Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 10/06 – ALL Of Twitch Leaked?

Starting point is 00:00:00 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 Wednesday, October 6, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today. The entirety of Twitch has allegedly been leaked, like everything from the source code to a creator payout spreadsheet.

Starting point is 00:00:47 Snap gears up in the creator economy platform wars. Some AirPods gain Find My Support. The SEC says it has no plans to ban crypto, but worrying stories of alleged fraud have started trickling out of the NFT space. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. What was it I said yesterday about only talking about hacking attacks when they seem special or unique? Well, a 4chan user has leaked what is alleged to be the entire Twitch source code. Also a list of creator payouts from 2019 to 2021, proprietary SDKs, and internal AWS services, and more. So likely the entirety of Twitch as a service as a customer as a customer.

Starting point is 00:01:34 company has been leaked, allegedly, quoting the Video Games Chronicle. The user posted a 125-gibite torrent leak to 4chan on Wednesday, stating that the leak was intended to, quote, foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space because, quote, their community is a disgusting toxic cesspool, end quote. Video Games Chronicle can verify that the files mentioned on 4chan are publicly available to download as described by the anonymous hacker. One anonymous company source told VGC that the leaked data is legitimate, including the source code for the Amazon-owned streaming platform. Internally, Twitch is aware of the breach, the source said, and it's believed that the data was obtained as recently as Monday.

Starting point is 00:02:19 We've requested comment from Twitch and we'll update this story when it replies. The leaked Twitch data reportedly includes the entirety of Twitch's source code with comet history going back to its earliest beginnings. creator payout reports from 2019 on, mobile, desktop and console Twitch clients, proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services used by Twitch, every other property that Twitch owns, including IGDB and CurseForge, an unreleased Steam competitor, codenamed Vapor from Amazon Game Studios, and Twitch internal red-teaming tools designed to improve security by having staff pretend to be hackers. Some Twitter users have started making their way through the 125 gigabytes of information that is leaked, with one claiming that the torrent also includes encrypted passwords and recommending that users

Starting point is 00:03:08 enable two-factor authentication to be safe. If you have a Twitch account, it's recommended that you also turn on two-factor authentication, which ensures that even if your password is compromised, you still need your phone to prove your identity using either SMS or an authenticator app, and quote. Yesterday, whistleblower Francis Hogan testified before the United States Senate, saying that Facebook puts growth above public safety and must be more transparent. She believes Section 230 reform is not enough that the buck at Facebook stops with Mark Zuckerberg, and she proposed that Facebook change its algorithms to stop focusing on delivering posts that create more engagement and instead create a chronological feed of posts. Last night,

Starting point is 00:03:57 Mark Zuckerberg released a statement saying that Facebook does not prioritize profit over safety and well-being and argues that many of Francis Hogan's claims don't make sense. By the way, perhaps this is just fleeting, but Telegram says during that outage of Facebook services earlier in the week, it added 70 million users on Monday alone. This comes after Telegram recently reported passing 1 billion total downloads and 500 million monthly active users, quoting TechCrunch, Signal, which competes with both Telegram and WhatsApp, also added new users. It said yesterday in a tweet that millions of new users had joined the app. This isn't the first time Telegram and Signal have gained at the expense of their chief rival.

Starting point is 00:04:46 The two added millions of users earlier this year as well when WhatsApp was struggling to explain exactly what its new privacy policy entailed. Quote, the smallest of events helped trigger the largest of outcomes, said Brian Acton, the exacting, the executive chairman of signals holding company of WhatsApp's debacle earlier this year in an interview with TechCrunch, end quote. In the creator economy wars, Snap has added Snapchat creator monetization programs, including Spotlight Challenges, which will pay $25,000 and up to creators using specific AR lenses, sounds, or topics, quoting variety. The Spotlight Challenges program set to start rolling out next month is in addition to the millions per

Starting point is 00:05:33 month, the company says it pays to creators globally for top-performing Spotlight Snaps. When the TikTok-like section debuted in November 2020, Snapchat said it paid out more than a million dollars per day to the top-performing videos. In June, the company reduced the amount it pays overall because the program was generating too much copycat content, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said last week at an investment conference. Spotlight challenges will give Snapchat users the chance to win cash prizes for creating posts in a wide range of categories like, best trick shot, and impressions challenge. The total prize amount for individual spotlight challenges will typically range from $1,000 to $25,000, although Snap said it may occasionally pay out a larger sum

Starting point is 00:06:15 for a particular challenge. The minimum prize a Snapchat user can win in a spotlight challenge is $250. Typically, according to the company, each challenge will reward an average of three to five eligible Snapchatters as winners. The top 50 eligible, relevant and highest viewed submissions from the selection pool for each contest will be judged based on creativity and originality, innovative use of snap creative tools, unique point of view, and entertainment value. Spotlight Challenges is in the testing phase now and is slated to launch initially on Snapchat, Android, and iOS apps in the U.S. in November, end quote. Apple has, hopefully, made losing your AirPods a thing of the past.

Starting point is 00:07:01 Apple's latest AirPods Pro and AirPods Mac's firmware updates have added Find My Feature support, quoting 9 to 5 Mac. This means that the compatible AirPods models gain new functionality inside of the Find My app, including precise location, a new nearby finding UI, loss mode, and the ability to get notifications when your earbuds are left behind. In order to take advantage of these new features, you'll first need to update your AirPods to the just-released firmware. Getting AirPods to update immediately is a somewhat mercurial process that involves placing your charged AirPods in their case near a connected phone and then hoping that the software update is transferred. Most AirPods customers simply receive new firmware updates passively over time

Starting point is 00:07:44 in the course of use. The new integration now means that AirPods Pro and AirPods Max participate in the Find My Network and send out a continuous Bluetooth beacon message. When other Apple devices are in the area, they can detect this signal and report it to the Find My Network, placing its location on the owner's map. This is just like how air tags work at long range. When in close range of AirPods, users are now able to get a visual indicator of their proximate location. Unfortunately, the directional arrows feature of air tags is not present here because current AirPods do not include a U1 ship inside them. The air tags nearby finding interface uses a green theme, but the AirPods version is blue, probably to indicate that it is not as precise as the air tags ultra-wideband precision location

Starting point is 00:08:26 capability. With lost mode iPhone customers who misplaced their AirPods will now be able to leave a message and contact phone number. If the AirPods are then picked up by someone else and paired with an iOS device, the loss mode message will be shown to help return the lost item back to its original owner. The new features are only compatible with AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Standard AirPods do not support these features. It is believed that the upcoming third generation AirPods will, however, end quote. Quick question, though, is there a fine-my feature for when your one-year-old beagle eats them, as happened to me? That's the only reason I have AirPods Pro for the first time because I lost my last working pair of AirPods regular to Archie last week. So, of course,

Starting point is 00:09:13 lost is a relative term. He did return them to me eventually. It's just that he didn't return them in a condition that I would want to ever use them again. Sources are telling Reuters that the European Union plans to find Apple over the iPhone's NFC chip focusing on Apple Pay terms and blocking rivals access. The charge sheet could be sent to Apple next year, quote, preliminary concerns were Apple's NFC chip which enables tap and go payments on iPhones, its terms and conditions on how mobile payment service Apple Pay should be used in merchants' apps and websites, and the company's refusal to allow rivals access to the payment system. The European Commission has since narrowed its focus to just the NFC chip,

Starting point is 00:10:02 which can only be accessed by Apple Pay, one of the sources said. The EU Competition Enforcer is now preparing a charge sheet known as a statement of objections which could be sent to Apple next year, one of the sources said. Such documents typically set out practices considered anti-competitive by the regulator. The Commission declined to comment. Apple, which has cited privacy and safety issues for its policy on Apple Pay, was not immediately available for comment either, end quote. There was some other high-profile congressional testimony yesterday. Security's and Exchange Commissioner Gary Gensler told Congress that the SEC has no plans to ban crypto, though decentralized exchanges could still need to register.

Starting point is 00:10:47 When asked by Representative Ted Budd, a longtime crypto supporter and member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, if the SEC had any plans to follow China's lead in banning cryptocurrencies in favor of a prospective central bank digital currency or CBDC, Gensler said, no, that would be up to Congress. Gensler's assertion that the SEC does not plan to ban crypto mirrors similar remarks made by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week when the central bank head told the House Financial Services Committee that the Fed had, quote, no plans to ban the $2.2 trillion asset class. Gensler mostly reiterated his previous thoughts on crypto regulation, including the need for exchanges to, quote, come in and register with the SEC, the potential systemic risk posed by

Starting point is 00:11:29 stablecoins, and the need for them to be subject to increased regulation, and that most cryptocurrencies fall under the definition of a security. However, Gensler also expanded on his understanding of the SEC's authority to regulate the crypto industry. When asked by Representative Jim Himes to provide guidance on the topic of crypto regulation, Gensler reiterated his previous position that crypto exchanges need to register with the SEC, but added that decentralized exchanges would also be subject to regulations. Quote, even in decentralized platforms, so-called defy platforms, there is a centralized protocol. And though they don't take custody in the same way as centralized exchanges,

Starting point is 00:12:07 I think those are the places that we can get the maximum amount of public policy, end quote. Gensler also expanded on his stance on stable coins, which he has previously called the poker chips at the crypto casino. Gensler doubled down on his poker chip analogy during his response to several questions, adding that he viewed stablecoins as a systemic risk to the economy. The $125 billion of stablecoins we have right now are like poker chips at a casino, Gensler said. I do think that if this continues to grow, and it's grown about tenfold in the last year, it can present those systemic wide risks, end quote. The statement comes a day after Coin Desk first reported that USDC stablecoin issuer circle was served with an, quote, investigative subpoena from the SEC's

Starting point is 00:12:51 enforcement division back in July, end quote. Meanwhile, and finally today, stories and allegations of fraud are starting to pop up in the NFT space. For example, apparently last week, the anonymous developer behind the NFT project, Evolved Apes, not to be confused with Board Apes Yacht Club, siphoned $2.7 million from the project, took down the project's Twitter account and website, and, well, vanished, quoting motherboard. Evolved Apes is described. on NFT Marketplace OpenC as a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs trapped inside a lawless land. They are, quote, fighting for survival. Only the strongest ape will prevail, it says, referring to the project's much-hyped fighting game, which hasn't materialized.

Starting point is 00:13:40 A week after the project launch, the anonymous developer known as Evil Ape, who promised that game, vanished along with the project's official Twitter account and website. But they left traces behind on the blockchain that showed they siphoned 798 ether or 2.7 million out of the project's funds in multiple transfers. The funds, derived from the initial public sale of NFTs and commissions on the secondary market, were meant for project-related expenses like marketing. Evolved ape investors noticed several red flags leading up to evil apes rug pool. After the public sale on September 24, the announcements seemed suspiciously unprofessional, and several of the leaders were not around anymore. One investor who requested anonymity due to the ongoing fallout from the

Starting point is 00:14:21 scam told motherboard, but they chalked it down to a lack of experience at the time. I don't think this giant storm was ever what was expected, the investor said. According to Mike underscore Cryptoble, who did not share their real name due to their standing in the community, the evolved apes community discovered that the social media competition winners, a marketing activity to create buzz, hadn't received their NFT prizes from the project, and the artist hadn't been paid either. To figure out what was going on, investors active on the project's Discord server jumped on a voice chat last week. In that call, they appointed Mike underscore Cryptoble, who spent three ether or around $10,000 on 20 evolved apes as their de facto fact-finding mission leader.

Starting point is 00:15:02 And through piecing the bits together, I could find out, and the parts that all aligned, I put together my opinion in the PDF for the community. Mike underscore Crippable told Motherboard, his report contained some bad news about Evil Ape, the admin who controlled the project's blockchain wallet. What has happened is that Evil Ape has washed his hands of the project taking away the wallet with all of the eth from minting that was to be used for everything. From paying the artist, paying out cash giveaways, paying for marketing, paying for rarity tools, developing the game and everything else in between, he wrote in the report

Starting point is 00:15:33 shared with his fellow investors. Even though the money is gone, the evolved ape community plans to carry on. Unlike with cryptocurrencies, NFT rugpools leave behind JPEGs and a narrative surrounding them. Mike underscore Cryptobool explained in the report that he and others would build a new project called Fight Back Apes out of the ashes of Evolved Apes. Evolved Apes holders would be automatically approved for a Fight Back Apes token linked with the art from the old project. We will become the fight back apes fighting as a community against our nemesis evil ape, he said. NFT investors who were promised a fighting game did find themselves in a fight after all. None of this has put a serious

Starting point is 00:16:12 damper on the Evolved Apes trade on OpenC, where the project is still verified. There have been over 574 NFT sales with a total volume of $13.9 ether or $47,000 since Friday when the rug pool became public, end quote. Hey, no Twitter space for you tonight taking a bit of a break this week and this weekend. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 10/06 – ALL Of Twitch Leaked?

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