Data Brokers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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- čas přidán 9. 04. 2022
- John Oliver discusses how much data brokers know about us, what they’re doing with our personal information, and one….unusual way to change privacy laws.
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John Oliver in 2019: Haha, we baked this huge horse cake to piss off a dictator!
John Oliver in 2022: In this dossier, I have the internet search histories of everyone in Congress. Unless they pass a data protection law, I might do something with them...
GIGA CHAD
Legend
All the men at least. LOL
This resembles a south park episode with the troll hunter plot 😉.
I just don't feel that they went far enough. "We might do something with this information." Do something instead. Congress won't act unless there is something already affecting them.
If Congress passes laws that John Oliver's demanding to get passed here, then this will be hands-down the best use of HBO's money he's made so far.
Well, I mean, there was also the one time he ran an anti-smoking campaign...
In several countries...
That had been bullied by big companies into not passing plain packaging laws.
That was a good one too.
10 minutes from the end we’re bringing religion in as an argument/justification….he plays both sides of everything and loves to stand as THE POINT….gay
Just second to the Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov horse cake.
Don’t forget the time he bought a ton of medical debt and forgave it.
If it doesn't work, they can always keep going. Add a couple more ads... get a few more Congress people... hint to us who they are (or tell us. They could just tell us, right?)
"Anyway... sleep well!"
Never thought I'd see anyone so nonchalantly blackmail the US government, but John Oliver and LWT have pulled it off 😂
anyone get any updates on this?
@@paulallen3753 I'm curious about this too... Any updates?
I'm not gonna lie; shower head settings that just fuckin' beat the shit out of you with solid bullets of water is actually quite relaxing, so he's got a point there.
It's called a staccato beat, and I think all shower heads should have it, because I agree with you wholeheartedly. It's like a non-aggressive massage.
Let's give a round of applause to the HBO lawyers who help LWT keep these shenanigans going.
czcams.com/video/4hRKbrHT9Ho/video.html
I can only imagine the emails.
Hi law department, this week we’re gonna blackmail congress with Ted Cruz erotica. That sound good and legal?
Thanks,
J Oliver
@@helena8999 Hi John, after reviewing the laws and precedent we've come to the following judgment: very legal and very cool
I would want those lawyers for a traffic ticket
Yes! We all thank all of them
I love how John goes straight for the Nuclear option. Doesn't stage a protest, doesn't try to go before congress, doesn't start a petition...nope, he basically goes straight to elaborate attempts to legally blackmail Congress into action.
That's how you get stuff done.
Doesn't give them any chance to bullshit their way out of it
Correct. Making threats is weak. Wreaking vengeance is strong.
I mean, he stopped short of identifying them.
They will just pass a law protecting themselves. National security of highly sensitive individuals or somesht
"John, darling, it's 2 am, what the hell are you still doing on that computer?? And don't you lie to me!"
"I'll be with you in a minute, love, I'm nearly done setting up these cookies that'll help me blackmail the US Congress into doing the right thing."
"... Alright, I thought you were researching pulp shower heads again."
i'm forever greatful that HBO's business model is forgiving enough to allow john oliver to do whatever without fear.
If congress passes a law from this, they should call it "The John Oliver Privacy Protection Act" or "JOPPA" for short.
The John Poliver Protection Creep Act. JOPPCA
And make a clause where, once invoked, one has to yell "To the JOPPA!"
I'm all for this xD
Well, it sounds like "ASSS" in Russian, and I am twisting my mind to understand is this what the joke is. Did our word for жопа became deservingly famous at last.
@@Spiderkote LMAO! I don't know how I missed that. My wife is Russian.
John Oliver has reached the level of threatening the US government. And it only took nine seasons and seven episodes to achieve that
If anyone would watch the 1942 USDA video *Hemp For Victory,* all of you would threaten the US government.
And the void. Don't forget about the void.
He can threaten At&t and foreign dictator, of course he can threaten whole US government
I mean when you get a socio-political effect named after you, you know you're doing good 😂
He's really opened the floodgates here
The amount of times I find myself clicking 'accept' buttons just to do basic things on any website due to it seeming like the choice being 'accept our spies, or no websites at all for you'. The classic illusion of choice.
Honestly?
With the websites I use regularly, I usually know which buttons to click, it takes maybe ten seconds.
And if a search leads me to a website that plays dirty and hides the "cut it out with the cookies" option, I just use another one. How often have you googled for something and got only _one_ site as a result?
I don't think that declining cookies will solve this whole problem, but I bloody well don't have to roll out a red carpet for data brokers.
There are add-ons for chrome and Firefox which either automatically decline the cookies, or delete the "cookie information box" from the visible part of the site. Unless your explicitly accept the cookies, they may mustn't collect data.
@@vffa Oh that's useful to know. Thx :)
This episode aired quite awhile ago, and I haven't seen anything happen with this information, nor have the privacy laws concerning our dated really changed. Are we ever going to get a follow up episode with whatever happened with this data he collected? It would be a smash hit.
He's probably worried he'll have to provide the Ted Cruz fanfic. The dude's an ahole, but I want to know what the fanfic is.
We're too busy with other kinds of corruption.
John Oliver using HBO's money to make powerful people sweat is hands down my favorite late night talk show trope. John out here doing the lord's work.
Especially if he makes their hands sweat!
Praise be!
I want to see it leaked. Forget making their hands sweat, throw them under the frickin' bus and let us start over 😆
The german equivalent is jan böhmermann and he's just as good hahahaha
Yeah I'm sure they are super-worried
I've been one of the people that say "I really don't care, let them go at it" but the argument "domestic abuse victim being findable on a website by her abuser" did me good. Great job exposing, arguing and even finding a solution.
I'm thinking of seniors, vulnerable to targeted scams. Kids who might be home alone. Or....teen girls with self esteem issues. If you can create a demographic, and a location, it's pretty much like shooting ducks in a barrel. What if someone was, say, violently pro-life, searching for women who'd searched online for abortion pills, or how long you have to get an abortion?
Thank you for being open to change your mind. ☺️☺️☺️
Fuck yeah, great example!
Imagine someone buying your data and reading it back to you
Right on, man
So sickening that nothing ever came out of this. Our attention span as a collective whole is always so easily exploited.
Really, nothing happened? That should be impossible! I have no reason to doubt you, except for for my strong hope that something would and will be done. Maybe LWT will simply have to step up their game on this one.
If they de anonymised the congressmen it may have done more
@@liam6550That would be doxxing which is actually illegal, so unfortunately they couldn’t have done that.
@@geekgirl_luv4262if you recognise a person from data that was legally sold to you along with what they've done, I wouldn't think that would be considered doxxing
21:50 I love just how quickly the audience worked out where John was going with this.
Sadly John missed one of the most important dynamics of this issue: your data isn't just used to learn about you, it is used to MANIPULATE you. Many ads you see aren't even designed to be clicked on, but rather they exist just to be seen so they can send you a message. If a person keeps seeing ads like "Do you agree with Joe Biden's restrictions on guns?" it sends them a message - even though the underlying premise is completely fabricated, and the ads are never clicked. Come voting season many people have formed opinions about politicians informed purely on BS ads. This was widely seen as being a major tactic of manipulation during the 2016 and 2020 US elections. What's more, foreign hostile governments (such as Russia) are using these kinds of tools simply to sow discord within the US - they want people to be more and more extreme because that leads to societal instability.
Dang you're right. Oh crap. Worst time line, here we come.
Great point!
You're exactly right and the manipulation aspect needs to be escalated as a major concern.
and to create distrust to a politician and to the whole political system in general, by claiming an incorrect claim to be an actual position of people. *The actual danger is the narrative*
For example "wokeness".
the large majority of people are not woke and even see the whole term with hostility and open hate. It became a scapegoat to call other disliked and potential options to be "woke" to thereby brand these options in general as bad. Wokeness got a bad narrative stamped to this term, maybe just on the internet.
Another example would be the actual Russians, who would support the War of Putin in Ukraine.
these Russians are stupidly rare, the majority simply don't care about this war and just agree with Russian politics, because they don't want to have a problem, they worry more about a damn sugar shortage in the local supermarket.
and even the soldiers right now in Ukraine are often pissed about Putin and his war, while "fighting for him". But the whole subject is a war and thereby enforce an easy to understand NARRATIVE of THESE GOOD GUYS and US and THESE BAD ONES.
In reality the Russian people don't want to make an European war, there are just some political influential people in power in Russia, who perverted Russian politics to a degree, that they will invade their neighbour countries.
Or a more personal notch. In reality the American people didn't wanted to invade Iraq, there were just some political influential people in power in the USA, who perverted US traditions to a degree, that they were able to lead US soldiers into an invasion of a far away nation in Asia.
Narratives are dangerous. social instability is not even close to the narratives and their dangerous effects on humans.
Swindling 101
The best part about this isn't that he collected some mildly embarassing data on potential congressmen, but that he's now put this idea in the heads of millions upon millions of viewers, which it only takes one of to get serious and collect far, far more damaging data than "Haha, you clicked on Ted Cruz erotica!"
I think that's the intention... it's the genie you can't put back in the bottle
czcams.com/video/4hRKbrHT9Ho/video.html
Exactly that. Its not about what can John Oliver do its about oh shit now everyone knows its doable
That is, to begin with, some pretty damaging data ewwwww
czcams.com/video/MmxQR1qr6r4/video.html
God bless John Oliver's staff. I haven't laughed so hard as I did in the last four minutes of this video in a long time.
I was truly having a blast the last 4 minutes 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Pretty rad how Jon actually took action at the end. I was fully expecting to just feel depressed and hopeless after watching but that is really cool thx jon.
Who thought that In their lifetime they'd see a TV show tastefully blackmail congress members to enact change to protect the average person. What a time to be alive.
I think we should first blackmail them on all sorts of other stuff. They will enact privacy laws soon enough. But I'd really like tuition free university and weed legalized by the feds first. So we can blackmail them on that and they will eventually figure out how we knew half the republicans have an interest in Ted Cruz erotica.
@@user-lv7ph7hs7l The real question is: how many who might be interested in Ted Cruz erotica only wanted it to blackmail Ted Cruz with?
@@serendipityshopnyc I'm sure we could design adds to filter it more precisely. One that frames it as a scandal and one that frames it as the hottest new republican love story or something like that.
He blackmailed all 538 of them ... 100% and pretty much everyone in DC.
ALSO, the fake ads used to collect clicks were ... still can't stop laughing
@@petercibulskis I belive 144 seats are held by women and a few of the men are under 45, but I get your point.
This show should be called “Man describes a depressing/scary aspect of our economic/legal/policy system and exploits a legal loophole to get people to do something about it Tonight”
I'm surprised he's never used that before lol
Man describes all the issues of capitalism WITHOUT blaming capitalism tonight
That was the working title, but they had to shorten so it would fit on websites.
Legalized Blackmail Tonight
@@sims794 believe me I’m not saying capitalism is the best in anyway. But what is the best economic system? I feel like a heavily regulated capitalist system with a liberal leaning democracy is the most fair way
This is an absolute gem of an episode. Well done John.
Okay this is some real journalism right here 😅 I love that for the most part John Oliver has an even balance of comedy and reporting but this is a beautiful example of journalism stepping up to protect the people
Checks and balances baby 👍
I actually found out that my husband was about to propose to me before he even got the chance to. He bought the ring online and then a piece of mail came to the house, addressed to him, congratulating him on his engagement and trying to sell wedding party items. And while it’s mostly just a funny story we can tell people, it’s honestly insane when you consider that some random company knew about one of the biggest changes in my life before I did.
All of that is to say that this episode was amazing. The team of Last Week Tonight continues to outdo themselves and I’ve never been so happy to yell “holy shit” at my screen at the end of an episode.
I can't tell, is this story about the dangers of targeting marketing or pre-marital co-habitation?
Well that's a bummer. Way to ruin the surprise, eh..
Yikes! What if you had said no? He would still have been bombarded with wedding ads.
I've heard similar from others; ruined surprised engagements from marketing campaigns. So sorry.
That's disheartening
Everything John Oliver does is a beautiful power move, but this takes the cake
You mean cookie? The cake is a lie!
This one made my day. I can't wait to see the news little later today.
This is the fucking bomb. What a hero, this is next level.
completely agree.
I take it you missed the episode with the giant cake?
I can't even stop re-watching these older ones. Absolutely brilliant!
This is objectively terrifying, but the implications of this getting used in a post-Roe world is horrifying
How?
@@anjsjaafffjs This just in, Forida and Texas have teamed up to pass laws making it illegal to research abortion services out of state, and to purchase user data on everyone within their states who has done so.
@@ShuRugal oh okay I see
@@anjsjaafffjs and even if a person had a natural miscarriage, if they used a period tracking app, a couple of nonexistent cycles followed by a return to regular cycles (oversimplified for sake of argument) looks the same wether someone experienced a horrible tragedy, or just had an illegal abortion, and if the government got that data they could then charge them with terminating a pregnancy
Shut up
John just legally blackmailed the US government. The chad energy is off the charts!!!
He didn't blackmail the US Government. He manillamailed them.
No, doesn't matter how he got the information, blackmail is blackmail, he better be careful.
@@mgpars01
And?
The government SHOULD be afraid of it's people.
How else are the people going to get what the people want from the government?
The fact that you honestly believe that Blackmailing government officials with their browsing data is so off the deep end that it shouldn't be allowed? (Data that they themselves have likely allowed companies to keep gathering)
Welcome to your first fucking steps to the hypocrisy of the US Government.
@@mgpars01 there was no blackmail, just a painfully funny bit
@@mgpars01 Not really. Blackmail is using information that is not widely known, and that is illegally attained. This information here at current, because the powers that be choose, is currently perfectly legal to obtain, and available to anyone to purchase. Really rather disgusting and someone should really do something about it.
Whoever approves John Oliver's budget is doing a stellar job!
It was probably relatively cheap to get all of that info and run those ads.
@@rring44 it's not so much the amount as what they allow to count as 'research' or something :)
Other episodes have had some ridiculous purchases too
But also yes, the data prob was cheap, sadly
This very possibly also never actually happened. Very easy to just draw a circle, add lots of faces and pretend.
@@niklasheuser1706 r/NothingEverHappens
I'm almost positive that at this point HBO just gives him a blank check.
Since it began, this show has better investigative journalism then all major networks
That's not a very high bar, most networks have the investigative capacity of your grandma reposting memes on facebook
We DESPERATELY need a part 2 with them now officially passing the tiktok ban❤
Jesus christ, this is easily the ballsiest stunt John has ever pulled. _And I want to see exactly where this chaos goes._
He legally wouldn't be able to go any further
@@Coolsomeone234incorrect. He could publish all that data, or even do the work deanonymizing it and then publish, completely legally. There are just ZERO protections in this area.
@@Coolsomeone234 If he can't, how are the other companies able to? Could he, for instance, sell that information on to other advertisers? Let them know which IP addresses in the DC area might be interested in getting bombarded with ads for 50 Shades of Cruz? Could news organizations buy the data and then do their own investigations? If they can't, then the law needs to crack down on the companies that do such things. If they can...well, that would prove the point, no?
@@Coolsomeone234 you didn't watched the video, did you? Or you are simply functionally illiterate...
@@Coolsomeone234 seeing that millions of companies do it every 5 secs.. what makes you think he cant
I do sometimes wonder if HBO has enough material to air a show based entirely on the interactions between the Last Week Tonight research team and HBO's legal department.
And can they write a song about It?
Sorry, that "Eat Shit Bob" number was amazing.
I would pay good money for something like that
The network behind "The Larry Sanders Show" absolutely WOULD run this, and I think it could be brilliant.
I'd watch that... but probably on TLC...
No kidding!
IF THE SERVICE IS FREE, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT
PLEASE make a follow-up video where you identify the people who clicked on those ads.
I love his villain arc, the progression from rat erotica to digitally blacking congressmen was shockingly steady and logical
Rat erotica...? I'm concerned
We can't say we didn't see it coming. Game of Thrones producers, take note!
@@NightZoneDE brian sword's surfacing (the art piece in question) was showed on this show in march 2020 I think.
I would also say him doing a whole mini episode hating on Pom Wonderful after reciving a fridge of the stuff was a special step into his villian arch.
Less like a villain arc and more like late-stage capitalism Robin Hood.
This is absolutely insanely good journalism. A high point for our society as a whole tbh.
🤡🤡🤡
You must be a bot...I literally seen the same reply to a CNN video...either that or you are not original
Jesus is our one and only savior!!! He loves us all, so it pains him to see his followers turn against him!!! Reject 🏳️🌈!!!!
It's information overload though. It's like he's doing a 20 min infomercial pitch to get us to think about something only to forget how important it is within a week. And he STILL hasn't done anything on Ukraine yet.
@@heyheytaytay It's not exactly easy to do a comedy piece on an international tragedy... give him a break. If he does do a piece on it it will be with all seriousness. It's not what the show is for.
I had some idea that I was being tracked online but I never really paid much attention especially to cookies till I watched this episode. I actually scrolled down a list of third party companies from just one online news report and it took me nearly 2 minutes to scroll through them all and click ddcline. I've installed security, a vpn and I now refuse all cookies when I can and delete my history, cookies every day and I've changed my search engine to duck duck go. I feel a little more secure online now so thanks John.
I’ll reiterate it AGAIN, I’ve learned SO MUCH - besides laughing myself silly many times - about the scary, even dangerous situations that exist around us that most of us are totally ignorant about. I sustained an irreversible health situation that could have been prevented had I been able to find when I attempted to learn information on a particular doctor. I found nothing and consequently, I lost the vision of my right eye. It was heartbreaking because it was determined to be ‘an innocent mistake’ by that doctor. In fact, I was ‘the innocent person’ of his mistake. Thank you for calling out what ‘others in position to do the right thing’ don’t ‼️Never stop, please ❤
Just a friendly reminder that collating massive amounts of publicly available data obtained by brokers and then analyzing that data in order to build user profiles and organize them into specific categories, all for the purpose of identifying a demographic to be targeted by a special program, is literally the villains' plan in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Hail Hydra
Hail Hydra ✊✊
LMAO That’s literally the most amazing comment here. Winter Soldier is one of my favorite movies and I just- I need to go watch it again now
I'm sorry, what was your name again? Let me just write that down here..... (hail Hydra).
My freaking goodness, you're right! And it was enough to make Goody Two Shoes Cap begin to distrust his own agency and the government.
I can only imagine how that meeting went.
HBO: So, for this episode you need... actually this is not so much money. What's the plan?
LWT: To collect data from the congress in order to blackmail them
HBO: ...Come again??
LWT: Oh, don't worry, it's perfectly legal
*HBO exec looks desperately to the lawyer who just smiles and gives a thumbs up
HBO: I don't even know why i ask... Funds granted.
😂🤣
I wish I could like this twice! 😂
@@anne637i 'Can YOU vote twice' ad coming your way.
How long will it take for HBO to be like “I’m not even shocked anymore by your outlandish requests-just take the fucking money.” 🤣🤣🤣
HBO’s legal executive had to sign off on the Eat Shit Bob song. He’s in way too deep to say no.
How is this a comedy show? This is full investigative reporting. Scary, brilliant, good job.
John Oliver, you're a genius! That "thing" you did at the end, deserves standing ovation! Bravo! 👏🤭
the face he made while delivering the line "why would we? when we have already".. pure enthusiasm
Joke-gasm. The blissful crescendo of a long build up.
Stream Young Loud.
But you HAD to know it was coming, with how specific he was about the details leading up to it!
czcams.com/video/3Z9As3e584I/video.html BRAND
Not gonna lie, he had us in the first half of that statement.
If John Oliver disappears, we all will know why 👀👀👀
And if he disappears, his staff will reveal our politicians looking at child porn.
well, he just gave a lot of info how to do exactly the same on a show of high audience... At this point, making him disappear would be of no value. nearly any group a little organised and ready to pay a little thing can do exactly that. regulation is pretty much the only solution, that and "i heard nothing, lalala"
Oh hey Jabrils😃
@@SandreXen it was a joke sweety
@@chrisprilloisebola I love to respond seriously to joke, that is me.
Juste wanted to underline the fact that a lot of people can do what he did.
There was a cool story sold by Michael from VSauce. There was a man. The store 'Target' put some folders in his mailbox targeted to his 17 year old daughter. The folder contained all kinds of coupons for pregnancy related stuff. Was the store encouriging a minor to get pregnant?
The father got mad, i mean, who wouldnt when a store advertises sex to your daughter. The father went to the store yelled at the manager. Target apologised. Then a few days later, the angry father returned to the store. He said "There have been a few things going on in my home that i was not aware of. My daughter is due in august. I owe you an apoligy".
Because she bought some stuff like vitamins and scent free soaps, that the system may see as associated with pregnancy, the system flagged her as 'might be pregnant' and send her some coupons for child food and cribs and diapers.
Target knew the 17 year old daughter was pregnant, before the parents knew... Targeted ads are no joke, they REALLY DO know things about you, even things you want to keep a secret.
I know someone that is a domestic abuse survivor. She had contacted women haven and somehow, her abuser was able to get that information of where she was located and tracked her down to that site (it’s supposed to be unmarked) and beat the shit out of her while she was walking back there. They believe the attacker got the info from an internet search and paid money. The attacker is in jail now. But - you’d be surprised how easy it is to find you especially if you have family.
"Daughter Killed in Car Crash" printed out on a snail mail letter address is the saddest level of non-humanity I've ever seen (yet). Come at me internet, but that robot shit was pretty crushing. I'm so sorry for those parents who had to receive that, randomly, from a sales robot.
It's not that much more heinous than the people scamming old people who usually have no clue about technology out of their last bit of a pension, which happens on a massive scale.
@@ainumahtar As someone who has to prevent elderly relatives and neighbors (age range 70-95) from falling for that crap (or try to mitigate the damage when they do get suckered in) almost every day for the last 5-10 years... yeah, those scammers can go choke on a five-foot barbed cock.
When my dad died in 1985 my mother got a letter from some company he had interacted with addressed to Deceased (last name)
My heart goes out to that dad. More so when that envelop came with a (10% off) like... seriously?!?
If you mean come at you to agree, then yes. It was horrendous.
I like that the show not only show the viewer the problem but also is doing something that can help solve it.
I'll have to finish this to see if you're correct, but very often he offers no possible solution and just says "haha doesn't society suck?"
@@blossom357 almost every topic is divided into the three parts, the third often being "how can we fix this?" So I'm not sure what you're talking about
Honestly, I like the news and jokes but most of all the absolutely beautiful slurry of fuckery.
I think spying on commoners is very good for business, intelligence and politics and most importantly: insuring of no public revolt or rebellion in the making. HOWEVER spying on the elites in Washington DC is EXTREMELY ANTI-SEMITIC
That’s my favorite part as well.
Two years and still waiting for part 2.
I am amazed that people just don't seem to get it.
I try to explain this to those around me and I'm accused of being paranoid or entertaining conspiracy theories !!
ACK 🙃
But I continued to pound my head against the wall.
Thank you LWT.
As a European internet user John is grossly underestimating my ability to waste my time to opt out cookies AND legitimate interests just out of the sheer power of my raging spite.
I occasionally get those websites that ask all this things. I just exit the site because it's not worth it.
Stream Young Loud.
facts
I often find most tasks in life can be accomplished with the raw power of pure spite.
The only time I don’t do it is when the pop up appears unexpectedly and I accidentally press the wrong button while trying to scroll
I can only imagine how *quickly* HBO got *the entire Legal Department* to comb over this episode before airing it!! 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
This is the *greatest episode* they have ever produced!! 🤣🤣
He definitely wasn't allowed to label specific people because of the legal team
@@Coolsomeone234 We all know that he wanted to, and it's not unlikely that he could have.
I did notice he only mentioned 'men' in the congress bit...
@@greendragonpublishing well they only searched for men.
@@greendragonpublishing Mitch McConnell ?
I can only imagine the conversation John and his team must have had with legal when they pitched this idea lmao
This man is a genius, and needs to be inducted into the journalism Hall of Fame (if it exists, and if not, it must be created with his name in first).
This guy and his hard working team deserve whatever the highest recognition allowed is. Thanks for having our backs John, and everyone on your staff.
a BJ ?
I agree
unfortunately, the highest award in journalism is being murdered by the government
@@ronikeene9253 Sadly, this s true.
I think Daniel O'Brien, prince of internet comedy, is still one of the comedy voices behind the scenes. His influence is highly evident in the quips, even if just thru his effect on other writers.
John Oliver is serving up some very "I have a special set of skills" vibes - I'm definitely here for it.
He never uses his privacy skills for ballistic family protection devices.
@@illumitommy czcams.com/video/TGHeTZBHtq0/video.html
lol. Well put.
More like "My production team and I have a very special set of skills..." if we're giving credit where credit is due, and we should. He and his team did some great work for this segment! And I too am here for it.
@@daisykid3 czcams.com/video/7NC9HeOdDGQ/video.html
czcams.com/video/TGHeTZBHtq0/video.html
My favorite thing about his show is how he proves to the people that his information is fact and puts it to work it’s truly a form of art
John Oliver is the hero we need and deserve. Thank you 🙂✌💚🇨🇦⛰
I mean, legally blackmailing congress people is possibly the best stunt he's ever pulled. I need to see who clicked the Ted Cruz fanfic
We all do.
Besides Ted Cruz, you mean?
John is the kind of cat who would get his team to actually write said fanfic, publish it on Amazon, and include as characters all the congresspeople who clicked the ad.
@@audiochicky
Yup. It _had_ to be Ted Cruz. Everyone else would throw up in their mouth just _thinking_ about it. :)
@@AbsentWithoutLeaving He says that the Ted Cruz erotic fanfiction was surprisingly popular.. So a LOT more than one person clicked on it. Just the on person clicked it while in the capitol building.
If you've ever been even slightly concerned about government surveillance, then the amount of corporate surveillance we currently live under should terrify you.
czcams.com/video/MmxQR1qr6r4/video.html
Precisely why many of us were laughing at the anti-vaxxers who were so concerned about Bill Gates microchip trackers. There’s nothing a tracker implanted into your body could tell the government that Google already doesn’t know.
The corporate surveillance is incredibly frightening. especially when there is nothing to stop them from gathering the information, and nothing to stop them from using "neural marketing" to target your neediest psychological points. It's like the abusive parent who's installed all the "buttons" that hurt and we have no recourse.
Considering July's drama, I am here three months later to say this
Your period trackers are selling your data too. And app stores. So if you're using a period tracker...people in certain states will know when your period is due...when or if it's stopped or it late...and can look extensively at your personal life and you might wind up in court/jail now all because you wanted a way to organize your life regarding your period. This could also target your life as pregnant person as pregnancy is the time of your life where you are most likely to be murdered in your life.
John Oliver is legendary!
We must protect Mr.Oliver at all cost. He’s a national treasure.
100%
A true American Patriot
*international? Since he's not actually from here?
@@sagesam1951 he is a US citizen now
He's a GLOBAL treasure, sir.
"When Congress's own privacy is at risk, they somehow find a way to act", I'm so shocked...
It’s funny how this is pretty much the only way you can get Congress to have bilateral support for any bill. It has to affect the billionaires and multimillionaire for them to do anything for us. Kinda sad. So I hope he lets there data fly. Hell sell it to the next presidential candidate see if we can really get some juicy news out of this!
czcams.com/video/3Z9As3e584I/video.html
@@annakamura2971 czcams.com/video/TGHeTZBHtq0/video.html
They took immediate action when congress people were privately recorded against their knowledge to accepting bribes by lobbies and large donors, behind closed doors. Rather than oust the corruption, they passed a bill making it illegal with harsh penalties and making it almost inadmissible in court if they're being recorded doing corrupt things.
'Your Privacy Should be the Default Setting' is total truth. Absolutely 100%
The bit about shower pulp is so underrated 😂😭
Hilarious. Hope John Oliver is safe, healthy, and alive next week.
If they come for him, I'm sure he's entrusted staff to leak the info.
@@misterjoey3384 Hillary has entered the chat... :D
He will be fine. He is under the prayers of his fake wife Wand Jo Oliver and his real wife is army strong. They will protect their British parrot.
@@misterjoey3384 gonna be an interesting day if they do release the info… times are changing and I’m glad Johnny stood up against the corrupt establishment and exposed them for the trash they are both side*** both have pockets lined with dirty oil money
@@JohnKimbler ...hope so.
Between the truckers exposé and now this, I'm convinced Oliver has become the most important muckraker of the 21st century. This is what a solid research team with a show can do.
The channel Some More News does roughly the same quality research on similar topics, just less budget and different humor
@@roguebantha7324 Excellent, Oliver set the example and I'd bet he's not mad others are doing the same thing. Competition keeps everyone sharp here.
John Oliver is a damn legend.
Software engineer here with lots of experience in exactly this field. Ask me anything
Let me kick off with - cookies are not the problem, they are used for important things like remembering you've signed into a website. You can be tracked without cookies, it's just a _little_ harder e.g. apps don't have cookies and yet they can track you just fine. The real issue is regulators not stepping in and protecting consumers form abuses of technologies.
John is really starting to embrace his anti-hero arc and I'm living for it
you new here?
journos are supposed to be impartial , and report facts. he does neither ; his ego's bigger 'n a house mind . no wonder he high tailed it outta England sharpish
@@mickyvionsellinas6743 he's not a journalist. he's a comedian. nice try muppet.
The only journalists left today are the “comedians”. Won’t be long before they can’t slip through the cracks anymore either…
Anti-hero nothing. This man's a straight up hero, he just doesn't wait for people to do the job for him.
This is the most badass thing John Oliver has ever done. It is insane that they even have time to pull all this shit off, but I love that he not only exposes the problem but leads the charge to take it down
Gonna say the most badass thing he’s done is “eat shit bob” but this is a close second
Hey are you going to the secret meeting this week?
There was also the week he set up an automated telemarketing system to call the FCC commissioners continuously until they made robocallers illegal.
@@AlexandarHullRichter Did that actually work
@@mostlyimportant4212 not yet... But I'm pretty sure the robocaller is easy enough to maintain that he's probably still got it running. And thanks to how easy it was for him to find congressmen information this week is probably still reaching the fcc commissioners even if they've changed their phone numbers.
This is why i always tell everyone “ no app is free”. Neither are games, calculators, etc etc. No body spends time writing apps for the good of their fellow man. Social media sites, free messaging or free email sites are the same. Nothing is free, you just don’t realize what you really paid until its too late.
Lots of people do create things for the good of humanity, it's called GNU/Linux. Sadly not very many of them are skilled User Interface designers. Would you rather learn how to use your computer, or have your computer to learn how to use you?
I'm 10 months too late, but damn, I love John and his team when they do this kind of shit
John Oliver needs to win all the awards for Late Night Talk Shows. The others talk about issues, while he is trying to do something about those issues
He usually already wins everything, have since they started this show.
@@martinrotvig that’s true. Well deserved in my opinion
He already does, much to Stephen Colbert's chagrin.
Except it's not a late night talk show. No pointless interviews with authors, actors or musicians. No promoting other shows or products on the network. Just investigative journalism and exposing crooks and liars, once a week.
@@blackswanmtg to be fair I’d argue Stephen deserves at least one
I've got nothing but pure admiration for John Oliver and his team.
True. Publicly blackmailing Washington insiders takes some balls.
Maybe John Oliver may want to make a venn-diagram for how many of those people looked up Child-Pornography... hmm.... i wonder how many hits.....
One of the most memorable episodes. Still age like fine wine 😂
This show should really be part of every high school curriculum. If more people knew how messed up things were maybe more poeple would stand up and do the right thing.
This. This is peak journalism. I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd say that about an evening show, but that is where we are at right now. Honestly, John Oliver, keep doing the good work. Literally.
You're right. It's sad. That so-called comedy shows do better journalism. Than CNN FOX ect.
A lot of my friends will turn their nose up at literally any MSM late-night host. Their loss.
"Journalism." Most of what they do is collect stories from actual journalists. Pretty sure he even did an episode on it
@@Dr.Spatula he vigorously insists that his work is not journalism and it is an affront to journalists to call it that
I believe the part you like is not journalism but rather activism.
"SLEEP WELL!!!!" Legendary quote in a long line of Journalists. Thanks for everything with this to everyone on John Oliver's Team and him himself.
@Cassie I really hope he follows up on this, I have the screenshots to prove his case on my own personal level of experiencing this.
hes an obnoxious little toady . end of!
@@Universal_exports87 watching this a few months later. anyone update on this? maybe it will be revisited at the season finale, but that's wishful thinking
#screenshot
Was there ever a followup? Or did congress actually act on this piece? If not I would love to see LWT apply some more pressure by slowly releasing info on this data.
No they only made law so data brokers can't sell to foreigners
How badass this is!!! John Oliver's nose must be declared National Treasure ❤️❤️❤️
Imagine being a congressman, sitting at home watching this, knowing you shouldn’t have clicked on the Ted Cruz fanfic ad
That had to be Chuck Grassley 😂
But it can be a false click though. I don't like Cruz but I would be curious to see what that ad contained and would've clicked it.
@@rohitr9400 Yeah, pretty much. I can only imagine that people that didn't like Ted Cruz clicked it. Especially to see if it had an air of truth to it or was politically damning in any way.
I'd say the ones that would be more damaging to reputation would be vote twice and personal life would be divorce. The ted cruz one is probably just for shits and giggles
Dude, now I'm going to be hunting Congressional fan fic. I have too much empty time on my hands not to wonder what's out there.
Ted Cruz: Alien Hunter
Kennedy Vampire: Draining the Swamp
Kelly Loffgren: Legend In Bed
In the old days, there were “crusading journalists.” Jon Oliver is the heir to that. Bravo!
Did you click any of those 3 ads recently?
Do you think the legislators are able to either remember as much, or purchase (for i guess 45 usd) the datasets to see if they did?
He ruined his own threat. It almost feels like its bread and circus. Throw some "haha yeah, we got you!" to the masses under foot and they will feel smug and satisfied, instead of rebellious.
Why actually SHOW the ads he phished with? Why not say "we ran a large amount of unspecified ads to gain access to entirely legal identifiable information"? The doubt would seal the deal and legislation protecting the citizens would be rushed through faster than a microwave tv dinner.
Anyone with any related aptitude should be able to tell you how this "attack" was an entirely performative non-attack, that took a lot of added work to be understood as toothless.
Crusade indeed.
@@narfle I have the related aptitude. You're wrong.
Lucky for me the original assertion, therefore burden of proof, is yours.
@@narfle but now the people who clicked on those ads (or think they might have) are nervous. John and his crew can always use more ads, in the future. Hell, they probably already are.
@@narfle It's important to remember (and I don't think John did a good job of pointing this out, either) that you don't have to have clicked on the ads for the folder to contain your information. They got a list of "users likely to be government officials" and aimed the ads at those people, but the other information included in that list is still available even if they didn't click.
Honestly I think the whole segment, while funny, could have been handled better. The Internet tracks you, even if you don't click on dumb funny ads, and de-anonymizing users isn't a thing that happens because the user was careless. Acting like people whose data is sold down the river "just needed to not click sketchy ads" verges on victim-blaming.
@@narfle you're right. It was a performative nonattack... with a different purpose than attack. Just to demonstrate it can be done. Which he did with great success, in one the most highly educated neighborhoods in the nation.
The funniest none blackmail I've seen ..lol😂
The funniest one I had was after I was looking for electric pianos online during the first COVID lockdown.
I ended up with ads for electric guitars, amps and drum kits. Not exactly what one needs when living in a block of units!
I just finished a paper over that very subject from a business law perspective (mainly european law). Sometimes you do something and you get ads for it, but having a Last Week Tonight episode is a whole another level.
You’re getting targeted episodes instead of targeted ads :)
What was the paper?
I would understand you don't want to share the paper on here due to privacy, but is there a way you can send it to me privately?
I'm a little more curious when you're suggested products you've only thought about, and haven't actually talked about that day; how the hell do they do that?
@@BeRandom2012 No idea, but it's the reverse for me. I almost never get commercials I care the least about.
I feel like John Oliver should keep gathering more data, expanding on the information collected, and releasing more and more until they feel the same as everyone else and actually do something.
yes, it was only after that congressman got his video rental history exposed that congress did something
I mean, that's just the Scientific Method! I sincerely hope they continue to follow through as they have with other "bits."
Maybe we should do that. Apparently data comes very cheap.
Just keep adding more and more manila envelopes & stack them on the desk like t**** & his folders
i mean, we told you about the clinton emails, we told you about hunter bidens 3 laptops, but you just reee'd ''conspiracy theorist''.
The truth is out there, you just gotta stop being pig ignorant about it.
I love John Oliver so much! Keep doing what you’re doing!
Data collection company, "We don't do that any more."
Me, "Ok...but do you do it any less? Or are you just keeping it at the same level?"
The moment John takes on that calm predatory smile and you realise he’s pulled another masterpiece of a stunt 😂
Chaotic greatness grin
I am embarrassed to say I used to work for one of these companies. Not my proudest moment, but I was also at a low point in my life and desperately needed a change. But I am also proud to say that one of the features I was helping implement was in response to European GDPR and California's CCPA: the right to opt out and be forgotten. They would whine about how expensive it is to implement such things; I helped reduce those costs.
Whatever John says here is spot on -- the groups he is talking about are called "segments" (related to market segmentation). These companies know EVERYTHING about you -- while most of the data is "anonymised", security and access control are extremely lax. A motivated, savvy employee could easily find out EVERYTHING about your online behavior.
Here's my advice to protect yourself somewhat --
1. Always disable third-party cookies in your browser settings; Use Microsoft Edge or Firefox over Google Chrome.
2. Prefer Apple (iOS) over Google (Android) -- Google's entire business model is based around targeted ads.
3. Do not give permissions to your app to see your location other than when functionally necessary (e.g. when using maps)
4. Opt in to always clear cookies when you exit the browser. This is slightly inconvenient because you may need to sign into your e-mail every time -- but using a password manager (LastPass, 1Password, etc) makes things easier.
Bonus Point:
5. DO NOT SEND YOUR DNA SAMPLES TO 23&ME and other such companies. Your personal health info is guaranteed to be abused.
Don't be embarrased ... there are MUCH worse jobs. trump's fluffer, lindey's cheeto dust remover, WH janitor on the east wing.
I spent all my career at IRI and Nielsen. We know what you bought and how much you paid for it. We know what you watch and for how long. And people pay us MONEY.
shrug
I prefer the ads that I get because they know me better ... isn't that worth it??
I'm a pretty green software dev that is interested in learning more about how ordinary people could also do similar things to help motivate certain people. Do you know of any educational resources?
Thanks so much
Another point for 5 - your DNA data can be used to find any potential or undetected genetic diseases you may have. That one is especially fucked up, because these companies will sit on that knowledge until you actually get sick and then use it to play targeted ads for medicine against the known symptoms, which can stop you from going to a doctor in time and lead to your death. For example, if your DNA shows a proprensity for breast cancer, you may begin seeing ads for painkillers or heat pads as the pain sets in and not visit a doctor in time to get the tumors removed before the cancer spreads.
@@JRexRegis oh my god! I sincerely hope that congress or the president puts forward a law to stop these haenus practices, this is a sick invasion of privacy. This also reminds me of the poor elderly religious community that get preyed on by televangelists telling them not to go to the doctor for a life threatening illness because the power of Jesus will save them. (Now I’m Agnostic but I believe that anyone is allowed to believe what they want as long as they are not harming, harassing, or shaming others) but televangelists and these businesses practices are obviously preying on the weak and in informed, so I thank you for your input
So I went to school for surgical technology and I used to Google a lot of information to get more in-depth knowledge. I had people calling me and telling me that I am eligible for a lawsuit because of a surgery that I had though at that time I've never had a surgery and the surgery they said that I had didn't really apply to me because I don't have testicles so me having a surgery to remove them was absolutely hilarious. I asked the guy who called Saying he had my medical records and I asked him what sex did it say I was and he said female I told him he needed to go back to school Because obviously he has no clue what he is actually reading.
Wow! I love that you don‘t just practice investigative journalism but also take action!!! Thank you!
Years of watching this show there are two take-aways, if you give Johnny money he will
1) buy the most random of things because he can
2) use it to do some creepy, yet somehow legal, stuff and use it to drive home a point or solve a pressing issue
Where there's a will, there's a way. Bravo, John Oliver. Creepy? No. Josh Hawley is creepy.
Usually a point about the creepy stuff in question being legal in the first place.
no, sweetie: it is not that simple. surely you don't beleive that , dó you ?
I think it was Edward Snowden that said we have a backwards understanding of privacy. It's not up to citizens to prove to the government why we need privacy, it's up to the government to prove to us why we don't.
Yeah, they get so dramatic in presenting their case before the court though. Buying experts, bribing juries, planting fake wmds. Starting celebrity dumpster fires in the back of the courtroom for distraction. Ruining the jury pool with biased media coverage. Hiring copycat terrorists and privacy boogeymen to cause culprit confusion.
They use the same law firm that big pharma uses to crush cancer plaintiffs but they do it with our money. I don't need proof of why they rationalize stealing my privacy, I need rationale on why we don't just buy out and breakup the company.
That ship has sailed… there’s still time to do something, in most places at least
As much as I admire Snowden; he has an American perspective and background, which is loaded with so much convoluted non sense and political gibberish that it seems better to just do plain speak. Sadly, Americans believe in arbitrary bullshit like the Constitution. You can't seem to wake up to the fact that your so called bill of Rights, is just a bunch of bullshit which was never meant to mean what you think it was supposed to mean. Like seriously, a group of slave owners claiming "all men are created equal". You were fooled by abstractions and ideas which have zero correlation with reality. Instead of making sure people in power are good people, you fight over these made up, bullshit abstractions, which mean nothing in actual practice.
Edward Snowden is an American hero!
John Oliver has done the unthinkable!! Well done!!! 👏✊
I love you, John!
I hope Congress responds to your suggestion to DO SOMETHING - like pass a bill.