WEBVTT - Tech News: Twitter Gets a New CEO 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.760 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.320 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.919 and a lot of all things tech. And it's time 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:26.599 for the tech news for Tuesday, November one. And yes, 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.840 it's that time again. No, I don't mean the holidays, 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.839 I mean it's time for Jack Dorsey, Twitter co founder, 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:38.199 to step down as CEO of Twitter again. Dorsey co 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:40.640 founded Twitter all the way back in two thousand and 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.640 six with Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass. He 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.760 served as the CEO from two thousand six to two 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.640 thousand eight. Then he stepped aside for fellow co founder 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.720 Evan Williams to take over, and instead Dorsey assumed the 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.240 role of Chairman of the Board of Directors. Williams would 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.360 then step down after two years as CEO, and then 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:07.000 Dick Costolo, who was the former CEO of the company, 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:10.720 assumed the role of CEO, and when Costolo stepped down 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:15.360 in two thousand fifteen, Jack Dorsey returned as CEO. So 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:21.960 like Grover Cleveland, Dorsey served two nonconsecutive terms. Anyway, he 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:25.199 has resigned and says it's time for Twitter to move 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.960 away from its founders, and now the former c t 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:34.440 O of Twitter, parag Agri Wall, has become the new CEO. 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:39.440 For years, Dorsey has faced criticism because he also serves 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:43.039 as the head of Square, that is, the the online 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:47.160 payment processing company famous for producing the smartphone and tablet 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.120 peripherals that create a point of sale for small businesses. 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:55.560 Investors were concerned that his attention was too divided between 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:59.120 these different businesses, and Twitter has stalled out when it 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.680 comes to user growth. So it was on a steady 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.760 path of growth up through two thousand and fourteen, but 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.640 after that the growth began to slow down and even 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.600 level off. In fact, by the first quarter of two 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.720 thousand nineteen, Twitter announced it would no longer share its 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:19.720 monthly active user account. They had three different months in 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.600 a row in which the user number was on the 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:29.960 decline rather than growth, and yeah, reporting on monthly users 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.400 would make the company look stagnant and it would probably 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:37.560 worry investors and invite comparisons to other social networks like Facebook. 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.920 So there have been investors calling for Dorsey's resignation. For 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.600 a while. They've wanted to see Twitter shift into a 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:48.640 higher gear and get into growth mode again. So is 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:53.200 that actually possible. I honestly don't know. I suppose anything 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:55.960 is possible, but it would mean having to find a 0:02:56.000 --> 0:03:00.440 way to make Twitter relevant for younger users. Twitter excuse 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:05.919 older for social networks. Nearly its user base is between 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.959 the ages of twenty five and thirty five. The second 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.760 largest demographic group is aged between thirty five and forty nine, 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.519 so like more than half of Twitter's users are over 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.639 the age of anyway. At least some investors have expressed 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.880 approval of Dorsey's resident Nation, but they've also said they 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.280 were hoping to see someone from outside Twitter take control 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.240 rather than promotion from Insight, And of course it was 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.000 promoted from Insight, so we'll have to see what happens. Today, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.040 Twitter announced that it had updated its privacy and security 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.120 policy to extend additional protection towards quote unquote private media. 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.680 Twitter already will take action against users who publish other 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:52.200 people's private information without those people's consent, like you know, 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.840 a person's address or their phone number, or a picture 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:57.600 of their I D or you know, any kind of 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:02.720 other personal information. Now that protection also extends towards media 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:06.640 of private individuals without the permission from those individuals. So 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.160 if you snap a photo of that jerk face who 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:14.360 lives across the street without said jerk faces permission, and 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.400 then you share that photo to Twitter, you would technically 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:21.640 be violating this policy. Now, to be clear, Twitter hasn't 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.799 employed an army of reviewers or a ton of AI 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.760 bots to scour all the tweets and look for media 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.599 and then seek out the people in that media to 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.240 find out if they gave permission for that to be 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:39.080 shared or not. This is instead a reactive policy. So 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.599 if I go on Twitter and I see that that 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:43.919 jerk face who lives across the street has posted a 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.080 photo of me and I didn't give my permission, I 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.720 can contact Twitter and I can say hey, I didn't 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.480 say jerk face could do that, and Twitter will then 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.960 remove the tweet. Maybe because the policy actually does not 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:02.159 apply to quote media featuring blick figures or individuals when 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.920 media and accompanying tweet text are shared in the public 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:10.560 interest or add value to public discourse. End quote. Now, 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.880 I don't think I actually quite qualify as a public figure. 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.560 I'm not nearly notable enough to qualify for that status. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.160 But it does mean that if the jerk face who 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.520 lives across the street from me is I don't know 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.880 Justin Bieber, and and I snap a photo of him 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.320 and I share it. You know, you could argue that 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.320 since Biber is a public figure, that's still fair game, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.560 you know, the price of fame. And just because I'm 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.240 a bad singer and built baby, Baby Baby while I'm 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.080 walking my dog, you know, and then I get the 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:44.080 restraining order. What a jerk face. Once upon a time 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:49.000 there was no Alphabet company and Google was just Google. 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.920 And in this magical time, Google had an official motto, 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.360 and that motto was don't be evil. And I think 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:03.040 that's a pretty good motto to have, particularly when your 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.640 business depends so heavily upon knowing everything you could possibly 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:11.000 know about people who use your search engine. Because, as 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.400 I and lots of other people have said many many times, 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:20.760 Google's business is not search, it's advertising. And pairing advertising 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.880 with knowledge about the customer makes advertisements way more effective. 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.600 That means they're more valuable, and that means Google can 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.120 make way more money from selling them. And being the 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.080 dominant player in the search engine world means Google has 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.520 no shortage of revenue generators out there. That is people 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:44.400 using Google Search anyway. Don't be evil. It's a good motto. Well, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:48.240 three former Google employees have brought a lawsuit against the 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.960 company for breach of contract. The employees, all three of 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.320 whom were fired on the same day, say that Google 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.919 failed to live up to its own code of conduct, 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:02.120 as spelled out an employee agree mints see in twenty fifteen, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.560 when Google formed Alphabet as a parent company, it also 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.600 dropped the don't be evil motto. You know that was strange, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:14.080 wasn't it. But that phrase still exists in the employee agreements, 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.880 which says, in part, quote remember don't be evil, and 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.360 if you see something that you think isn't right, speak 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:25.000 up end quote. Well, these three employees, Sophie Waldman, Paul Duke, 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.440 and Rebecca Rivers, say they were fired after they spoke 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:33.400 out against Google the company while uh IT was signing 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.160 a contract with the Customs and Border Protection in the 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.800 United States in order to provide cloud computing services to 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:44.320 that institution. Now, this was during Trump's presidency, at the 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:49.200 height of xenophobic propaganda that painted immigrants legal and non 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.880 legal alike with a fearful and racist brush. Not to 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.880 mention the department was separating and caging families at the time. 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.520 The three employees were all fired on November twenty five, 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:05.600 two nineteen. Google's explanation was that the employees were leaking 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.680 confidential information and we're nosing around internal Google systems that 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:15.240 was outside their scope of work. The former employees they 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:17.560 they deny this, and they also state that they were 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:21.280 fired after they circulated a petition among other Google employees 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:26.160 asking them to show their disapproval for this cloud services contract. 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.480 I'll keep an eye on this lawsuit as it moves 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:30.640 through the court system to see how it all pans out, 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.000 though if it does go beyond a settlement, I'll be 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:38.400 really surprised. Last week, various news outlets reported that an 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.240 internal survey at Facebook revealed that a significant number of 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:46.280 Facebook staff are losing confidence in the company's leadership, with 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.320 fewer than half of respondents indicating that they intend to 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:54.079 stay with the company. That being said, I would argue 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.520 the survey is really more of a way to send 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.280 a message to upper management and executive management. It not 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.200 necessarily an indicator that we're going to see like more 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.320 than half of Facebook employees just turn in their two 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.840 weeks notice anytime soon. I don't expect that to happen. 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:15.880 The same survey indicated that most employees like their direct managers, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.239 so they like the people who are directly over them. 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.240 That seems to say that it really is an issue 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:26.960 with the executive management level as the source for employee concerns. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.320 This isn't that big of a surprise, considering how Facebook 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:33.160 has been in the center of some really ugly stories 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.120 over the last several years in general, and the last 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.880 few months in particular, positive responses indicating confidence in leadership 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.439 were down to so more than half of those surveyed 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:51.720 indicated a lack of confidence in leadership. Um, that's not great, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.000 and I guess I should say that, you know, we're 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:58.040 really talking about the company Meta, not Facebook. But old 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.760 habits are hard to break. I will frequently refer to 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.560 Facebook the company, um, you know, as Facebook, as opposed 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.160 to Meta. Anyway, as more outlets cover this story this week, 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.000 including you know, tech stuff, I imagine that executives at 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.920 Facebook are paying a little bit more attention to that survey. Now. 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.120 I don't know that they actually want to change anything 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.920 at the company. I mean, they probably want to change 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.520 how they word the questions in the survey so that 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.840 they get better responses. It might be a little cynical. 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.240 Speaking of Facebook slash Meta, the company in May of 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:35.640 twenty twenty acquired animated gift depository Giffee for a cool 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.640 three hundred fifteen million dollars and that appeared to be 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:45.480 that that is until a UK antitrust regulation organization stepped 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:49.240 in that says that Meta will have to now sell 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.160 off Giffee. After all, they will have to get rid 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.440 of it. The regulators say that Meta buying up Giffee 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:59.720 gives Facebook or rather you know, Meta slash Facebook and 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.040 avantage over other social media platforms that also use Giffe, 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.880 like TikTok and stuff like that, and that it would 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:12.800 simultaneously remove a potential Facebook competitor from the market. This 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.560 would be in the ads space. So essentially, what they're 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.800 saying is that Giffe and Facebook could potentially court the 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:24.160 same advertisers. But if Facebook buys Giffe like it did, 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:28.079 then that means there's a reduction of choice for those advertisers. 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.600 They can't choose to go with Facebook or Giffy because 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:36.120 Facebook gobbled up Giffe, thus a loss in competition. It's 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.600 interesting that a UK based regulatory body could enforce an 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:44.640 acquisition reversal on two US based companies, but in fact 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:48.200 it does have that authority. The regulators have jurisdiction over 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.520 acquisitions that represent at least a control of a market 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.760 within the UK, so unless Facebook decides to not operate 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.160 in the UK, it does fall into this category. The 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.959 regulators actually say that Meta and Giffee together would control 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:08.160 a whopping eight of the animated gift market in the UK. 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.360 That puts it well over the metric needed for this 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.720 regulation body to step in. So it looks like the 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.720 tide is really beginning to turn against big tech in 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:22.880 a meaningful way. Meta representatives unsurprisingly released a statement saying 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.120 they disagree with this decision, which I mean, of course 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.600 they do, and that they are considering all options, including 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:33.600 appealing this decision. They also said that the regulators were 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.480 sending a message to entrepreneurs that quote, do not build 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:39.760 new companies because you will not be able to sell 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.720 them end quote. Personally, I actually think that's okay. I mean, 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:48.440 I get the business plan for like of all startups 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.439 isn't to create a sustainable business. That's not the plan 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.360 for most of them. No, the plan is to become 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.720 attractive enough for some other bigger company to come along 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:03.000 and acquire you for oodles of cash, and you cash out. 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.360 But I'm not sure that's actually a very healthy approach 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.840 to business in the long runs. So I realized this 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.800 might mean we might see fewer unicorns, but based on 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.360 how gross a lot of your unicorns turned out to be, 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:20.240 I'm personally fine with that. Okay, we have some more 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.880 news stories to cover, but before we get to that, 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:34.800 let's take a quick break. We're back rolling. Stone Magazine 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:38.400 reports that an FBI document has revealed that the FBI 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.880 can easily access a person's WhatsApp or Apple Eye message 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.600 history as long as the or activity I should say, 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.720 as long as the bureau first secure as an appropriate 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.840 subpoena or warrant. That has a little bit of a 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.480 shocking revelation because both services help the fact that their 0:13:56.520 --> 0:14:01.120 communications are aren't fully encrypted end to end. So the 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.359 idea here is that only the people in that conversation 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.680 should be able to read the messages in the other party, 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.280 including Meta in the case of WhatsApp or Apple in 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.640 the case of Eye, message would not be able to 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.920 read those messages. That's the whole point, right, So, unless 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:21.000 you get hold of one of the communicators devices, it 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:25.080 should be impossible or at the very least incredibly difficult, 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:27.880 to see what messages are being sent back and forth. 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.120 But the FBI document calls these two services both quote 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:36.600 the most popular encrypted messaging apps end quote while also 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:41.680 simultaneously being quote the most permissive end quote. So does 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.240 that mean the FBI is magically able to unlock the encryption, Well, 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.480 it turns out the answer to that is no. But 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.640 what the FBI can do is pretty easily monitor activity 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.160 to see stuff like who is communicating with whom at 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:59.840 what time, under what circumstances, in what locations. So, in 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.200 other words, this document really lays out how the FBI 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.320 can collect and track meta data about the people who 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.200 are communicating with each other. Sure, the content of the 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:16.760 messages remains unknown, but with other dots that are out there, 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.440 the FBI can start to build a case against people. 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:23.840 For example, let's say that the FBI looks and sees 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.400 that you've had some communication with someone they've labeled as 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.800 a person of interest for something like they're this person 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.120 has been targeted for an investigation, and they see that 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.200 that person has been in contact with you through one 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.000 of these apps. They could also see if you have 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:44.040 any other people of interest listed in your contacts. So, 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.160 in other words, they could say, all right, well, we 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.120 know that you have been in contact with this person 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.840 that we're targeting. Let's see if you're also talking with 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.120 anyone else who's on our lists. Or they can also 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.800 see if the person you're talking with has any other 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.040 people of interest in their own contacts, and they and 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.680 start building out networks of context in this way. And 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.040 you can probably imagine at least a few cases in 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.640 which this could become a really troubling issue. For example, 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:14.200 let's say that you are an investigative journalist and you 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:18.720 rely upon contacts who are embedded in various sensitive organizations 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:23.040 like government offices, maybe the FBI itself. Well, the FBI 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:26.160 could snoop on your communications, and even without seeing what 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.520 it is your sending, could at least see to whom 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:33.200 you are sending information that could lead to a whistleblower 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:37.920 being exposed. The Rolling Stone received the FBI document from 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.400 an organization called Property of the People, which filed a 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.760 Freedom of Information Act request, and it's all aimed to 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:49.400 publicize this practice. And make people aware of how even 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:54.160 encrypted messaging services may be less safe than you might think, 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:59.280 particularly if they are pretty willing to work with law 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:03.400 enforcement on these kinds of requests for metadata. And now 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.160 here's an update to the Amazon union issue in Bessemer 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.159 at Alabama. So in case you don't remember that story, 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.800 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama held a vote 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.400 on whether or not they should unionize this past April. 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:23.400 That vote ultimately ended up being against unionization, but organizers 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.359 accused Amazon of engaging in illegal misconduct leading up to 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.919 the vote, and there were allegations of intimidating workers and 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:36.240 spreading misinformation about unions. Uh, the National Labor Relations Board 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.120 has now ruled that the workers can hold a new 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:44.959 union election. Amazon representatives have expressed disappointment in the ruling. 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.480 Allegedly the company went to all this trouble to discourage 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:53.000 voting and make it more difficult, and even installing an 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.639 illegal drop box and more. It really does seem to 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:58.919 be a real kick in the teeth for all that 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.840 hard work to just go to waste. And again I 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.080 say allegedly, because you know, I don't want to get 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:08.120 in trouble here. Also, it's worth noting that Amazon has 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:12.480 a very high turnover rate with its employees. Many Amazon 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.240 employees don't stay with the company for a very long 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.280 time because the work is pretty brutal, at least in 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:22.080 the warehouses and fulfillment centers. As such, it can be 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.800 difficult to organize people because the folks you're talking to 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.879 today might not be the same folks that you're calling 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.879 in to vote next week. That's being I'm exaggerating a 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:33.919 little bit, but you get my my meaning right, Like, 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.280 it's hard to get any kind of movement going when 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.280 the population is in such flux. Here's a different follow up. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:46.200 I have talked a few times about state sponsored malware 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.040 on iOS devices, you know, turning things like iPhones into 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:54.640 surveillance machines. Uh. Notably, I've talked about the malware from 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.639 the Israeli backed in s O group. Now, Apple says 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.760 that the company will send noifications to users who own 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:05.840 iOS devices that have been compromised by such state backed malware. 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.879 Apple will send notifications via I message to affected users. 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.960 They also send out emails. There will be other notifications 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.720 as well. It's expected that not very many people will 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:21.080 actually receive these notifications because state sponsored attacks are usually 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:25.359 really targeted and precise. You know, they have specific people 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.479 in mind that they go after, rather than casting a 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.080 wide net like a lot of hackers. They make malware 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.280 and the whole intent is to infect as many devices 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:39.040 as you possibly can, So you're taking a broad approach. 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.439 That's not the case with state sponsored attacks. They're usually 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.960 looking at specific people and saying, we want to compromise 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.639 their device so we can find out what they're up to. So, 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.399 in other words, unless you are a diplomat or an 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.800 international journalist or an activist or you know, politician, maybe 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:01.040 like the head of some big company, you probably haven't 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:05.480 been targeted and you won't get one of these messages probably, 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.920 you know, just just keep a lookout on those iOS notifications. 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:14.639 An I T company called land Sweeper surveyed Windows based 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.119 devices that were running on various networks. You know, you 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.920 can get a lot of data about what machines are 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:22.720 actually using your network that doesn't involve anything about the 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:26.360 people behind the machines, Like you can see what sort 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:30.199 of operating system was being used by that machine that 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.960 accessed your network. So they did this in an effort 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.119 to kind of see how many machines out there. How 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:40.159 many PCs are running the most recent version of Windows, 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:44.520 which is of course Windows eleven. It launched last month. Now, 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:49.160 according to the firm, an easily point to one percent. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:55.000 That's zero point to one percent of PC users are 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.840 running the newest operating system a month after its release. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:05.480 That is shockingly low. That's even fewer folks running the 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:10.280 Windows eleven than are currently running Windows XP. Windows XP 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.040 hasn't been supported by Microsoft since like two thousand and twelve, 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.360 I think maybe even earlier than that, and yet it's 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:20.800 still commands more than three and a half percent of 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:26.400 all PCs on these same networks. That is really shocking. Uh, 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.679 The survey should really be a matter of concern not 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.959 just a Microsoft, which clearly the company has a vested 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.280 interest in seeing their products get widespread adoption, but it 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:40.000 also should be a big concern to I T professionals 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.920 in general. On various networks, a significant number of machines 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.359 are running on end of life versions of Windows. That is, 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:52.160 versions of Windows that Microsoft no longer supports, like XP 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:56.320 and Windows seven. Those are no longer getting support updates. 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.159 That means that for any of the exploits that have 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:04.680 popped up since Microsoft ended support, and any future exploits 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:07.600 there's no real chance to rescue there. Right, these machines 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.399 are going to be vulnerable to that kind of exploitation. 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.440 So this is why it's a good idea to try 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:17.200 and stay up to date with operating systems whenever possible. 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:20.159 That being said, I do have a couple of caveats 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:24.679 to this. Generally, I suggest that you balance out the 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:28.399 need to be up to date with the latest versions 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:33.240 of operating systems with waiting a short while once updates 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:35.119 come out to make sure that they don't break stuff, 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.359 because sometimes an update will break things, and depending on 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.800 what it breaks, it might be something important. Right. However, 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:44.879 there's a caveat to that caveat, which is that in 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:48.480 the case of urgent security updates. Let's say that there 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:53.640 was a a critical vulnerability found within an operating system 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.560 and a patch is sent out, I think then it 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:59.320 is a good idea to update as soon as you 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:04.400 have access to that that patch, because vulnerabilities are serious 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:08.760 things like you do not want your device to get compromised. However, 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:14.600 Windows eleven it has not had widespread adoption, even though 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:18.520 like a lot of tech people love to jump on 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:21.239 the latest thing. Windows does not appear to be one 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:24.639 of those things. Uh. One reason for that might be 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:29.080 that Windows eleven also has some relatively hefty resource requirements, 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:33.159 so your computer needs to be, you know, a fairly 0:23:33.200 --> 0:23:36.680 recent machine to run Windows eleven effectively. So for some 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:39.960 folks it's just not practical to upgrade to the latest 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:42.800 OS because you know, you don't want your operating system 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:47.840 eating up all your computer's resources, leaving nothing for anything else. Um. 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.040 That was my big issue with Windows when it first 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:54.480 came out way way back when I was one of 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:58.280 those grouchy kids who was, you know, grousing about the 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:01.840 fact that we were moving away from MS DOSS to Windows. 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:08.440 Because the Windows operating system required so much uh, computational resources, 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:11.240 which was granted, a fraction of what you would have 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:14.919 in a even a even a modest smartphone would be 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:16.960 better than the computer I had back then. But because 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:20.560 the operating system was requiring so much processing power, it 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:23.040 limited what you could actually run on the machine. And 0:24:23.080 --> 0:24:25.480 I thought that was ridiculous at the time. I still 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:27.520 think it's ridiculous now, but it's just the way of 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:30.560 the world. So anyway, that's one reason why a lot 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:32.920 of people haven't upgraded the Windows eleven is just that 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:36.920 it's not ideal for whatever machine they're running on. Meanwhile, 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:41.200 we're still in a supply chain nightmare and a semiconductor 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:44.399 chip shortage on top of that. That's you know, part 0:24:44.520 --> 0:24:48.120 of the supply chain issue, and getting a new computer 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:51.919 isn't necessarily easy, nor is it cheap because you know, 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:54.159 we've seen those prices start to go up because of 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:57.679 these the supply chain issues. So there are a lot 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:01.000 of legit reasons why people my be holding back on 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:03.960 adopting Windows eleven. It's really seen as the kind of 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:08.200 operating system that is coming out with new machines, and 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:10.600 there's just not as big of a market for new 0:25:10.640 --> 0:25:13.560