Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from October 15, 2018 Favoriting

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Conversations with creators and thinkers who are charting the way forward in a tech-saturated society. In our shift to a digital future, we need alternatives to Big Tech. Homepage: techtonic.fm

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Favoriting October 15, 2018: Station Manager Ken Freedman on algorithms - and a new Scam Roundup

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This week: Station Manager Ken Freedman, on algorithms - and a new Scam Roundup

Two recent examples of algorithms in the news, from Amazon:

Amazon has been promoting its own products at the bottom of competitors' listings (CNBC, Oct 2), "raising questions around how Amazon uses its marketplace sales data to potentially gain an unfair advantage over other sellers." And on secret Amazon-owned brands (BoingBoing, Oct 5): "If you seee a brand on Amazon and you've never heard of it, there's a chance that it's just Amazon. The company operates a growing number of labels with names like 'Arabella', 'Lark & Ro' amd 'NuPro' to market its own products."

This Is How Amazon Loses, by John Battelle (Oct 10): "Algorithmic merchandising leaves a bad taste in my mouth. ... I no longer trust Amazon to have my best interests at heart. I’ve lost any trust that Facebook or Twitter can deliver me a public square representative of my democracy. I’ve given up on Google delivering me search results that are truly “organic.” And YouTube? I can’t possibly trust the autoplay feature to do much more than waste my time."

Amazon built an AI tool to hire people but had to shut it down because it was discriminating against women (BusinessInsider, Oct 10): Amazon's AI-based recruiting tool "showed a bias against women... the AI was unfavorable toward female candidates because it had combed through male-dominated résumés to accrue its data." It was shut down last year.

Recent Tech News

• (following up on my Little Slice of Tech Pie segment on this morning's Wake & Bake) - New Evidence of Hacked Supermicro Hardware Found in U.S. Telecom (Bloomberg, Oct 9): A security expert "provided documents, analysis and other evidence of the discovery following the publication of an investigative report in Bloomberg Businessweek that detailed how China’s intelligence services had ordered subcontractors to plant malicious chips in Supermicro server motherboards over a two-year period ending in 2015."

Myanmar’s Military Said to Be Behind Facebook Campaign That Fueled Genocide (NYT, Oct 15): "Members of the Myanmar military were the prime operatives behind a systematic campaign on Facebook that stretched back half a decade and that targeted the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority group, the people said. The military exploited Facebook’s wide reach in Myanmar, where it is so broadly used that many of the country’s 18 million internet users confuse the Silicon Valley social media platform with the internet. Human rights groups blame the anti-Rohingya propaganda for inciting murders, rapes and the largest forced human migration in recent history."

Facebook Isn’t Sorry — It Just Wants Your Data (BuzzFeed News, Oct 9): "Despite all of the bad press and fallout (which includes everything from disrupting the media business to election interference to ethnic cleansing in places like Myanmar), Facebook is vast, powerful, and profitable. You know what happened after the Cambridge Analytica scandal? After its first president, Sean Parker, expressed regret over its ruthless monetization of attention? After legislators trotted out examples of election interference in front of executives? Facebook reported earnings and monthly average users that exceeded expectations. The stock spiked. Facebook is intimidatingly large and deeply woven into our cultural fabric, largely because we have allowed it to become so, and we can’t consider a world without Facebook in it."

• Via Jason Kint (today, Oct 15): "Facebook press cycles:
- Thursday: 1 domestic fake accounts + 2 Russia scraping
- Friday: 3 "Breach" details (29mm + search & location histories)
- Today: 4 Devastating report on Myanmar...
- 5 can't be far off at this point. ICO (UK Information Commissioner's Office) report expected in next 2 weeks."

How to Delete Facebook and Instagram From Your Life Forever (NYT, Oct 10): When the Times is telling you how to delete Facebook, it's past time to get it done.

It's also time to wean yourself off of Google, Gmail, and all other Alphabet products.

Google Executive Declines To Say If China Censors Its Citizens (The Intercept, Sept 27): Ken Enright, Google's chief privacy officer, dodged questions from Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "We are not close to launching a search product in China." Asked whether China censors its citizens, Enright responded: “As the privacy representative for Google, I am not sure I have an informed opinion on that question?”

Leaked Transcript Of Private Meeting Contradicts Google’s Official Story On China (The Intercept, Oct 9): "Google has refused to answer questions or concerns about Dragonfly. On Sept. 26, a Google executive faced public questions on the censorship plan for the first time. Keith Enright told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that there 'is a Project Dragonfly,' but said 'we are not close to launching a product in China.' When pressed to give specific details, Enright refused, saying that he was 'not clear on the contours of what is in scope or out of scope for that project.'" But actually, in remarks in an internal meeting, search engine exec Ben Gomes told his team that (as The Intercept puts it) he "hoped the censored Chinese version of the platform could be launched within six and nine months, but it could be sooner." The meeting was in July.

Tech Workers Now Want to Know: What Are We Building This For? (NYT, Oct 7): Jack Poulson, a Google research scientist, quit his job over his concerns about Google's censorship-enabled Dragonfly. Not everyone can afford to leave their job at a toxic company, but more and more people are leaving Big Tech companies for similar reasons.

- - -

PODCAST: Subscribe to the Techtonic podcast

Artist Track Album Images Approx. start time
  Station Manager Ken Freedman talks with Mark about new tech scams.
Tomaš Dvořák  Game Boy Tune   Favoriting Machinarium Soundtrack 
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  Mark's intro    
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  Conversation with Station Manager Ken    
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0:21:27 (Pop-up)
  Scam Roundup from Station Manager Ken    
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0:23:08 (Pop-up)
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Listener comments!

  6:00pm
average earbuds:

:-)
Avatar 6:01pm
geezerette:

Star Tech!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
ultradamno:

Hello Mark! Techitigants!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
listener james from westwood:

Ah, the graphic designer's version of that meme.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
queems:

hey mark & sm ken & all
Avatar 6:03pm
TDK60:

Hi Mark, Ken.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
-Ken:

Hi all!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
listener james from westwood:

Best line out of the otherwise pallid film The Freshman, uttered by Brando: "This is an ugly word, this 'scam.'"
  6:04pm
Colleen:

Hello there station manager Ken..... truly miss your show!
Avatar 6:04pm
Neckbard:

Has "techstatic" already been suggested?
  6:04pm
takalado:

:o that machinarium song outta nowhere. loving this radio.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
queems:

so psyched about the art auction
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
-Ken:

Aww thanks Colleen. I'll be back. @queems, me too!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
chris:

hi, Mark and Ken and folks. Scam roundup!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
Webhamster Henry:

Hi What The Techs?
Avatar 6:07pm
herb.nyc:

a scam episode?! no way I'm gonna post, because some worm is gonna follow me.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
Bas NL:

Hi Mark & Ken and all Techtonicals!
  6:07pm
JakeGould:

I like how Google is just ditching Google+.
  6:07pm
Colleen:

Hey there Queens!
  6:07pm
Colleen:

-queems
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
queems:

hey @colleen!
  6:08pm
TheMo:

can you turn off the echo Mark? Can't understand what you're saying! :)
  6:08pm
melinda:

Hi friends
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
listener james from westwood:

This chip story is so ultra screwed up. The news gets stranger every week!
  6:09pm
TheMo:

hahahaha, my bad, two players open at once. We were blaming Scott W.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
listener james from westwood:

FWIW I dig that you're among those who get segments on Clay's show! It's great for those folks who just don't hear these tech bits among their daily news diet.
Avatar 6:09pm
geezerette:

Scamarama ! Drama !
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

I was getting into scam mode over the weekend listening to some Jolly Roger recordings. They made the main stream news reports: www.today.com...
Avatar 6:11pm
TDK60:

$.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Was there any analysis of updates to the board wiring? The chips need to get their power and signals from somewhere.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
ultradamno:

You may recall Facebook being used to help a community target a trans child in OK: www.washingtonblade.com...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
chris:

plus birthdate, i believe
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
queems:

i can't give up my instagram yet
  6:14pm
Colleen:

This is all really heavy and scary shit
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:15pm
queems:

you can pry it out of my cold, dead, virtual hands
  6:15pm
Colleen:

But oh please don’t take away my Facebook
  6:15pm
takalado:

b52s bout facebook
  6:15pm
Colleen:

I wouldn’t know how to get off Google
  6:15pm
average earbuds:

10 months Instagram free *pat on the back for me*
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
chris:

yes
Avatar 6:17pm
geezerette:

"Smart" devices make stupid people.
I have no solutions.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Nice weasel words, Google.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
queems:

yikes
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
ultradamno:

So...yes.
Avatar 6:20pm
geezerette:

!!!
Avatar 6:20pm
RomanDogBird:

enough with the fucking civility, get somebody to smack this smug fucker (and all smug fucks) in the face until he gives a straight answer, jesus christ
Avatar 6:20pm
Jeff Moore:

"Not close to launching" – "not clear on the contours"

That's the most weaseling I've heard in a long time.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:20pm
ultradamno:

That's some high-grade gorilla dust.
  6:20pm
Daybreak the Teacher:

Never thought I’d say this but at that moment good for you Ted Cruz
Avatar 6:21pm
herb.nyc:

Enright shoulda done a Kavanaugh - "do YOU have a dragonfly project?"
Avatar 6:21pm
northguineahills:

What Daybreak The Teacher said......... I'm scared now, someone hold me.....
  6:22pm
melinda:

@herb haha
  6:23pm
Daybreak the Teacher:

But how close is close?
  6:25pm
Daybreak the Teacher:

Well then we are back to your original question: if we expect these workers to quit google we should expect the billions of users to quit google who would have a problem with Chinese censorship. Don’t be evil my ass!
Avatar 6:25pm
TDK60:

Obviously China censors; but Repubz' concern for rights is selective. Saudi Arabia?
  6:25pm
liXiviated life:

Trust no corporation
Avatar 6:26pm
RomanDogBird:

this is where the FUN begins
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Webhamster Henry:

Scam or Algorithm ? I know! Scammy Algorithms!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Folsom:

One thing to ask Ken is how well does he trust radiorethink.com for the web player? You are tracked by radiorethink and another site called mixpanel.
Avatar 6:27pm
geezerette:

love sinkface !
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
Webhamster Henry:

"this is the Visa Mastercard Security Center with an alert" <<< I get this about 3 times a week.
  6:30pm
JakeGould:

Sorry to say this, but you know, Matt Howie sounds completely like a sucker. Hang up the phone and log into your account on your own. That is the key to panic phishing scams. Just get off the phone and login to the account.
  6:30pm
Daybreak the Teacher:

If you do not shred the plethora of receipts you get everywhere the last four digits of whatever card you use is right there!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
Webhamster Henry:

Ask to call them back.
Avatar 6:31pm
northguineahills:

I would have loved to see the scammers go through that effort and get all of my ones of dollars from my account.
  6:31pm
JakeGould:

I meant, Matt Haughey.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Folks can set up their accounts to send an email or a text message when cards are charged or accounts are credited/debited. If things are compromised, at least he'd have known right away.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
queems:

@northguineahills SAME
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
dale:

i keep getting emails from someone who tells me my (old) password from my email account claiming they have video of me watching porn online and they want money to not ruin my life. I've had tape over my camera for a couple of years so i know it's a scam, but how do these folks get your passwords?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
listener james from westwood:

Oh, jeez, I always wiggle the input slot of the ATM in case it's a bolt-on fugazi.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Webhamster Henry:

@dale that's a new but well known scam. They have a bunch of old passwords (usually from mYSpace 10 years ago)
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Bas NL:

He, he.. I've had my credit card blocked a couple of times on account of 'suspicious activity' settling pledges to WFMU. ;)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
chris:

some passwords are available on the dark web, for purchase, dale. to see if an account password has been leaked, check out: haveibeenpwned.com
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
queems:

also wiggle it at the metrocard machines in the subway
  6:36pm
JakeGould:

Robbing mail from a physical USPS box has been a problem in South Brooklyn. They have changed the openings on mailboxes now so it’s just a slot not a big opening and that makes things safer.

That said, when they “fish” for checks they are specifically looking for checks that are signed and have an amount but do not have a payee filled in. This is common in poor neighborhoods where people send checks to landlords without a payee on it; the legitimate landlord or business puts whatever name of their business they wish to deposit it into; many small businesses juggle books.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Folsom:

Microsoft Paul Allen died today.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
listener james from westwood:

Have heard it used as slang for "fake"!
Avatar 6:37pm
RomanDogBird:

F**ed Up, Got Ambused, Zipped In
Avatar 6:37pm
northguineahills:

@dale: My wife doesn't care if I look at porn, and I'm not sure I can be embarrassed.
  6:37pm
jeremyb:

fugazi. fake
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Webhamster Henry:

Or lifting the veil of your bride (because Jacob married Leah instead of Rachel)
Avatar 6:37pm
TDK60:

..just looked it up: fugazi is Italian slang for 'fake'
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
ultradamno:

Fugazi = fake, knockoff
  6:38pm
liXiviated life:

It’s wiseguy talk for a fake.
Didn’t you guys see Donnie Brasco?
  6:38pm
JakeGould:

So the mail fishers are looking for those checks made out for rent and such and they fill out their name as the payee, go to a check cashing place and cash out.

Lots of local wholesale distributors for fruit and produce work like that.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
Rich in Washington:

@Folsom: I just read that at this second too.
He's big around the PNW also for owning the Blazers but I'm fond of his big huge Sci Fi and rock history museum.
  6:39pm
Last White Rhino:

Hey Matt , nice karaoke performance Saturday night at Monte Hall.
  6:39pm
jeremyb:

https://youtu.be/CXUIPPdd8QI
Avatar 6:39pm
herb.nyc:

I got that old password scam involving me watching porn. ironically, I had been watching porn on my cellphone (done only once). then the nytimes had a short article about it a month or 2 later.
Avatar 6:39pm
TDK60:

So we're all victims of fugazi news. Sad.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
queems:

if the worst thing that happens to me in 2018 is someone recording me watching porn than i've made out ok
Avatar 6:40pm
Jeff Moore:

Fugazi: per an entry in the 100% reliable Urban Dictionary:

Italian wise guy slang for.... a fake, a phony
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:40pm
queems:

*then
  6:40pm
JakeGould:

Hello! I am a member of a very famous international hacker group! We have all of your Don Felder LPs. PAY UP OR ELSE WE MAKE THEM INTO POTATO CHIP BOWLS!!!
Avatar 6:40pm
herb.nyc:

here's my scammer hacker's email - Ahmad Hudon <wxbpngalecp@outlook.com>
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:41pm
dale:

i only went to porn for the blind - what's so wrong with that?
  6:41pm
liXiviated life:

Unfortunately the only Vice I have is WFMU.
Avatar 6:42pm
TDK60:

queems: thanks for not using 'than' like that!
Avatar 6:42pm
herb.nyc:

Ahmad writes this (oh, Ahmad and me are great buddies now!). - At this point you may be thinking, “I'm going to report to the cops”. Without a doubt, I've covered my steps to ensure this email cannot be tracked returning to me plus it will not prevent the evidence from destroying your health. I am not planning to break your bank. I am just looking to get paid for the time I placed into investigating you. Let's assume you have chosen to produce all of this go away and pay me the confidentiality fee. You'll make the payment via Bitcoin (if you do not know how, search "how to buy bitcoins" on search engine)

Transfer Amount: $1900
Send To This Bitcoin Address:
Avatar 6:42pm
Jeff Moore:

Never ever ever use the same password for more than one site.

Use passwords which look like modem line noise!
  6:43pm
JDM:

probably the best thing on any station right now

change your passwords, Im getting mails from hackers that have my 15 year old password, probably hacked form some old Isp or comapny that's changed hands. If i didnt change passwords since then, I'd be thinking they got me.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
queems:

@tdk60 you're welcome, i would never let that typo stand
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
queems:

is hello123456 not a good password someone please advise
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
Bas NL:

I once was confronted with people receiving spoof emails with my work email address as sender. Traced it to a DTP shop in Thailand as the source. Contacted them and they found one of their systems that was hacked & pulled the plug on it..
  6:43pm
Dean:

I received my first ever sextortion email today. It was so obviously a scam for so many reasons, not least of which was the absurd characterization of my web browsing habits, which a Puritan would deem prudish.

Wore the moon-freaker t-shirt all weekend.
Avatar 6:45pm
northguineahills:

I change my passwords on all of my accounts every 3 months (sans wfmu) going through algorithmic iterations. It takes about an decade to complete the cycle.
  6:46pm
JakeGould:

Come up with a password recipe that mixes words, numbers and symbols and change it at least twice a year… And send me all your emails or else!!!!
Avatar 6:47pm
herb.nyc:

I told my niece's husband of a Rent-a-rock-band-tee idea, and he told me of Rent the Runway. but come on, let's do a geographically local tee-borrowing . we can wear each other's WFMU tees, for inst, via physical meetups.
Avatar 6:47pm
northguineahills:

Rescue is near Carmichael, CA (Sacramento area)
Avatar 6:47pm
Jeff Moore:

@queems: It's fine! What hacker would think of the word hello for a password *and* count all the way to six?
  6:50pm
Robert Tables:

I like to use diceware
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:50pm
queems:

@jeff GREAT thanks for your professional insight
  6:50pm
JakeGould:

“PaSsw0rd!69” is a sexy password… Until you actually have sex and then it’s silly.
  6:51pm
liXiviated life:

@queems
Did you get your ice cream yet?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
Folsom:

I got scammed on Kickstarter once, now only get stuff once have some history on them.
  6:52pm
jeremyb:

zungle sunglasses... terrible kickstarter I funded
  6:52pm
Daybreak the Teacher:

I swag for life and sang at the Karaoke, questionable performances of Blister in the Sun and Under Pressure.

I’ve also had my full Identity stolen: name, address, social security number. I followed it up to the point where I realized the person was caught on camera, but was told if less than $15,000 was stolen, there is so much crime, the police DO NOT investigate.
  6:53pm
Dean:

I believe the California story involved a Little Johnny who was an actual person, alive and kicking, and that's how the scam was discovered. Stupid con artists!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:53pm
listener james from westwood:

Someone should set up a crowdfunding page in some random actual Springfield for a monorail.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
dale:

that actually sounds like a people problem. not a platform problem.
Avatar 6:54pm
northguineahills:

haha, james!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

There appear to be scammers at the top level of the US government these days. The whole family. Imagine that!
Avatar 6:54pm
geezerette:

It's just all so sad. :c[
  6:54pm
JakeGould:

SAD!!!
  6:54pm
JakeGould:

Ken saw “Donnie Brasco?”
  6:56pm
JakeGould:

What’s everyone’s GoFundMe scam? Cancer baby? Sick dog?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

How about wfnu.org?
Avatar 6:58pm
northguineahills:

Thanks KenMark!
  6:58pm
JeremyB:

sorry... I took Wfmu for the name of my warcraft character
  6:59pm
P-90:

Thanks, Mark and Ken
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
Bas NL:

Thanks Mark & Ken!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
listener james from westwood:

Thanks, Ken and Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
queems:

thanks guys!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
Webhamster Henry:

A nice lively show this week! Lots of talk!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
melinda:

Thanks, I look forward to the convo about not being able to get off google and fbook.
Avatar 7:00pm
geezerette:

Thanks,Mark & Ken!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:02pm
Mark Hurst:

Thanks, everyone! Appreciate all your comments (and Zachary's call). If you haven't pledged yet, click the Pledge link & go get those t-shirts! Have a great week.
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