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.200 workers have been pushed off the platform. Companies that make 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.800 sexual aids and sexual toys have been deny aid the 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.160 ability to run ads on the platform. And yet here 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:09.200 we have this influx of AI powered services, adult oriented 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:13.240 services that aren't just appearing on the platform. They're running 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:18.120 in ads like this is this is a paid service there, 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.040 they're working with Meta. And yet despite the fact that 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.400 Meta has cracked down on this in these other situations, 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.680 they don't seem to have done it here. The same thing, 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.680 or a very similar thing is happening over at TikTok. 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.640 NBC only found fourteen app developers running ads over there, however, 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.760 and there's a lot going on here. Obviously, there's this 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.760 double standard that disenfranchises you know, human beings who are 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.280 working in this space, but doesn't do that to AI. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:50.080 And then there's the concern about security and privacy. This 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.920 is my big concern because we already know that AI 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.280 can be real loosey goosey with your private information, right Like, 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.680 if the AI model is taking the stuff you communicate 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.760 to the model in account, then you are feeding that 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.240 AI model, which then can regurgitate the stuff you fed 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:13.320 to it to other people. So maybe you don't want 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:17.440 to express your most intimate desires and preferences to an 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.840 AI chatbot. It just might not turn out so well 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:24.640 for you in the long run anyway. NBC News rightfully 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.560 raises the question as to why these AI powered ads 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.720 seem to be getting a pass when it would be 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.280 against the rules for a human to post something similar. 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.480 I don't know, maybe the robots already got to them. 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.560 Starting in November, Google will require political ads that rely 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:45.240 on AI for content generation to prominently disclose the involvement 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:50.280 of the AI. Specifically, Google will require ads that contain 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:55.360 quote synthetic content end quote that appears to show realistic 0:16:55.440 --> 0:17:00.760 people or events to label it as such. So let's say, 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.640 for example, that you had a political ad and it 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.000 shows a certain politician appearing at a certain event, and 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:12.120 that event is absolutely overflowing with a huge, enthusiastic, supportive audience. 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.119 But perhaps in reality they did appear at an event, 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.800 but maybe it was poorly attended. So AI has been 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.440 used to generate this crowd. Well, the ad would need 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:26.920 to disclose that it had used AI to augment these images. 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.440 I don't think it would have to get as granular 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.880 as to say what actually was done to the images, 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.480 but it would have to alert you that AI was 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.680 used as part of that ad generation. Now there is 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.679 a threshold here. If someone were just using AI to 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.840 do some minor tweaks like removing red eye or something 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.800 like that, they don't have to disclose that. That doesn't 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.520 meet the criteria. But if you're doing something like making 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.159 someone appear someone that somewhere where they weren't or with 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.800 someone who was not there, anything like that, that would 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.040 have to be disclosed. All right, we are now done 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.400 with AI for this episode, but I'm not done with Google. 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.920 YouTube is removing some control options for content creators when 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.600 it comes to ads. So right now a content creator 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.360 has a decent amount of freedom of where they will 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:23.840 allow ads to run against monetized content. So, for example, 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:28.399 a lot of ASMR artists will allow pre roll ads 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.760 these are the ads that play before a video plays, 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.399 but they turn off mid roll ads, which of course 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:38.240 play in the middle of a video. Like the video stops, 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:39.880 you get an ad and then the video keeps going, 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.120 kind of like the ads in this podcast. Also, they'll 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.840 turn off post roll ads. Those are the ads that 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.320 play after a video has finished playing. And the reason 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.000 why ASMR artists turn off mid role in post roll 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.879 ads as a rule is because they can be really 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:59.280 jarring to listen to if you are using ASMR to 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.399 try and relax or to lull yourself to sleep, because 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:06.280 chances are having some obnoxious ad playing right after the 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.800 video ends will kind of spoil the effect anyway. YouTube's 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.200 changes mean that creators can select whether or not ads 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:16.439 can play on either side of a video, but they 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.640 don't get to choose whether those ads will be pre 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.840 roll or post roll or both. They can say yes, 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.280 I will allow ads to play before or after, but 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.800 they don't get to say which one. Just it's before 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:34.040 or after collectively, and YouTube gets to decide whether the 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.840 ads will play before the video or after the video 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.560 or both. They also are not going to be able 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:42.840 to choose whether or not the ads are skippable or 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.320 non skippable. There are also going to be some other 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.880 changes to things like mineral ads as well, but they're 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.440 not quite to the extreme that I just mentioned. And 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:53.919 for a lot of content creators this may not be 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:58.040 that disruptive, but for folks in the meditation or ASMR 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:02.480 or relaxation spaces, it's causing a lot of anxiety. Heads 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:06.320 up to Chrome users, Google has been rolling out an 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:11.359 enhanced ad privacy feature. Some might say this feature is 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:15.719 perhaps a bit misleading because the name when have you think, Ah, 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:19.680 this feature will help keep my data private from advertisers. 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.960 Now it kind of does that, but it kind of doesn't. 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:29.280 So this ties into an application programming interface that's called Topics, 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.679 the Topics API, and what's going on here is that 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:37.360 Chrome uses your browser history to serve you targeted ads. 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.880 So based upon the kinds of sites you visit and 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.680 how often you visit them and how long you stay there, 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.239 Chrome will be able to serve ads to you that 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:50.199 it judges are more relevant to your interests. So Topics 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:54.080 is supposed to help replace third party cookies something that 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.959 Chrome will stop supporting in the not too distant future. 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.920 Cookies can act as trackers for your behavior across the web. 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.880 So the benefit of topics, according to Google, is that 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.560 it doesn't hand your browser history over to advertisers. It 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.720 doesn't explicitly say, oh, you went to site X, site y, 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.600 and site z. Instead, what Google does is hold on 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.960 to that information and it just indicates the types of 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.959 stuff you're interested in. So for me, it might tell 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:28.240 an advertiser something about me without going into details. So 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.160 for example, it would not say, oh, yeah, Jonathan, he's 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.080 on the I Fix It page like five times a week. 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.159 It wouldn't say that. Instead, it might say Jonathan is 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:42.040 interested in technology, gadgets, dioy repair, et cetera. And you 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.800 can argue that's an improvement, right, Like, it's not as 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.199 explicit as listing out all the different specific sites you 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.400 went to. But the way Google has rolled this out 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.280 has left some people upset because users are seeing a 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:58.280 pop up that alerts them to the enhanced privacy from ads. 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:02.159 But what this really means is that it's already opting 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:07.959 you into this browser history rec recording feature that Google 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:10.800 that you're enabling this, you're enabling Google to use your 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.639 browser history as a way to target ads to you. Like, 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:17.440 that's that's what happens. If you just hit got it, 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:20.960 it just it opts you in. And people are saying, oh, 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.960 it makes it sound like by the name of the 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:26.800 feature that if you hit got it it opts you out. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:29.240 The opposite is true. It opts you in, And in 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:31.359 order to opt out, you then have to go to 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:35.520 your browser settings, go to the privacy settings. There's a 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.399 selection called ad privacy. If you do that, then you 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:41.320 can go in and turn off this feature, but you 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:43.360 have to do it manually at that point because you've 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.679 already said got it. Well they got me because I 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:51.320 said got it. I probably didn't read it properly. But 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:53.400 even if I had, like, there's a chance I would 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:55.760 have just thought, oh, by clicking got it, it means 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:58.919 I've opted to be out of this program, when in 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:01.520 fact the opposite was true. And when I went into 0:23:01.520 --> 0:23:04.160 the settings, that's what I saw. The settings were all 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:06.640 turned on and I needed to turn them off manually. 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:09.800 So just want to let you folks know that, so 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:12.360 that if you use Chrome, you can go into those 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.399 privacy settings check that ad privacy. See if it's on, 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:17.320 and you know, if you have no problem with that, 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:19.879 that's fine, just leave it on. But if, like me, 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:22.800 you thought you were opting out and it turns out 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:26.119 you were opting in, you might want to make some changes. Okay, 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:28.959 I've got some more news stories to come, but before 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:42.520 we jump into all of that, let's take another quick break. Okay, 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:47.160 quick story here. The FAA is extending how far UPS 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:50.479 is allowed to fly delivery drones. So this week the 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:54.199 FAA updated its rules and will allow deliveries that go 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:58.919 beyond line of sight. So previously, an operator or a 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:03.680 spotter need to be able to maintain eyes maintain sight 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:07.200 on a delivery drone as it was dropping off a package, which, 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:10.320 of course, you could argue eliminates the benefits of having 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:12.520 a delivery drone in the first place. So now, for 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:16.360 the first time, companies will not have to employ spotters 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:18.359 to keep an eye on a drone as it makes 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:21.159 its way to the drop off. So the days of 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:25.600 robots delivering our small packages are closer than ever. Next up, 0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:28.520 have you ever had the problem of running out of 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:31.560 disk space? Maybe it was on a video game console 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:35.200 and it told you that no, you cannot download Starfield 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:38.320 because your console's disk drive is already full, so you're 0:24:38.320 --> 0:24:41.199 gonna have to uninstall some stuff to make room, or 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:45.240 maybe you've encountered it on a work or home PC. Well, 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:47.679 if you have, just be comforted in knowing that you 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:51.600 are not alone. Because last week, a disk capacity issue 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:57.199 shut down Toyota, like all of Toyota's assembly plants in 0:24:57.280 --> 0:25:01.680 Japan had to shut down, and some of the company's 0:25:01.800 --> 0:25:05.159