Latest / Connecting the Dots / Connecting the Dots - 5-5-2025

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Connecting the Dots - 5-5-2025 · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfle Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Hello everyone and welcome. It's Monday,
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  May 5th, 2025, coming to you from sunny Sacramento.
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  Looks like a nice day out there. Yeah, mostly
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  clear skies, high hitting, about 89 degrees.
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  But do keep in mind, there's a wind advisory
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  in effect until 8 0000 p .m. tonight. Good to
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  know. And a quick look at the markets before
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  we jump in. The Dow Jones closed last Friday,
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  May 2nd, at $41 ,317 .43. OK. And the S &P 500
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  ended the week at $5 ,686 .67. Got it. Welcome
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  back to Connecting the Dots. I'm one of your
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  hosts here from Snarfl Solutions Group right
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  here in Sacramento. And I'm here to help connect
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  those dots looking at the tech news that matters.
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  Exactly. Our goal, as always, is to explore the
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  relevant tech stories and figure out how they
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  actually impact our everyday lives. We've got
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  three big ones lined up for our deep dive. Yeah,
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  it's quite a mixed day We're looking at a pretty
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  serious data breach involving government communications
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  shut down of a notorious deep fake site, right?
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  And a major crypto player moving into artificial
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  intelligence pretty interesting stuff. Definitely
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  covers a lot of ground So let's start with that
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  first one the data breach. It involves a company
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  called TeleMessage. Right, TeleMessage. They're
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  an Israeli company and maybe not a household
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  name, but they do something quite specific. They
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  provide modified versions of popular secure messaging
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  apps. Apps like Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram. The
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  one people generally think are pretty locked
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  down. Exactly. Those apps, but with a twist.
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  TeleMessage adds message archiving capabilities.
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  Why would they do that? Doesn't that sort of
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  defeat the purpose of end -to -end encryption?
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  Well, For certain organizations, like government
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  agencies or financial institutions, there are
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  often legal or regulatory requirements to keep
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  records of communications. So, TeleMessage offers
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  this as a, you know, a compliance solution. Okay,
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  I see. So it's for record keeping, but it sounds
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  like that added feature might have created a
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  problem here. That's precisely the issue. A hacker
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  apparently gained access to TeleMessage's systems
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  and got hold of customer data. We're talking
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  direct messages, group chats. Wow. And whose
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  data are we talking about? Well, the reports
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  mentioned some pretty high profile examples,
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  chats involving representative Mike Waltz, apparently
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  including communications with senders Marco Rubio
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  and JD Vance and also Tulsi Gabbard. So potentially
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  very sensitive political communication. Potentially,
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  yes. And it wasn't just political figures. The
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  breach also seems to have impacted data related
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  to customs and border protection, CBP. OK. And
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  interestingly, the cryptocurrency giant Coinbase
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  was mentioned. along with other financial institutions.
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  Scotiabank apparently showed up in a screenshot
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  related to the brooch. So it's a broad range,
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  government, crypto, traditional finance. That's
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  concerning. It really is. And what makes it maybe
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  even more worrying is what the hacker allegedly
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  said about getting in. Oh, what did they say?
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  They claimed it only took them about 15 to 20
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  minutes. 15 minutes? Seriously? Yeah. And they
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  reportedly said it wasn't much effort at all.
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  That really punches a hole in the idea that adding
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  this archiving layer was, you know, secure. It
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  absolutely highlights the inherent tension, doesn't
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  it? You have end -to -end encryption designed
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  for privacy, meaning only the sender and receiver
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  can read it. Then you add the central archiving
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  point for compliance. And suddenly you've created
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  a target. A single point of failure, almost.
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  Exactly. Even if the intent is just record -keeping,
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  it introduces a new vulnerability. Now, it's
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  noted that maybe not all messages were accessed,
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  but the hacker's comments suggest wider access
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  was definitely possible. It really makes you
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  question that trade -off between compliance and
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  security, especially for sensitive stuff. Definitely.
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  And this telemessage incident, you know, it doesn't
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  happen in a vacuum. It feels like part of this
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  constant barrage of cyber threats we're seeing.
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  Yeah, it seems like every week there's something
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  new. Right, like the source material we reviewed
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  also mentioned that scam network run by Darkula
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  using fake texts, really sophisticated fake websites.
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  The Magic Cat software, yeah. Imitating sites
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  in like 130 countries. That's wild. It's incredibly
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  sophisticated, targeting credit cards globally.
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  Then you have attacks like the one on the UK
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  supermarket co -op. Dragonforce claimed that
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  one, right? And M &S is still recovering from
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  something similar. Seems so, yeah. Significant
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  impacts. And then there's the political angle,
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  too, like that pro -Russian group, No Name 057,
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  hitting Romanian government sites on their election
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  day. Just straight -up disruption. Mm -hmm. And
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  ransomware continues to be a huge problem. The
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  U .S. indicted someone, allegedly, behind the
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  Black Kingdom ransomware that hit Microsoft Exchange
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  users. It's coming from all sides. Financial
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  scams, political motives, pure extortion with
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  ransomware. It is. And then you see debates about
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  how to respond, like the discussion around proposed
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  budget changes for CISA in the US, focusing maybe
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  more on federal networks, less on things like
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  disinformation programs. It's always a question
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  of where to put the resources, isn't it? It is.
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  Big tech faces scrutiny, too. Look at TikTok
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  getting that big EU fine over data protection
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  and potential access from China. Right. The whole
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  data sovereignty issue. Exactly. And just to
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  round it out, we saw Cobb County government hit
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  by ransomware, the raw app exposing user locations
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  because, well, they didn't encrypt properly despite
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  saying they did. Oh, boy. Even major X accounts
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  like the New York Post and Tron DAO getting hijacked
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  for crypto scams. It's relentless. It really
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  is. Though on the flip side, you see investment
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  flowing into cybersecurity startups like Doppel
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  and Minimis, so people are definitely trying
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  to build better defenses. And specific warnings
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  too, like the one about ransomware targeting
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  the food and ag industry. So tying it back to
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  TeleMessage, if officials using these supposedly
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  secure archive systems can get breached that
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  easily. Well, it's a stark reminder for all of
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  us, isn't it? Our everyday digital communications,
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  the apps we use, where our data goes. None of
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  it is foolproof. It really hammers home the need
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  to be, you know, aware of the risks. Absolutely.
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  Makes you think twice. OK, let's shift gears
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  to our second big story. This one involves a
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  website called Mr. Deepfakes. Yeah, Mr. Deepfakes.
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  For a long time, this was probably the biggest,
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  most notorious hub online for non -consensual
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  deepfake pornography. Just awful stuff. Using
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  AI to put people's faces, usually women, onto
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  explicit content without their permission. Exactly.
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  It became the central place for this kind of
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  material after other platforms, thankfully, started
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  banning it. And now it's gone. What happened?
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  It seems so. The site itself posted a message
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  saying they're shutting down permanently. Apparently
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  a key service provider, as someone hosting them
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  or providing essential infrastructure, terminated
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  their service. So it wasn't law enforcement that
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  took them down directly? Not according to their
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  statement. It was a service provider pulling
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  the plug, which apparently also led to data loss,
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  making it impossible for them to continue. They're
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  also warning people not to fall for any copycat
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  sites claiming to be them. Interestingly, it
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  was an infrastructure provider that shows the
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  power those companies have, doesn't it? It really
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  does highlight a different kind of pressure point
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  in tackling harmful online content. And the impact
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  of this site. It must have been devastating for
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  the victims. Immense. Millions of visitors, apparently.
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  And it wasn't just hosting the videos. The forums
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  on the site were reportedly a place where people
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  actively developed the technology, shared tools,
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  shared methods for making these fakes better,
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  more convincing. So it was actively contributing
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  to the problem getting worse. Very much so. And
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  while the operator was largely anonymous, there
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  were reports suggesting they'd been identified
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  and had possibly made quite a bit of money from
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  it. And for the victims, like Scarlett Johansson,
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  who's spoken out about this, it's impossible
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  to just make these images disappear once they're
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  out there. That's the heartbreaking reality.
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  Once it's online, it spreads. Which is why experts
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  like Henny Fareed at UC Berkeley, while calling
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  the shutdown an important victory, also said
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  it was far too little and far too long in the
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  making. Yeah, I can see that point. Took too
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  long. And Fareed really emphasized that tech
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  companies need to take more responsibility here,
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  be more proactive. Because even though this one
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  big site is gone, the technology hasn't disappeared,
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  right? Not at all. The AI tools are still out
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  there, often freely available. And the communities
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  that create and share this stuff, they just migrate.
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  We're seeing activity move to platforms like
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  Telegram, other forums. So closing one door doesn't
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  solve the underlying issue. Unfortunately, no.
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  It's a step, an important one perhaps, but the
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  fight isn't over. And for you, listening. This
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  really brings home the dark side of AI, doesn't
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  it? The potential for misuse, the violation of
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  privacy and identity. Absolutely. It underscores
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  why there's a push for laws. The US Congress
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  passed a bill targeting this kind of non -consensual
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  material. And there are similar efforts in the
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  UK, the EU. But it's clearly an ongoing battle
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  against technology being used in such a harmful
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  way. Definitely needs continued vigilance and
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  probably stronger enforcement and maybe new regulations
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  too. Okay, a difficult but important topic. Let's
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  move to our third story, which shifts gears again
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  into the world of cryptocurrency and AI. Tether.
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  is making moves. Yeah, Tether. Most people know
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  them for their stablecoin, USDT, which is pegged
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  to the US dollar, huge player in the crypto space.
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  Now they've announced Tether AI. Tether AI. So
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  they're jumping into artificial intelligence.
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  What exactly is Tether AI? They're describing
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  it as an open source AI runtime, basically a
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  platform for developing and deploying AI agents,
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  but specifically designed to run on a decentralized
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  infrastructure. OK. Decentralized infrastructure.
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  Let's break that down. What does that mean in
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  practice? Well, they're pushing this concept
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  called personal infinite intelligence. The idea
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  is to have AI models that are modular, kind of
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  like building blocks, and can run on different
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  types of hardware. Crucially, they want to do
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  this without needing centralized authentication.
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  So no API keys managed by one company. OK, so
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  not tied to a single big cloud providers authentication
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  system. Right. And also designed to avoid a single
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  point of failure. Think more like a distributed
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  network, making it potentially more resilient,
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  maybe more secure, less prone to censorship,
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  perhaps. More peer to peer, kind of like how
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  crypto often works. Exactly. And speaking of
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  crypto, a really key feature here is the integration
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  of payments. Tether AI is being built with support
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  for USDT and Bitcoin payments baked right in
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  using their development kit. So, AI applications
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  built on this platform could easily transact
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  using crypto. That's the idea. Enabling seamless
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  crypto transactions for what they call DApps.
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  Decentralized AI applications. Their big vision,
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  they say, is creating an unstoppable peer -to
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  -peer network of billions of AI agents. Billions?
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  That's ambitious. Very ambitious. It signals
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  a strong belief in a future where AI is much
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  more distributed. And it looks like they're connecting
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  this to their other projects. The tether .ai
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  website redirects somewhere else now. Yeah, it
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  points to Tether Data, which seems to be their
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  umbrella for these P2P and data initiatives.
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  It likely integrates with things they already
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  have, like Keat and Pair, which are peer -to
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  -peer communication tools. And hadn't other data
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  already mentioned working on some specific AI
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  tools. They had, they talked about developing
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  an AI translator and AI voice assistant and even
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  an AI assistant for managing Bitcoin wallets.
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  So Tether AI looks like the foundational layer,
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  the runtime for powering those kinds of decentralized
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  services. And they're putting money into the
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  hardware side too, right? That Northern data
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  group investment. Correct. Investing in high
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  -performance computing infrastructure shows they're
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  serious about having the horsepower needed for
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  AI development and deployment. And sort of related,
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  but also separate, they're planning a US -focused
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  stablecoin, aiming at competing with PayPal or
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  Cash App. Yeah, that was another interesting
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  tidbit in the reporting. Planning a new stablecoin
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  for maybe late this year or early 2026, specifically
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  targeting US institutions aiming to be a payment
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  product, shows they have broader fintech ambitions
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  beyond just the current crypto sphere. So thinking
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  about Tether AI and this whole decentralized
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  approach, what could this mean for, you know,
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  everyday people down the line? Well, it could
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  lead to some really interesting changes. Imagine
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  AI services where you, the user, have more control,
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  maybe more privacy, because your data isn't all
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  sitting on one company's servers, and you're
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  not relying on their specific authentication.
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  Okay, so potentially more user autonomy. Potentially.
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  And the integrated crypto payments could open
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  up new models for how we pay for or earn from
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  AI services within these decentralized networks.
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  It really points towards this growing intersection
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  of blockchain and AI. Yeah, two massive technologies
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  starting to merge in potentially powerful ways.
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  It could change how we interact with AI, making
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  it maybe more integrated into peer to peer systems,
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  potentially offering different kinds of security
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  and control than we have with today's largely
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  centralized AI models. Definitely something to
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  watch. Okay, so let's do a quick wrap -up of
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  what we covered in this deep dive. Sounds good.
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  First, we looked at that tele -message data breach.
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  A real wake -up call about how adding features
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  like archiving, even to secure apps, can create
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  significant vulnerabilities, especially when
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  sensitive communications are involved. Right.
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  Then we discussed the shutdown of Mr. Deepfakes.
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  A positive step against non -consensual deepfake
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  porn, for sure, but also a reminder that the
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  underlying technology and the problem itself
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  persist elsewhere. Absolutely. And finally, Tethers.
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  AI tethers big jump into decentralized artificial
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  intelligence aiming to build this peer -to -peer
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  network of AI agents with crypto payments built
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  right in. A glimpse maybe into a different future
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  for AI. Yeah. Three stories that really touch
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  on major themes. The constant cybersecurity battle,
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  the ethical challenges of new tech like deepfakes,
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  and the potentially transformative convergence
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  of AI and blockchain. It definitely gives you,
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  our listeners, a lot to think about as we all
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  try to make sense of this rapidly changing tech
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  world. Indeed. And maybe a final thought to leave
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  you with. As these powerful technologies like
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  AI and blockchain continue to evolve and intertwine,
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  what values or principles do you think are most
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  crucial for us to to ensure they develop in a
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  way that's actually beneficial and ethical for
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  everyone. Something to chew on. Remember, we're
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  here to help here at Snarful, so reach out on
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  our website if you have any more questions.