WEBVTT
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The Bogosity Podcast,
early and ad-free!
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Become a subscriber at Patreon,
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Use the links at donate.bogosity.tv.
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Welcome to the Bogosity Podcast
for the week of December 7 2025,
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the podcast that ain't chicken
'til it's lickin' good and fried.
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This is your host, Shane Killian.
Let's barbarize the News of the Bogus.
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One of the cases we've been
following for years is finally over,
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specifically Fani Willis's RICO case against Donald
Trump, which was lawfare and corruption from the word go.
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The case was taken from her following allegations
of malfeasance with her special prosecutor,
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with whom she was having an affair
and paying hundreds of thousands of
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dollars of taxpayer money so
he could take her on cruises.
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Hey, remember when they
asked her about it on the stand,
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and she said it's nothing unusual because every
black woman has piles of cash in their homes?
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Anyway...the courts took the case from her and
left it to another prosecutor's office to pick up.
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The one it went to was prosecutor
Pete Skandalakis, who decided, quote:
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"In my professional opinion,
the citizens of Georgia are not served
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by pursuing this case in full
for another five to ten years."
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He said he ended the case, quote: "to serve the
interests of justice and promote judicial finality."
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He explained: "This entire case, from the initiation of the
District Attorney's investigation in 2021 to the present,
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is without precedent. A former President of the
United States was indicted, along with 18 others,
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in a RICO indictment unequalled in Georgia
history for its sweeping, nationwide scope,
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alleging 161 overt acts, 41 criminal counts,
and 30 unindicted co-conspirators.
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The District Attorney who
initiated the investigation
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was ordered to remove herself or
her special assistant from the case.
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It is not illegal to question or
challenge election results.
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Our nation's foundational principles of free speech
and electoral scrutiny are rooted in this very freedom.
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The State of Georgia is no
stranger to such challenges.
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In 2018, Ms. Stacy Abrams questioned the legitimacy
of Brian Kemp's victory in the gubernatorial race.
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Likewise, in 2020,
many Republicans struggled to accept the reality
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that President Donald J. Trump did not win the
popular vote in Georgia or in other key states
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and therefore lost
the presidential race.
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To this day, a significant number of
individuals continue to reject that outcome."
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Elections, he explained,
are often contested, and really should be.
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Georgia knows all about that, because we've covered
several examples on this podcast over the years.
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Funny how only the 2020 general election was
completely flawless and had no problems whatsoever,
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to the extent that claiming
otherwise is a RICO violation.
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"As a prosecutor,
I am loath to use the criminal justice system
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to pursue law-abiding citizens who,
in good conscience and upon the advice of counsel,
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were asked to perform certain tasks in connection
with the litigation of an election challenge.
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Attempting to criminalize the actions
of these sixteen Republican Electors,
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and the three in particular,
is a path I oppose and will not pursue."
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He explained that mostly we're talking about
people following the advice of attorneys,
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and if we're going to start prosecuting people when
attorneys give them bad advice, we're all in trouble.
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And if it is true that the attorneys
gave them bad advice,
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the remedy for that lies with their
respective state bar associations.
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"Never before, and hopefully never again,
will our country face circumstances such as these.
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The role of a prosecutor is not to satisfy
public opinion or achieve universal approval;
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such a goal is both unattainable and irrelevant to
the proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
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My assessment of this case has been guided solely by
the evidence, the law, and the principles of justice."
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You have the right to free speech.
00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:39.020
You have the right to seek
redress of grievances.
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You have the right to peaceably
assemble for that purpose.
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And above all, you have the right
to criticize a corrupt government
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who engaged in one dirty trick
after another to corrupt the votes
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and make it so that Republican
observers couldn't check them,
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without deranged sub-IQ prosecutors
harassing you for years in court
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so they can enrich themselves at
your and the taxpayers' expense.
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I would hope all that
would be obvious by now!
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Presenting: the greatest
game this side of Yuggoth!
00:05:17.580 --> 00:05:23.420
You are H.P. Lovecraft's
cat, and your name is Ni***
00:05:23.420 --> 00:05:30.060
...Right. We can't say that on a podcast. Anyway,
that's the point: Your name is a joke to him.
00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:32.940
So now, you are out for revenge!
00:05:32.940 --> 00:05:36.460
Using the Necronomicon,
you come to the present day to buy a gun
00:05:36.460 --> 00:05:38.780
to go vanquish him once and for all.
00:05:38.780 --> 00:05:43.980
But the Necronomicon is devious,
and it summoned Lovecraft's monsters as well.
00:05:43.980 --> 00:05:49.180
Now, in a crumbling world,
you must fight for the revenge you seek.
00:05:49.180 --> 00:05:54.700
Fight monsters. Gain allies.
Buy guns and armor for yourself and your team.
00:05:54.700 --> 00:05:57.020
Defeat the bosses of each level.
00:05:57.020 --> 00:06:01.180
Then get your revenge
against Lovecraft himself.
00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:07.500
Play Lovecraft's Cat!
The link is at cat.bogosity.tv.
00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:12.140
Yeah, we're doing cat.bogosity.tv,
not...that other one.
00:06:12.140 --> 00:06:14.865
What, you want me to get kicked
off the Internet or something?
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It's actually kind of exciting to see a case we've been
covering from the very start go up to the Supreme Court.
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They heard oral arguments
this week in Cox v. Sony,
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the case that will determine whether
entire households, entire businesses,
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entire regions can be cut off because some
corporation claims that one person is pirating.
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Funny...You'd think
that'd be a no-brainer!
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Yet, a jury ordered the ISP to pay $1 billion to the music
labels for contributory liability to Internet piracy.
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Or, not to put too fine a point on it: they were
ordered to pay $1 billion for doing nothing.
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So this case is going to determine whether or not
ISPs should be unpaid enforcers for the RIAA,
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disconnecting customers
solely on their say-so.
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For an hour and 40 minutes, they heard from Cox,
from the federal government
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who also thought what happened was silly,
and from the record labels.
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Starting with Cox's attorney,
E. Joshua Rosenkranz.
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No word on who his law partner is, or if his law
firm is called Rosenkranz and Guildenstern.
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(Oh, come on—you know I had to!)
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ROSENKRANZ: The consequences
of Plaintiff's position are cataclysmic.
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There is no surefire way
for an ISP to avoid liability,
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and the only way it can is to cut off the
Internet, not just for the accused infringer,
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but for anyone else who happens
to use the same connection.
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That could be entire towns,
universities, or hospitals.
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Turning Internet providers into Internet police
will wreak havoc with the essential medium
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through which modern public
engages in commerce and speech.
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KILLIAN: There were three standards,
the first being the "purpose" standard.
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Liability requires proof of
affirmative intent to foster piracy,
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and that does not mean ignoring harassing
emails from screeching cartel members!
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Even if you can believe their claims,
that's not enough.
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There needs to be something else, such as
advertising the illegal uses. As Gorsuch explained:
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GORSUCH: The statute doesn't mention
secondary liability, so we should be cautious.
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And in fact, in Central Bank of Denver,
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we refused to infer secondary liability in a
statute that had no explicit cause of action.
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But here we are. Sony did it, so okay.
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The narrowest version
of that requires purpose.
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And we've said that many
times: Knowledge isn't enough.
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KILLIAN: And Kavanaugh agreed:
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KAVANAUGH: On the word purpose, I think that's going to
be key, and it's kind of a slippery word in this context.
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Mere knowledge alone
cannot show purpose.
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KILLIAN: The second is that
the Internet is a passive utility.
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Just because Internet access
enabled them to pirate isn't enough.
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They couldn't do it without power,
either.
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What if they had gone to the power company and told
them to switch off the power for the infringers,
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since the kilowatt-hours they were
given enabled them to pirate?
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That would be pretty silly,
wouldn't it?
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The Internet has become a vital utility for
everyday communication, banking, commerce,
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speech and expression,
even vital activity such as health care.
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Should an entire hospital be cut off just because some
of their patients used their Wi-Fi to engage in piracy?
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That sounds like what the
RIAA is wanting to happen!
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Universities were another
example that was brought up,
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which prompted Alito to say to Paul Clement,
attorney for the record labels:
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ALITO: What is an ISP supposed to do with a
university account that has, let's say, 70,000 users.
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What is the university
supposed to do, in your view?
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CLEMENT: The university is supposed to,
under those circumstances,
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the ISP is supposed to sort of have
a conversation with the university.
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Now, the ISP's policy to the university
says you can't use this service
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or allow your service to be used for
copyright infringement. So that's—
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ALITO: So, yeah, all right,
the ISP tells the university,
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look, you know, a lot of your 50,000 students are
infringing my copyright. Do something about it.
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Now, the university then has to try to determine which
particular students are engaging in this activity.
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And let's assume it can even do that.
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And so then it knocks
out a thousand students.
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And then another thousand students are
going to pop up doing the same thing.
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I just don't see how
it's workable at all.
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KILLIAN: And the third
is the Twitter defense.
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In Twitter v. Taamneh, the Supreme
Court ruled that Twitter (now X)
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cannot be held liable under the Anti-Terrorism
Act for aiding and abetting terrorism
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just because they failed to prevent
terrorists from accessing their platform.
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An ISP, being much more passive
than a social media website,
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should prevail under this standard.
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Gorsuch pretty much agreed:
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GORSUCH: Well, a cautionary tale maybe
to take account of where patent law is,
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that Sony relied on in part, for example. I mean,
in Central Bank of Denver, as you well know,
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the Court refused to imply any aiding-and-abetting
liability under the Securities Exchange Act.
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And, you know, so Sony sits in some tension with our
law right there. Isn't that a flag on the field for us?
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KILLIAN: Of course, Sotomayor
was as stupid as always:
00:11:47.308 --> 00:11:54.928
SOTOMAYOR: If I'm a gun dealer and I'm selling to someone
who says to me, I'm going to kill my wife with this gun,
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I think the common law would say, you knew what
he was going to do with the gun. You joined in.
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KILLIAN: And as usual, she doesn't
understand even basic concepts of justice:
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SOTOMAYOR: Meaning if you know that a particular
location and someone in it is committing a crime
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and you're supplying to that person and perhaps
others, it doesn't matter what the others are doing.
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KILLIAN: Wow! It doesn't matter
what the others are doing!
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Just punish them all
for the acts of the one!
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SOTOMAYOR: There are things you could
have done to respond to those fringers (sic),
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and the end result might have
been cutting off their connections,
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but you stopped doing
anything for many of them.
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You didn't try to work with
universities and ask them to start
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to look at an anti-infringement
notice to their students.
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You could have worked with a
multifamily dwelling and asked
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the people in charge of that dwelling to send
out a notice or to do something about it.
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You did nothing. And in fact, Counselor,
your client's sort of laissez-faire attitude
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towards the respondents
is probably what got the jury upset.
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ROSENKRANZ: To your point, Your Honor, that we
didn't work with universities, we most certainly did!
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The first several steps, the 13 steps,
are all about contacting them,
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cutting them off, which we did 67,000
times in the course of this period.
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That's thousands every month, and
third, the program stopped infringement
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by 98% of the people who were accused of
infringement. That is not nothing, Your Honor.
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KILLIAN: And just in case you were
wondering if Jackson would be any better:
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JACKSON: Suppose I come to you
and I want to buy your services.
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I tell you that I, as a customer, am addicted to
infringing on the internet. I've been sued before.
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I know what I'm doing is illegal,
but I just keep doing it.
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And not only that, Cox,
based on where I live, is my only option.
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At my new house, it's the only way
that I can get Internet services.
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If Cox sells to me, knowing all of that, you still say
no liability for secondary liability in that situation.
00:14:09.860 --> 00:14:16.193
ROSENKRANZ: That's correct, Your Honor. The facts you
recited are facts that would make it totally plausible
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and, in fact, would invite the Plaintiffs
here to sue that infringer directly.
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They have recourse
in a situation like that.
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The common law also requires a culpable act, not the
equivocal act of selling to everyone on equal terms.
00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:36.900
Smith and Wesson says that,
and Twitter says that, too.
00:14:36.900 --> 00:14:43.144
KILLIAN: Yeah! Go after the people committing
the act, not basically innocent bystanders.
00:14:43.144 --> 00:14:47.544
Fortunately, Clement was given a
pretty good pounding by Gorsuch:
00:14:47.544 --> 00:14:51.544
GORSUCH: Even under your standard,
that's not what the Fourth Circuit did, right?
00:14:51.544 --> 00:14:57.340
It didn't say, did you have specific knowledge
of individual users who are infringing,
00:14:57.340 --> 00:15:00.931
and did you do something special with
regard to them such that you were
00:15:00.931 --> 00:15:05.500
substantially certain that you know
that they would, in fact, infringe?
00:15:05.500 --> 00:15:08.060
We'd have to reverse
under your standard, too!
00:15:08.060 --> 00:15:10.393
- CLEMENT: I don't think so.
- GORSUCH: The one you're peddling today.
00:15:10.393 --> 00:15:11.860
That's not what they held.
00:15:11.860 --> 00:15:15.020
CLEMENT: Well, I think you and I just
read this Fourth Circuit case differently.
00:15:15.020 --> 00:15:18.780
I read the Fourth Circuit opinion by
Judge Rushing to specifically say the
00:15:18.780 --> 00:15:22.215
substantial certainty test is what's
being applied and is what makes it—
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GORSUCH: In gross.
They applied it in gross.
00:15:24.380 --> 00:15:29.260
And we've got an amicus brief from some intellectual
property scholars that say that was wrong.
00:15:29.260 --> 00:15:35.967
CLEMENT: The Fourth Circuit says that once you
have knowledge that the same customer or address—
00:15:35.967 --> 00:15:39.820
GORSUCH: No, no, not address, not address, because
it could be a lot of people at the address.
00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:43.260
The customer. And that analysis
isn't what the Fourth Circuit did.
00:15:43.260 --> 00:15:46.593
CLEMENT: I-I-I-I think that is the
common law still. I don't think you need—
00:15:46.593 --> 00:15:52.220
GORSUCH: I know a group of people, I know somebody in
this group of people was involved, and I did nothing?
00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:55.500
That's not substantial certainty.
And we have two options.
00:15:55.500 --> 00:15:58.100
One, we could take the
additional step and say that,
00:15:58.101 --> 00:16:03.420
because this is an implied-ish cause of action,
we're going to construe it very narrowly.
00:16:03.420 --> 00:16:08.056
The other alternative would be to say
it's purpose, and reverse and remand.
00:16:08.056 --> 00:16:12.940
And Mr. Malcolm invited you to say whether you
thought you could prevail under that standard below.
00:16:12.940 --> 00:16:16.901
CLEMENT: Well, obviously I'd prefer door
number three, but I would also prefer—
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GORSUCH: I understand door number—
00:16:18.545 --> 00:16:22.380
CLEMENT: Whatever the standard is,
I'd prefer a chance to pursue that,
00:16:22.380 --> 00:16:26.101
and I would think even under
purpose, there has to be room
00:16:26.102 --> 00:16:29.838
for treating somebody that says
"F— the DMCA!" differently
00:16:29.839 --> 00:16:32.980
from somebody that tries their
level best to comply, and doesn't.
00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:37.913
KILLIAN: Wow! So a direct
attack on freedom of speech!
00:16:37.913 --> 00:16:40.913
That was the quiet part out loud!
00:16:40.913 --> 00:16:48.941
The only difference he specified was that the
person was or wasn't saying "F— the DMCA."
00:16:48.942 --> 00:16:53.340
That is absolute
content-based censorship.
00:16:53.340 --> 00:16:57.980
I would love to have seen a video so I
could see the look on Gorsuch's face then.
00:16:57.980 --> 00:17:01.340
Did he and the other
justices pick up on that?
00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:08.620
You use conduct to infer intent. You cannot
use protected expression to impose liability.
00:17:08.620 --> 00:17:14.380
Fortunately, even the best case scenario for the
labels doesn't seem to be giving them what they want.
00:17:14.380 --> 00:17:18.860
Even the more corporatist judges were
arguing for a more moderate viewpoint.
00:17:18.860 --> 00:17:24.175
At the same time, although I hope the majority
finds for common law and freedom of speech,
00:17:24.175 --> 00:17:27.420
I'm never all that hopeful where
the Supreme Court is involved.
00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:31.245
After all, this is the same
court that, earlier this year,
00:17:31.246 --> 00:17:37.820
said that blatantly unconstitutional
content-based identity verification was a-okay!
00:17:37.820 --> 00:17:44.466
But even going a little bit towards the record labels
means contributory liability for infrastructure.
00:17:44.467 --> 00:17:53.580
So where would it end? The phone company? Cloud hosting?
VPN? Discord server admins? Tesla charging stations?
00:17:53.580 --> 00:17:58.140
It all becomes fair game if this
decision goes the wrong way.
00:17:58.140 --> 00:18:00.460
I'm gonna give
Rosenkranz the last word:
00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:07.397
ROSENKRANZ: If Plaintiffs want to bring an action
that is based upon specific known infringers,
00:18:07.398 --> 00:18:12.540
they can bring that case
under their rule against ISPs.
00:18:12.540 --> 00:18:17.420
This Court cannot affirm on that basis,
though, and neither can the courts below.
00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:20.460
Let's talk about how
this case was tried.
00:18:20.460 --> 00:18:26.797
There is no proof of any specific
known infringer that is a human being
00:18:26.797 --> 00:18:31.900
who actually did any of the things that
some of these hypotheticals spun out.
00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:34.780
Even if you focus on households,
00:18:34.780 --> 00:18:40.940
there is no way to disaggregate precisely for
the reason that Justice Gorsuch points out:
00:18:40.940 --> 00:18:49.260
Plaintiffs tried a case in gross as to 57,000
subscribers, no individual circumstances.
00:18:49.260 --> 00:18:55.500
Plaintiffs never tried to disaggregate in
any way as to the people who they see,
00:18:55.500 --> 00:18:58.460
who they claim can
sustain this verdict.
00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:05.420
You can't infer liability from the blank page,
and Congress said not to do that.
00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:12.380
The DMCA is also no panacea. ISPs have no
certainty that they will keep the safe harbor.
00:19:12.380 --> 00:19:20.300
A lay jury decides whether an ISP has acted
reasonably and whether terminations are appropriate.
00:19:20.300 --> 00:19:27.260
Justice Alito asked, what is an ISP supposed
to do when confronted with a university?
00:19:27.260 --> 00:19:31.420
My friend gave an answer:
Have a conversation.
00:19:31.420 --> 00:19:36.220
That's a terrible answer from
the perspective of the company
00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:42.780
that is trying to figure out what its legal
obligations are facing crushing liabilities.
00:19:42.780 --> 00:19:45.820
I have an answer: How
about a conversation with
00:19:45.820 --> 00:19:49.842
the ISPs where they talk about
how to work out things together?
00:19:49.842 --> 00:19:51.980
Maybe they kick in a little money.
00:19:51.980 --> 00:19:57.500
Now, they won't get billion-dollar verdicts,
but if they believe that the programs that Cox
00:19:57.500 --> 00:20:04.064
and others have aren't satisfactory, they can
design better programs and help pay for them.
00:21:16.060 --> 00:21:21.740
Over in Spain, we're also having a fight for
the right to have basic Internet infrastructure.
00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:28.060
DDoS-Guard is an infrastructure company which
provides both hosting services and DDoS protection.
00:21:28.060 --> 00:21:31.629
They're claiming that Spain's
football association LaLiga
00:21:31.630 --> 00:21:37.180
has become a de facto regulator with the authority
to interfere with Internet infrastructure.
00:21:37.180 --> 00:21:39.802
Let's start with the European
Commission's report
00:21:39.803 --> 00:21:45.980
as to whether its Recommendation of May 2023
had had any effect against pirate streaming.
00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:47.180
It hadn't.
00:21:47.180 --> 00:21:53.260
So LaLiga says the only solution is to
do more of what didn't work before.
00:21:53.260 --> 00:22:00.860
This, despite LaLiga claiming to have reduced piracy
of its content by 60%, under existing legislation.
00:22:00.860 --> 00:22:05.820
LaLiga was given authority by the Spanish
courts to block almost any site or service
00:22:05.820 --> 00:22:08.700
facilitating access
to pirate streams.
00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:15.980
When Cloudflare pushed back, LaLiga responded
by blocking Cloudflare access by Spanish ISPs.
00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:22.540
And, of course, that ends up blocking Cloudflare
access by all of the legitimate users as well.
00:22:22.540 --> 00:22:28.140
So this is of great interest to DDoS-Guard,
which provides roughly the same kind of service.
00:22:28.140 --> 00:22:34.300
They worry that, in the event LaLiga trains their
sights on them, they would have no legal recourse.
00:22:34.300 --> 00:22:38.700
Their Head of Web Application Protection,
Dmitry Nikonov, said, quote:
00:22:38.700 --> 00:22:45.100
"This is happening right now, in the fall of 2025,
and the scale of this phenomenon is astonishing.
00:22:45.100 --> 00:22:47.820
It seems LaLiga is beyond control.
00:22:47.820 --> 00:22:53.020
LaLiga can essentially apply a 'piracy'
mask to entire ranges of addresses,
00:22:53.020 --> 00:22:58.380
often affecting endpoints that are not
directly related to illegal broadcasts."
00:22:58.380 --> 00:23:02.700
So now football matches have become
the pretext for large-scale censorship,
00:23:02.700 --> 00:23:06.780
and Nikonov worries about LaLiga
becoming a private regulator.
00:23:06.780 --> 00:23:10.140
Quote: "If the football league
has such powers today,
00:23:10.140 --> 00:23:13.900
then nothing will stop other major
players from acquiring them tomorrow.
00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:17.260
We're talking about media holdings,
streaming companies,
00:23:17.260 --> 00:23:22.300
and corporations for whom content is
not entertainment, but a source of profit.
00:23:22.300 --> 00:23:27.255
Under the guise of copyright protection, a tool
is emerging that allows commercial players
00:23:27.255 --> 00:23:33.500
to directly influence the accessibility of parts of
the internet, bypassing legal proceedings."
00:23:33.500 --> 00:23:39.740
He says that their unchecked power forces
them to implement DNS and BGP filtering.
00:23:39.740 --> 00:23:42.780
BGP is like the traffic
lights of the Internet.
00:23:42.780 --> 00:23:47.260
Give them power over the traffic lights
and they can stop anyone they want.
00:23:47.260 --> 00:23:53.100
Of course, they also stop everyone else on
that road, regardless of where they want to go!
00:23:53.100 --> 00:23:59.980
Quote: "As a result, telecom operators are becoming
the enforcers of state anti-piracy policies.
00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:03.100
What we're facing is no
longer an isolated failure,
00:24:03.100 --> 00:24:07.820
but a testing of a model that sets a
precedent for new internet governance—
00:24:07.820 --> 00:24:15.660
a private corporation, through the regulator, gains de
facto access to leverage over network infrastructure."
00:24:15.660 --> 00:24:21.580
Which is exactly what we're hoping to avoid with the
Cox ruling, as explained in the previous segment.
00:24:21.580 --> 00:24:26.397
And a ruling the wrong way would
make us just like Spain, where, quote:
00:24:26.397 --> 00:24:29.580
"Anyone who gains
access to regulatory levers
00:24:29.580 --> 00:24:33.980
automatically gains power over the
infrastructure used by millions of people.
00:24:33.980 --> 00:24:38.060
In other words, the internet today
is no longer a distributed network,
00:24:38.060 --> 00:24:42.700
but a set of control points,
each of which becomes a juicy target."
00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:47.508
A target that, sooner or later,
will become pointed at you.
00:26:01.980 --> 00:26:06.700
And now it's time to premedicate
this week's Biggest Bogon Emitter.
00:26:06.700 --> 00:26:13.260
Yes, Hillary Clinton is still around, and yes, she's
still blaming everyone else for her own failings.
00:26:13.260 --> 00:26:18.540
She spoke at an event for the Israeli
newspaper Hayom about misinformation—
00:26:18.540 --> 00:26:21.740
i.e.,
stuff on the Internet she doesn't agree with.
00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:28.540
She remains utterly convinced that she would be
president if the voters stopped listening to social media
00:26:28.540 --> 00:26:33.180
and listened only to the traditional,
credentialed media experts.
00:26:33.180 --> 00:26:38.220
She also says that the reason why so
many young people, even Jewish people,
00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:42.540
have turned against Israel over the
Gaza war is all the fault of TikTok.
00:26:42.540 --> 00:26:51.180
HILLARY: That our students—smart, well-educated, young
people from our own country, from around the world—
00:26:51.180 --> 00:26:53.420
where were they getting
their information?
00:26:53.420 --> 00:26:59.180
They were getting their information
from social media, particularly TikTok.
00:26:59.180 --> 00:27:04.780
That's a serious problem. It's a serious problem for
democracy, whether it's Israel or the United States,
00:27:04.780 --> 00:27:07.100
and it's a serious problem
for our young people.
00:27:07.100 --> 00:27:15.260
More than 50% of young people in
America get their news from social media.
00:27:15.260 --> 00:27:18.540
So, just pause on that for a second.
00:27:18.540 --> 00:27:24.631
They are seeing short-form videos,
some of them totally made up,
00:27:24.632 --> 00:27:32.340
some of them not at all representing what they claim to be,
uh, showing, and that's where they get their information.
00:27:32.340 --> 00:27:36.620
KILLIAN: Of course, we were following the
Russian interference story from the start
00:27:36.620 --> 00:27:39.180
and could easily tell it was bogus,
00:27:39.180 --> 00:27:43.500
even just from listening to the
legacy media and not the socials.
00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:47.322
It also turns out that foreign
governments influencing social media
00:27:47.323 --> 00:27:50.460
just wasn't as big a thing
as they made it out to be.
00:27:50.460 --> 00:27:55.260
They weren't doing anywhere near as much of
it as Hillary and her compadres were claiming,
00:27:55.260 --> 00:27:58.548
and what they were doing
wasn't all that effective.
00:27:58.548 --> 00:28:02.540
Now she's saying that the reason
people aren't all gung-ho behind
00:28:02.540 --> 00:28:07.717
Israel's absolute slaughter of
Gaza is because of TikTok.
00:28:07.717 --> 00:28:12.383
Or maybe, just maybe,
it's the other way around:
00:28:12.383 --> 00:28:19.260
Maybe young people aren't falling for the lies
anymore, and that's being reflected in social media.
00:28:19.260 --> 00:28:26.300
She just can't handle the thought of people not just
blindly agreeing with an interventionist foreign policy.
00:28:26.300 --> 00:28:33.180
She just can't handle the thought of a whole
large segment of the population being for peace.
00:28:33.180 --> 00:28:39.420
She just can't handle the thought of people
not trusting the news media once again,
00:28:39.420 --> 00:28:46.380
after they lied about Iraq, lied about
Afghanistan, lied about every other war.
00:28:46.380 --> 00:28:50.620
And in addition,
lied about Russian election interference,
00:28:50.620 --> 00:28:55.340
lied about the Hunter Biden laptop,
and so many other things we've covered.
00:28:55.340 --> 00:29:02.300
Yes, there's a lot of misinformation on the socials, but
there's also a metric tonne of it on the legacy media!
00:29:02.300 --> 00:29:06.940
In fact, that's given this very
podcast a lot of material!
00:29:06.940 --> 00:29:11.500
But the great thing about the Internet is,
everyone gets a say.
00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:15.340
If you see something that you believe is wrong,
counter it.
00:29:15.340 --> 00:29:22.940
The marketplace of ideas has always proven
itself far superior to authoritarian propaganda.
00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:29.500
No, the reason why Hillary's upset is
that her side's losing and she knows it.
00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:34.460
On the socials, you can't stop the
images of devastation from Gaza.
00:29:34.460 --> 00:29:38.380
You can't stop the images of
starving and dying children.
00:29:38.380 --> 00:29:41.660
You can't stop the doctors
and emergency responders
00:29:41.660 --> 00:29:46.540
from telling people of the horrible
things they've seen Israeli forces do.
00:29:46.540 --> 00:29:54.029
Actually, in my experience, all I see on TikTok are
cat videos, clips from celebrities I've never heard of,
00:29:54.030 --> 00:29:57.180
students recording each other
in embarrassing situations,
00:29:57.180 --> 00:30:01.340
and AI-generated women
of unrealistic proportions.
00:30:01.340 --> 00:30:07.900
Hell, I did a search for Gaza and only came
up with clips from PBS, CNN, and Reuters!
00:30:07.900 --> 00:30:16.140
But it's always the same: the biggest manipulators
whine the loudest about other people manipulating you.
00:30:16.140 --> 00:30:20.028
So all of that makes Hillary this
week's Biggest Bogon Emitter.
00:31:32.460 --> 00:31:42.460
And now let's hyperultraconglomerationalisticalify
this week's Idiot Extraordinaire.
00:31:43.900 --> 00:31:47.922
As if the UK hasn't done enough
to embarrass itself lately,
00:31:47.923 --> 00:31:53.656
like arresting a guy for using a gun legally
in the US as soon as he got back home,
00:31:53.657 --> 00:31:58.390
now they're ramping up the
immensely unpopular and inaccurate
00:31:58.391 --> 00:32:02.220
facial recognition systems we've
covered a couple of times before.
00:32:02.220 --> 00:32:05.953
The UK Home Office published a 33-page document
00:32:05.954 --> 00:32:08.999
detailing how they're going to
implement facial recognition
00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:13.180
and other, quote: "biometric
and inferential technologies."
00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:16.300
They complain about the
common law rules making it
00:32:16.300 --> 00:32:21.900
too difficult for them to use the tools,
quote: "at significantly greater scale."
00:32:21.900 --> 00:32:26.060
Yeah, maybe you should stop
and think about why it does that.
00:32:26.060 --> 00:32:31.420
They're calling it "the biggest breakthrough
for catching criminals since DNA matching"
00:32:31.420 --> 00:32:37.100
and brag that it goes beyond face matching,
as if that's something people would like.
00:32:37.100 --> 00:32:42.967
Last year, the Home Office spent
£12.6 million on facial recognition,
00:32:42.968 --> 00:32:47.322
£2.8 million on national live
facial recognition systems,
00:32:47.323 --> 00:32:52.380
and is allocating a further £6.6
million for the following year.
00:32:52.380 --> 00:32:56.780
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch,
let them have it, quote:
00:32:56.780 --> 00:33:02.220
"For our streets to be safer the government
need to focus their resources on real criminals
00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:06.300
rather than spending public money
turning the country into an open prison
00:33:06.300 --> 00:33:09.100
with surveillance of the
general population.
00:33:09.100 --> 00:33:12.140
Facial recognition
surveillance is out of control,
00:33:12.140 --> 00:33:18.140
with the police's own records showing over seven
million innocent people in England and Wales
00:33:18.140 --> 00:33:22.984
have been scanned by police facial
recognition cameras in the past year alone.
00:33:22.984 --> 00:33:27.180
Live facial recognition could be
the end of privacy as we know it.
00:33:27.180 --> 00:33:33.608
With the government now threatening to introduce
mandatory ID cards with our facial biometrics on them too,
00:33:33.609 --> 00:33:40.540
we are hurtling towards an authoritarian surveillance
state that would make Orwell roll in his grave."
00:33:40.540 --> 00:33:45.740
The Home Office bragged that this was the
biggest police innovation since DNA. Quote:
00:33:45.740 --> 00:33:50.060
"But we would never accept DNA
checkpoints across our high streets
00:33:50.060 --> 00:33:53.660
and nor should we accept widespread
face recognition checkpoints,
00:33:53.660 --> 00:33:57.340
treating us all like criminals
in a constant line up."
00:33:57.340 --> 00:34:00.700
Carlo mentions the victims of
crime and other vulnerable people
00:34:00.700 --> 00:34:04.060
who are often harassed by
police due to the technology,
00:34:04.060 --> 00:34:09.420
such as a community worker they wrongly
stopped and questioned for half an hour.
00:34:09.420 --> 00:34:13.980
"If the government intends to take the
public's views in this consultation seriously,
00:34:13.980 --> 00:34:20.002
they should immediately stop the police's widespread use
of facial recognition surveillance pending the outcome
00:34:20.003 --> 00:34:26.220
but instead they have just funded a major expansion
of these cameras across our towns and cities.
00:34:26.220 --> 00:34:30.860
Laws in Europe protect the public against
facial recognition mass surveillance,
00:34:30.860 --> 00:34:37.020
but Britain is an outlier in the democratic world
with the public now watched by these cameras
00:34:37.021 --> 00:34:41.340
and treated like suspects
on an almost daily basis."
00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:45.806
Libertarians often claim that our Constitution
is nothing but a piece of paper,
00:34:45.806 --> 00:34:51.100
but at least paper offers you some resistance against
the tide of increasing surveillance.
00:34:51.100 --> 00:34:55.655
The UK is an example of what happens
when you don't even have that much,
00:34:55.655 --> 00:34:59.740
even when the system
is massively unpopular.
00:34:59.740 --> 00:35:09.740
So all of that makes IngSoc—uh, I mean,
the UK this week's Idiot Extraordinaire.
00:35:13.980 --> 00:35:17.980
Well, that wraps up this "I trust
the jester's reputation is based
00:35:17.980 --> 00:35:22.220
upon many years of accomplishment"
edition of the Bogosity Podcast.
00:35:22.220 --> 00:35:28.060
I hope you enjoyed it; if you did, please go to
donate.bogosity.tv for several ways to support,
00:35:28.060 --> 00:35:31.820
and discord.bogosity.tv
to join the discussion.
00:35:31.820 --> 00:35:37.660
Subscribe at the Discord, Patreon, or
SubscribeStar and you can listen early and ad-free.
00:35:37.660 --> 00:35:42.140
Thank you for listening. Until next time,
here's a quote from William Douglas:
00:35:42.140 --> 00:35:48.182
"Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful
government and in an increasingly powerful private sector
00:35:48.183 --> 00:35:54.113
will pile the records high with reasons why
privacy should give way to national security,
00:35:54.114 --> 00:35:56.060
to law and order and the like."
00:35:56.060 --> 00:36:00.460
The Bogosity Podcast is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
00:36:00.460 --> 00:36:02.970
4.0 International license.