Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 09/05 – The DOJ Takes Down An Election Influence Campaign

Episode Date: September 5, 2024

The DOJ says it has taken down a big election influence campaign allegedly directed by Russia. The Internet Archive loses a big case. Android 15 is here. And two really interesting new gadgets, one I probably need to buy and one I want to buy but probably won’t. Sponsors: LinkedIn.com/ride Links: Biden administration announces major actions to tackle Russian efforts to influence 2024 election (CNN) The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case (Wired) Android 15 will be available on supported Pixel devices in the coming weeks (TechCrunch) DJI Neo hands-on: A powerful and lightweight $200 drone (Engadget) The Remarkable Paper Pro is as outrageous as it is luxurious (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Thursday, September 5th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough today. The DOJ says it is taken down a big election influence campaign allegedly directed by Russia. The Internet Archive loses a big case. Android 15 is here and two really interesting new gadgets. One I probably need to buy and one I want to buy but probably won't. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. The U.S. Department of Justice has seized 32 domains used in Russian influence campaigns, they say. as part of efforts to tackle Russian efforts to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Quoting CNN, at Russian President Vladimir Putin's direction,

three Russian companies used fake profiles to promote false narratives on social media, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement, internal documents produced by one of those Russian companies shows one of the goals of the propaganda effort was to boost the candidacy of Donald Trump or whoever emerged as the Republican nominee for president, according to an FBI affidavit. Separately, two employees of RT, the Russian state media network, were indicted in a U.S. court for allegedly being part of a scheme that funneled nearly $10 million to set up and direct a Tennessee-based front company to produce online content aimed at sewing divisions among Americans,

according to the Justice Department. The scheme targeted millions of American news consumers with what Attorney General Merrick Garland described as, quote, hidden Russian government messaging. Taken together, the actions represent the Biden administration's most significant public response yet to alleged Russian influence operations targeting American voters. After the U.S. accused Iran of trying to hack both the Trump and Biden Harris campaigns last month, Wednesday's actions are a reminder that U.S. officials continue to see Russia as a prominent foreign influence threat to November's election. Sources familiar with the matter said. One of the three Russian

companies allegedly behind the Internet domain seized by the Justice Department is a company called Social Design Agency, SDA, which the Treasury Department previously sanctioned for allegedly running fake news sites in Europe on behalf of the Russian government. A nearly 300-page FBI affidavit released on Wednesday describes the domain seizures and lays out a broad Kremlin-backed effort to seed fake news stories to attack U.S. politicians supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia and stoke tensions in U.S. society. Internal SDA documents cited in the affidavit, which appear to date to before Trump officially clinched the Republican nomination, say one of the goals of the company's disinformation efforts was to, quote, secure victory of a U.S. political party a candidate,

candidate A, or one of his internal party opponents, end quote, in the 2024 election. The documents included in the affidavit do not mention Trump by name, but the U.S. intelligence community has said that Russia's preferences for the presidential race also haven't shifted since 2020 when Moscow conducted a range of influence operations in support of Trump and aimed at denigrating Joe Biden. The SDA documents also proposed targeting U.S. voters in six swing states with disinformation hitting on themes such as the, quote, risk of job loss for white Americans and the purported threat of crime from, quote, Ukrainian immigrants, according to the FBI affidavit. Prosecutors in the indictment of two RT employees also describe an operation intended to fuel

pro-Russian narratives, in part by pushing content and news articles favoring Trump and others who the Kremlin deemed to be friendlier to its interests. The unnamed Tennessee-based company that the Justice Department alleges was being funded by Russian operatives, working as part of the Kremlin orchestrated influence operation is Tenet Media, which is linked to right-wing commentators with millions of subscribers on YouTube and other social media platforms, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter. Formerly known as Russia Today, RT runs television and online platforms around the world that advance the Kremlin's agenda. The Justice Department forced RT America to register as a foreign

agent in 2017 after U.S. intelligence officials concluded that the media outlet contributed to Russian efforts to medal in the 2016 election, end quote. The Internet Archive has lost its appeal of a U.S. District Court ruling that favored publishers in a copyright dispute over the nonprofit's e-book lending program, quoting Wired. The Internet Archive has lost a major legal battle in a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of Internet history. Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the long-running Digital Archive, upholding an earlier ruling in Hachet v. Internet Archive that found that one of the Internet Archive's book digitization projects violated copyright law.

Notably, the appeals court ruling rejects the Internet Archives argument that its lending practices were shielded by the Fair Use Doctrine, which permits for copyright infringement in certain circumstances, calling it, quote, unpersuasive. In March 2020, the Internet Archive, a San Francisco-based nonprofit launch day program called the National Emergency Library, or NEL. Library closures caused by the pandemic had left students, researchers, and readers, unable to access millions of books. And the Internet Archive has said it was responding to calls from regular people and other librarians to help those at home get access to the books they needed. The NEL was an offshoot of an ongoing digital lending project called the Open Library in which

the Internet Archive scans physical copies of library books and lets people check out the digital copies as though their regular reading material instead of e-books. The Open Library lent the books to one person at a time, but the NEL removed this ratio rule, instead letting large numbers of people borrow each scanned book at once. The NEL was the subject of backlash soon after its launch, with some authors arguing it was tantamount to piracy. In response, the Internet Archive within two months scuttled its emergency approach and reinstated the lending caps. But the damage was done. In June 2020, major publishing houses, including Hachet, Harper Collins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley, filed the lawsuit. James Grimmelman, a professor of digital and internet law at Cornell University,

he says the verdict, quote, is not terribly surprising in the context of how courts have recently interpreted fair use. The Internet Archive did eke out a Pyrrhic victory in the appeal, although the Second Circuit cited with the District Court's initial ruling, it clarified that it did not view the Internet Archive as a commercial entity, instead emphasizing that it was clearly a non-profit operation. Cremelman sees this as the right call, quote, I'm glad to see that the Second Circuit fixed that mistake, end quote. He signed an amicus brief in the appeal, arguing that it was wrong to classify the use as commercial, end quote. Google has released Android 15, making its source code available on the Android Open Source

Project. Supported pixel devices will get the new OS in the coming weeks, followed by other manufacturers, quoting TechCrunch. The Android update will bring new additions like Private Space, a feature that lets user silo a portion of the operating system for sensitive information. The software update will also allow users to save their favorite split-screen app combinations for quick access and pin the taskbar permanently on the screen. Other additions include partial screen recording and more convenient pass keys. As part of Tuesday's announcement,

Google revealed that it's making Android 15 available on the Android Open Source Project, which provides the information and source code needed to create custom versions of the Android OS as well as port devices and accessories to the Android platform and ensure compatibility requirements. Google says Android 15 gives developers more ways to further tune their app experience to improve the way their apps run on any platform release. It's also making improvements in areas like typography, internalization, media, and camera experiences, the user experience, privacy, and security, Google says.

On the latter, Android 15 will support sign-in with pass keys, with a single tap, and other new protections against malicious actors, end quote. Two new gadgets now. The first one is very intriguing to me. The second one is intriguing, but probably not enough to pull the trigger. Let's go with the first one first. DJI has unveiled Neo, a $200 drone aimed at content creators and casual users, with features like Palm, takeoff, voice control, active track, smartphone control, and more.

Quoting and Gadget. The Neo is no toy. It has a suite of powerful features like ActiveTrack, Quickshots, FPV controller support, smartphone control, and the ability to record yourself with the DJI Mic 2. Video specs look promising as well, but not everything is perfect. it lacks obstacle detection and uses small propellers that are likely to be noisy. I wasn't able to give it a full look as some features were missing, but I was still astonished by what DJI got a small, cheap drone to do.

The Neo is DJI's lightest drone by a long way at 135 grams and is nearly small enough to fit into a pocket. It also has a feature we've not seen on the company's drones before, a second button near the camera gimbal that lets you choose from different smart shot modes, quick shots on other DJI drones like Follow and Droney. It comes with removable propeller guards that provide protection for use in doors and around people. Be careful when you fly, though, as there's no obstacle avoidance apart from the main

camera's AI and a downward-facing IR landing sensor. The camera gimbal can tilt up 60 degrees and down 90, though it doesn't flip for vertical video. The half-inch 12-mepixel sensor has an ultra-wide angle 13-millimeter equivalent focal length. good specs for a drone in this price range. The Neo's battery is incredibly light but supports up to 17 minutes of fly time, or around 13 to 14 minutes in the real world. The small size means they charge quickly, but most users will want the two extra cells and a charger included in the Neo combo kit. To charge the batteries and transfer footage, there's a USBC port on the back. You

won't find a microSD card slot, though, as the Neo relies on 22 gigabytes of internal storage that holds about 40 minutes of 4K-30p footage. Though small, the Neo offers features you'd expect on a high-end drone. To make it less intimidating for beginners, the Neo can be launched simply by placing it in hand and pressing the mode button. Then it'll automatically record video while performing one of six pre-programmed smart shots. Follow, droney, circle, rocket, spotlight, and direction track. To land the drone, just place your hand under it.

Settings can be tweaked with the new DJI Fly app, which now works without a controller and connects to the drone over Wi-Fi. For the smart modes, you can change things like follow distance and height, drone radius and flight path, circle radius, and more. You can also adjust video and photo resolution. If you want to pilot the drone yourself without buying a controller, that's doable now too. Manual mode brings up touchscreen controls for all drone movements, along with camera video modes and a return-to-home toggle. Touchscreen piloting works surprisingly well, letting me fly the Neo-Wiwerews.

with precision. Outdoors with a GPS lock, the drone is quite stable, but it can drift around and get a bit hard to manage indoors. For more precision, the Neo also supports multiple DJI controllers, including the RCN3 model sold separately. However, you can also use it as an FPV drone by connecting it to DJI's RC Motion 3 and DJI goggles 3. The Neo can resist winds up to 18 miles per hour compared to 24 miles per hour for the Mini 4 Pro. Realistically, though, it's only good for light winds under 10 miles per hour. It's maneuverable and precise as well, particularly with the optical controller. That makes it ideal for events, as it's very safe around people and small enough to fit in tight spaces. It is very noisy, though, with a sound not unlike a hive of

angry bees. This propeller noise is a crime, my colleague Aaron put it. The most exciting part of the Neo is the price for $200 or $289 in the combo kit with three batteries and a charger. It's an incredible value considering the capabilities. It doesn't really have any serious competition either, with the closest being the $350 hoverair X1, which costs more and shoots lower-resolution video. With all that, the Neo is DJI's most exciting drone in years and is likely to be another hit. It's now on pre-order with shipping set to start soon, end quote. And secondly, finally, some of you know, one of my most used gadgets is my remarkable two, the E-Inc tablet. I have basically run the ride home funds on that thing for years now,

notes from every call, every investment, every meeting. I keep notes for this show, and I also use it quite a bit as I read-it-later device with the browser link that Remarkable has. So I was interested to see this. Not interested enough probably to buy one, but still interested. Quoting the Verge, you probably don't need the Remarkable Paper Pro. It's too luxury. You know those sports cars that look like spaceships, but we'll drive into a street lamp if you sneeze. That's the kind of luxury I'm talking about. This is the Hypercar of E-Inc note-taking devices. It's got a frontlight, it's got color, it's got an 11.8-inch display. It's got the very best keyboard case available today, and it's got a totally audacious choice for a display. It's not a device for consuming books or

comics, though you can side-load them if you want, but it is for marking up documents and taking notes really, really well. The operating system is identical to the one for the Remarkable 2, starting at $579, available directly from Remarkable and Best by, The Paper Pro is not a practical device for most people, but Remarkable has pushed E-ink displays to their limits here, and by God, do I love it for that. I need to take a minute here to geek the hell out over the display. The company didn't go with the faded colors of the Collido display found in devices from Kobo and Books. No, Remarkable decided to use the way less popular gallery display technology and then put their own spin on it. They call it the canvas color

display. Gallery is lauded because the color is richer and clearer than collido. Where collido achieves color by applying black and white pigments to a filter, gallery skips the filter and moves actual color pigment. But moving all that color comes at a cost. Gallery displays have a much, much slower refresh rate. I'm talking unpleasantly slow. The kind of slow that will make you pull your hair out in frustration writing anything. Except on the remarkable paper pro. Writing on this thing is smooth like butter. The experience is just as pleasant as writing on the Remarkable too. It's just a hair better than the experience found on the Kindle Scribe or any number of Kobo and Bookes devices I've tried over the years. Writing in Black Ink, I'm constantly amazed at how

perfectly everything seems to work. The knowledge of the gallery's display limitations always at war with the impressive reality remarkable has created. And then I switch to writing in color ink. There are six colors to choose from blue, red, green, yellow, cyan, and magenta. Choose any of them to get doodling. Writing in color is as smooth as writing in black. Penstrokes begin rendering in black with the chosen color chasing the black away over the course of the stroke. Then, when you stop writing, there's a pause, and the entire screen refreshes the new colors now in place. It's one way, remarkable is getting around gallery's atrocious refresh rate. The remarkable paper pro isn't a tool for artists, though it does support layers and shading. You're not supposed to unlock

creativity. You're using these colors, so slide decks and PDFs of business reports look nice as you circle the changes you want made in red. You're using these colors to faithfully render a book's art, or to add pizzazz to a header you've written in a brainstorming notebook. You're using them to highlight all the numbers you have to remember for that Q2 presentation of profitability. In those cases, a little flash is annoying, but not the end of times. Like a hypercar, the remarkable pro doesn't feel necessary for most people to own, and it's probably too expensive, but it is showing off the future, and that future is a lot faster and more colorful than you'd think, end quote.

Nothing more for you today. Talk to you tomorrow.