WEBVTT - Tech News: Grand Theft Data 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to tech stuff, a production from my heart radio. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.800 Hey there, and welcome to tech stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.599 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I heart radio, 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.040 and how the Tech Are you? It's time for the 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:26.040 Tech News for Thursday September, twenty two, two thousand twenty two. And, 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.120 just as a reminder, I will actually be on vacation 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:33.040 next week. We will have some reruns playing next week, 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.640 so we will have episodes up. Uh, and if you 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.560 haven't been listening for more than a couple of years, 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.320 it'll be new to you and I'll be recording new 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.919 intros and stuff for those episodes. But yes, I'll be 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:49.479 back in early October. Just taking a week off to 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.440 celebrate my anniversary. But let's get to the Tech News. 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.720 That's more than enough about me. Earlier this week I 0:00:55.760 --> 0:01:00.440 talked about how hackers infiltrated Uber's corporate systems and accessed 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.560 an unknown amount of data, though they did post a 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.960 message to the company's Slack Channel, and I also mentioned 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.920 that another company, Rock Star Games, had also been hit 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.959 by a hacker, reportedly the same one, at least according 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.959 to the claims of the hacker themselves. UH, well, one 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.280 thing I did not mention is that that hacker, who 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.320 used the handle t pot Uber Hacker, over on G 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.400 T A forums, uploaded more than ninety videos showing gameplay 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:34.800 footage of a developer build of the next grand theft 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.760 auto game, A K A G T A six. The 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.360 previous installment of the game, G t a five, came 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.720 out nearly ten years ago, back in two thousand thirteen, 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.480 and fans have been eager to get a new entry 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.640 in the series for years. Rock Star in two K 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.960 Games were clearly not ready to show off anything about 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.400 the game yet. They had not made any details public, 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.000 but there had been lots of rumors circulating for a 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.920 while that the next entry would see a return to 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.800 vice city, that's the G T A stand in for 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:12.840 Miami Florida, and that at least one main character would 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:15.400 be a woman, which is kind of a departure for 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.240 the series, as of like most of the protagonists, in 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:20.840 fact really all the protagonists in the recent games, have 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:26.400 been mailed. The downloaded footage confirmed those rumors. Uh. It 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.320 also shows that you'll actually be playing as two different 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.040 characters throughout the story, and a kind of a Bonnie 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:38.239 and Clyde style criminal relationship. It also was very much 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:42.960 a developer build right, not anything close to a final product. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.440 It included videos that had stuff like debugging data on 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.400 screen during Gameplay, and you think that those would be 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.200 enough indicators for people to chill the heck out before 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.360 they passed judgment on this. But no, there were lots 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:03.080 of reactions that mentioned things like the graphics quality. But, y'all, 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.800 that's just silly. This game is nowhere close to being finished, 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:12.359 so judging it on things like that is absolutely ridiculous. Reportedly, 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.400 one reason the game has taken sort of the scenic 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.200 route as far as development is concerned is that rock 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.000 star and two K are trying to avoid the issue 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:26.240 of crunch. That's where game developer companies pressure employees to 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.480 work grueling hours, often with no days off, in an 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.800 effort to get a title finished and out the door. Personally, 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:35.920 I think it's okay to wait a little longer for 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.720 a game if it means developers have a chance to 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.840 unwind in their off time and see their families and, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.080 you know, do something other than debug code for sixteen 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.800 hours straight every day. Anyway, when the companies began issuing 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.600 D M C, a takedowns on posted videos of this 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.920 leaked footage, it became clear that the videos must be 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.520 legit because if you are going to issue a D 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.840 M C, a takedown, then presumably you have ownership of 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.520 the material in question. You can't do a D M C, 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:12.880 a takedown of something you don't own, or at least 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:16.279 it will get overturned, at least in theory, because you 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.520 don't have the right to actually take down anything if 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.320 you don't own it. So if the videos were fake, 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:27.000 then the companies wouldn't have had the authority to order 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.920 them taken down. So, in other words, by taking measures 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.800 against the spread of the videos, rock star in two 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:38.080 K effectively confirmed that the leaked material was legitimate. Rock 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:41.800 star had also already confirmed that it had been hit 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:47.479 by a data breach, likely caused by social engineering. That, 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:52.920 of course, is when someone convinces a person to hand 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.440 over access credentials to a system. Sometimes they trick them, 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.400 sometimes it's a person on the inside who gets ride 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.560 to do it, but yeah, social engineering is a very 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.200 popular way to get access to otherwise secure systems. It's 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:11.400 very rare that you see hackers doing the Hollywood thing 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:15.360 of trying to crack a password, because it's much easier 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.479 to just convince somebody who already has access to hand 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.359 it over. Anyway, rock star is currently working with the 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:25.480 FBI to investigate this hack. Uber is also doing that, 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.520 working with the FBI and the Department of Justice. So 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:34.920 there are strong powers bearing down on the the hacker Um. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:36.840 So I don't know if the hackers at all concerned 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:41.400 about that. But yeah, the the investigations have begun. A 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:45.200 whistleblower has come forward saying that multiple US military agencies 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.560 have spent millions of dollars on a data mining tool 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.960 from team Simru. I'm not sure I'm saying that right. 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.720 It's see why, M are you? And this tool claims 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.800 to give a quote, super majority of all activity on 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:03.599 the Internet, end quote, which means that, at least in theory, 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.560 if you have access to this tool, you can get 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.279 a look at like nine of all the traffic crossing 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.440 the Internet, which is mind boggling to say the least. 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.040 I mean, just think about all the different devices connected 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:20.640 to and communicating over the Internet. Senator Ron Widen from Oregon, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.039 whom you might remember, I talked about recently because he's 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.320 the senator who was criticizing US Customs for coercing people 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.320 into handing over access to their electronic devices, and then 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.640 U s customs was downloading that information into a massive 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:40.520 database that anyone in the customs agency could potentially access anyway. 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.120 That same senator is now asking some tough questions about 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.159 the military's use of this tool. And obviously any tool 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.360 that allows this level of scrutiny over Internet traffic stands 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:53.359 as a massive security and privacy threat to hundreds of 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.960 millions of people and, depending upon the scope and level 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:01.720 of focus that the tool allows, it could be truly terrifying. Now, 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.839 at worst, this could mean that all these military agencies 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:09.960 have access to truly enormous amounts of information on people 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.960 that could compromise their privacy down the road. So, even 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:15.920 if you're someone who says I've done nothing wrong, I'm 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:20.200 not worried about it, just imagine that's someone who has 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.239 access to the system also has an ax to grind 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.680 with you for whatever reason. Maybe it's a neighbor and 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.640 they didn't like the fact that you didn't mow the 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.640 lawn last night. You know, something crazy like that. This 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:34.640 these sort of things have happened. We saw it happened 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.760 with the N S A, where people were accessing massive 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:43.080 surveillance tools for their own personal use. That does happen. 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:47.200 So even if you assume these agencies aren't doing anything malicious, 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.040 which is a dangerous assumption to make in the first place, 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.800 there's still massive, massive problems with this kind of surveillance, 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.720 and that's Whiten's point. But even at the very least, 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.880 let's just let's say that everyone's being very careful and 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.240 responsible with all of this, what it suggests is that 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.960 the military has been looking for loopholes to get around 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.560 the few protections that the United States grants for privacy. 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.680 My my home country, is pretty darn awful about protecting 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:21.040 citizen privacy. According to widen, the whistleblower claimed that people 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.960 within these agencies had shared their concerns about the use 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:29.800 of these tools and they had filed complaints and concerns 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.880 all up and down the chain of command, but ultimately 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.880 nothing changed. And so the whistleblower came forward out of 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.960 concern that the military and the Department of Defense could 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:44.200 be violating constitutional rights by sidestepping judiciary oversight. It seems 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.240 as though the military and other agencies, like law enforcement 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:53.640 organizations are getting around barriers in a pretty suss way. 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.720 So the fourth amendment to the Constitution in the United 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:01.280 States gives citizens protection against unread noble search and seizure. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.439 See also the story we did on US Customs on Tuesday. 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:09.240 And usually you can't just go and demand a company 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:13.520 like an Internet service provider to hand over information about 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.640 someone unless you have an order that's been issued by 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.400 a court system you've gotten a judge to sign off 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:25.520 on it. But if these agencies don't demand information but 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.760 instead just go out and buy it from data brokers 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:33.000 who will sell information to whomever is buying it, well 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.319 then they kind of got around that, didn't they? Because 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:40.000 they didn't demand anything, they just purchased access to this information, 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.920 which is a big old yuck. Anyway, whether we see 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.559 the government take action on this and close down these 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:50.720 loopholes remains to be seen. So I guess just remember 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.120 it's not just Santa clause that's watching you. The Iranian 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.640 government is cracking down on Internet access in the country 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.199 in the wake of protests that have been prom did 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.960 by the death of Massa Amini last week. Amini was 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:09.280 arrested and charged with wearing unsuitable attire, in violation of 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:13.880 Iran's modesty rules, and she died in police custody last week. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:20.280 Her family is UH protesting the reasoning that Iranian authorities 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:24.360 have given, saying that the authorities are are lying about 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:29.280 Ameni's medical condition and that she died as a result 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:33.280 of their direct treatment of her. The tragedy appears to 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.880 have been the tipping point for social unrest in the nation. Now, 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:41.600 I want to add there are a lot of factors 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:45.360 that are contributing to social instability in Iran, and the 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.960 big picture is extremely complex, far more so than we 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:53.080 can go into in this podcast, but this incident was 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:58.079 sort of an inciting incident. The Iranian government has appeared 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.439 to order a near total black out of Internet communication, 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.440 with some people reporting that they were only able to 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:07.880 send texts on their phone to each other, but otherwise 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:11.160 had no real connectivity. Presumably this is all in an 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.000 effort to hamper any kind of organizational efforts that would 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.960 otherwise depend upon the Internet. It's the most extreme crackdown 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.360 on internet communications in Iran since November two thousand nineteen. 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:25.120 That's when Iranian citizens began to protest a whole bunch 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:29.719 of different issues, including government corruption increased fuel prices, than 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:34.360 the Iranian government in general. We have more news to cover, 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:47.160 but first let's take a quick break. We're back over 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.240 in Russia. A leader of the Russian Foreign Ministry named 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:55.680 Constantine Voran Stov or varant solve, I should say sorry 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:59.080 for my pronunciation. He said that if countries continue to 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.720 support Ukraine that Russia might retaliate against, quote unquote, quasi 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:09.240 civilian infrastructure. Now, the general interpretation of this statement is 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.120 that Russian leaders are threatening to shoot down Starlink satellites 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.120 that are in orbit above Ukraine. So earlier this year 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:21.560 the Digital Minister for Ukraine tweeted at Elon Musk essentially 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.120 asking for Starlink equipment to be sent to the country. 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.000 A joint project between the United States Agency for International 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:33.600 Development and SPACEX would send thousands of Starlink satellite dishes 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.959 to Eastern Europe and a small constellation of Starlink satellites 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:42.040 moved into position above Ukraine. UH, it's not entirely clear 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.120 how much of that is funded by SPACEX and private 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.760 funds and how much of that came from the US agency, 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.320 largely because the US agency scrubbed a lot of that 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:57.439 information off of its sites in the wake of this developing. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.720 Maybe it was a way to try and dist the 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:04.600 United States support of Ukraine in a delicate situation, but 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.559 this became a critical part of Ukraine's strategy for fighting Russia, 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:14.720 using the communications in order to maintain a chain of command, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.600 as well as to do things like guide drones to 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:22.040 attack Russian positions. Now fast forward about nine months and 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:27.360 Russia's campaign in Ukraine is not going to the countries favor, 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:33.360 Russia's favor, I should say. Vladimir Putin faces increasing resistance 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:39.360 in Russia as he instituted partial military mobilization. Now, if 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.360 you're like me, you might want to know what those 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.240 words actually mean, because if I read partial military mobilization, 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:51.280 it just sounds like you're moving military units, but not 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.959 all of them, just part of them. Now, in this case, 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.320 what that phrase actually means is that Russia is calling 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:01.439 up specific groups of people to serve in the armed forces. 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.280 So it's not that dissimilar to the draft here in 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.560 the United States, or you know, or the concept of 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.959 conscription in general. It just as a different phrasing. I 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.640 don't know why we use that. I find it confusing. 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.120 I think it just works better if we say conscription, 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.680 but maybe maybe I'm just a stickler for that kind 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.680 of thing. Anyway, as the situation gets more complicated for Putin, 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:29.200 the leader has begun making threats against any country that 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.880 might support Ukraine, and now has seemed to extend that 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.320 to not just countries but companies in their equipment. Russia 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.520 does have the capability to shoot down satellites in orbit. 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:44.320 In fact, the country demonstrated that last year when it 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.320 destroyed an old communication satellite in a test of the system, 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.440 in a move that drew sharp criticism from the scientific 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:55.240 community because it could have potentially threatened astronauts aboard the 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:59.200 International Space Station by creating lots of space junk traveling 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.960 at tens of thousands of miles per hour, and even 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:07.000 a small piece could spell chaos for other spacecraft. If 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.320 Russia did make such a move, it would no doubt 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:14.120 escalate tensions dramatically in the region. Okay, time to talk 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.840 about Meta and some recent issues that the company faces. 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.920 In Texas, a jury found Meta guilty of having infringed 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.680 upon patents belonging to an APP company called Voxer. Tom 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.480 cadis founded voxer back in two thousand six in an 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:31.360 effort to create better walkie talkie style technology, and he 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.200 launched an APP in two thousand eleven. Apparently Meta, which 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.800 back then was just plain old facebook, was interested in 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.040 either acquiring or partnering with Foxer, but for one reason 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.880 or another that project never solidified. But boxer's lawyers say 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:50.680 that Meta later incorporated technology that came from boxer into 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:55.000 facebook features without compensating the company, and that prompted the 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.680 court case, and that this court case was actually filed 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.960 two years ago because, like I said earlier this week, 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.600 justice in the US sure does move swiftly. Meta lawyers 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.400 argued that the company did not infringe upon the patents, 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.840 but a jury found otherwise, and the jury also decided 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:15.440 that Meta now owes foxer four point five million dollars. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.960 Metal lawyers say they plan to appeal the decision, so 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.760 this ain't over yet. Meanwhile, there's a class action lawsuit 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:27.040 that might be taking shape against Meta. According to the 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.960 site Mac rumors, it is a proposed class action lawsuit 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.240 at the moment. So what is the issue? Well, the 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.240 lawsuit claims that Meta used some workarounds to sidestep apple's 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.480 APP Tracking Transparency Policy, a k a a t t, 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:47.240 but not a t and T, just a t t. now, 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.440 this is the policy that lets IOS users opt out 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.600 of APP tracking, which Meta had been relying upon to 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.960 fuel its advertising business. That data is incredibly valuable to 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.720 Meta and to Meta's advertising clients, so getting cut off 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.399 from that was a huge blow. The lawsuit claims that 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.600 Meta has built in browsers in its APPS, like facebook 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.399 and Instagram, that do all the data gathering that a 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.240 t t is supposed to prevent should users opt out 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.639 of it, and that users are not made aware of this. 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.760 They happens without their consent. There are allegations that medic 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.960 can even monitor text and puts like payment information, which 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:30.760 obviously presents security and privacy concerns. Good news for instagram 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.560 users out there. The company is reportedly working on a 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.399 filter that will automatically detect when someone sends you a 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.200 nude photo. That's actually a huge problem on the platform. 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.560 There are some folks who get unsolicited nudes frequently. I 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.639 imagine female presenting influencers get it an awful lot. The 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:53.080 tool will detect images containing nudity and will cover those images, 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.879 and it gives the recipient the option to either just 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.720 ignore the message so they don't ever have to look 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.040 at it, or, if they give in to curiosity, they 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.359 can actually choose to view it, but it becomes an 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.399 active choice. It's not something that just happens automatically. So 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.040 for folks who are flooded with this kind of material, 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.680 I imagine that would be a huge relief. It might 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.200 even mean they might check their messages more frequently because 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:18.359 they wouldn't have a fear of being confronted by the 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.360 nude form of total strangers. And this is also important 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.199 to note this tool is supposed to do all of 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.280 this automatically. No one at instagram will be able to 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.440 look at or have access to the images. I imagine 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.719 the AI that has been trained to recognize nudity has 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:35.920 a real tough time with all the other image recognition 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:38.960 ais when they get together for their virtual softball league. 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.480 TIKTOK will soon require all accounts connected to US politicians, 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:46.960 political parties and government agencies to go through a verification process. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.360 In addition, the platform is banning all videos aimed at 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.240 campaign fundraising. This is a bit of a pushback against 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:57.160 the valid criticisms that tiktok has long allowed misinformation, including 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:01.240 political misinformation, to proliferate on the Plat form. Once TIKTOK 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.239 has verified a politically connected account, that account will not 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.520 be able to access advertising and gifting features, and any 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.520 videos that mentioned fundraising or that actively solicit donations will 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.680 be banned. Finally, over on twitch, you've got a lot 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.879 of twitch streamers who are threatening to strike against the platform, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:23.600 possibly around Christmas week, because of the platform's stance on gambling. 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.400 That is there is none. Twitch has said that they 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.520 are evaluating their policies they'll come out with something more 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.800 coherent in the future, but we have already heard that 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.080 things like sports betting will not be included in that policy. 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.439 So that's pretty much guaranteed to take off everybody. The 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.800 people who are anti gambling are going to be upset 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:43.920 because they're gonna be some forms of gambling that will 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.359 be allowed. The people are pro gambling are going to 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.480 be upset because it'll feel like certain sectors of the 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.240 gambling community are being singled out and others are given 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.520 a free pass. So good job twitch. No one's happy. 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:58.880 All right. That's it for this episode. If you would 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:00.840 like to reach out to me remember I'll be out 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:03.680 for a whole week. It's good luck and I'll talk 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:12.720 to you again, Willie soon. Yes, text stuff is an 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:16.399 I heart radio production. For more podcasts from my heart radio, 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.919 visit the I heart radio APP, apple podcasts or wherever 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:21.520 you listen to your favorite shows.