WEBVTT - Tech News: ICE ICE Surveillance 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.480 Hey there, and Welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:19.720 Jonathan Strickland. How the tech are you. We're gonna start 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:24.120 off today's news episode with a little story about digital surveillance. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:29.600 Georgetown Laws Center on Privacy and Technology reports that the 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:35.200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency or ICE, has been engaged 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:39.879 in widespread digital surveillance despite the fact that the agency 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.560 isn't supposed to do that now. Essentially, ICE has been 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:48.760 using a loophole, so instead of conducting digital surveillance on 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.360 US residents itself, the agency has actually just been purchasing 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:57.440 massive amounts of data through various data brokers and other 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:02.280 private companies as well as public utilities. Now, according to 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:06.479 the researchers, ICE has accumulated nearly three quarters of all 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:10.240 adult residents who have a driver's license in the US 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.080 three quarters of photos. That is, of those driver's licenses. 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.319 The agency purchases information from utility companies, and that gives 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.919 ICE the ability to detect when someone moves by seeing 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.760 when someone activates service at a new address. ICE is 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:30.760 part of the Department of Homeland Security, and the researchers 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:36.160 are arguing that the agency lacks proper congressional oversight. The 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.200 researchers have made a few recommendations to address this incredible 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.760 amount of digital surveillance, ranging from more thorough oversight of 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:49.240 the agency to reforming immigration law. Personally, I think this 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.480 really points to a need to create comprehensive laws about 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:57.480 who can sell data to whom and under what circumstances, 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.680 because as it stands right now, there's no need to 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:06.720 be some sort of skullduggery oriented agency. You don't have 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.799 to be you know, Mission impossible or anything in order 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:14.040 to spy on people. These agencies just purchased the information 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:17.760 they need from various sources, and through that they get 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.320 an incredibly detailed dossier on anyone they like. I mean, 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:25.400 our ability to analyze data has reached a point where 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:29.000 if you just have the information, you can sift through 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:34.239 it and put together a really comprehensive picture of who 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.560 someone is and where they've been. Big Brother has been 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:42.720 distributed and democratized. Yikes. In other news on how US 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:47.600 departments are using technology, the Pentagon recently held a demonstration 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:54.000 via its Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office. I 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.760 had to be really careful about reading that. It's kind 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.480 of a mouthful, But in this demonstrate, Shan vendor teams 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:06.840 used high powered microwave transmitters to bring down drones. So 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.000 the department has been assessing the possibility of using high 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.520 powered microwave beams to bring down hostile drones. We're talking 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:17.280 military grade drones here, not your average little quad copters. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.320 And this was the third set of demonstrations, all intended 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.079 to give the agency the information needed to determine capability 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.600 gaps like where do they need to make improvements, and 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:34.280 to focus on developing the next generation of anti drone weaponry. 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.520 The vendors had to demonstrate their respective technologies effectiveness, which 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:42.760 included everything from threat detection to tracking too bringing down 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.720 targeted drones, sometimes two at a time. So this is 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:50.080 still very much in development, and while similar weapons may 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.040 already be deployed, what we're really looking at is the 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:58.440 refinement process intended to develop more effective anti drone defense systems. 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:01.840 There have been a few people who have suggested that 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.960 Elon Musk's quest to purchase Twitter has had at least 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.160 something to do with his own tendency to post things 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.440 that the United States securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.320 has objected to not that buying Twitter is going to 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.760 change that at all, but whether that factored into his 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.240 decision to purchase the company or not. The SEC is 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:29.119 once again investigating Musk with relation to Twitter. This time, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.120 it's because Musk was late in submitting a form indicating 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:37.560 his intent to purchase more than five percent of Twitter's shares. 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:39.839 He ended up purchasing a little more than nine percent. 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.120 That's something that investors are supposed to do when they 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:47.320 plan to make that substantial and investment in a company, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.320 is to file that with the SEC. Musk apparently filed 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.800 the form at least ten days after he was supposed to, and, 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:59.520 according to the SEC, by not reporting the intended purchase 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.640 in a timely manner, Musk was able to buy that 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:06.800 stock essentially at a discount, potentially amounting to as much 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:11.520 as a hundred forty three million dollars. How Well, if 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:16.760 Musk had followed the proper protocol and submitted the form properly, 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.000 that submission would be public information, which means investors would 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.680 have seen that Musk was going to buy more than 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.359 nine of Twitter's stocks, and that in turn could have 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.320 been enough to drive up the share price, which would 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:35.599 have increased the wealth of current shareholders or encouraged more 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:40.279 people to buy into Twitter stock ahead of that actual purchase. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:45.280 And one shareholder has now filed a lawsuit against Musk, 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:49.400 essentially arguing that by filing late, Musk robbed shareholders of 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:53.880 potential wealth. The SEC could also seek its own lawsuit 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:58.480 against Musk, but neither the shareholder lawsuit or a potential 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.320 SEC lawsuit would likely have any real impact on the 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:07.359 planned acquisition, which still requires shareholder and regulatory approval before 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:12.839 it can go through. Let's start talking about Meta. There 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.360 are a couple of stories to to cover now. The 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.720 owner of Facebook, that being Meta, is looking to make 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.720 some cutbacks to its Reality Labs division, which is the 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:29.360 hardware centric part of Meta that develops mixed reality hardware. Apparently, 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:33.279 at an internal meeting, leaders told employees to expect upcoming 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:37.400 changes to be announced within a week or so, with 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.679 those announcements being specific cutbacks. And this is a pretty 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:45.720 dramatic turnaround from where we were in the fall of back. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.880 Then that's when Zuckerberg spoke at length about how the 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.760 company was putting an intense focus on developing all things metaverse. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.440 I mean that's when they changed the company name from 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:03.000 Facebook to Meta and the development includes making immersive hardware 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:06.680 that will give people the chance to experience the metaverse. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:11.320 But you see, this dedicated focus on the metaverse comes 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:15.400 at a massive cost. And if you skip ahead a 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:19.160 few months to earlier this year, we learned that Facebook 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:24.840 had experienced a drop in active users. That news shocked investors, 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.200 who I guess clutched their pearls whenever certain numbers go 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.720 down instead of up, and I might be getting increasingly 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.480 grouchy about how the stock market works. Anyway, there was 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.760 a drop in confidence from the investor community, and Meta 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.840 reps said that the company would be cutting costs to 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:46.960 reduce the negative impact on shareholders. Subsequently, news broke that 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.640 the company was slowing down on hiring for mid to 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.040 senior level positions within the company in general. And now 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.840 we hear that they're going to be cutbacks that will 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:00.800 put some of these reality labs projects on old at 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.120 least for a while. Some might end up being shelved permanently. 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.680 We do not yet know which of those projects are 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.360 going to be impacted. We had previously heard that the 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:14.320 division was working on four new headsets to aiming at 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.840 a more premium space in the market, which really means 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.200 you know, more features and more expensive, and too meant 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.000 for a more of an entry level space in the market. 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.600 Still expensive, but you know less. So not sure if 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:29.920 any of those four are going to be impacted by 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.680 these cutbacks or if this is actually going to affect 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.120 projects that are further down the pipeline. Meta reps said 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.400 there are no current plans for employee layoffs at this time, 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.960 so that's good. I mean, I don't like Meta, but 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.800 I really hate seeing people lose their jobs. In an 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:50.319 earlier tech News episode, I talked about how Facebook relied 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:55.720 on third party staffing services to hire content moderators in 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:00.800 places like Africa. Now, one former employee is bringing a 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:05.400 lawsuit against both Meta and one of those third party companies, 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:09.719 a tech outsourcing firm called Sama, which is based out 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:15.040 of San Francisco. This former employee argues that he was 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.360 hired under false pretenses because he says he was never 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.959 told that he would be working for Facebook and that 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.640 he would be doing content moderation when he interviewed for 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:30.920 the position. He relocated from South Africa to Kenya in 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.679 order to take this job and then discovered what it 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.920 was that he was meant to do. His lawsuit claims 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.520 that this practice is a violation of Kenya's anti human 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:45.040 trafficking laws. So the headlines about this all naturally say 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.439 that Facebook is being sued for engaging in human trafficking. 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.760 In fact, that's why I clicked on the story to 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.280 read up on what was going on. Now, I don't 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.960 know the particulars of this law in question, However, I 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:02.320 have to assume the fact at the former employee allegedly 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.800 had no idea who his employer was going to be 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.000 or what his actual position was going to be while 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.600 he relocated to another country has to factor into it. 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.040 In addition, the former employee claims he was fired after 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.880 he tried to organize other employees, so there are also 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:22.559 charges of union busting wrapped up in this too. Now, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:26.280 on top of all that, the man says that exposure 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:31.599 to truly horrifying material, which ranged from child abuse to 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.960 videos of executions, has left him traumatized and impacted his 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.880 physical and mental health. Now, y'all, I can tell you 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.960 I could never be a content moderator on Facebook. Just 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.600 my exposure to the normal news is enough to cause 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.440 me mental distress, and that's the same stuff that everybody 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.520 else is seeing all the time. Anyway, Meta reps have 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.200 claimed that the company takes employee welfare seriously and holds 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.640 their third party staffing service is accountable for providing fair pay, 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.920 benefits and support, something that the lawsuit UH argues with, 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:12.000 and SAMA that third party staffing service, for its part, 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.640 denies that it engaged in any anti union behavior. So 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:18.480 I'll have to see where the story goes from here. Okay, 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:20.600 we've got some more news stories coming up, but first 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:31.160 let's take a quick break. Last year, the state of 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.840 Texas passed a law called HB twin Team, which would 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.440 give Texans the right to sue social media platforms that 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:43.400 have fifty million or more active monthly users if those 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.640 users believe that they got a ban from those platforms 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:51.160 due to their political views. So, in other words, if 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:55.080 they think that they've been banned from a service because 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.840 of their political views, they can sue the company within 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.439 the state of Texas, UH if they are residents of Texas. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.720 That is, the law also forbids social networks from cutting 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.160 off access to people in Texas in order to sidestep 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:14.079 this issue, which y'all that is absolutely wild. Uh. It's 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.960 left a lot of folks saying, where does Texas get 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:21.520 off litigating how a business in another state conducts itself, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:26.680 Like if the business is incorporated, saying California, why gives 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:31.160 Texas the authority to prevent that company from not providing 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.880 service to Texas? Anyway. A federal judge previously passed an 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:40.680 injunction against HB twenty, preventing it from going into effect 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.240 until further judgment determined whether or not the law is 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:48.640 you know, legal, and the Fifth U. S. Circuit Court 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:53.040 of Appeals has now overturned that injunction and HB twenty 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.760 is now in effect in Texas. I suspect this is 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:00.720 just another stop on the journey to bringing this law 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.760 ahead of the Supreme Court. But then, considering the current 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.000 makeup of the U. S. Supreme Court, I can't confidently 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.760 say that they will find the law to be unconstitutional, 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:17.200 even though it appears to be pretty unconstitutional. The federal 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.640 judge who passed the injunction had pointed out that passing 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.040 the law infringed upon the freedom of speech for the 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:29.280 actual social media platforms that these platforms have the right 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.079 to establish codes of conduct and then they have the 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.480 right to enforce those codes of conduct, and any state 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.040 coming in to say no, you can't do that is 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:42.360 akin to censorship, which you know is ironic because Texas 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:46.920 was positioning its law as being anti censorship, but in 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:51.199 fact Texas was engaging in censorship against the social platforms 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:55.360 in order to do this. Anyway, HB twenty is just 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:59.120 a terrible law, full stop. It's a terrible law. On 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.920 top of that, one of the judges in the the 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:07.640 Circuit Court of Appeals referred to Twitter as an Internet provider, 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:12.080 which is just playing wrong, Like you can't get more wrong. 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.120 Twitter provides a service that's on the Internet, but it's 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:21.760 not an Internet provider. It's not providing Internet service. I 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.920 swear Texas is like the upside down in Stranger Things. 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.160 And I say that as a resident of Georgia, a 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:33.560 state that has its own share of totally backwards legislation. Anyway, 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:35.800 I can't wait to see where the story goes in 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:37.880 the future, and my heart goes out to all the 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.360 folks in Texas who opposed this kind of stuff. I 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.640 understand how hard it can be to live in a 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:47.040 state where leaders make bad decisions that reflect poorly on you, 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.640 and you had nothing to do with it. Over in Europe, 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.280 we're seeing another example of how leaders, in an effort 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:56.400 to fight something that's truly hideous, in this case UH 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:01.440 images and video of child sexual abuse use, they are 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:06.440 pursuing rules that will have massive, unintended consequences and a 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:11.200 negative impact. So the EU has proposed founding a new 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:15.360 division to fight child abuse material online, as well as 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:19.680 required tech companies to quote, detect, report, block and remove 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:24.360 end quote such material from their platforms. On the surface, 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.080 that all sounds fairly you know, reasonable right to detect, report, block, 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.720 and remove child abuse material. And obviously this material is 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:36.200 incredibly harmful and reporting it would be absolutely key in 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:40.320 order to track down the people responsible and to stop 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:44.640 them from abusing children. But it's the detect part that 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:50.520 could be particularly disruptive and dangerous for lots of reasons. 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:56.120 You see, for any platform that allows private messaging between 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.640 people on that platform, if that platform is ordered to 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.040 dete hecked this kind of material, well, to do that, 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.840 it would have to scan messages that were being sent 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.240 between individuals on the platform to see if any of 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.600 that material was included in those messages. These could be 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.920 messages that people presumably come on as being private and secure. 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.480 It would also mean that end to end encryption would 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:25.840 be pretty much impossible or rendered meaningless. A solid end 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.320 to end encryption service would be created in such a 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:34.040 way that no one other than the parties communicating would 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.520 be able to see the contents of that communication. That 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.360 includes the communications platform itself. So in other words, if 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:46.040 company A allows true end to end encryption, company A 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.280 has no way of knowing what is being sent over 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:54.640 those messages. It cannot access those messages, it cannot scan them. 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.560 So the only way to get around this is to 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:00.680 do was called client side scanning. That means you would 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.680 actually have to scan the material on the end devices 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.160 once the material has been decrypted. So that would mean 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.480 all users in the EU would have various companies scanning 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:17.360 their personal devices for signs of this kind of material. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.639 Apple had actually proposed doing this and then put the 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:26.800 plans on hold after receiving some pushback from civil rights activists, 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.959 and those activists have argued that this kind of surveillance 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:34.000 is really dangerous. It removes all privacy. Now, there is 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.160 no denying that child abuse is horrible and it needs 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:42.240 to be stopped and prevented. But researchers are suggesting that 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.840 it might be better to use other methodologies rather than 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:50.119 stripping away the possibility of true d end encryption, which 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:54.520 promotes human rights, and that those methodologies can be things 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:59.800 like analyzing metadata in order to detect criminal behavior and 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:03.000 to stop it. Obviously, this is one of those really 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:07.040 emotionally charged topics. It is hard to tackle. There are 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:11.040 no easy solutions, and it is very clear that a 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:16.280 solution is desperately needed, so it is a difficult situation 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.920 to kind of suss out. A couple of weeks ago, 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.720 we talked about how Netflix had a very rough call 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.320 with investors as the company reported its first net loss 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:30.199 and subscribers ever, and once again, you know, if numbers 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:33.199 go the wrong way, the stock market goes bananas. Anyway, 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.600 apart from this being another example of how reactionary things 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.240 are in the investment world, it pushed Netflix to talk 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.280 about the ways the company intends to drive up revenue 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.479 and reduce costs in the future. Two of those ways 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.600 involved clamping down on the practice of password sharing, and 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:57.000 the other was to introduce ads. Two create different tiers 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.359 of subscriptions now. The company says we might see both 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.640 of these practices begin by the end of this year, 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.240 and we have an idea of how this is probably 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.360 going to play out. For one thing, Netflix has been 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.040 experimenting with a model in a few countries in which 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.440 households can pay a little bit extra in their monthly 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.560 subscriptions and in return, they are authorized to share their 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:27.359 password with at least a person outside of their household. 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:32.200 So this this allows them for the case where someone 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.040 who is not living under the same roof is able 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.920 to access the service, so you pay a little bit 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.240 more per month and you get a kind of adjunct 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.959 household member who just happens to live outside the house. 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.200 As for advertisements, the general belief is that Netflix would 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.840 do something similar to what we've seen other platforms do 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.200 in the past, which is that they offer a less 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.719 expensive subscription model for folks who opt to have ads 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:02.320 included in their service, and those who don't want ads 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.720 will just have to pay a little bit more per 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.439 month for a premium service. Whether this will address the 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:13.160 issue of subscriber loss remains to be seen. Okay, I've 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:15.600 got a couple more stories to go through before we 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:25.760 get to those, let's take another quick break. One service 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.679 that did not have Netflix's problems was Disney Plus. The 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.560 mouse House reported that nearly eight million people joined as 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.439 new subscribers to Disney Plus over the first quarter of 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:41.480 twenty two, which was better than anticipated. This makes Disney 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:45.640 Plus a leading company when it comes to growth. Keep 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:48.159 in mind, like there are other services that are bigger, 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.440 they're just not growing at the same rate as Disney 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.080 Plus growth. Like again, this is why I think growth 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:58.040 is a bad metric for success, because you could be 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.399 growing really fast, but the reason for that might be 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:06.000 that you're pretty small. So if you have two people 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.840 on your service and then six more people sign up, 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.040 you know that if you if you convert that over 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.919 to percentages, looks really impressive, but when you look at 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:19.760 the actual numbers, maybe not so much. Anyway, despite the 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:22.800 fact that Disney Plus is growing very fast, faster than 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:27.920 services like Hbo Max, the division is losing lots of money. 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.479 In fact, it's losing money faster than it was before. This, 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:33.359 by the way, is again one of the things that 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:37.600 really puzzles me about business. It convinces me that all 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.879 money is fake and we're all just playing pretend until 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:43.679 it all falls apart. But yeah, Disney Plus is growing 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:47.360 super fast and pulling in more money per subscriber on average, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.600 but it's also losing money faster because the cost of 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:55.440 producing exclusive content for the platform is really high. We've 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.679 seen this with other services as well. Netflix, in particular 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:05.960 streaming platforms attracts subscribers primarily by securing exclusive content. Sometimes 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:10.320 that is involved by signing deals with specific studios so 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:14.440 that you have the exclusive right to stream that studio's content. 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.679 In other cases, it involves funding productions directly, and this 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:24.199 stuff is expensive you. Disney is reportedly considering introducing an 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:27.680 ad supported subscription tier to Disney Plus in the future, 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:33.560 similar to what Netflix is considering. Yesterday, Google kicked off 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:37.320 its annual Io event. That's the one in which the 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.560 company reveals new products and invites developers to become familiar 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:45.560 with various platforms so that those developers can create stuff 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.440 that can work on those platforms. Like this is where 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:54.480 developers learn about increased features and and upcoming operating system updates, 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:57.600 that kind of stuff. Now, I've attended one io event 0:22:57.920 --> 0:22:59.560 that was the year that they brought in Flight of 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.359 the con Chords to play the after party. But I 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:05.000 didn't know who Fly the Concords were at the time, 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:07.640 and now I kick myself because if I had known, 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.280 I would have been at the whole set instead of 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:11.879 just at the tail end of it. Anyway, none of 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:14.520 that matters. Let's talk about some of the stuff that 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:19.359 Google showed off this year. So it teased the Pixel seven. 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:21.880 This is going to be the next generation of the 0:23:21.920 --> 0:23:26.000 Pixel line of smartphones, the Android phones. The company plans 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:28.600 to release a Pixel seven and a Pixel seven Pro, 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:31.040 which is in line with what it's done over the 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:34.080 last couple of years. Both of those phones will sport 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:38.320 Google Tensor chips, but that's about all the information that 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:40.960 the company was willing to part with at this stage. 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:44.720 Google also announced the Pixel six A, which is meant 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.520 to be a more budget friendly version of the Pixel 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:52.560 six smartphone. It'll be slightly smaller, might lack a few 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:58.199 other features. Uh, it will retail for four dollars, and 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:00.560 one thing that the Pixel six A will not have 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:04.479 is a headphone jack. Google has gone back and forth 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:07.919 when it comes to including a physical headphone jack, and 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:11.280 has even taken some potshots at Apple for having abandoned 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:13.800 the headphone Jack in the past, but it looks like 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:15.639 Google is doing the same thing, at least with the 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:19.600 six A. Maybe that's because of another announcement that the 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:23.760 company made, which is that the Pixel Buds Pro Earbuds, 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:27.360 a a two dollar set of earbuds with noise cancelation 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:31.360 and advanced microphones to allow for calls with a minimum 0:24:31.359 --> 0:24:34.560 of interference, are coming out this year. At long last, 0:24:34.600 --> 0:24:39.760 Google also unveiled the Pixel Watch, which will incorporate fitbit technology. 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:43.080 That fitbit connection is critical because it means Google can 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:48.320 rely upon tried and tested technology rather than developing everything 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:51.320 from scratch. The company said it would be available in 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:54.240 the fall, and it would be sold at a premium price, 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:57.120 which probably means if you have to ask, you can't 0:24:57.119 --> 0:25:00.960 afford it, So I guess no Pixel Uch for me. Then. 0:25:01.680 --> 0:25:05.280 Google also showed off a prototype of some smart glasses 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:09.760 that would be able to display translations in real time, 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:13.000 meaning if you had two people and each of them 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:15.439 had a pair of these glasses, they could have a 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:19.119 conversation with one another even if neither of them spoke 0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:22.879 the other person's language, which is pretty cool. Uh, there's 0:25:22.880 --> 0:25:26.400 no telling if this prototype will ever become an actual product, 0:25:26.920 --> 0:25:29.760 but it is a nice demonstration of how augmented reality 0:25:29.800 --> 0:25:34.040 technology could have some real world applications outside of gimmicky stuff. 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:38.400 The io event continues today, but usually we see all 0:25:38.440 --> 0:25:41.119 the big reveals on day one. But if anything huge 0:25:41.160 --> 0:25:43.359 gets announced today, I'll be sure to cover it in 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:48.800 an episode next week. Finally, Bethesda, the video game studio 0:25:48.920 --> 0:25:53.199 and publisher, tweeted that upcoming video game titles Redfall and 0:25:53.320 --> 0:25:57.720 Starfield will not be coming out this year. The company 0:25:57.760 --> 0:26:01.119 has chosen to postpone the publication these games until the 0:26:01.160 --> 0:26:05.600 first half of three, citing the need to quote ensure 0:26:05.760 --> 0:26:09.480 that you received the best, most polished versions end quote. 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:13.520 Bethesda first announced Starfield at e three way back in 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:17.040 calling it a an all new i P, so not 0:26:17.720 --> 0:26:20.879