Techmeme Ride Home: Fri. 01/10 – The Controversies Continue

Hosted by Brian McCullough | Released on January 10, 2025

1. Meta's Content Moderation Controversy

Overview: The episode kicks off with ongoing tensions surrounding Meta's newly implemented content moderation policies. Despite the lack of fresh developments, discussions and critiques have persisted throughout the week.

Key Points:

• Confusion and Frustration: Meta's updated guidelines for Facebook and Instagram moderators have been met with confusion. Statements like, “a trans person isn't a he or she, it's an it,” highlight the contradictory nature of the new policies (04:30).

• Employee Discontent: Internal sources reveal growing anger among Meta employees over policies that may permit derogatory language based on race, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation (05:15).

• Potential Consequences: While specifics remain unclear, there is concern about potential increases in harmful content as these moderation changes take effect (06:00).

Notable Quote:

“It's almost like the whole chessboard has been thrown in the air and people can't figure out what is allowed and what isn't.” – Brian McCullough (04:45)

2. Legal Battles Over AI Training Data

Overview: A significant legal case, Kadri vs Meta, has emerged, scrutinizing Meta's use of unauthorized copyrighted material in training its AI models.

Key Points:

• Use of Libgen Data: Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of Libgen, a notorious links aggregator for pirated books, to train Meta's LLaMA AI models (08:20).

• Court Accusations: Plaintiffs, including authors Sarah Silverman and Ta Nehisi Coates, accuse Meta of infringing on copyrights without permission, despite Meta's defense citing fair use (09:10).

• Internal Resistance: Meta employees reportedly flagged the use of Libgen as problematic, expressing concerns over potential regulatory backlash and ethical implications (10:05).

• Data Concealment Allegations: New filings suggest Meta may have attempted to obscure its infringement by removing copyright information from the data sets used (11:00).

Notable Quote:

“Meta engineer Nikolai Bashlykov... wrote a script to remove copyright info... from ebooks in Libgen.” – Transcript (10:45)

3. WordPress and Automattic’s Strategic Shift

Overview: Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has announced a reduction in its contributions to the open-source project amidst ongoing litigation with WP Engine.

Key Points:

• Reduced Contributions: Automattic will decrease its WordPress contributions to 45 hours per week, focusing primarily on security and critical updates (13:30).

• Legal Focus: Resources are being diverted to support the legal battle against WP Engine, which has been contentious since September of the previous year (14:10).

• CEO’s Stance: Matt Mullenweg, WordPress co-creator, has openly criticized WP Engine, describing it as a “cancer to WordPress” due to its large private equity ownership and minimal community contributions (15:00).

• Investment Pressures: Financial strains are evident as BlackRock has significantly reduced its investment in Automattic, marking a downturn of over 50% (16:20).

Notable Quote:

“Matt Mullenweg seems to have taken this brouhaha so that he's basically at the point where he's like, screw it, I'm taking my ball and going home.” – Transcript (14:35)

4. Supreme Court and TikTok Ban Proceedings

Overview: The Supreme Court is currently reviewing arguments concerning the potential ban of TikTok in the United States, with no immediate rulings expected.

Key Points:

• Project Liberty’s Bid: Frank McCourt's consortium, Project Liberty, has formally offered to acquire TikTok's US assets to circumvent a ban, proposing alterations to the platform's algorithm (17:05).

• Financial Backing: The bid includes interest from major private equity funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, ensuring substantial financial support for the acquisition (17:45).

Notable Quote:

“We look forward to working with ByteDance, President elect Trump and the incoming administration to get this deal done.” – Frank McCourt, Project Liberty (17:30)

5. Data Privacy Concerns: Gravy Analytics Hack

Overview: A significant data breach at location data firm Gravy Analytics has exposed how thousands of popular apps are unknowingly leaking user location data.

Key Points:

• Scope of the Breach: Apps ranging from Candy Crush and Tinder to fitness trackers and religious prayer apps have been implicated in the unauthorized data leakage (18:10).

• Mechanism of Data Collection: The breach reveals that data is being harvested through the advertising ecosystem's real-time bidding (RTB) processes, often without the knowledge of app developers or users (19:00).

• Privacy Implications: The unauthorized collection and distribution of tens of millions of mobile phone coordinates across the US, Russia, and Europe pose severe privacy risks (19:45).

Notable Quote:

“This is a nightmare scenario for privacy because not only does this data breach contain data scraped from the RTB systems, but there's some company out there acting like a global honey badger doing whatever it pleases with every piece of data that comes its way.” – Zach Edwards, Silent Push (19:30)

6. Weekend Read Suggestions

Brian McCullough highlights several insightful reads for the weekend:

• Silicon Valley Side Hustles: Bloomberg explores the trend of tech workers providing job referrals to strangers, presenting a modern twist on networking (21:00).

  Notable Reflection:

  "Exactly 20 years ago I launched a startup to do something similar. It was called WhoToTalkTo.com..." – Brian McCullough (21:30)

• AI Wearables at CES: Victoria Song from The Verge categorizes the latest smart glasses into stylish, full-screen, and spyglasses, noting their varying levels of functionality and user adoption (22:15).

  Notable Quote:

  “They offer more smarts than the very use specific Camellio and Nuance audio glasses, but they offer more practicality and wearability...” – Victoria Song, The Verge (22:35)

• Increasing Solitude in America: An article by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic discusses the rise in solo activities, such as dining alone, and its broader societal impacts (23:00).

  Notable Quote:

  “Americans are spending less time with other people than in any other period for which we have trustworthy data going back to 1965.” – Derek Thompson, The Atlantic (23:45)

7. Bonus Content Preview

Brian teases an upcoming bonus episode featuring an in-depth conversation with Simon Willison about the current state of AI technology, covering topics like OpenAI's advancements and the future trajectory of AI agents (24:30).

Conclusion: This episode of Techmeme Ride Home delves deep into the persistent controversies shaping the tech landscape in early 2025. From Meta's contentious content policies and legal battles over AI training data to Automattic's strategic retreats and significant data privacy breaches, the discussions underscore the complex interplay between technology, legality, and societal impact.

Note: Advertisement segments and non-content sections have been intentionally excluded to focus solely on the substantive discussions of the episode.