WEBVTT - Tech News: A Corrupted File Grounded All US Aircraft Yesterday 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.840 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.600 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.040 And how the tech are you? It is time for 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:25.960 the tech news for Thursday, January twelve, two thousand twenty three. 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.440 Yesterday morning, flights across the United States were grounded because 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:36.120 of a corrupted file in the Federal Aviation Administration's computer systems. 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.839 So the f a A overseas flight operations here in 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.080 the United States, and if it can't operate, ain't no 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.600 flying being done. The corrupted file was in the f 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:50.199 a a's Notice to Air Missions system a k A 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:54.400 n O T A M, which I like to think 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.560 is no TAM instead of not AM, but I don't 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.480 honestly know. The purpose of a system is to send 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.039 alerts to pilots to let them know about potential issues 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:10.360 like hazards that they could encounter along their planned flight route. 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:13.560 And as you can imagine, that information is really important. 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.920 It can help pilots reroute to avoid problems that otherwise 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.160 could really be serious. And so the entire fleet of 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.520 commercial planes across the United States had to hold off 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.840 until the problem could be fixed. Making matters worse, the 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.720 corrupted file was also found in the backup systems, so 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:31.960 there was no way to just switch to a secondary 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.319 system because those also had the corrupted files in them. Fortunately, 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.520 the f a A was able to fix the issue 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.600 and get operations moving again before I got too late 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.560 in the day, but thousands of flights were delayed and 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.920 hundreds were canceled. The f a A is going to 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.080 investigate the incident, as is the Department of Transportation, but 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.680 officials say that as of right now, there's no evidence 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.440 that this was at all related to any kind of 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.480 cyber attack or anything like that. It was probably a 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:03.639 much more mundane issue. It does, however, point to how 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:11.040 a an error like this can bring an entire uh 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:14.800 sector of the travel industry to a halt. And you know, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.600 that's that's a sobering thought to think that that's really 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:23.040 all that stands between operations and a lack thereof UH. So, Yeah, 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:27.000 it's uh. There's clearly a need to find out what 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.840 caused this issue in order to prevent such things from 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.920 happening again in the future. Now for a quick update 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.040 on the f t X situation. Now in case you 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.919 don't remember, f t X was the second largest cryptocurrency 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.640 exchange in the world before the whole thing went belly 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.240 up due to some creative bookkeeping. That's a nice way 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.760 to say that. Apparently f t X was secretly sending 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.359 customer funds to cover investments made by a sister company 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.400 called Alimated Research. The organization is going through bankruptcy and 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:00.000 liquidation right now as it tries to recapture as much 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.440 money as possible to return to creditors and stakeholders. According 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:06.919 to f t x as lawyers, they've recovered more than 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:11.640 five billion dollars so far in liquid and digital assets. 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.720 The company still laims to recapture money on four point 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:19.320 six billion dollars worth of less liquid assets. That means 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.040 there's gonna have to be some steps made in order 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.960 to convert these assets into cash, and there's no guarantee 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:27.799 that the amount secured is going to be the same 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:31.200 as that four point six billion dollar valuation. Now this 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.320 is impressive news, but it still means that individual investors 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.320 are looking at getting only thirteen cents for every dollar 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:42.760 they invested, which is a huge loss. Amazon appealed to 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.280 the National Labor Relations Board or in l RB to 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:51.560 overturn a unionization vote at the JFK eight warehouse facility 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.880 on Staten Island, New York. Unsurprisingly, the n l RB 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.320 denied this appeal they cited with the workers. In fact, 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.520 this is so unsurprising that critics are suggesting that what 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.920 Amazon is doing is just going through this process mainly 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.440 to delay negotiations between the company and the newly formed 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:14.200 worker union. Amazon plans to appeal again to the n 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:18.720 l RBS National Board in Washington, assuming the n l 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.880 r B will uphold the vote again and there's no 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.920 reason to assume otherwise. The next step would be to 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.560 take the matter to federal court, and it sounds like 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:31.320 Amazon is determined to make this process as arduous as possible, 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.920 maybe hope that a federal judge would overrule the vote 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.880 to unionize. And it's really hard to predict whether or 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.760 not that would actually work out. Because the US has 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.320 a bumpy history with unions and workers rights, there's been 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.360 a general push back against tech companies over recent years. 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.360 Some of that pushes actually bipartisan. Both conservatives and liberals 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:56.279 have been pushing back, but the motivations are frequently very different. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.479 But the US also had a long stretch of the 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.440 government being less than supportive when it comes to workers 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:07.360 versus the giant tech companies they work for. Salaried Microsoft 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:12.200 workers have a new benefit called discretionary time off. And 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.240 this isn't being snarky, this is, honest to goodness, a 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.279 real benefit. So essentially, salaried employees are now able to 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:23.640 take unlimited time off. Folks who currently have unused vacation 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.680 days under the old system will receive a payout later 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.000 this year, and even brand new salaried employees will be 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.239 able to take advantage of this flexible time of policy 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.400 once it goes into effect on January. Hourly workers will 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.920 not receive this benefit, but according to Microsoft, the reason 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:44.120 for that isn't that the company values them less. Instead, 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:47.359 it's that the various federal and state wage and our 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.480 laws prevent the company from extending this benefit to hourly employees, 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:56.240 who are guaranteed certain minimums by law. Also, if Microsoft 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.160 salaried employees work outside the US, their vacation policy will 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.640 remain unchanged due to similar such laws and regulations that 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.800 apply to them wherever they happen to be working. But yeah, 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.360 if you are a salary to Microsoft employee in the 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.640 United States. Soon you're gonna have unlimited time off, which 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.080 sounds so nice. Of course, some folks are likely going 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:19.159 to have jobs where they can't just take off time 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.560 willy nilly because of deadlines and such. I know that's 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.359 hard for a lot of my coworkers and myself, like 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.159 it's hard for us to take a day off work 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:31.080 because for those of us who publish every day, those 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.160 deadlines still exist. But me, I never work a day 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.200 in my life because my job is what I love. 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.839 That's what I keep telling myself. That's what I keep 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.599 telling myself. Okay, I've got another AI story to share 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:50.960 with y'all. The Bite reported yesterday that c net, a 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:55.719 tech news and review outlet which has employed several of 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.680 my friends throughout the years, has been using AI on 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.080 the q T to generate certain articles. Now, they're not 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:08.760 using it to generate breaking news articles or product reviews 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.280 or anything like that. Instead, they're using it for more 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.160 evergreen articles in the c net financial pages that aim 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.240 to explain things like c d S as in certificate 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:23.240 of deposit not compact disc In other words, these are 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.560 articles meant to inform people about money matters well. The 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.880 bite found that several articles, more than seventy of them, 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:35.120 had this generic byline of c net money staff, and 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.240 if you clicked on that byline you would see the 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:43.840 phrase this article was generated using automation technology, which I'm 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:49.119 gonna I'm gonna chastise c NET. That's passive voice. Really, 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:53.880 it should read automation technology generated this article. Anyway, it 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:55.920 was a bit of a surprise. The note on the 0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:00.000 byline also explains that each automated article went through edits 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.800 and fact checking to make sure it was accurate, so 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.960 it kind of sounds like this was an experiment. Seen 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:08.640 it had not issued any sort of press release about 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.360 using AI to generate articles, which makes this discovery a 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.360 little bit awkward. Though again Seen it did include this 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.560 information in the byline info on purpose, so anyone could 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.960 have come across this. It wasn't exactly, you know, hidden 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:25.560 beyond discovery. It wasn't in a disused lavatory with a 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.800 sign on the door saying beware of the leopard. Obviously, 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.800 this sort of thing will spark conversations about relying upon 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.120 AI instead of, say, paying an actual human being to 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:40.360 write the article. But then again, this article kind of 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:45.199 falls into uh, let me just call it boring topics. 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.480 These articles can be tedious and unfulfilling to write. Trust me. 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:53.560 I used to write those kinds of articles occasionally for 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:55.280 How Stuff Works. Now, a lot of the articles I 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.599 wrote for How Stuff Works were great. It was very engaging. 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.880 I was excited to get the assignment. But there was 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:03.800 a point where I had to write about seven articles 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:07.520 related to towing, as in towing something behind a vehicle. 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.760 And you might think, Wow, that sounds dull as heck, 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:16.199 and you'd be right. I hated doing it. In those cases, 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.720 Having an AI system that could generate the initial article 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.800 and then have a human editor to fact check and 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.800 make edits might have been a welcome edition. Like if 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.079 they had offered that, like, hey, would you rather we 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.160 take these articles off your assignment and give them to 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.600 a I, I would have said yes please. So this 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.000 kind of falls into one of the three d s 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.559 that AI is supposed to help out with. Those d 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:43.240 s are dirty, dangerous, and dull. So these are jobs 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.880 that humans can do and have done, but they aren't 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.880 necessarily rewarding jobs, and in some cases they could be 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:55.040 outright harmful. So is there danger in assigning those kinds 0:09:55.040 --> 0:10:00.360 of articles to AI. Well, maybe not, but then our 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.559 company is going to stop with the dull articles or 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.880 will they just use AI to generate articles for more 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:12.120 interesting and rewarding work. And if the AI underperforms compared 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.959 to human writers and journalists and editors, what harm would 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.440 that do to the general public? These are some big 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:24.160 questions anyway, According to Engadget, c net subsequently removed the 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.120 c net Money staff bio page, so you can no 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:31.160 longer see that phrasing I mentioned earlier, but it had 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.560 not commented on actual use of AI as of the 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:37.800 recording of this episode. By the time you hear it. 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:40.400 That might be different. But um, in fact, it may 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:42.920 have happened by the time I started recording, but while 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.920 I before I started, it had not there not been 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.800 any comment. Okay, we're gonna take a quick break. When 0:10:48.800 --> 0:11:01.840 we come back, we'll have some more news items we're back. 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.200 Meta sent out an email to folks who own an 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:09.319 original Oculus Quest headset that's the first generation of the 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:13.160 Quest headsets, and they explained that the company is no 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:18.000 longer going to send feature updates to the original Quest. Also, 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.320 those Quest headsets will lose the ability to interact with 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.079 Meta's social VR applications. You won't be able to create 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:29.280 or join a party for group VR sessions using an 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.720 original quest uh. They will still be able to access 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.040 other types of apps and such, and you'll be able 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.800 to play games and everything on them, but a lot 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.200 of the functionality that fleshed out the Quest will no 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:46.360 longer operate. What's more, Meta plans to end security patches 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:51.599 and bug fixes for the Quest next year. Now, the 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:55.040 Quest came out four years ago, and this, my friends, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.600 concerns me a bit, and that's because it points out 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:03.280 another potential downside er Meta's whole Metaverse vision. So if 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:07.160 the Metaverse does require some sort of mixed reality peripheral 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.360 in order to access it, not only well people have 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.719 to cough up the money to buy the hardware, they 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.439 also may see that the hardware could drift out of 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:21.000 being supported after a while, and that means that the 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.680 customer will have to buy new hardware to continue to 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:28.120 access the Metaverse. In some ways, this isn't that different 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.959 from other computational devices, right. I mean, to play the 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:36.320 latest games at the highest settings, gamers have to rebuild 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.440 or purchase new rigs on a fairly regular basis, or 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.720 they get left behind. Uh. Same with phones, like after 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:49.199 a few years, the companies that make smartphones have developed 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.960 the OS to a point where older models can't run 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.520 the latest versions of the O S. This just kind 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.040 of happens. But if you're talking about accessing a persistent 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:03.560 online world that presumably is the next incarnation of what 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.719 it is to be online, then having to buy new 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.760 equipment because the company stops supporting the stuff you already 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.840 own really stinks. And it stinks because the Internet is 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.080 a critical component to interacting with the modern world, and 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:21.520 it already represents a huge gap between the halves and 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.080 the half nots. There is a large digital gap, and 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:29.040 there are populations of people who are disproportionately harmed by 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.600 the fact that they don't have regular access to the Internet. 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.079 Once you start throwing in expensive hardware that goes out 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.760 of date every few years, that will make that gap 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:43.599 grow wider, and the effects could be devastating. Anyway, I 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.000 guess Quest owners should just go out and purchase a 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:51.000 Quest to don't buy a Quest pro though every review 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.000 I have read says pretty much they are not worth 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:59.680 the very high price tag, So buyer beware. Glass Door, 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:04.080 ampany that allows employees to rate their employers, releases a 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.439 report every year on the one best places to work 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.120 based upon those employee reviews, and for the first time 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:15.240 in ages, Meta, as in the former Facebook and Apple 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.920 have dropped off of this list. Now, I suppose this 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.840 isn't that surprising, considering that both companies took hard stances 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.640 on pushing people back into the office as early as 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.720 they could. Apple kept putting that date back because there 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.080 were a lot there's a lot of employee resistance, but 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.160 it was still very much firm that no, we want 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:35.960 you in this office. Gosh darn it, this is like 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.280 the most expensive office we've ever built, and we need 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.440 people inside it, and you're gonna go. And of course 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:46.680 Meta has had multiple controversies and scandals, plus a CEO 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.040 who outright said there were people at the company who 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.480 probably shouldn't be there. That's not great for employee morale. 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:57.920 Layoffs have had an effect at Facebook slash Meta, But 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:02.520 according to Glassdoor economists Annual Jao, we shouldn't think of 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.320 this as Apple and Meta becoming terrible places to work, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.000 that that's not necessarily the case. Instead, he says, this 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:12.720 year's list was really competitive, So maybe you could look 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:14.920 at it as saying, it's not so much that folks 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.080 hate working at Apple and Meta, it's just that people 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.880 who are working at other companies love their employers more. 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:28.000 So that's a silver lining. I guess Ours Technica has 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.840 a powerful article that I urge you to read. It 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:34.960 is a good one. It is titled Iran to use 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:39.440 facial recognition to identify women without hitge jobs. Now, as 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.720 the headline points out, the Iranian government enforces strict dress 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:47.800 requirements and modesty codes, which include the requirement for women 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.200 to wear a h job in public. That's a head 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:54.160 covering that's worn by some Muslim women, and while the 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.720 practice has its roots in religious observance, many women have 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:02.000 argued that the government requirement is really the Iranian government 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:05.520 attempting to suppress and control women within the country and 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.480 to take away their agency. Last September, a young woman 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.440 named Massa Amini was arrested and reportedly beaten for quote 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.920 unquote improperly wearing her h jab. It apparently wasn't tight 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:22.440 enough to her head to satisfy police. She died in 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.880 police custody a few days later, and that sparked massive 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.920 protests across Iran. Now there's a concern that Iranian police 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.920 are using facial recognition technology to not only spot women 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.440 who are violating this very strict dress code, but to 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.880 identify those women. And according to the article, there are 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:44.360 eyewitnesses who have said that police sometimes show up days 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.680 later at a person's house in order to arrest them. 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.840 And that does imply that they're relying upon some form 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:55.520 of methodology to identify people days after an alleged violation. 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.520 Whether or not that's facial recognition, uh that that's up 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.680 for debate, because it could be other methods, But there 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:05.760 seems to be a pretty strong implication that facial recognition 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:10.760 is playing an increasingly prominent role in police activity. Now, 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:14.240 I've spoken in the past about how official use of 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:20.000 facial recognition technology is bad, it's immoral. Now mostly in 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.040 those cases what I was talking about, I was talking 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.840 about bias that could be in models and that can 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:30.880 lead to misidentification cases and wrongful imprisonment and upending innocent 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:35.639 person's life based off faulty technology that should not be 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.600 used in this kind of application. But in an extreme 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.280 case like the one that we're talking about, with Iran. 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.960 I think it's beyond question that facial recognition technology is 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:50.720 facilitating human rights violations. Last year, I did a loose 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.240 history of social networks, and I mentioned towards the end 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.480 of that series the rise of some politically far right 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.359 platforms like Parlor, and I briefly talked about how Parlor 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.719 has had a rocky existence, to put it lightly, and 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:09.200 how late last year Yea formerly Kanye West, was in 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.960 talks to purchase the company. Yea had been singing, hanging 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.640 out with Candice Owens, a conservative author and talking cat 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.040 who happens to be married to George Farmer, who is 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:23.040 the CEO of you Guessed It Parlor, And so there 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.600 are all these stories going around that maybe Owens was 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.080 kind of trying to convince Yea to bail out Parlor 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.040 and purchase it for himself after Yea had been kind 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:36.240 of pushed off of other social platforms for repeatedly violating 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.320 their policies, and Parlor itself had been on unsteady financial 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.919 ground and kind of needed someone to sweep in and 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.560 and purchase the company. It had been d platform following 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:52.679 the January six insurrection. Anyway, the whole deal ended up 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:57.360 falling through after Yea praised Adolph Hitler, though Parlor said 0:18:57.400 --> 0:18:59.639 the termination of the deal actually came from a mutual 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.560 decision and did not cite that particular incident. But it's 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.000 kind of hard to overlook. In the wake of the 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.359 deal falling through, Parlor has apparently been laying off employees 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.240 and waves, and according to the Verge, at this point, 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.080 Parlor is down to just twenty or so employees total. 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.520 Most of the executive team has gone, the staff are gone, 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.840 a lot of the users have gone either to Twitter 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.920 now that Elon Musk is running things, or to Donald 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:32.440 Trump's Truth social platform, So we might be looking at 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:34.919 the end of the line for Parlor, although the company, 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:40.040 now rebranded as Parliament Technologies, claims to have big plans 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.080 for the future. Okay, I've got a couple more stories 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.080 I want to cover before we get to those, let's 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:59.160 take another quick break. We're back, and I was talking 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.399 about Parlor earlier and mentioned Twitter, and speaking of Twitter, 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.400 the New York Times reports that Twitter has a new 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:09.520 revenue generation scheme potentially in the works, which would be 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:14.280 auctioning off unused Twitter handles. So apparently Twitter has around 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:19.200 a billion and a half user names representing inactive accounts. 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.280 So these are accounts where no one has logged in 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:24.000 for ages or posted anything in a really long time. 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:27.600 Some of those user names could be really well known. 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.679 They might be famous handles, or they might be handles 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:35.199 that represent famous folks or brands, and so why not 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.199 auction those off? You know, makes the money. That's a 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.520 terrible idea. And here's why. Some of those names presumably 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.240 include folks or brands that later received verification from Twitter 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.840 to show that they were the real deal, and then 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:52.560 for whatever reason, those accounts became inactive. If Twitter auctions 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:56.240 off those handles, and if then Twitter allows people to 0:20:56.400 --> 0:21:00.959 essentially buy a verification checkmark in return from monthly subscription, 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.040 well doesn't that mean a person could effectively pose as 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.199 someone else? You know, they could impersonate another entity and 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:11.439 this would all be facilitated by Twitter's own practices. Now, 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.480 I don't think that's actually gonna happen. I I think 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:18.399 even Elon Musk would say that those handles, the ones 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.560 that represent like real people and brands, will get struck 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:27.639 from the auction. They will just be sunset it and discontinued, 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.720 because otherwise Twitter would be inviting a whole lot of 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:34.680 grief from various companies and notable people. Now, I'm sure 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:38.000 in a one and a half billion long list of handles, 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:39.959 they've got to be some that folks actually would want, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:42.639 simply because the handle is what they were hoping for 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:46.760 in the first place. For example, maybe I would want 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.880 the Twitter handle at Jonathan, but I couldn't get that 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:53.600 because it was already taken by the time I signed 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.160 up for Twitter, which is why I went for John 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.879 Strickland instead. I honestly don't remember if I even tried 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.240 at Jonathan. I'm sure it was taken, but I don't 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:04.800 think I tried it. Maybe I did, it was, you know, 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.000 so many years ago. I don't have any memory. But 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.400 if the at Jonathan handle represents an inactive account, then 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.119 I could have a chance to bid on that handle 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.879 for myself. Critics have pointed out one really big issue 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:23.000 that still exists with this, even if we set aside 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:27.200 the idea that Twitter with sunset handles for celebrities and brands, 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.359 and that is some of those accounts probably represent people 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.240 who have passed away, and those people have Twitter pages 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:38.760 that may serve as a kind of memorial to them, 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:42.119 So would it be right to wipe out those accounts 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:45.520 just to sell off handles. I mean, isn't that kind 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:50.040 of erasing this person's online history? And for some people 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:52.240 like that might be one of the few pieces they 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.600 have left to remember a loved one. So yeah, there 0:22:55.640 --> 0:23:01.119 are other issues on top of the whole impersonation and problem. 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:05.359 Video game company Ubisoft continues to be in crisis mode. 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:09.920 Ubisoft is the game company responsible for franchises like Far Cry, 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:14.840 Assassin's Creed, and various Tom Clancy franchises, among others. And 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:16.919 you might remember from a couple of years ago that 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:21.159 Ubisoft fell under scrutiny for having a toxic work environment 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.520 and allegedly scuzz ball leaders who were predatory towards employees. 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:28.920 It was really bad stuff that later kind of got 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.200 drowned out by Activision Blizzard when Activision Blizzard said, hey, 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:36.280 hold my beer. Anyway, Ubisoft has had a series of 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:41.159 financial setbacks, and last June Ubisoft canceled four titles that 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:44.200 were in development that included a couple of Tom Clancy titles. 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:48.119 Then Ubisoft saw some of its releases fall far short 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:51.399 of projected sales, so they did poorly in the market, 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:54.680 and now the company has announced it has canceled three 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:58.159 more titles that were in development. They did not specify 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:00.919 what those titles were, and that on top of that, 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:05.600 Skull and Bones, the long delayed Pirate Combat game, is 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:08.280 getting another delay, which I think would make this the 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:11.879 sixth time that game has been delayed. Who was supposed 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:15.280 to launch in early March, so in a couple of months, 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:18.359 but now it's going to come sometime in the twenty 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:22.680 three to twenty twenty four fiscal year ubisas fiscal years 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:25.520 begin in April, so it is possible that the delay 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:28.399 could just be a month or so. The company plans 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:31.160 to reduce costs by around two hundred million euro which 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:34.640 is around two d sixteen million US dollars over the 0:24:34.680 --> 0:24:37.399 next two years, and that will likely include stuff like 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:40.760 layoffs and selling off certain assets. So yeah, it's not 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:44.520