Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Communicators 20240621

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internet on society. we also took a look at some of the new technology on display. ces international is the largest consumer technology show in the world. >> host: and now joining uson "the communicators" is andrew keen whose most recent book is called "the internet is not the answer." first of all mr. keen, what's the question? >> guest: the question is what the, what should the operating system be for the 21st century life commerce, economy culture? >> host: and why is the internet not the answer? >> guest: the internet is not the answer at the moment. it's not the answer in the sense that it's not working currently. it's lending itself to undermining jobs, it's compounding the inequality of our economic life, it's creating new massive monopolies that were unimaginable in the 20th or 19th century, and it's created this data economy in which we've all been all internet users have been turned into products. you and i we've been packaged up when we use google or facebook. we've become the product. it's like a big hitchcock movie. >> host: so what you write in your book is that the silicon valley of 2014 has all the social and economic hierarchies of 1914 without any of the social constraints of the old air stocking rah city -- aristocracy. >> guest: yeah. i think that's an interesting point. i would think that since i wrote that. it's an interesting point in the sense that the old aristocracy had a sense of honor, a sense of obligation, of responsibility. and i don't think one can criticize silicon valley elite. the problem is a broader culture issue. the problem is that the internet has created or is both a cause and a creation of a culture of rights rather than responsibilities. so we want, want, want. we demand, we demand, we demand. we want free content we want twitter, we want facebook we want google. but we're not willing to give anything back. the same with the companies the same with the entrepreneurs. they're making large fortunes, but unlike the -- [inaudible] they're not giving anything back. and i think they need to acknowledge themself as new elite is that sense of responsibility. some have more than others. a guy from salesforce.com, i think, has a better sense in some ways than perhaps jeff bezos. i'm very critical of bezos and am nonin this book but -- amazon in this book. but perhaps his investment in "the washington post" will make him more civic minded. >> host: what we really need is an informal bill of responsibility. what would be included in that? >> guest: responsibility to behave towards each other with respect, to respect other people's property, not to steal content online, not to hide behind anonymity and bully people to the extent that they commit suicide having -- and on the other side in terms of the companies themselves, having a respect, real respect for the consumer. we hear the ideology of the consumer, everything is supposed to be in the name of the consumer. but really it's the consumer who's being exploited because our day is being mined. and thirdly in terms of responsibility, companies like amazon, i think, need to show more responsibility to work. in the 19th century we had a long struggle between capital and labor about working conditions. we're back to that today. in many respects amazon's labor policies and distribution centers and experience of working for amazon is rather like early 19th century factories. they're incredibly exploy thattive. so we need to see more respect for workers and more respect for real people as opposed to this kind of ideology of the consumer that doesn't really exist. >> host: andrew keen, when it comes to internet privacy, isn't the cow already out of the barn? >> guest: i hope not. if the cow's out of barn, we might as well go home. i don't think the cow is out of the barn, to use that phrase. i think that there's still an opportunity to maybe not put the cow back in the barn but to reinvent the farm in a way that the business model works. at the moment, and this is my critique, not just my critique it's becoming increasingly accepted within silicon valley. at the moment the business model does not work in terms of points of view. the only way google or facebook make money is by giving their stuff out for free. wonderful products, but ultimately, they're collecting our data which they pass on to advertisers, and that's where their fortunes lie. that defines the economy. it's not just me. ethan zimmerman at harvard university one of the original islists of the internet -- idealists of the internet calls in the original sin of the internet. and i think we need to acknowledge that and rethink business models. you know, maybe mark zuckerberg is watching me. i'd much rather pay $10 a moment to use facebook -- i'm not on facebook at the moment, because i don't want to be watched all the time. but i'd be much happier to pay $10 is a month to facebook and say, sure, it's a great service. i can connect with my friends around the world but i don't want any of my data being mined. this big data economy that economists now, more than on the horizon, is really something that science fiction writers have warned us about now for centuries, and it's becoming real. everything we do. and now in the internet of things, we're at ces today internet of things, 50 billion connected devices everything we wear, our cars, our homes they're all connected. everything about this will be known. >> host: being here at ces what's that like for you? >> guest: noisy. [laughter] >> host: i mean, are you enjoying seeing all these products? does it scare you? does it worry you? >> guest: it's scary and very, very exciting because, of course, you see the future. at ces you see the next five or ten years. i've been coming to ces for 20 years, and i had an internet start-up in the '90s, so i remember coming and seeing the future of connected music. and we had the invention of the ipod and downloading. today the future is in connected cars, the future is in connected clothing, the future is in connected education future is in this thing called the internet of things. and we see that at ces. it's becoming real. now, every year people say, oh, it's real, and it never really is real. but 2015, i think is one of those watershed years where these great revolutions outside entertainment, outside the media, in health care, in education, in transportation you're seeing it with companies of course, like uber. so it's a fascinating and, indeed scary experience if you think about the way in which this new world of connected cars and connected clothing will create an even more ubiquitous surveillance state. >> host: the original name for this book, "the internet is not the answer," was "epic fail." >> guest: well, the original title was something i can't repeat on your channel but, yes, epic fail because i think the book is an attempt to evaluate the internet and the web. the internet's almost 50 years old, and the first couple of chapters i tell the story of the internet. the web in 2014 celebrated its 25th anniversary. it's an, it's a late adolescent now. we can't keep on saying, oh, it's to too young we can't joining -- judge it. we have to say look, you've got to grow up. you're behaving badly. and i think almost 50 year into the internet, 1969 was when the first computer-to-computer communication took place, so it's not -- four or five more years until the 50th anniversary of the internet itself. we've got to step back and say okay, plus or minus. we were promised all this great stuff, we were promised more economic equality, opportunity we were promised that everyone would be producers, we were promised it would enrich us. but in reality, it's the reverse. it's enriched a tiny proportion of us. it's exploiting us. it's not working at the moment. i'm not against technology, doesn't mean it can't work. i've played a party game, i'm as wired as anyone, you know? i'm not against technology. i don't think we should shut the internet down, i'm not in favor of internet status or any of these sorts of things, but at the moment in we're really honest, it's not working. and the important thing about this thing i hope, is it connects what's happening in silicon valley with broader and socioeconomic issues. it says the internet is not just this thing in silicon valley, it's intimately bound up with some of the things that most worry your viewers i think. economic inequality and status. >> host: andrew keen you write about silicon valley being -- [inaudible] in reference to a place called the battery. >> the battery is in the narrative of the book, the battery becomes the symbolic heart. the battery is a new social club set up by a guy could michael birch, one of the early successors in the internet. he sold his company to aol for a few hundred million dollars, and some of that money he invested in a social club on battery street in downtown san francisco. a lovely place. and the narrative of book is built around my experience of going for lunch there. it's a symbolic place because birch has presented the battery as an egalitarian place which will draw in all the most interesting people. so in a sense what birch is doing with the battery is presenting it in the way in which internet group taupe ya presents the internet itself. but, of course the battery is a private social club for this new elite of multimillionaires and billionaires. it's a place of incredibly fine food and wine, a beautiful hotel with spectacular views over san francisco. but it's exclusive. it's not inclusive. we were promised that the internet would be this inclusive place for everyone. but it isn't. just more of what we've had in the past. and the battery epitomizes that. >> host: andrew keane, you seem -- andrew keen, you seem to have a special animosity towards uber. is that fair? >> guest: i wouldn't say it's a special animosity. i've known the ceo for almost 20 years, and i respect him. he's a smart guy, and he's done an incredible job in terms of turning a tiny little start-up like hundreds of thousands of other start-ups into a company now that's worth $40 billion. >> host: valued at the same as avis and hertz combined you said. >> guest: yeah. actually, more now because when i wrote the book, they were at 19 now they've doubled in their last funding round. this is the most valuable privately-held company, i think in history. certainly start-up company in history. i think he's also done a remarkable job um, executing in a business sense. he's done a remarkable job taking an idea and making it real. now you go around the world and you can get uber cars. it works. it's not just an idea. he's put it into practice. having said that, uber represents two or three things about the new world which i find particularly troubling. firstly, the ceo himself is an example of someone who has no sense of responsibility. he's a party poi he's a -- party boy he's a pratt boy. charming, very good looking very popular with the ladies and boasted about how uber has made him even more popular which, i think, angered a lot of feminists understandably. he's not just a kid with a shiny new toy anymore. he has a profound responsibility. because he's reinventing the world. he's challenging and undermining the jobs of tens of thousands of taxi car drivers and operators and small business people all over world. so in that sense i'd like travis to become more of a mensch, to to grow up, to become responsible. i think that's really important. and he pit poises the childishness and irresponsibility of these silicon valley entrepreneurs who go from nothing to multibillionaires sometimes in the space of a few months. secondly uber is an example of a company that is breaking all the rules. when we say the internet is not the answer, uber runs on the internet. it's a platform that allows anyone to become a cab driver and anyone to use their cell phone to get cabs. in that sense it's very convenient. i'm not a defender of the old system. we've all sat in the back of filthy dirty cabs coming back and fort from the airport with incredibly rude cab drivers who endlessly try to rip us off. i'm not a defender of the old record labels. however, uber is problematic because they make no attempt to regulate their system. let me give you one anecdote. i was in detroit a few months ago in the back of a cab. african-american entrepreneur was driving, had five or six cabs. he was endlessly complaining about uber because he told me it would put him out of work, he'd have to go and work for uber. but secondly, he told me his brother-in-law just came out of jail did ten years for manslaughter. he said he can't employ him it's against regulations. you're not allowed. if you've been in jail for ten years having done, you know, manslaughter, pretty serious crime, you can't just become a cab driver because, after all you don't want to jump in the back of a cab that's being driven by someone who's just come out of jail who murdered someone. so is he became an uber driver. is that what we want? uber isn't checking. we've had the case in india where one of the drivers raped a woman. more and more cases in the bay area where driverses stalk women, where they exploit them where they abuse them, where they're rude to them. so that that's the second reason, we need more regulation. i'm not a european socialist i'm not in favor of doing away with the market, but the way the industrial revolution worked in the 19th century and that's why the book is quite historical, is that the industrial revolution only succeeded because of regulation. didn't do away with innovation or the entrepreneur, but we need more regulation with networks like uber whether say that they are representing the consumer, but they respect. and thirdly the economics of uber really trouble me. it's incredibly exploit thattive in terms of consumers. when it rain, when there's a storm, they put their prices up 10x. we have no defenses against being completely ripped off. but most importantly uber claims that it's emancipating anyone to become a cab driver, doing away with the old monopolies. but the reality of uber is it's a new ubermonopoly. $40 billion valuation. i think it's raised $5-$10 billion. that money comes from both wall street and silicon valley. and it's an attempt to do away with all these mom and pop taxi drivers in every city in every world and replace it with a single entity uber. uber will control the american and the global cab fee. that's why it's worth $40 billion. that's why google put 250 million of its own money. so uber represents the example of a new flat form monopoly. very very scary. i don't want travis ca lahr nick controlling me every time i get into a cab, particularly because it's a big data company as we've seen with recent revelations. uber watches us. they're looking at our data. i don't know what uber knowing where i'm going, do you? >> host: what's future cast? >> guest: future cast is a salon i put on in palo alto which addresses all these issues. it's held at the palo alto foundry which is an at&t erickson innovation center. what i like about future cast is it shows my commitment to innovation. i'm not a reactionary, i'm not a luddite. and we bring in smart people to talk about the way in which technology's changing the world. we have an invitation-only list of people about 50-100 people come to these events, and it's a really fun way to think about these challenges of the future. so we had, for example, sebastian, sebastian thrum who was the guy who invented google self-driving cars, we have tim draper, the guy behind draper fisher. so it's an attempt to seriously think about these issues. as in terms of this book, it's an attempt to turn the kids of silicon valley into grown-ups to make them more responsible for the impact of their technology which is changing the world. >> host: has tom perkins ever spoke at future cast? >> guest: he has not, and i'd love to have him. if he's watching, he's more than welcome. i think tom perkins is a rather -- >> host: who is he? >> guest: tom perkins was perhaps, the original venture capitalist of silicon valley. very brilliant man again made a fortune. but he's also an ultra libertarian right-wing kind of just as travis colon nick is the epitome of an irresponsible entrepreneur, so tom perkins is the epitome of a massively rich venture capitalist who's out of touch with reality. tom perkins believes, for example, that we don't have to worry about the impacts of google buses or silicon valley on living conditions in the bay area. tom perkins is a radical free market guy a hard core libertarian. and it's that hard core libber darrenism, that opposition -- libertarianism, this idea that the market can rule everything, the idea that the internet in its unregulated form is the answer it's against guys like tom perkins that i've written this book. >> host: "the internet is not the answer," is the name of andrew keen's book, an epic f-ing failure was the original title. [laughter] this is "the communicators" on c-span. >> we also talked with creators of some new technology on display at ces international. >> host: ces gives out innovation awards for a lot of the new technology and start-ups that are displayed at their annual convention, and zuta labs won one of those, daniel rubin, you're out of jerusalem? >> guest: yes. >> host: you've got a start-up, new technology. >> guest: yes. >> host: congratulations on your award. >> guest: thank you very much. >> host: how old is this technology? >> guest: the technology's very new. we haven't seen any robotic printer that moves across the paper printing. and we're really excited to show you guys our new dropped technology. >> host: what have you got? how do you have a robotics printer? >> guest: the printers we all have at home, the paper moves through the printer. we do a print out of the big box, put it on a smart robot and it rolls across the page printing. >> host: let's see it. let's see how it works. and, first of all, this is the printer itself, right? >> guest: yes, this is the printer. >> host: okay, all right. just so we know this. >> guest: this is the printer and you can print from any device phones, computers microsoft word. our app says how much ink is left, how much battery life. so we're going to open a recent item, and we're going to print out zuta graphic. we're using this text to show you the complexity of the image that it can print out and the different types of black and white. >> host: all right. so that's just your brand name. so we've opened -- >> guest: we've opened it up. we're going to click check and now we have to put in the size of the paper. it can pretty out any size paper. it's not limited to 8.5x11, you know standard paper. then it's going to tell you to position the printer on the top left-hand paper. >> host: which you've done already. >> guest: the way it works is there's a 90-degree angle of the printer, that printer of the corner goes to the printer of the paper. that's how it lines up. as soon as it's lined up simply click print and there it goes. >> host: okay. as we watch this happen what's -- do you have ink inside the printer right now? >> guest: yeah. it's an ink jet printer. each ink cartridge holds over 100 pages of ink. it's a little bit slower than the actual printer. this just illustrates the movement of the printer. >> host: daniel rubin, how'd you get this started? >> guest: we launched on kickstarter, and we had amazing support. thank you guys for all our support. we raised a little bit over $500,000 on kickstarter in the month we were there and now we've moved from will to the ces innovation award, and we really hope to hear good things. >> host: all right. so if somebody wanted to print out a document, how long's it going to take them? >> guest: one page is averaging under the minute. obviously, it depends whether it's text or graphic. and this is slower -- this prototype is slow or than your average printer. >> host: so we're about at the u now. joe, i don't know if you can see the z and the u over there. >> guest: it kind of block it. -- blocks it. >> host: it does. we'll try to see it. when will this be on the market? >> guest: the kickstarter investors are getting it first. excuse me, we're open for preorders now, and you can get them in september. 199 to buy a printer when it goes into retail, it'll be 249 and is we're selling ink for $19. this isn't an infomercial, the point of my excitement is some bigger companies out there charge a lot for their ink. we want it to be easier for customers, you know, $29 for two ink cartridgings. >> host: where did you comp with the concept? is. >> guest: so the founders were sitting in a coffeeshop, and they needed to print and they couldn't. they went along and looked for certain portal printers, and there were some but none that looked as beautiful and practical as this. >> host: and what's the name of the printer? >> guest: it's a zuta pocket printer. >> host: zuta pocket printer by zuta labs out of jerusalem. daniel rubin is the business development manager. thanks for your time. >> guest: thank you so much. perfect timing. >> host: and "the communicators" continues its tour of the your reek ca park area of ces international in vegas. this is where a lot of start-ups and a lot of new technology is demonstrated and exhibited and now we want to introduce you to steve dubnik, ceo of a company called lexifone. what's the product? >> guest: our product is realtime in-call english translation system, and they hear you in their language, and you hear them in your language. >> host: so if i called somebody in mexico and i didn't speak spanish, i would speak in english -- >> guest: right. >> host: -- and what would happen? >> guest: well, when you spoke english, they would hear you speak english, then they'd wait just a couple of seconds, and they'd hear what you said translated. an ordinary, normal conversation like you can with someone in your own language. >> host: so what's the engine in there making this happen? >> guest: well, we have a hosting platform in the cloud. so you go through the telephony network to access that and then you speak. and so what we use is a combination of technologies, voice recognition, text translation and the technical terms behind it. >> host: where did you come up with idea? >> guest: our company was founded by dr. ike mcgee who lives in israel, and he was a visionary behind the technology. he'd been chasing after this star trek type of a translator for many years. and so it's his vision to do this. so he created the product, started in 2010. we started commercializing in 2013, then i joined the company last year as ceo to help them take it to the marketplace and to get it out there. >> host: and when do you foresee it being in the market? >> guest: it is in the market today. we have our first contact in place. we have our first customers. if you go to our web site, lexifone.com, you can sign up for an account, you can register your phone number. you get the first ten minutes for free to try it out see how well you like it, and then you can buy it on a prepaid basis. >> host: is this the first of its type of technology? >> guest: it is. i mean, there are a lot of companies who are starting to come out with technologies like this today, but we're the first realtime in-call language translation system that's out there. we offer 16 different language, and so we are able to help many, many people communicate. >> host: now what's your background? >> guest: i'm a telecom vet of about 30 years. >> host: doing what kind of work? >> guest: pardon? >> host: doing what kind of work? >> guest: telecom companies, wireless telephony etc., i've been ceo of multiple companies i went through the dot.com boom with my own company at the time. so i had an opportunity, was invited to look at this company for an investment and i liked the investment opportunity so much, i decided to join them. >> host: and you're based in rochester, new york, correct? >> guest: our r&d headquarters remain in israel operational in rochester. >> host: steve dubnik, lexifone, rochester, new york, and israel. thanks for your time. >> guest: appreciate it. >> you've been watching "the communicators" on c-span. if you'd like to see more programs, go to c-span.org/communicators. >> c-span created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. >> over the next several weeks the supreme court will announce decisions in a number of cases. today the center for american progress holds a discussion on what to expect. those cases include king v. burwell dealing with the affordable care act and the health insurance marketplace. other cases could affect fair housing laws and marriage equality protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. watch it live at 10 a.m. eastern here on c-span2. >> this summer booktv will cover book festivals from around the country and top nonfiction authors and books. near the end of june watch for the annual roosevelt reading festival from the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library. in the middle of july, we're live at the harlem book fair, the nation's flagship african-american literary event with author interviews and panel discussions. and at the beginning of september, we're live from the nation's capital for the national book festival celebrating its 15th year. and that's a few of the events this summer on c-span2's booktv.-- >> live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span2 here on c-span3 we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearings and public affairs events. and then on weekends c-span3 is the home to american history tv with programs that tell our nation's story including six unique series the civil war's 150th anniversary american artifacts, touring museums and historic sites to discover what artifacts reveal about america's past history book shelf with the best known american history writers. the presidency looking at the policies and legacies of our nation's commanders in chief. lectures in history with top professors delving into america's past, and our new series, real america, including educational films through the 1930s through the '70s. c-span3, created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> on friday senior energy, environmental and utility officials discussed options available to states to comply with the epa's plan to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. the event was hosted by the environmental and energy study institute. this is abouten hour and a half. about an hour and a half. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to this morning's briefing the environmental and energy stu

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