6 chapters across the catalog
U.S. officials departing Beijing were seen discarding all items touched by Chinese hosts, including pins and lanyards, to prevent espionage. Counterintelligence protocols required the delegation to use burner devices and avoid Chinese USB ports due to the risk of embedded malware and tracking chips. The segment also touches on the debate over the 500,000 Chinese students in U.S. universities and their potential role in intellectual property theft.
The hosts discuss the 24/7 No Agenda live stream at trollroom.io and the benefits of using modern podcast apps over legacy platforms like Spotify. They mention that legacy apps frequently drop episodes or censor content. A call is made for co-host Horace to move his "DH Unplugged" show off Google's Feed Burner service.
The hosts discuss the return of large-scale graffiti on New York City subways, comparing the current state of the city to the 1970s. Dvorak explains the terminology of the subculture, distinguishing between "tags," "toss-ups," and "burners." He shares an anecdote about owning a jacket custom-painted by a graffiti writer that allegedly provided safe passage through Hell's Kitchen.
A discussion on sharing video files reveals technical difficulties in burning AVI files to playable DVDs for home theater systems. The hosts debate the merits of standalone DVD writers versus computer-based burning, noting that dedicated hardware often supports a wider variety of native video formats.
Adam Curry reports on new UK legislation requiring passports to purchase mobile phones and a massive government database project to store metadata for all communications. John C. Dvorak describes Interpol software from the 1990s designed to map social connections and organizational charts for criminal investigations.
Bank Failures, Credit Default Swaps, Burner Phones
A small bank in Kansas has failed, signaling continued instability in the financial system driven by $500 trillion in uncovered derivatives and credit default swaps. Amidst these economic concerns, the use of "burner" phones is recommended for privacy. There is also skepticism regarding the upcoming Google Android phone and whether it will track users' movements for government or commercial purposes.
