1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: In March, I got an email from a guy named 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Andrew Friedman. It said, Brett, I am desperately trying to 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: get in touch with Jonathan Kaplan of The Melt and 4 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: more importantly, Flip Video fame. To make a long and 5 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: bizarre story very short, I have a flip video cam 6 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: that I believe has on it a video of my 7 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: late father in law playing with my son. Without boring 8 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: you with too much detail, the camera, the flip Video 9 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: it was a small, simple video recorder that was pretty 10 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: popular in the mid two thousand's. I had a few myself, 11 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: and I remember using it to film my kids taking 12 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: their very first steps. Good Daddy is dad? He needs 13 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: to talk on the phone. Go Izzy. I vaguely remember 14 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: the flip video. Most people called it the flip Cam. 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: It was good for shooting home videos. But the company 16 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: shut down a while ago, right, and that's why Andrew 17 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: was writing. His camera was broken and he was having 18 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: trouble fixing it. Three data recovery companies told me today 19 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: that they don't deal with Flip Video. I can't tell 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: you how difficult it is to get reliable intel about 21 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: a product that, by tech standards is prehistoric. Andrew had 22 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: a cherished video stuck on his device, and he didn't 23 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: have a way to get it back. As a last resort, 24 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: Andrew decided he needed to find the flip cam founder, 25 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: Jonathan Caplin, and that's why he emailed me. I'm hoping 26 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: you might be able to help me out. Either give 27 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: me a way to contact him, forward this email to him, 28 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: anything if he's willing to contact Thanks Andrew. I've written 29 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: an article on Jonathan Caplan a few years ago. I 30 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: still had some contacts I could try to call, so 31 00:01:49,120 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: we decided to help. I'm Brad Stone and I'm Christy 32 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: Westgard and this week under cryptod we're on a mission 33 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: to get Andrews video back. This season, we're exploring the 34 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:14,119 Speaker 1: unintended consequences of technology. Our story today takes a look 35 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: at the tech industry's constant race for the next big 36 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: thing and how that sometimes comes at a hidden cost 37 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: to you and me, the consumers of technology. Just as 38 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: we get used to one set of apps and gadgets, 39 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: we find out that the industry has moved on, leaving 40 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: us stuck. Stay with us. Andrew lives in New Jersey 41 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: with his wife, Ginger, and their two young children. One evening, 42 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: Andrew and Ginger were watching a popular NBC family drama, 43 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: This is Us, like they do every week. It might 44 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: have been the super Bowl. In the post super Bowl 45 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: episode in which one of the characters was thinking about 46 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: her dad's passing and on the anniverse three of her 47 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: dad's testing Every year watches a video tape that her 48 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: dad made of her when she was a kid. Um 49 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: and in this particular episode, the VHS tape got destroyed 50 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:15,399 Speaker 1: in an in an old fashioned dcr Um and her 51 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: fiance went to sort of great pains to try to 52 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: get the tape restored and find somebody who could school 53 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: it back together like everybody used to have to do 54 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: on VAJ tapes. Ginger's father had passed away just about 55 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: five years ago, and watching that episode gave Andrew an idea. 56 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: He went upstairs to look in the corner of a 57 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: closet for a flip cam he hadn't used for many years. 58 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: He wanted to find a video of Ginger and her 59 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: dad they had filmed around the time when their first 60 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: child was born all these years later. Andrew was a 61 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: little fuzzy on exactly what was in the video, but 62 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: he said Ginger remembered. Her memory of this tape is 63 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: that we made it. Probably I shot it um in 64 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: when we were in the hospital while she was in 65 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: labor with my son, who is now six years old. 66 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: You know, it was exciting to be there while we 67 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: were about to have our first son. But also there 68 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: were certainly a tone of sadness in the room. That's 69 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: because Ginger's father was battling cancer. The family knew he 70 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: didn't have much time left. Um, would you mind telling 71 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: me a little bit about your father in law? Sure? Um, Sorry, 72 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: that was the one question I wasn't quite ready for it. Um. 73 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: He died a few months asked, maybe even a month 74 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: after his seventieth birthday. Um. He was a wonderful father, 75 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: a wonderful human, a wonderful man, a wonderful everything. It 76 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: is impossible to overstate how important my wife's father was 77 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: to my wife and what he meant to her. If 78 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: this flip cam could bring a little bit of that 79 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: man back to the family, Andrew would try to salvage it. 80 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:18,119 Speaker 1: Almost immediately, things got complicated. Andrew hadn't used his camera 81 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: for years, and it wouldn't turn on, and flip cams 82 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: hadn't been in production for over seven years. In two 83 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: thousand nine, Cisco, the giant technology company, bought Pure Digital Technologies, 84 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: the company that made the flip cam. But two years 85 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: later in Cisco's broader consumer unit was having trouble, so 86 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,559 Speaker 1: Cisco killed the flip camp and they laid off fifty people. 87 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: That minute, stopped manufacturing the flip cam, and it also 88 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: stopped all the customer service support to This kind of 89 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: thing is more common than you might think. What happened 90 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: to the geo cities, the friends, Stirr's, the my spaces, 91 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: all of those are where our digital library are digital 92 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: memories live, and we're a little stuck. That's Brewster Kale. 93 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,679 Speaker 1: He runs a nonprofit called the Internet Archive. They hope 94 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: to catalog every web page, old computer, game, piece of software, song, video, book, 95 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: and more, you name it, and they're trying to get 96 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: their hands on it. Brewster says, this problem Andrew was 97 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,799 Speaker 1: facing happens to people all the time, and we're increasingly 98 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: vulnerable to it as we keep more and more of 99 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: our memories and our data online. And now we have 100 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: even more of a problem because a lot of our 101 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: memories are on Facebook, Twitter, um, YouTube, Flicker, and those 102 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,359 Speaker 1: are naming the ones that are still alive. Yet those 103 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: companies go away or they just change direction. Apple Computer, Um, 104 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: they had mobile Me that was their web hosting platform. 105 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 1: It was two terabytes of other people's stuff, but they 106 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: just said we're going to turn it off. And when 107 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 1: they said they're going to turn it off, it just 108 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: went away. Apple replaced mobile Me with the now ubiquitous 109 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: I Class out. The company did warn that it would 110 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: be switching over to give users time to jump ship, 111 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: but on June two twelve, everything left was deleted. And 112 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: if it could happen to Apple customers, it could happen 113 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: to anyone. I mean, I personally like to use Google 114 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: Photos to back up all of my images when I 115 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: don't have enough space on my iPhone, and I can't 116 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: really imagine what I do if that platform were to 117 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: just go down. Yeah, and just think of what losing 118 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: I Cloud would mean. I mean, that service can store 119 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: up to two terabytes of information for every single one 120 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: of its hundreds of millions of active customers. So, with 121 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: no customer service number to call, Andrew tried online forums 122 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: to revive his dead flip cam. Started googling online um 123 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: things like flip video instruction Flip Video Manual, how to 124 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: reset flip video flip video camera won't power on. Andrew 125 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: tried a few of the tips, but none of them worked. 126 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: Finally came across one that no did that there was 127 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: a little pin prick reset button built into the camera. 128 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: Looked and found that, but was afraid, for sort of 129 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: the obvious reason too, to trigger it, not knowing if 130 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: it would wipe out the memory of the camera. After 131 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: a couple of days of trying to fix the flip 132 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: cam on his own, Andrew started calling data recovery experts. 133 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: I mean I called three data recovery companies. One was 134 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,239 Speaker 1: what are you talking about? Two We're sorry, we don't 135 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: do that click more or less. Um. None of them 136 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: were willing to go near this. All said that they 137 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: dealt only with external storage devices. What I sort of 138 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: expected to happen was someone would say to me, sure, 139 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: bringing your camera for two hundred bucks, three hundred bucks, 140 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: we can do it. And figured they would take the camera, 141 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: they would do three minutes of work, they would get 142 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: the video. They would charge me three for three minutes 143 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 1: of work. And I was signed with that, Like I 144 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: was willing to be suckered on this one. If I 145 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: could get the video. I called two of the data 146 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: recovery companies that Andrew remembered, using right with you, please 147 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: hold both on site and in lab twenty four hours 148 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: a day, seven days per week, so if you suffer 149 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: data loss, don't panic, we can help. One said it 150 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: would run me anywhere from five hundred dollars. They warned 151 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: that the video might be lost since their specialists were 152 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: not experts in internal data recovery. Internal data is tricky 153 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,520 Speaker 1: because it requires the device itself to be functioning in 154 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: order to get at the memory, so if the device 155 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,960 Speaker 1: is dead, you can't really get to the data. In 156 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: other words, Andrews still wasn't any closer to getting his 157 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: videos back. That's when I got Andrew's email. It was 158 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: in March. Jonathan is an entrepreneur and part of his 159 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: work requires lots of travel, so it took some time 160 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: to get in touch, but eventually he did agree to help, 161 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,079 Speaker 1: and over a three months or so of email ping pong, 162 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: we followed Jonathan through China and sailing across the Atlantic, 163 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: all these off the grid places all right, And finally 164 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: in May I got word that Andrew's camera was in 165 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: the hands of someone named Taylor Libby. He'd been part 166 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: of the original flip cam engineering team, and Jonathan said 167 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: he was doing a more serious intervention on the camera. 168 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: Taylor is an old college friend of Jonathan's, and after 169 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: the flip cam unit folded, Taylor worked at Apple for 170 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: six years. Now, he's a full time dad two kids 171 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: a little younger than Andrew's son. Jonathan and Taylor still 172 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 1: casually stay in touch, so he agreed to help salvage 173 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:44,559 Speaker 1: Andrew's videos. So I got these two cameras UM from 174 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: John and they both appeared dead or or bricked. UM 175 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: the same utility as a brick. They can prop us 176 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: in the door. But Taylor's first challenge was to charge 177 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: up the battery. When batteries are too depleted, an interesting 178 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: thing happens. They can kind of get into a catch 179 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,439 Speaker 1: twenty two spain where they don't they don't even have 180 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:10,680 Speaker 1: enough battery available to charge the battery. Taylor plugged the 181 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: camera into a USB port that measures currents to see 182 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: if the slightest tremor could be detected. The recipe there 183 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: as you would have to charge it for a few 184 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: minutes and then unplug it, reset it, and then and 185 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 1: then charge it again. Taylor did this several times, over 186 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,079 Speaker 1: charging and resetting, but no dice. It was behaving in 187 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: a way that didn't look familiar to me, so I 188 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,439 Speaker 1: kind of was worried about that. One didn't didn't think 189 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: that camera was going to be salvageable. So what did Tailor, 190 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 1: the computer engineer who had helped build the flip cam, 191 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,319 Speaker 1: end up doing. Just like the rest of us, He 192 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: googled it. So I found a video where someone had 193 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: opened up a camera um similar model, and that kind 194 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: of gave me a confidence and had can probably open 195 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: this up without breaking any thing. Taylor dug up a 196 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,560 Speaker 1: flipcam of his own to practice on, and then cracked 197 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:08,440 Speaker 1: into Andrew's device. After moved a couple of boards and 198 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: got down into where the batteries could see that the 199 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: battery was swollen. This is the same thing that happened 200 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: to those exploiting Samsung batteries a few years back, which 201 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: were banned from airplanes. A swollen battery can be pretty dangerous, 202 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: I'm sure. So Taylor switched out that shot battery with 203 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: a replacement from Amazon. After a few cycles of charges, 204 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: the flipcam was back online and the memory was intact. 205 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: So six months later and we could finally bring Andrew 206 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: his videos. On a morning in June, I went up 207 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: the elevator of a nondescript office in the Financial District 208 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 1: to meet Andrew for the first time in person. We 209 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: walked across as open plan office floor to a comfortably 210 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: furnished meeting room where I set up my computer. How's 211 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: how's everything going good? Curious? How sorry this took so 212 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: so long? Hot Journey. Taylor sent us the videos via dropbox. 213 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: I opened the shared folder and let Andrew kind of 214 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: click through immediately. He was looking for something specific, the 215 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 1: video of his father in law and his newborn son. Okay, 216 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: so these were three let's see here, three our files. 217 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: But thank god, that's Ginger home. That's my apartment on 218 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,559 Speaker 1: my old apartment on NY six straight at first video 219 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,439 Speaker 1: show Ginger sitting in a chair holding her swaddled baby boy, 220 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: just got a hospital personal, Good morning, Simmy, and today's 221 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: day of life. Three. We haven't done a ton of 222 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: recording because we've just been so busy. Love in you, 223 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: yup um, and you're very cute and you're doing very well, 224 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: and Ginger is beaming into the camera. You have a 225 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: visitor though, Okay, we're gonna positive video, sorry for Andrew 226 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: was on the edge of his seat. He was certain 227 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: that the visitors they were about to receive were generous parents. 228 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: Maybe the next file would be the video he was 229 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: after today your visitors for Arial who sometimes cs by Jessica. 230 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: The next video of Ginger was a few hours later, 231 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 1: and Dad's best friend Adam and Nana and Papa. But 232 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 1: it was filmed after the grandparents had finished their visit. 233 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: So we had the videos from before and after, but 234 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: nothing from the visit itself. So where the hell is it? Queen? 235 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: Before and then the after that was like the one 236 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: in between is maybe it's somewheres. Andrew spent the next 237 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: moments clicking through the folder, making sure he hadn't missed 238 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: a file. He scrutinized the time codes. The two videos 239 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: had been filmed eight hours apart. It's so funny. My 240 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: biggest fear has been that like they got the video 241 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: off the cameras and there was nothing from the hospital, 242 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: or it was like video of watching paint drive or whatever. 243 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: The notion of actually finding the videos from the hospital, 244 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: but just that one not being there never crossed my mind. 245 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: After that meeting with Andrew, I asked Taylor if it 246 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: was possible that the file was lost during the extraction. 247 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: It's not impossible that the file, yeah, but it's it's 248 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: extremely unlikely that Christine's because because one set swapped out 249 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: the battery, that camera behave flow slee and um, there's 250 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: no indication of any type of vile corruption or anything else. 251 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: Taylor did offer one last idea, though, He said that 252 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: now the camera was running again, we might be able 253 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: to see whether the video had accidentally gotten deleted. So 254 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: let's say you had five videos on there, right, and 255 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: you deleted one of them, and now it looks like 256 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: there's four on there. Well, you didn't actually change what's 257 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: in the memory. All you did was change the table 258 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: of contents. But this video is still there. We had 259 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 1: our doubts about that. How could such an important video 260 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: just to be accidentally erased? What were the chances that, 261 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: of all the videos on the camera, that was the 262 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: one to vanish? But we had to exhaust all of 263 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: our options. So I called back that data company with 264 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: let's call it memorable hold music. So if you stuffer 265 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: data loss, don't panic. We can help. And I started 266 00:16:55,080 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: a new case the Data Recovery Company as a short 267 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: walk from the office. Um it was Nestla between the 268 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,919 Speaker 1: luxury boutiques of Fifth Avenue. I went into the glass 269 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: entryway of an unmarked skyscraper and up twenty or so floors. I, um, 270 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 1: I'm here to just drop off that camera. I have 271 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 1: a case number now. I handed over the camera to 272 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: this receptionist. He was a heavy setman, and he was 273 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: juggling several ringing phones all the while. So then do 274 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: I just wait for someone to kind of reach out? Okay? Okay? 275 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: And how long does that normally take? Okay? Sounds good. 276 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: Within a week we got our answer. The technician had 277 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: run multiple scans for residual data on the camera. He 278 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: did find a fifth file, but it was badly corrupted 279 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,120 Speaker 1: and only appeared to be seven seconds long. This might 280 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: have been seven seconds of Ginger's father or us seven 281 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,400 Speaker 1: seconds of blank video. Christie, do you do you think 282 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: it's possible that Andrew made a mistake and there never 283 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: was a video of his father in law. It's definitely 284 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 1: a possibility. Andrew told me in our first conversations together 285 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 1: that he and Ginger couldn't remember the exact details of 286 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: the video, but they did distinctly recall making and watching 287 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,919 Speaker 1: the video all those years ago. Christie, this story is 288 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 1: so familiar to me. I mean, I myself have so 289 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: many challenges keeping track of all the photographs and videos 290 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:35,240 Speaker 1: of my family across services and technologies and devices and phones. 291 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: It feels like in the ever increasing advancement of technology, 292 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: we've lost some stability, Like it's hard to keep the 293 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: perhaps coint a phrase, you know, good digital hygiene. Things 294 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:51,199 Speaker 1: end up getting spread everywhere. Yeah, I mean I was 295 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: talking with friends and family about Andrew's situation and it 296 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,120 Speaker 1: was amazing they all had a similar story. It really 297 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: is an unintended consequence of deck achnology. I mean, we 298 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: value the new thing, but then it's really it's hard 299 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,919 Speaker 1: to go rescue and organize the old things. I was 300 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: looking for my flip cam videos as we were organizing 301 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: this story. I couldn't find them. I mean, it was 302 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: actually lucky that I had posted a few to YouTube. 303 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: And it actually does sort of highlight a role that 304 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: social media can play. Right when we publish videos, they 305 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,920 Speaker 1: become easier to find. Yeah, but then on on the 306 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: flip side of that, we are kind of desensitized to 307 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: ranking the importance of what we post online because we're 308 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,880 Speaker 1: so used to posting everything. Yeah, that's true. And there's 309 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: the same obsolescence challenge, uh, with with apps and online 310 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: as there is with devices like the flip cam, right, 311 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 1: like such a small percentage of apps actually go on 312 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: to succeed and thrive, and those that do shut down, 313 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: you know, we end up losing that content that we've 314 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: been relying on it to catalog our memories. So now 315 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: that Andrew has his videos, perhaps not the one that 316 00:19:57,800 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: he was looking for, but some of the other ones, 317 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: uh that chronicle the birth of his first child, do 318 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: you know is he conducting his digital hygiene differently? Is 319 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: he backing up and storing them differently? Well? I gave 320 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:12,439 Speaker 1: Andrew a call a few days ago. I wanted to 321 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:18,120 Speaker 1: ask him just that, how is everything going on your end? Good? Yeah, 322 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: London down, summer. I know, it's kind of After some 323 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: pleasant tries, I cut to the chase. Do you back 324 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:26,640 Speaker 1: up your videos? Now? Have you put Have you put 325 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: the videos that we got for you on another hard 326 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: drive or whatnot? Yes? Well, I mean they're on a 327 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 1: hard drive there on a cloud there, they're in two 328 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: or three places. You know, a couple of different um places, 329 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: so that should one get lost again, that we will 330 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 1: have it somewhere else in theory and not need to 331 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: um implore you guys to help us go to the 332 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:57,359 Speaker 1: ends of here. Oh that's good to hear. I'm glad 333 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: that you've you've taken the ures to his les and learn. 334 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: And that's it for this week's Decrypted. Thanks for listening. 335 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: Do you have a story about digital memories lost and found? 336 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: We want to hear from you. You can email us 337 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,480 Speaker 1: at Decrypted at Bloomberg dot net or I'm on Twitter 338 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: at Christy Westgard and I'm at brad Stone. Please subscribe 339 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: to Decrypted wherever you like to listen, and if you 340 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: haven't already, leave us a rating in the review. It 341 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 1: helps new listeners find the show. This episode was produced 342 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,399 Speaker 1: by Pia Godkari and Liz Smith and edited by brad Stone. 343 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: Thanks also to Aki Itto, Emily Busso and Vandermy Magnus 344 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: Hendrickson to for Foreheads, and Austin Weinstein. Francesca Levi as 345 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: head of Bloomberg Podcasts. We'll see you next week.