WEBVTT - Tech News: Amazon and Facebook Under Scrutiny 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.760 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:18.040 Johnathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.440 and a love of all things tech except for tech news. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:26.799 Today's a tech news day for Thursday, October one. And y'all, 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.920 the tech news can just really it's just like reading 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.120 the news in general. He can really beat you down 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.480 after a while. We're really going to focus on Amazon 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.800 and Facebook in this news episode because a lot of 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.159 stuff has come out about both companies and it's not 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.000 great for the most part. So let's start with Amazon. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.680 Reuter's reports that Amazon has been found to game the 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.760 system in a really big way, leaning heavily on the 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:59.120 company's ability to gather and analyze data at a huge scale. Now, 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:03.960 in this particular case, we're talking about Amazon's operations in India. 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:08.559 Broiters came into possession of various internal documents and emails 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:15.200 that show Amazon employees were analyzing customer behaviors on the platform. Okay, 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.360 no problem so far. I mean, you would expect Amazon 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:23.880 to analyze customer behaviors because the company wants to streamline 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:26.600 the experience, make it as useful as possible so that 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:31.319 people keep coming back to Amazon. So some analysis makes sense. 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.640 Amazon was also looking at which products were particularly popular. 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.800 Still no problem. I mean, if you identify which products 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.880 are popular, you can feature those and thus sell more units. 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:48.960 So not necessarily a bad thing here either. However, company 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:55.040 employees designated these as reference products and then set about 0:01:55.080 --> 0:02:00.840 to make Amazon knockoff versions of those things. Now they 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.520 wouldn't go so far as to actually counterfeit something, but 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.720 they did make products that were virtually identical to existing 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:13.280 ones on the market. So this wasn't about Amazon saying, hey, 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.280 you know, recharging cables are really popular, Let's make our 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:21.320 own recharging cable. This was Amazon saying, hey, this very 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:25.400 specific recharging cable is really popular. Let's make a version 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:29.320 that is indistinguishable from this, sell it at a lower cost, 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:34.160 and then promote it and thus make, you know, essentially 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:40.120 undercut this existing vendor who is dependent upon Amazon as 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.280 an online shop front. So on top of all this, 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.240 Amazon used its algorithm to place the Amazon made versions 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:52.600 of these products higher in search. So now someone searching 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.080 for a specific product, you know, it could be a 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.560 piece of clothing, it could be an electronics gadget, it 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.000 could be a household item, They're more likely to come 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:05.760 across the Amazon branded version of that before whichever one 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:10.240 Amazon employees were using as a reference product. So you 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:14.760 can find something that is almost identical to a very 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:20.160 popular product that's branded by Amazon. And because the algorithm, 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:24.079 you're seeing the Amazon one first, and their Amazon is 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.120 essentially undercutting these other merchants. Now, I'm pretty sure you 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:29.800 would be hard pressed to come up with a way 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:34.440 to defend Amazon against a charge of being anti competitive 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.920 in this case. Uh the internal documents showed that company 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:43.800 employees wanted to displace existing products on the market. According 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.680 to Reuters, the documents also showed that employees even sought 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:50.200 out partnerships with the companies that were making the reference 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:54.680 products because some of those products had final touches or 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.560 unique processes that meant that those products were set apart 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.440 and then it was harder to to make a you know, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:07.440 a reasonable copy of that thing. So employees needed to 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.560 be able to find out what these unique processes were 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:16.479 in order to replicate those products. For Amazon. That's pretty 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.760 much industrial espionage when you get down to it again. 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.760 This is all according to Reuters, and this also contradicts 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.640 claims that Jeff Bezos made when he appeared before the 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.880 United States Congress in twenty twenty. During that testimony, Bezos 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.039 argued that Amazon doesn't use the data it collects to 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.080 give its own branded products a leg up on other 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.360 sellers that would be anti competitive, nor that the company 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.640 uses its algorithm to boost Amazon brands in search results 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.520 at the expense of other brands. But hey, maybe maybe 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.320 he just meant, oh except in India. Maybe that's what 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.800 he just forgot to say that part. Even if all 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.880 of that is the case, the Reuters report is already 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:00.000 stirring up activity in US politics again. Senator Elizabeth Warren 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.520 sent a tweet saying, quote, these documents show what we 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.840 feared about Amazon's monopoly power. That the company is willing 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.920 and able to rig its platform to benefit its bottom 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:16.240 line while stifling small businesses and entrepreneurs. This is one 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.480 of the many reasons we need to break it up. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:24.360 End quote. Similarly, the American Economic Liberties Project criticized Amazon, 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.080 pointing out that there have been reports from various sellers 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:32.880 that alleged the company has copied product designs, indicating that 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.560 Amazon had likely used its powerful data collection and analysis 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.200 tools to identify products that could be big sellers, and 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.719 then followed a similar path as we saw in India 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:49.720 and the that that organization UH cited a an article 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:51.920 from the Wall Street Journal that was published in twenty 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:56.160 twenty that alleged Amazon employees had done pretty much the 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:00.520 same thing that was going on in India over here, Oudweight, 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:05.159 we are not done reporting on Amazon just yet. See. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:11.080 Amazon also recently scrapped plans to build a distribution center 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.159 in San Diego County in San Diego, California. Now, the 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:19.239 company has not cited a specific reason for backing out 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.800 of this plan, like this was something that was not 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:28.560 a done deal, but it was heading towards that direction. Critics, however, 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.080 point to how San Diego recently passed legislation called the 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:36.920 Working Families Ordinance. Now, that law would require companies that 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:41.720 operate within San Diego County to pay the prevailing wage, 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:46.040 and the prevailing wage takes union wages as the benchmark, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:52.039 and also any company that employs people within San Diego County. 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.839 Any company that operates within San Diego County has to 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:59.400 provide a baseline level of benefits and worker safety guarantees. 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.600 So in other words, if you don't meet these basic criteria, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:09.720 you cannot operate within San Diego County. So these critics conclude, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.280 it looks like Amazon said, huh, if we have to 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.000 if we build something here, if we build our distribution 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.200 center in San Diego County, we would have to pay 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.960 people more money, and we would have to spend more 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.760 money to make sure that employees are safe, and we'd 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:27.960 have to give them a minimum of fifty six hours 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:35.040 of annual sick leaf. No thanks now again, Amazon, I 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:39.160 should stress, has not referenced the law when addressing the 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.040 fact that the company is no longer building a distribution 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.800 center in San Diego County. But based on other recent 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.360 activities that we've seen in which Amazon has taken a 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:55.400 pretty tough stance against efforts of worker organization and unionization, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.960 I feel like maybe the critics who are pointing at 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.760 this they might be onto something here. The company behind 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.880 the development of the warehouse, essentially the real estate company, 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.240 Chestnut Properties, sent a message out that also gets me 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.640 a bit angry. That message says, quote, just the threat 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:19.400 mention of this ordinance has already cost over four hundred 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.560 great jobs for the weld property that I have been 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.720 working on for over five years end quote. Now that 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:31.000 seems to argue that the ordinance is actively harming the 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:35.559 community because it's discouraging businesses from moving in and creating jobs, 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.280 and that this therefore is a bad thing. Now, keep 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.520 in mind, the ordinance demands a baseline level of compensation 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.200 and benefits to employees, and without that legislation, companies like 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:52.360 Amazon could be paying out much lower wages with fewer 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:56.560 benefits and fewer guarantees of workers safety. I would argue 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.719 that that kind of job does not qualify as a 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:04.080 unquote great job, you know, as Chestnut Properties has argued. 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.319 I mean, it's a job, so it is a job. 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.319 But if it's a job that keeps workers living below 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.400 the poverty line and workers are on the hook even 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:19.600 if they get sick or injured, that's not a great job. 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:25.400 That's that's like indentured servitude. It might have been great 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.920 for the developer. It might have been great for Chestnut 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.400 Properties because they saw to make a lot of money 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:34.120 for you know, essentially selling off this this space for 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.880 a distribution center. But that filter, so no, it's not 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.640 great for them. I mean I get that, but I've 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:42.960 said it a few times in this podcast, I since 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.920 that there is a general labor movement that's growing in 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.559 the United States, and it's something that has been overdue 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.240 because there have been a lot of big companies that 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.559 have grown exponentially at the expense of the folks who 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.360 work for those companies. One of the frequent things you'll 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.440 hear is, you know, it's hard to look at a 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.720 company that pays its employees at such a low level 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.319 that the employees can't afford whatever it is the company makes. 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.120 That's not necessarily the case with Amazon. Amazon makes a 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.000 lot of stuff, and it makes a lot of stuff 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.280 that's super cheap. But you get the idea, right, Like, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.240 you know, the the argument about paying out, say fifteen 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.079 dollars an hour, Well that's pretty much the minimum wage 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.760 in California, and California is a state that has a 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:34.160 very high cost of living. So while that might sound 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.160 great if you're in a place that has a very 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.240 low cost of living in California by comparison, it does 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:42.800 not mean you're making a ton of money. And if 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.600 you're in an environment that could potentially lead to you 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.600 getting sick or hurt and you have no real benefits 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:54.080 to recover from that. That's not great. So a trio 0:10:54.280 --> 0:11:00.280 of Amazon stories that are pretty rough. When we come act, 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.160 we're gonna do the same thing all over again, except 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:14.439 this time we'll talk about Facebook. Okay. So yeah, Facebook, 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.000 like I said on Tuesday's episode, had a bad week 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.880 last week. Well, that bad week has stretched into a 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.040 couple of bad weeks. You probably know that the company 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.520 has been dealing with consequences after some employees have leaked 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:31.960 internal documents to reporters, law enforcement agencies, and political bodies 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.040 like the United States Congress, and next week it will 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:40.200 be regulatory body bodies in the European Union. Well, when 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.079 that happens to a company, there are a few things 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:48.160 that a company can do. There are a few different um, 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.319 you know, the courses of action that you can pursue. 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.040 One thing a company could try to do is it 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.480 can try to address systemic problems within the organization. They 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:03.280 can try to operate in a more ethical, transparent, and 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:07.160 responsible way. It can try to improve in other words, 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.320 or we can do what Facebook has done and try 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:16.240 to just clamp down on leaks by instituting policies that 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.720 limit access to certain internal group assets on the company's 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:26.160 internal communications platform. Facebook uses Workplace. I've also used Workplace. 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:31.600 It's a platform for all sorts of internal company uh processes. 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:34.840 I'm actually amazed that folks have time to access the 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:40.040 darned thing to, you know, have conversations. UM. I find 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:44.760 navigating it somewhat tedious, but that's my own experience. And 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.800 in Facebook, it is a way for employees to be 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.280 able to access and share information internally within the company. 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.800 None the past, employees were pretty much able to communicate 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:59.439 across different topics within workplace without issue. They could jump 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:03.800 into a front channels essentially that are dedicated to specific 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:10.439 issues or concerns or corporate areas of interest. But now 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.720 certain groups that focus on specific topics, ones that Facebook 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.720 has labeled as being sensitive, have institute a kind of 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.600 members only kind of approach. In other words, it's a 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.120 need to know basis sort of thing. If you are 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:28.080 part of that department, you have access, Otherwise you do not. 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:32.880 Um and multiple outlets, including The New York Times, have 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.359 reported on this, showing that the effort to stop leaks 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.400 was then immediately leaked to the media. So what does 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.120 that mean for Facebook? Well, I would say it probably 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.880 means that for one thing, some employees at the company 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.600 might not be so thrilled about what Facebook has been 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:53.600 up to, and their discontent is enough to be an 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:58.760 ongoing issue, and that perhaps if Facebook wants to fix this, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:01.960 they need to look at the root causes as opposed 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.840 to the leaks. The Verge has another Facebook story that 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:10.440 is interesting. The company has been working on various AI 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:15.920 projects that ultimately would relate to Facebook's augmented reality initiatives. 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.080 So the idea is to create a system that has 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:22.000 a type of almost like a memory connected to it. 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:27.080 Like the system itself would be able to go back 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.800 over data over time and glean important things from that. 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.800 You may have seen videos of Google kind of showing 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:39.600 off a similar approach to how like the Assistant program, 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.960 the virtual assistant in Google can continue to answer questions 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.560 about a subject. So you ask one question, then after 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.840 you get the answer, you follow up with another question, 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.000 and without you know, specifically referencing that you're still talking 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.080 about the same topic, assistant can then draw the conclusion 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.520 that the second question is about the same subject as 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.800 the first. Let me give you an example. Uh, using 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.520 this version of assistant, I could say something like, what's 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.240 the weather like at Disneyland tomorrow, and I get the answer, 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.600 and then I might follow that up with what time 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.880 does it open? Well, I didn't say Disneyland, I said 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.240 what time does it open? Using this kind of approach 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:22.240 to AI, the assistant might be able to glean the 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.520 fact that when I say it, I'm referring to the 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:30.040 subject from my previous question, that is Disneyland, and thus 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.360 give me the correct answer. Now this is trivial for 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.880 human beings, right, but it's actually a big deal for 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:40.080 artificial intelligence. AI does not natively have the ability to 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:46.680 understand context. So Facebook is working on several similar prop projects, 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:51.320 some of which are really ambitious. Now, the downside of 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.720 this is that it could lead to some pretty nasty 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:58.800 privacy and security issues. So, for example, imagine that someone 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.640 is wearing a pair of those a R ray band glasses, 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.120 except these are a more advanced version. They're one that 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:10.200 are have you know, more augmented reality type of features 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.000 built into them. They're not just like a camera built 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:17.040 into glasses. And let's say this person wearing the glasses 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.960 goes by a secure facility of some sort, maybe it's 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.760 a bank, right, and they look into the bank and 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.440 the camera and the glasses captures images of a person 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.640 who's accessing a secure part of that facility. So someone 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:35.480 who's actually authorized to go into some area that otherwise 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:39.880 you would not have access to. Okay, if you have 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.280 this capability and you pair it with something like facial recognition, 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:47.040 you could compromise that person's security. It could say, all right, 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.160 this person so and so has access to this secure 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.760 part of the bank. Here's some more information about so 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.240 and so that we're able to pull from the Internet. 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:04.000 Because of online mind social networking platforms and Twitter profiles 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.600 and all that kind of stuff, you could easily see 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:11.959 where this can quickly become a threat to privacy and security. Now, 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.840 that is a pretty dramatic example, right, That's something that's 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.400 obviously not going to apply to everyone. But the reality 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:23.160 is that this technology, unless it's implemented very carefully, could 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.120 become a huge threat to privacy for people in general. 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.000 You know, it could even be like who did I 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.000 see yesterday? Well, a question like that might be answered with, oh, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.400 you saw your buddy Jim, and you also saw these 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.960 other five people you don't know, but I know them 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.760 because I have facial recognition technology and I was able 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.720 to cross reference it with the profiles that are available 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.240 on Facebook. So now you know all the people you encountered, 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.680 whether they wanted you to know them or not. They 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.280 were just going about their daily lives, So that is 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.119 a potential threat. Now Facebook is looking into some pretty 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:00.240 incredible AI applications such as hand and object manipulation shtion, 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:02.680 And in that case, you might be trying to learn 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.560 a specific skill and you could use an augmented reality 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.199 system to kind of teach you the steps you need 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.439 to do in order to build your skills. But you 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.840 could also use it potentially to analyze your own performance 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.240 and then and you know, give you tips on how 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.879 you can do that skill better and get you know, 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.840 improve upon it, which is really cool. So this sort 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:27.280 of hyper focused AI is really you know, compelling, but 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:30.720 you also start to see where the need for things 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.600 like privacy protection has to step in. This, by the way, 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.320 is all part of an initiative that Facebook calls Ego 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.320 four D. The Verge has a great piece that goes 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:43.280 into much further detail if you want to learn more 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.600 about this. It is titled Facebook is researching AI systems 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:51.040 that see here and remember everything you do. It's by 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.760 James Vincent. Highly recommend you check it out more than 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:57.960 for The organizations have banded together to launch a campaign 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.560 called how to Stop Facebook. So yeah, that hard week 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.640 does just keep extending. The group advocates for regulations that 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.399 would restrict how Facebook collects and uses data, citing the 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.200 concerns that we've seen pop up due to Facebook's reliance 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:17.680 on engagement driving algorithms, and those algorithms frequently favor content 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.000 that can be harmful in various ways because it drives engagement, 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:25.240 and as the campaign strategies director of Media Justice Masha 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:30.000 Hayes has said, quote Facebook's surveillance capitalist business model is 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:35.800 fundamentally incompatible with basic human rights end quote. That's a 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.600 heck of a statement. Hard for me to find fault 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:43.480 in it. Um, especially the way Facebook pursues its you know, 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:48.200 business model. Uh, it appears that it is at least 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:52.760 indifferent to basic human rights. The group is calling upon leaders, 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.000 like political leaders to intervene and essentially force Facebook to 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:59.480 fundamentally change how it operates. Um. And there are a 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.560 lot of different groups that are all part of this, 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.240 and a lot of them are are human rights groups 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.720 and things along those lines that are very much concerned 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:12.640 that Facebook's performance in the last you know a few 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:16.560 years has shown it to be an organization that has 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.159 the capacity to do a disproportionate amount of harm to 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.440 vulnerable populations. Finally, the cherry on top for bad Facebook 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.919 news comes out of Washington State. The Attorney General of 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:31.399 Washington has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, saying that the 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:35.960 company representatives have provided false testimony during a previous case 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:41.440 about whether or not the platform violated Washington's campaign finance laws. 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:43.640 So at the heart of the matter is how Facebook 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.920 sold political ads in the state of Washington. Washington state 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:51.359 law requires that any platform that sells ads space to 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:56.040 political campaigns has to provide information about the ads who 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.879 bought them, uh that their address. It has to also 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.240 have who were the ads meant to target, how many 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.240 views did those ads get. All of that information is 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:11.000 required by state law to be publicly available upon request. 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:13.960 Facebook is not complied with the full extent of that law. 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:18.200 You can request information about Facebook ads, but it doesn't 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.600 include all the points of data that Washington State law 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:27.560 calls for. The Company's lawyers facebooks lawyers argue that Washington's 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:31.680 law is unconstitutional, but the heart of this matter is 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:36.840 that the Attorney General says in that case, Facebook representatives 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:42.480 specifically gave false statements to questions asked of them, and 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:45.520 that therefore they are guilty of perjury. So this is 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:49.240 another part layer on top of everything else. So this 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:51.880 legal battle is ongoing. We will have to check back 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:57.320 in the future. Okay, there were other news stories today, 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:00.679 but honestly, all the Amazon and face Book stuff kind 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.040 of took all the wind out of my sales just 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:08.159 because it was just so much rough reporting on different things. 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.960 So we're gonna wrap it up here. Plus I can 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.840 here that the lawn maintenance folks are outside of my 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:19.000 house now, so it's gonna get progressively louder. My dog's 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:21.400 gonna join into it's just gonna be a free for all. 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:25.159 So um, while the noise level continually goes up in 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.159 this episode, if you have suggestions for topics I should 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.120 cover in the future, maybe like how weed whackers work, 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:33.840 for example. Don't know why that jumped to mind, let 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:37.160 me know. Send me a message on Twitter. The handle 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:40.720 for the show is text stuff h s W and 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:44.960 I'll garden again. I'm sorry, I'll talk to you again 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:54.040 really soon. Text Stuff is an i heart Radio production. 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:57.119 For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.480 heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:01.399 your favorite shows.