WEBVTT - Tech Stories of 2019 - The Bummer Episode 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to Text Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:14.120 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to text Stuff. 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.959 I'm your host job in Strickland. I'm an executive producer 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:18.880 with iHeart Radio and a lot of all things tech. 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.800 And boy feels good to say those words, because you know, 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.599 I've been running around traveling doing lots of stuff for 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:31.800 another show called The Restless Ones, which you may have heard, uh, 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.199 And it means that I've had a lot of time 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.280 away from the studio. But I'm back today, and it's 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.200 that time of year when I take a look back 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.519 at the previous twelve months and consider some of the 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.040 biggest text stories to come out over the course of 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:52.000 the year. Now, this year, twenty nineteen, it was a 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.280 pretty darn packed one when it comes to news, and 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.560 things changed so quickly, and there are so many high 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:59.800 level stories that it can actually be pretty easy to 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.880 good stuff that happened earlier in the year. So I'm 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.520 gonna walk us through some of the big themes of 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.200 the year and some of the stories that center on 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.399 those themes. And there are so many things to talk 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:13.840 about that I'm actually gonna have to do two episodes 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:15.679 about it. I originally was going to really try and 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.640 cram it into one, but that just wasn't very practical. 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.840 I would just be rattling off headlines, and what good 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:24.760 is that. So this one's going to be filled with 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.000 a lot of stories about mistakes and things going wrong 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.640 in the world of tech. So I'm calling this episode 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:35.360 the Bummers of twenty nineteen. But um, here's the bad news. 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.039 There were a lot of bummer stories, So some of 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.720 those are gonna probably spill into the next episode two, 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.880 but I'll do my best to to to lighten the 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.120 mood of it in the next one occasionally. Now, one 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.400 of the big themes has actually become a pretty common 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.200 one over the last several years is the theme of 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.840 data breaches. Like I have previously called earlier years like 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.960 the Year of the Data Breach, but I think the 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.640 same thing can be said of twenty nineteen. So a 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.840 couple of years ago, the credit reporting company Equifax dealt 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.680 with a massive data breach that resulted in a host 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.080 of investigations in the United States both the state and 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:21.280 federal levels, and the company ultimately agreed to pay out 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:26.840 somewhere between five and seven hundred million dollars as a 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:31.160 result in fines. They were also giving people the opportunity 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.760 to lay a claim for at least some sort of 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.919 compensation for this data breach. People were invited to apply 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.760 for a payout of one hundred twenty five dollars, not 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:47.040 exactly a princely sum when you consider having your personal 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.640 information rated due to insufficient protections on a corporate level. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:56.079 In September two tho nineteen, Equifax announced that people claiming 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.720 a payout would need to provide proof that they had 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:03.600 also enrolled in a credit monitoring service by October, because 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.799 that would show that the people had concern about their 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.560 own credit rating and their own personal information, that they 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.520 weren't just looking for money to get money, but that 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:16.559 they actually were actively trying to keep track of this stuff, 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:20.119 or else the claim could be denied, and the FTC 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:24.200 had previously already warned that due to the number of claims, 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:26.360 people were likely to get far less than a hundred 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.440 twenty five dollars because there was only a pool of 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.400 around thirty one million dollars that had been set aside 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.520 for these payouts. You know that five d seventy five 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.720 to seven million dollars that wasn't set aside for payouts. 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.760 Only thirty one million was set aside for payouts. And 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.240 I know it's crazy to say only thirty one million, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.520 but when you look at the scale of this data breach, 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.080 you realize that that means if everyone who was affected 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.840 lays claim to a payout, you don't get very much. 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.600 But this whole mess has prompted more conversations about data 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.160 secure and corporate accountability, which is a good thing. It's 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.320 sad that it comes at the expense of this terrible mistake, 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.160 but at least people are talking more seriously about this. 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.880 Hopefully something will actually happen because of it. Now, we've 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:17.039 seen lots of these stories over the last several years, 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:19.720 and they really do show no sign of slowing down 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.880 right now, which is unfortunate. In twenty nineteen, there were 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.960 some truly notable examples across different industries. I pulled data 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.400 from Norton, the information security company to look at some 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.400 of the big ones. One of those would be Capital One, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:38.520 the financial company, reported that hackers were able to access 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:43.280 a large amount of data, affecting one hundred six million 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.400 records in the company's files. Most of those records were 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:51.240 for a credit card applications rather than established accounts. So 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.160 it wasn't like the hackers necessarily got a lot of 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.479 credit card info, but they got a lot of application information. 0:04:57.480 --> 0:04:59.560 And when you think about the info you need to 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.680 provide hide when you apply for a credit card, it 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:09.200 includes stuff like, you know, personal information that is really 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.039 important to you. And it might be mundane stuff like 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.520 your name, which, hey, you know, no big deal, someone 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:19.080 knows your name, okay, But it might include your email, 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.640 which again maybe that's more frustrating or or irritating. But 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.000 then there's also your physical address, which gets a little 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:32.960 more spooky scary, your credit score, your income, maybe your 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.479 Social Security number, essentially all the stuff it would take 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.800 for someone to steal your identity and sell it off 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.560 on the dark web, which is not very cool. Capital 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.960 one hacker named Page Thompson targeted a third party cloud 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.360 computing company that Capital One had relied upon to host 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:54.800 the credit application services. She exploited a vulnerability in a 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.839 web at firewall to get illegal access to the data. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.720 She was arrested for the data intrusion, and then she 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.760 was held in a men's detention center. Uh, she's transgender, 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.280 and this gets into a whole thing with criminal justice 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.279 systems and the treatment of people who are transgender, which 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.159 honestly goes way beyond the scope of this podcast. But 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:15.719 I'll just say that when I read that she was 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:19.120 held in a men's detention center, that really upset me. Now, 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.040 I don't disagree with her being detained she broke the law, 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:28.039 or allegedly broke the law. She denies this. I more 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:32.440 object that it wasn't in a more appropriate setting. Anyway, 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.440 She's awaiting trial for the case. That trial is scheduled 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.719 right now for March twenty. She has pled not guilty 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.719 to the charges. Another company to experience a data breach 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:47.640 was door Dash, the food delivery service. The company experienced 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.480 the breach in May, but didn't disclose it until September 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.320 twenty nineteen. A third party access the information of nearly 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:59.960 five million drivers and customers without permission. The information they 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.000 were able to access included personal information, including the last 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.080 few digits of credit card and bank account numbers, but 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.960 not the whole number. It was just that last little string. 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.680 It also included the hashed passwords of many account holders, 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.760 so it's always good to change your password if you 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:22.040 make use of services that later reveal that they've been hacked, 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.800 it's always a good idea to change that information. And also, well, 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.640 I'll get to it, but don't use the same password everywhere. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.520 It's a little spoiler alert for a future discussion. So 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.720 early in the year, the service Evite had a data 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.880 breach that affected one hundred million records, again exposing customer 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.920 information like names, addresses, phone numbers, and the password that 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.000 they used for the account. And again the exposure of 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:52.320 passwords drives home that importance right use unique passwords with 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.880 different services. That way, if one service is compromised, you 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.960 don't have to worry about the hackers accessing everything else 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.120 you use using the same password. If you're using one 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.880 password for everything, then you're essentially opening up the door. 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.960 As soon as one breach is effective, all of your 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:13.360 services have been breached. So don't use the same password 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.880 for everything. Use a password vault, UH, use stuff like 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.560 two factor authentication. All of that will help minimize your risk. 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.480 It doesn't eliminate it, but it minimizes it. And if 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.880 you find out one of the services you use was compromised, 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.640 change all that log and information right away. Now. The 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.760 medical industry also saw its share of data breaches the 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.880 American Medical Collection Agency, which is a company that collects 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.719 overdue payments for various medical labs. So essentially, these are 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:42.600 the folks who come after you if you haven't paid 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:47.000 certain medical bills. They also had a breach. Hackers access 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.120 more than twenty million records, and the information included not 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:54.000 just personal information, but even stuff like credit card information. 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.199 The actual breach began back in the summer of eighteen, 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:02.080 but the vulnerability remain unpatched until Arch twenty nineteen. In 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.800 June of this year, the company filed for bankruptcy protection. 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.960 So you know, things are just going great for them. 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.280 And close to home, Georgia Tech suffered a data breach 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.040 when some third party gained access to a university owned database. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.560 The database had tons of personal information on current and 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.320 former students, as well as staff and faculty at the college, 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:27.800 including things like social security numbers. In total, one point 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:32.240 to six five million people were affected by that data breach. 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.400 The college is reaching out to offer credit monitoring and 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.040 identity theft protection services for those affected by it, but 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.600 still yikes. The U. S Government also was not immune 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:47.040 to data breaches. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.280 had a data breach, not because some hacker broke into 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:54.960 the system, but because the agency accidentally released files containing 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.120 sensitive information, such as the personal info of more than 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:03.040 two million people. So ad trombone noise insert here now. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:07.160 According to the US Inspector General, FEMA violated the Privacy 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.440 Act of nineteen seventy four by releasing this data to 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:14.080 a third party contractor. The contractor was in charge of 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:18.080 securing temporary lodging for people who are affected by emergencies 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.840 and disasters, so like a fire or a flood. But 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:26.200 the data FEMA provided was far more extensive than what 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.079 was actually needed for this contractor to do its job, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.280 and so that data included stuff like banking information and 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.920 bank transit numbers and stuff like that, stuff that did 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.679 not need to be shared. Now, considering that this breach 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:43.920 affected people who are already dealing with emergency situations that 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.400 were bad enough to necessitate a relocation, that's a that's 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:51.840 a big, big ouch. Making matters worse is that even 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.920 some of the companies that are dedicated towards security and 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:59.120 privacy have had data breaches in twenty nineteen. Take nord 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.280 VPN for example. That was a service that I've used 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.400 in the past. A VPN is a virtual private network, 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.280 and the purpose of a VPN is to allow a 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.280 user to log into a remote server and then use 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.480 various internet services so that they can't be traced back 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.640 to the end user. Now, at first glance, that might 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.600 sound like it's shady, but it's actually a really useful service. 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.560 If you're concerned about your own data security, you can 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.760 use a VPN when you're in areas where you can't 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.079 be certain of the security of the network, and that 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:31.839 helps improve your own security. But then this year, word 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.120 came out that nord vpn had an internal private key 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.400 exposed back in which created the possibility for hackers to 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.960 create a server and host it on the nord vpn 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:47.199 service as if it were a valid Nord VPN server. Now, 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.079 that would mean that an end user who was relying 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.200 on nord vpn might end up logging into one of 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.880 the hackers computers thinking it was a secure VPN server, 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.319 and the hacker we get to see all the traffic 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:04.200 coming through that computer. Nord vpn has stated that since 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:07.120 the breach, the company has patched this problem and that 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.319 the company doesn't keep a log of any user activity, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.400 So hackers would only capture any traffic that happened on 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.160 their own server during that breach. They wouldn't have gotten 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.240 traffic information from any other servers on the nord VPN network. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.520 They wouldn't be able to look at historic data because 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.160 the company doesn't keep any Still, that might come as 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.959 a little comfort to a community of users who presumably 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.240 have subscribed to the service out of a desire to 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:36.240 maintain privacy and security. Now, these stories are pretty discouraging, 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.679 and to be honest, it's just the tip of a 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.880 huge iceberg. According to a report from Javelin Strategy and Research, 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:48.199 there were five thousand, one hundred eighty three reported data 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:52.360 breaches in the first nine months of two thousand nineteen alone. 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:57.439 Now keep in mind those are reported data breaches. There 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:01.760 are likely many more that have either gone discovered or unreported. 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:07.640 Now those breaches represent nearly eight billion records exposed. The 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.240 rate shows a thirty three increase in breaches compared to 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.000 two thousand eighteen. Most of those breaches happened to companies 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.320 with fewer than one employees, so these weren't like the 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.439 big big news items like Capital One or door Dash. 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.520 There were some good news items in the report. However, 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.679 not everything was dour. Credit Card security has improved thanks 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.080 to chip technology, so there was actually a decline in 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.679 credit card frauds. That's something to be thankful for. Now. 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.800 It can be a hassle just to practice good secure 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.240 internet habits, as I've covered in previous episodes of tech Stuff. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.240 As users, we all have a responsibility to protect our 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.080 data as best we can, But if we want to 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.080 do useful stuff with that data, ultimately we eventually have 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.120 to hand it over to other entities, and when these 0:13:56.200 --> 0:14:00.119 other entities have data breaches, it's also a breach of trust. 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.800 If we don't trust in the systems, things fall apart. Now, 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.480 I think it highly unlikely that we're going to see 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.200 fewer attempts at data breaches as time goes on. It 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:13.760 only makes sense we're gonna keep seeing them and probably 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.640 see efforts increase over time. So hopefully we'll have more 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.040 success stories revolving around foiling a data breach. But the 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.240 world of information security is typically a see saw type 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.120 of thing. The hackers get better at cracking systems and 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:32.480 exploiting vulnerabilities, companies get better at patching the holes, but 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.520 then the hackers look for different holes, and the entire 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.440 cycle repeats itself. Meanwhile, people like you and me get 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.520 caught up with our data potentially at risk, which is 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.280 kind of gross. Well, let's stick with some more bummers. 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:50.160 Um I figured if I frontload the episodes with bummers, 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.600 then I can make some space in the back half 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:54.960 for some more fun stuff. But first, let's talk about 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.800 financial performance. So two thousand nineteen saw some pretty rough 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:02.320 quarters for a you companies. One of those was Uber. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.840 Now I mentioned this in an earlier episode this year 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.560 about fake it until you Make it, but Uber leads 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.640 the way among ride hailing companies in a category you 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.400 don't want to appear in, which is the most money 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.160 lost per quarter. Now, to be clear, all ride hailing 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.760 companies are losing money. None of them are profitable. No 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.520 one has figured out how to make a business model 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:27.000 that has a profitable side as of yet. But Uber 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.240 is losing money on a scale that's pretty monumental. During 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.080 the second quarter of twenty nineteen, the company posted revenues 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.480 of three billion dollars, which, come on, that's that's a 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:41.960 lot of chadder, But they posted losses of five billion dollars. 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:46.480 Wolf Uber CEO stated that a large part of those 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.400 losses came from the I P O process that Uber 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.640 went through the initial public offering. The company had bought 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.520 back shares that belonged to employees, which posted in the 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.280 company records as an expense, but that was a one 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.400 time expen Uber won't be buying back shares again in 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:06.120 the future. Still, analysts say that even taking into account 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.320 the stock compensation cost, Uber would have lost more than 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.760 a billion dollars. And that's just one quarter. That's not 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.400 all of twenty nineteen, So if my math is right, 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.960 there are four quarters every year. So the question is, 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.840 can Uber find a way to be profitable in the 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.120 right hailing and related businesses or will it have to 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.480 bank on investors bailing the company out again. I'm worried 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.040 we're looking at another bubble that's just about to burst. 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.200 But I hold out hope that companies like Uber Left 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.720 and other right hailing services are able to turn things 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:40.760 around preferably while also treating their employees well and ensuring 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.560 the safety of their customers, which are also ongoing issues 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.680 with many of these right hailing companies. More to say 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.480 about that in just a moment, but first let's take 0:16:49.760 --> 0:17:00.480 a quick break now. Speaking of safety and right inhaling, 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.440 it's also important to hold up Lift to the magnifying 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.000 glass and not give that company a free pass while 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.159 raking Uber over the coals. Numerous women have come forward 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.400 in lawsuits against Lift, stating that they were the victims 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.199 of assault. They also say the company did nothing to 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:20.159 prevent those assaults, and they didn't do enough to ensure 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.800 passengers safety. And on top of all that, they say 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:28.080 that Lift ignored complaints filed after the assaults took place 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.080 and then downplayed the events to the media. One lawyer 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:36.360 states that there's evidence that Lift purposefully withheld cooperation from 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.520 law enforcement officers who are investigating these claims. Now Lift 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.000 is not the only right hailing company to come under 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.560 scrutiny due to safety concerns and reports of assault, and 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.639 there are also cases in which drivers have been assaulted 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.439 by passengers. This is an ongoing story, and there are 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.320 a lot of discussions about measures that could help protect 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.639 passengers and drivers alike. But the rollout is likely to 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.479 be re regional and staggered over weeks or months, so 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.840 it's not exactly the super fast response you would hope for. Necessarily, 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.520 all right, let's keep that bummer train of moving. In 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:15.639 January two thousand, nineteen, the utility company Pacific Gas and 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.840 Electric or pg n E, declared bankruptcy. Now, this company 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.160 serves customers along the West Coast, and in twenty seventeen, 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.000 it was found guilty of starting a series of wildfires 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:31.400 in California, which then put the company thirty billion dollars 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.800 in debt. That's billion with a b P. G n 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.800 E emerged from bankruptcy in September twenty nineteen after agreeing 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:43.240 on an eleven billion dollar settlement with insurance companies. Now, 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.960 this is the same utility company that would shut down 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.879 power to California residents in a series of planned blackouts 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.119 during a particularly windy season in order to avoid a 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.840 similar situation and which perhaps a broken power line might 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.359 start a wildfire. The blackouts affected more than half a 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.919 million people in the San Francisco region. So that was 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.760 not a great story, and the tech sector obviously covered 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.520 it quite a bit, with so many tech companies located 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.879 in the Bay Area. Now, at least seven coal mining 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.520 companies in the United States have declared bankruptcy in twenty nineteen, 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.639 which marked the first year in which more US citizens 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:24.480 got electricity from renewable sources than from coal powered plants. 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.160 At least thirty three oil and gas producers have gone 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.520 bankrupt as well, and the Zoo might imagine this has 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:35.000 made lots of folks in the coal and oil industries upset. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.760 And while I definitely don't want to see people face 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.400 hardship as companies closed down, I don't want to see 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.359 people out of work. I also think the move away 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:47.000 from fossil fuels is a necessity. So it's my hope 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.159 that employees of these companies can find work in the 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:54.000 renewable energy sector. I think it's imperative we rid ourselves 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.280 of our dependence upon fossil fuels. But we also have 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.480 to make sure that the people who were employed by 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:03.040 that into tree can find good work elsewhere and they're 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.640 not just left in the lurch. We have to make 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.440 sure that whatever plans we have to transition away from 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.800 fossil fuels also take into account the people whose livelihoods 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.840 depend upon those industries. Now, speaking of going elsewhere, what 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:19.840 do you do when your company is in financial crisis 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.119 and the company's main product is renting out office space 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:26.480 to tech startups. That's the question that we Work has 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.600 been trying to answer for much of twenty nineteen. So 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:33.480 we Work was launched back in. The company leases out 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:36.919 office space to tenants and markets around the globe, So 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:41.159 essentially at leases out space and buildings and then sublets 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.280 that space to smaller companies. And in that regard, it's 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:48.200 not really a tech company in of itself, but it's 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:52.800 clients are in largely the startup tech space. It's kind 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:57.119 of the market that we Work targets. Specifically, we Work 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.720 offices tend to have amenities that you might find in 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.080 a art up that has a lot of venture capital 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.439 and angel investors behind it. So, you know, a lot 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.280 of tech journals have covered the company's rather tumultuous twenty nineteen. 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.199 We Work initially planned to hold an initial public offering 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.520 in September twenty nineteen, when it would become a publicly 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:17.920 traded company on the stock market. Only things did not 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:22.240 go quite as planned. First, something that would have made 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.840 my eyebrows go up was that the founder or co founder, 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:30.320 Adam Newman, liquidated around seven hundred million dollars worth of 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:35.320 we Work stock before it went into its initial public offering. Now, 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:40.359 that does not necessarily mean that Newman lacked confidence about 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:43.280 how the stock market would treat his company, but a 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:46.720 lot of folks tend to interpret those types of moves 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.320 as kind of a message that the founder doesn't think 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.720 things are gonna go well, so they're cashing out before 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.399 the value of their stock tanks. Now, when the I 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.439 p O paperwork became public in August twenty nineteen, journalists 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.240 pointed out that the company had been experiencing some pretty 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.240 massive losses, not unlike the right hailing businesses I talked 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.760 about earlier in this episode, there were questions about whether 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:15.480 or not we Work would ever be profitable, so also 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:17.800 like the right hailing services. In fact, I think there 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.400 are a lot of parallels between the two. There's also 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.919 a report that in some we Work offices the company 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:26.000 had included stuff like these little phone cubbies or phone 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:29.879 booths that had equipment in them that was emitting for 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.760 malde hyde fumes, which isn't a great thing either. We 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:36.119 Work ended up scuttling its plans for an I p 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:41.200 O and postponed those plans UH to late twenty nineteen, which, 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:44.800 as far as this recording is concerned, UH still hasn't 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:48.000 happened those those I p O plans. Newman actually would 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:51.320 step down as CEO shortly thereafter. He reportedly got a 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:56.000 one point seven billion dollar buyout from soft Bank, which 0:22:56.280 --> 0:23:00.160 effectively controls we Work. Now, we Work began to all 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:03.560 off some other companies it had acquired over recent years, 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:07.240 and it also laid off about twenty percent of its workforce. 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.280 Reporters noted that the company had also started to explore 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:14.080 ways it might back out of some leases in various regions, 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:21.000 while simultaneously announcing plans about opening news space in different cities. Also, 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:25.160 just here's a personal note to soft Bank. You can 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:28.479 pay me a billion dollars and I won't even settle 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.119 you with a company that has no known pathway to profitability. 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:36.440 It's a bargain. Just show me the money now. Not 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:39.120 to get too sidetracked by all this, but I feel 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:42.440 like we Work and the ride hailing services really fall 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:44.600 into that fake it until you make it category I 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:46.639