WEBVTT - The Top Tech News Stories of 2012: Part 1 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.440 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:13.680 stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, and welcome to 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:15.720 tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and I'm an 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.360 editor at how stuff works dot com. Sitting here crushed 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.680 me as always, his senior writer, Jonathan Strickland c is 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.759 for cookie. That's good enough for me. And it was 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.040 just a moment ago. Yes, I told Tyler I was 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:30.440 ready to go. He was ready to hit record, and 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:32.560 then took a big bite out of a cookie because 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:37.160 that's professional, to be fair. That cookie was was looking 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.600 at me funny and now it's not because it has 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:47.200 no head, the snowman cookie. Yeah, holidays, and and saying 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:52.000 that we are approaching the end of two thousand twelve. Um, 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.760 it's it's been a different sort of year for tech. 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.000 We decided to do a year wrap up in tech 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.320 and um this year. I mean that's the kind of 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.480 article that appears on virtually every website that has to 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.200 do with anything. Um. You know, the news sites have 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.039 this year, and news and the entertainment websites have the 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.839 you know, the who got divorced, who got divorced, who 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.440 who passed away? And those kinds of things. We all 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.080 like reading these kinds of articles. Um, but um, you know, 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.640 I've been going back through things. It seems like this 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.399 year we didn't We had a lot of news, but 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.520 there weren't these big, kind of monumental things that have 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.160 happened like in years past, which is weird. See I 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:33.959 look back at two thousand and twelve and I see 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.400 some pretty major stories. I mean, things that I think 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.240 of as having the potential to affect technology well into 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:46.160 the future. But I mean you could argue that there 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.800 was nothing as big as say Steve Jobs passing away 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.160 that was such a huge story in two thousand eleven 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:56.360 that you know, there wasn't anything of that sort of 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.280 nothing that had that kind of spectacle around it, right, 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:06.240 or or or things that were really fun in tech. Right. Yeah, 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.560 there weren't a couple of stories, but nothing again, nothing 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.959 that was like, uh, the debut of a brand new 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.000 technology that just blew everyone away, like you know again, 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.280 like the iPad when it came out of Grant. Don't 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.280 don't yell at me, people, I know the iPad wasn't 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.240 brand new in the sense that tablet computers have been 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.280 around since the nineties, but it was the first one 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.720 to really kind of be a success in the consumer 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.120 market or or even you know when the keep sticking 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.360 with Apple, but they really are good at introducing form 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.320 factors and making them work in the marketplace. But the iPhone, 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.480 you know, that making that was the big news because 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.280 it created the smartphone market in the consumer um world, 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.960 in the in the Western hemisphere anyway. UM, I didn't 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.200 really have any of that this year. UM. I was 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.240 going to say that part of the reason why those 0:02:55.560 --> 0:03:00.200 were so successful as quote unquote big news story eas 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.680 is partially because um, you know, the PR push behind it, 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.240 and UM the impact that that had. I think that that, 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:13.640 of course, UM escalated those particular stories for Apple. Apples 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.839 talented it at at generating prum And we should point 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.760 out so we are not We're not like trying to 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.600 say that Apple is the greatest company ever. They just 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:28.800 have a real success with this PR push that Chris 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.359 is talking about. So I want to point that out 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.720 because I used to be accused of having an anti 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:35.960 Mac bias, and I don't want people saying that now 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:41.160 I'm a pro Apple bias. It's not true. He really 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:45.560 enjoyed that that reputation. I did for for a while. 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.000 The one iTunes comment lasted me a good two years, 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.600 two and a half years, something like that. But let's 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.240 let's start off with talking about two thousand twelve and 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:55.920 some of the big stories and some of the things 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.040 that happened. UM. I was gonna start off by talking 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.560 about c E S two thousand twelve because that sort 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.840 of opens the year, especially within the first week or 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:08.000 week and a half of January, and U C S 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:12.720 two thousand twelve introduced several different technologies. Mostly it was 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.120 a lot of incremental improvements on existing tech, So we 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.520 saw a lot of super thin TVs, saw a few 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.120 ultra high definition television sets being bandied about, mostly in 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:27.520 the prototype stage. I expect that in two thousand thirteen 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.520 will see a lot more of those at c E 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.840 S UM. In fact, it would shock me to not 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.719 see at least a dozen, you know, four K type 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.960 sets at c E S and two thousand thirteen. But uh, 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.520 those were general trends. Didn't see as much three D 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.000 in two thousand and twelve as we had in years past. 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:53.200 I think the consumer reaction to three D has been lackluster, 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.680 and so it's sort of has set that to the side. 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.200 I mean, you still have a lot of television. They 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.559 are three D capable, but that doesn't seem to be 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:08.640 featured as a, you know, a killer feature anymore. But 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.520 the there was a few things that came out in 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.680 two thousand twelve at ces that caught attention. Ultra books 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:19.680 debuted at ces UM. They have not really done that 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.320 well in the market, but they are you know, high performance, 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:29.920 sleek laptop computers and they have there's a very specific 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.200 set of parameters that you have to follow in order 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.440 to be considered an Ultra book. We actually did an 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.240 episode on it, so we won't really dive into it, 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.960 but those made kind of a splash at c S. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.440 I remember the Roku Streaming Stick was something that caught 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.520 a lot of attention at this idea of a a 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.560 USB like thumb drive sized device that was a Roku 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.320 box essentially in that format, you would plug it into 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.360 a USB port on a TV and it would give 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.760 the television the Roku uh feature set, so you could 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:06.560 watch streaming video over your over the Internet through your 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.800 television and not have to hook up an actual set 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.159 top box, which was kind of cool. And that's actually 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.360 on sale now, so that that did come to market 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.880 because sometimes we see things that sees that are awesome 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.600 but never go anywhere. Um, And it seems like that 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:26.039 is an form factor improvement, um, which which would in 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:28.760 a way sort of exemplify what I was trying to 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.400 say a minute ago, which is, um, you know, we'd 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.640 had Roku devices out there. Um. This, you know, was 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.560 a big improvement in in form factors. You know, much 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.440 tinier than the box. You could plug it right into 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:44.479 the side of the TV itself. Um, but you know, 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:49.400 doesn't generate the same kind of story as a brand 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.479 new O. MG, this is a really cool thing. You 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.280 should check it out sort of news story, right right. Yeah, 0:06:55.320 --> 0:07:00.520 there wasn't anything that was so revolutionary as to uh 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.760 to really become v Darling of c E S two 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:07.240 thousand and twelve. There there weren't any technologies I can 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:11.680 think of that were so uh buzzworthy as to capture 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.400 everyone's attention. Uh. I think the coolest thing I saw 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.120 there was the maker Butt replicator. You know, three D 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.760 printers are awesome, and maker Butt creates a pretty compelling one. 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.880 So yeah, now, UM, you know these devices, we talked 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.680 about those a long time ago too. We discussed rapid prototyping. 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.960 Three D printers aren't brand new, but Jonathan's right that 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.800 the topic has come up quite a lot in the 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:43.640 news in uh simply because um maker bought in some 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:48.120 a handful of other companies have made them more I 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.840 won't say affordable, I will say more affordable than they 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.200 used to be. That the kind of thing too that 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.400 has a form factor where you can PLoP it down 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.600 on your very large desk and uh you know they're 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:03.120 there's it's starting to make it possible to create your 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.440 own uh stuff from scratch, and we'll introduce I think 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:09.640 it's funny. I think we're sort of in between on 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.240 that news cycle because now that we have three D 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.880 stuff available to us to print, you know, in this context, 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.559 um it's still kind of expensive. But now we're starting 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:27.000 to see organizations um upset with the idea of three 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.920 D printing because now you can go print your own 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.280 things that maybe under copyright. And I think that will 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.760 be the big story going forward. You'll see more of that. 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.040 It's already started, but it's not really hit the mainstream news. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:46.480 Like I could see Ikea becoming a big um uh 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.440 critic of this sort of technology, right because you could 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.800 go and you could say, hey, I really love this 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.679 design of this chair, but why would I buy this 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.800 chair when I can just print it at home, or 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.240 I can I can maybe even tweak this design a 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:03.760 little bit, not so much that you know, you can't 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.440 tell where it came from, but just a little bit 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:08.600 like I just want to add this one little element 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:13.040 to it. Yeah, that could definitely become a thing. Um 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.640 So those were sort of the items we saw at 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.480 CES two thousand twelve. Again, nothing that really jumped out, 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.600 but uh, but some interesting improvements on stuff. I also 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.480 had a great time at c S two thousand twelve 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.800 because I got to hang out with some of my 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:34.120 my yeah peers in the technology space, so folks like 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:38.080 Tom Merritt and I his actar and um uh you know, 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.480 uh Will Harris, and it was it was a great time. 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.640 But I'm looking forward to two thousand and thirteen to 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.360 see what what news stuff will come out. Moving into 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.880 actual some news stories in two thousand twelve, The first 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:56.320 one I have is the raid on the on Kim 0:09:56.400 --> 0:10:01.040 dot COM's house in New Zealand, the I Got upload 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:06.720 raid that was done as part of a joint effort 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:11.559 between United States federal agents and New Zealand police officers, 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.640 and we did the whole episode about Mega Upload. So 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.040 again I won't go too far into this, but that 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.040 was you know, that was a big deal. The idea 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:26.640 of this international crackdown on someone who was accused of 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:31.720 creating a service that is essentially, according at least according 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:37.640 to the allegations, essentially designed to allow piracy uh of 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.640 intellectual property, and that that was the main purpose of 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:42.960 the site. Now whether or not that really is the 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.520 main purpose of the site is completely debatable, but that's 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:50.400 essentially the allegation and the rate made big news, I 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.320 mean from for a good part of two thousand and twelve. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.520 It was a story that unraveled throughout the months of 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:01.840 two thousand twelve where we learned that, uh, the agents 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.960 acted without complete authorization. They didn't have all the paperwork 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.959 necessary to conduct the raid that they did, so that 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:15.800 caused some problems. Uh. There's also questions about whether or 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:20.920 not it was even legal for the United States agents 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.480 to get involved in something that was not a US 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.320 centric matter. You're talking about a company that's based out 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.520 of Hong Kong and a the leader of the company 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.960 was a resident of New Zealand. So there were a 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.960 lot of issues that came up about this, and this 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.480 story has not concluded. It's still playing out, so it's 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:46.000 gonna continue on into two thousand their team. Although I 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.720 should say we are recording this at the beginning of 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.160 December two thousand twelve, so technically there will be a 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.280 month's worth of stuff that could potentially happen between when 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.760 we record this and when it publishes, in which case 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.360 we'll just say we were running long and we had 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:04.400 to end our episode. Oh, I thought you were going 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.240 to say that. We just didn't want to offer any 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.280 spoiler alert. We knew about it, just in case some 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.439 of you guys are pirating the episodes before we published them, 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:19.400 which would be quite a feat. Please don't try. Actually, 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.880 here's a here's an example of the very kind of 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.520 thing that you're talking about, because, um, not long ago, 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.640 we also recorded another big legal thing that affected the 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:33.440 world of tech, which is UH famous tech um entrepreneur 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:38.680 John McAfee being uh and a person of interest in 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:44.120 a murder case in Belize where he's been living. Um 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:49.680 he had been in in his in his parlance, he 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.240 had been sort of harassed by the authorities because apparently 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.880 they thought that he was into the manufacture of illegal drugs, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:01.360 which he says he wasn't. Uh and uh. When he 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:06.200 saw the authorities approaching his home after a neighbor UM 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:10.040 was found dead, UM not far from his property, not 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.040 far from his property, UM, he thought the authorities were 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.760 coming to at least at what he claims is that 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.240 he thought that they were coming to harass him about 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.960 drugs again, so he UM he high tailed it out 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.680 of there, if you will. And UM has been on 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:29.600 the run up until UM really right, not immediately, but 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.520 in a couple of days before we recorded this, in 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.840 between the time we recorded that podcast a few weeks 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.800 ago and now he's been apprehended in Guatemala trying to 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:44.120 enter the country illegally. UM. Of course, the police still say, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:45.800 as at the time we're recording this, that he's not 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:48.920 wanted for the murder of this person. But is they 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.440 want to ask him some questions. Is a person of interest? 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:55.680 I mean he he had a history of disagreements with 0:13:55.720 --> 0:14:02.120 this neighbor. And UM also has in the past perhaps 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.280 associated himself with people who are not on the up 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.079 and up. There have been a few indicators that would 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.600 make him a person of interest within the mean, just 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.480 the fact that he lived near the guy was enough 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.199 to make him a person of a person of interest. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.440 Plus the fact that the guy's body was found not 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:23.120 far from McAfee's UH property makes him a person of 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.680 interest at least as far as asking and finding out 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.720 what really did happen. And yeah, we still don't know 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.160 all the details on that one. Yeah, but of course 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:33.960 this episode goes live, it may all be out in 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:37.680 the open, but at the moment we don't know. Of course, 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:42.160 I'm McAfee's name is still synonymous with UM virus protection. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.400 They they intel about the company some time ago, but 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.200 they still use McAfee as the name for their their 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:53.640 virus software. So UM the news reports coming out about 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.680 him this year sort of brought the founder of that 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:01.040 company back into UM, back into the public eye. And 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.000 you know a lot of us had said, really, the 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.120 guy who came up with the virus software is the 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.120 guy who was a person of interest in this murder case. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:13.240 That's very, very strange. Back at the very beginning of 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:17.800 two thousand twelve, we had the Internet blackout Day, which 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.520 was in relation to UH, to a couple of different 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:24.800 proposed pieces of legislation and in the in Congress uh 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:29.720 Sopa and Pippa, both of which were about protecting intellectual property, 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:34.800 and critics of these pieces of legislation said that the 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.160 the powers that were being given to the government far 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:43.560 exceeded what was necessary to protect intellectual property, and in fact, 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:49.840 potentially went well beyond what any country, any sovereign country, 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:54.000 could do, because these these pieces of legislation specifically concerned 0:15:54.040 --> 0:16:00.000 themselves with intellectual property theft that happens outside the borders 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.240 of the United States. So if you have let's say 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.640 you're you're are a United States company, and you are 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:10.280 you're an owner of a lot of intellectual property. So 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:12.600 let's say you're a movie studio, because that's a good example. 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.080 So you're a United States movie studio and you're concerned 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:21.680 because your movies are being pirated and uploaded onto servers 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.600 that are in China, and you know, how do you 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:27.960 how do you pursue a complaint against that It's in 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.840 a different country. Uh, the country may or may not 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.240 be sympathetic at all toward the intellectual property rights holder. 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:37.560 They may not care, or they may not They may 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.360 have other concerns that are so great as that they 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:46.120 cannot dedicate time to that problem. So sopen people were 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.920 really about trying to find ways to cut off access 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.680 to sites like that, essentially to to shut down the 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.600 pathways that people could use to get to sites that 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:02.320 were alleged to have piracy on them pirated material on them. 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.320 But the problem is this could really cause issues with 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:09.440 the way the Internet works and how how you navigate places. Also, 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.240 it raised questions of well, what happens if the the 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:17.000 data there was not violating intellectual property? I mean, where's 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:21.160 where is the protection for innocence out there? How many 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.880 innocent websites could get shut down or not necessarily even 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.520 shut down, just the access itself would be blocked to 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.720 anyone in the United States. Beyond that, people who were 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.280 critics of this these pieces of legislation pointed out that 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.080 there were ways around it that anyone who was determined 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.639 to get at that material could do so using a 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.639 couple of different workarounds, some of which were really really simple. 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:50.560 And so the argument was that this legislation could do 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.840 more harm than than good, and ultimately it won't protect 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.199 the intellectual property rights holders the way it's intended to, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.000 So it doesn't work and it would break stuff. Therefore 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.880 it's bad, And a lot of websites ended up having 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.159 a policy where in January two thousand twelve, they had 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:14.399 UM they would do a blackout where if you visited 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.320 the site, you would either get a message just saying 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.520 that the site was completely offline as part of a 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.439 protest against this legislation, or it would be a landing 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:26.320 page that would give you a little information about the 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:28.360 legislation and then you have to click through to get 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.560 to the real site. But UM, it was a big deal, 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:40.480 and the legislation ultimately was withdrawn after after receiving heaps 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:45.240 of criticism, although I don't expect that to just mean 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.720 that the issue itself will go away, particularly since the 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.679 people who were responsible for the legislation are many of 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.840 whom are still in Congress. After the elections. They were 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.480 either either they were not up for re election and 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.040 so there's still serving their terms, or several of them 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.960 were reelected. So it could very well be that we'll 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.040 just see a different version of the same sort of 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:15.800 um legislation passed through Congress again. Yeah, and another uh 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:23.199 sort of political um. It's sort of political bent to 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:25.600 the to the tech world this year it happened outside 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.040 the United States and again recently as of the time 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.080 we're recording this UM. You know, there's there's been a 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:35.440 big armed conflict this year in Syria and UM just 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.440 not too long ago. UM. I guess about a week 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.960 or so before we record this UM, the entire Internet 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.040 was cut off to Syria or or mostly cut off. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.600 And UH it's still UM at least according to my research. 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:55.159 It's still somewhat unclear UM as to the cause of that, 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:58.879 whether the government actually had it shut off, or whether 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:03.680 there was some kind of UM the government actually claims 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:09.120 or that UM that rebels Syrian rebels had UM cut 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:13.960 off access to the Internet, although it seems that some organizations, 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:19.360 probably the governmental organizations, still had access to the country's 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.000 UM Internet connection. UH, it was actually cut off, not 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:25.359 not for very long period of time, only for for 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.679 a few days. UM. But you know, it's one of 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.760 those things where people were wondering whether or not UM 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:34.840 both sides in that conflict would be able to tell 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.560 their story via the Internet. I mean, that's been been 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.320 pretty common over the past few years, the ability for 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.480 UM people who are UH speaking out against the government 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:47.119 in their countries to be able to use Twitter and 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.800 other social media to to communicate their ideas, to communicate 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:55.119 the beliefs, to organize protests. Um, of course that's some 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:00.000 that's been very common, especially with the Arab Spring upper 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.199 I think. So that wasn't this year really but actually 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:05.800 still that that kind of activity is still going on 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.800 in in Egypt as of the time when recording this too. 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.159 Um but um, but yeah, that was that was a 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:14.240 big story this year. That also happened in Libya where 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.240 the Libyan uh internet access was was cut off to 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:22.400 some degree. Um. It wasn't as uh colorful or actually 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.640 funny as the woman in two thousand eleven who cut 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:29.359 off internet access to Georgia and Armenia because she was 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:32.320 find she found a cable and wanted to sell the 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:34.720 copper in the cable, so she cut it and cut 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:40.760 off web access to the entire country. But apparently she 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:43.760 she had never heard of the Worldwide Web. Um, so 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:49.400 that's no one else over there ditt either. Um but yeah, 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:51.840 but that that is a conflict that appears to be 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.600 uh politically motivated as well. And staying in the world 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.119 of politics, of course, in the United States, we had 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:03.360 our our presidential election and that ended up the social 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:06.200 networking ended up playing a big part of that election. 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.280 And UM not a big surprise. I mean, we've we've 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:12.960 seen that in the previous elections as well, but it wasn't. 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:17.200 Again one of those uh stories that kind of UM 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:22.159 caused some amusement in that Uh. The Democratic Party had 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:26.600 their approach to managing social media and the Internet and 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:31.560 communication as far as communicating out to supporters, you know, 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:35.960 ways to to uh get get out the word for 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:39.440 people to vote, and the Republican had Republicans had their 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:44.240 side as well, which famously did not work so great 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.600 a couple of times. UM. As a matter of fact, 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:53.760 the Republicans tool, which was nicknamed Orca um crashed on 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.640 the election day. And both both tools were had had 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.520 similar purposes, they went about it in different ways. Orca 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:06.640 and and Narwhale, which is the Democrats uh software tool 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:09.240 that they used, we're both designed to get people out 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.880 there and get people to vote, um, but they went 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:15.040 about it in different ways. Rumor has it that the 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:19.000 Republicans chose Orca as the nickname for their tool because 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.640 they had already heard of Narwhale and Orca's prey on 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:28.840 Normal's it's a whale eat whale world. Orcas are not 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:31.360 technically whales. A whale of a tale to tell your 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:35.320 lad a whale of a tale or two. But um, 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:37.879 actually that's sort of a fascinating story. Is is the 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:42.080 tale the two software tools? But yeah, it's it's obvious 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:47.320 now that um, politics in at least in the United 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:53.320 States has been forever changed by social media and networked communication, uh, 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:58.240 mobile communication and you know, things like text messaging and 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:03.880 the ability to communicate to get the vote out. Um, 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:08.159 I don't think you will see another unplugged election, at 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:12.199 least not unless the world of NBC's revolution happens upon us. 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:16.320 The internet. I think Twitter has played such a big role. 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:19.520 I mean just just even if it's not a direct role, 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:23.480 whenever any event happened, it seemed like the part of 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.320 the story that would cover this would be how Twitter 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:30.520 reacted to that event, Like, within you know, x amount 0:24:30.520 --> 0:24:34.040 of time, over one million tweets went out about this 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:37.000 particular thing, that kind of thing. So we heard about 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:39.359