We’re Losing the Web

0:00 Here ye, here ye, the kingdom of TECH

0:03 DOTH BRING NEWS MOST urgent from the digital realm.

0:06 The trebushchets ARE LOADED.

0:07 THE ZUCKERBERG APPROACHES.

0:09 LOOSE THE NEWS.

0:11 23 major news outlets are blocking the internet archives

0:15 incredibly useful way back machine from crawling their sites because,

0:20 you know, we cannot in fact have nice things anymore.

0:23 USA Today just recently used the Wayback Machine to call out ICE for altering

0:27 detention stats and then immediately blocked

0:29 the archival tool from crawling their own site, which is frankly just rude.

0:34 The news outlets say this is necessary to stop AI crawlers

0:37 from treating their sites like an all you can scrape buffet.

0:41 But not all of them are blocking Wayback's crawler.

0:44 The Guardians director of business affairs said

0:46 that the Wayback Machine's API is a real AI risk,

0:49 so they are only going to be blocking that.

0:51 So maybe don't attack them on social media.

0:54 Wayback's director Mark Graham responded,

0:56 calling those AI fears unfounded and restating how much

1:00 effort they put into preventing possible abuses of the crawler.

1:04 Groups like Fight for the Future and Electronic Frontier

1:06 Foundation are rallying journalists to publicly back the archive,

1:10 and over 100 of them have signed a letter thanking the Internet

1:14 Archive and the Way Back Machine for being an essential and critical tool.

1:18 In other words, uh please don't die.

1:20 We kind of need you to fact check our bosses, please.

1:23 Google, Microsoft, and Meta are all tracking

1:26 users even when they opt out of cookies.

1:29 According to an independent privacy audit,

1:31 Web X-Ray, a privacy focused search engine,

1:34 which is founded by a former Google privacy engineer,

1:37 scanned over 7,000 popular California websites,

1:40 finding that 55% did set ad cookies even after users clicked reject.

1:47 Big tech isn't respecting people's privacy.

1:50 No way.

1:52 According to the report, Google, Microsoft,

1:54 and Meta failed to honor the opt outs 86, 50, and 69% of the time, respectively.

2:00 Nice.

2:01 Sorry, the number, not the situation.

2:03 Unsurprisingly, all three companies disputed the findings with Google

2:07 calling it a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology

2:11 with Microsoft complaining that a rejection of all

2:13 cookies would cause some websites to break.

2:15 According to Web X-Ray's founder,

2:17 the three companies have paid billions in privacy related fines already,

2:22 but that they see these payments as part of a cost of doing business.

2:26 You know what they say,

2:27 you can't make an omelette without breaking a a few billion eggs.

2:30 The FCC just granted Netgear a conditional exemption

2:33 from the US ban on importing new models of foreign routers,

2:37 making it the only company currently allowed

2:40 to import and sell foreignade consumer routers.

2:44 Neither the FCC nor Netgear have explained

2:46 why this special privilege has been granted.

2:48 The only possible explanation,

2:50 Netgear is FCC Chair Brendan Carr's illegitimate son.

2:54 Or maybe they just bought a load of Trump phones.

2:57 The whole thing is genuinely baffling,

3:00 especially since the FCC's original justification

3:02 for the ban was the Volt Typhoon hack,

3:05 which primarily targeted Cisco and guess what?

3:08 Netgear routers.

3:10 Even weirder, the FCC's approval process for the exemption

3:13 requires a detailed plan to expand US manufacturing,

3:17 which Netgear hasn't publicly committed to do.

3:21 Critics are also quick to flag that the approval

3:24 process asks zero questions about router security,

3:27 with the focus being entirely on where the routers are made,

3:31 which for the vast majority of consumer routers is not in the US.

3:35 Until other brands secure their own exemptions,

3:38 Netgear is going to be living a very privileged life.

3:40 That illegitimate Sun's theory sounding a little less crazy now, eh?

3:46 You know what's not crazy?

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4:57 Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got vibes to cultivate.

5:01 I'm gonna do a Batman thing.

5:05 And low, in our hour of greatest need, cometh our salvation.

5:09 Dominion in stature yet vicious.

5:12 RELEASE THE QUICK BITS.

5:13 WINDOWS Recall is facing fresh security

5:16 issues raised by researcher Alexander Heg.

5:18 Oh, wow.

5:19 I'm going to butcher that name.

5:20 Alexander H, whose work contributed to Microsoft

5:22 delaying the original version of the feature.

5:25 H's tool Total Recall Reloaded,

5:27 demonstrates how malware can ride along with Windows Recall,

5:32 getting a free pass to the PC's entire history,

5:35 which is precisely the scenario Microsoft's architecture should restrict.

5:41 Despite Alexander submitting a full report to Microsoft,

5:44 they denied that it was an issue,

5:45 saying that it falls within the current documented security design.

5:49 I guess that means it's not a bug,

5:51 but a feature if they put it in the manual, right?

5:53 Uh, really makes me recall why Windows gives me the ick.

5:57 See what I did there?

5:58 China has just tested a device that can

6:00 cut undersea cables at a depth of 3,500 m,

6:05 hailing it as a breakthrough in pipeline

6:07 repair and causing other governments to flip out.

6:10 The announcement comes amidst global tension

6:13 around a string of suspected sabotage

6:15 incidents in which undersea cables carrying

6:17 the world's internet communications were severed.

6:20 This prompted NATO to patrol the waters near these cables to protect them.

6:24 So, you better torrent your anime now, boys, if you ever want to find out if

6:27 Princess Monoke finally gets her glass slippers back.

6:32 Snap CEO Evan Spiegel announced plans to lay off 1,000 employees,

6:38 which is 16% of the workforce because AI has

6:41 the capability of being the company's hardest working intern.

6:45 Spiegel says AI productivity gains will let

6:47 smaller teams reduce repetitive work and increase velocity,

6:51 which tracks since Snapchat's product roadmap has historically been 90%

6:56 new filters and 10% wondering if anyone asked for them.

7:00 Nvidia paid out almost 900 million in warranty claims last year.

7:04 That is 10 times more than the previous year thanks

7:07 to the 16pin power connectors continuing to melt themselves into modern art.

7:12 Look what they did to my boy.

7:14 There is actually a silver lining in all of this though.

7:17 At least one Taiwanese RTX490 owner was

7:20 able to prevent a potential houseire last week.

7:23 It was after his cat started screaming when it smelled rayraced fumes.

7:29 I guess the most reliable thermal monitoring tool

7:31 in 2026 might in fact be a cat.

7:35 And Chinese automaker Sarah was just granted a patent for an invehicle toilet.

7:41 The good news is the toilet seat is not

7:43 permanently fixed and can be hidden under the seat.

7:46 Otherwise, your butt would get all, you know, sloshy and no one wants that.

7:51 Hopefully, the creator of the motorized toilet has had his invention patented.

7:54 Otherwise, there's going to be a serious legal battle.

7:57 I for one am on the side of THE MOTORIZED TOILET.

8:00 I WILL NOT STAND for big auto monopolizing the mobile bowel movement.

8:05 That's just ridiculous.

8:06 Ah, the siege is over.

8:08 The kingdom of tech has fallen.

8:10 But take heart, for now we rebuild.

8:13 Two days hence, on the 17th of April,

8:15 we shall gather arms once more and RAIN TECH NEWS UPON THE HEADS OF OUR ENEMIES.

8:21 This metaphor needs more work, but you kind of