30 a line per month. i should get paid more for this. you get paid when you win. from xfinity. home of the 10g network. silicon valley founder returns to ukraine a year after the invasion, his company still running strong in lviv. and computers are helping those find those breaking the rules. money talks. social networks prioritize the voices of those who pay. that's this week on "press: here." good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. this marks one year since russia invaded ukraine, and a silicone

valley executive is on his way back to help his employees there and ukrainian people. as you likely know, before the war, ukraine was quite the silicone valley hot spot. large, english speaking, western educated, western leading, that is all still true. but now is dealing with russian missiles and bombs. andy kurtzig has been to ukraine before, delivering badly needed supplies. we're going to be a bit vague about his next trip, but he talks about how his employees are holding up. did anyone that you deal with in ukraine ex-% it was going to last a year? we don't know how much longer it's going to last. >> i think in the beginning we thought it was going to be relatively quick, and just sort of one more week, one more month, and now it feels like it's never going to end. >> are you prepared to employ

these people in ukraine for the duration? are they still working for you? this could be a long road. >> they are. we have done and learned a lot in the last year. we now have over 300 employees in ukraine, that's over 250 from a year ago. >> now, when you showed us the big haul of things you were taking over. have the needs changed or is it much the same? >> it changed dramatically as this war has unfolded. in the beginning, it was refugee centers and food and supplies to help them -- all the refugees get to safety and have the supplies they need to survive. and then it devolved into things like the mental health centers we built. we help with their anti-missile

defense systems, which is sort of like an iron dome like what they have in israel. and then over the winter, winter clothes, from boots to helmets and everything in between, power generators because the power has been going out. and now we're getting ready for this whole new set of needs. >> when you do supply things that have some sort of military, you mentioned helmets. i know you have supplied drones in the past, as well. these are things that can be used defensively. you are not supplying things like weapons and what not. but you take a side on this, right? when you hear about elon musk saying that companies need -- or at least his companies are going to stay neutral, his star link system helps ukrainians do wonderful things, talk to family members, get western-based news, and i'm sure they're glad they have the star link system, but

he's restricted the ukrainian army from using them. what do you think about companies remaining neutral in this night >> i think it's a black and white situation. russia is trying to essentially take over the world, starting with ukraine. they have, you know, designs of getting back the power that they once had, and they have had a hit list of their enemies, and the u.s. is number one on that list. so i think it's far past the time we need to sort of try to play neutral and try to play both sides. you know, this is about democracy and freedom and independence. i'm proud of our team and to be fighting for that. >> earlier this week, joe biden made a surprise appearance in ukraine. what was your reaction when you saw that? >> i think it's great. like i said, the u.s. is enemy number one for russia. so it's great that biden is

there to help show support and that our country is being so supportive of the ukrainians during this very difficult time. so i'm proud of him for doing that and so proud of the brave ukrainians for fighting this fight. >> finally, two questions kind of related. one is, how should americans be thinking of their ukrainian counterparts? what sort of things they're going through. secondly, what can the average american do to help? >> so to answer your first question, it's rough over there. i've been there twice, i'll be going for my third time since the war started very soon. just imagine being at war and the enemy is specifically targeting and attacking civilians and your infrastructure, your power and internet is out, dropping bombs on maternity hospitals and

theaters and just imagine the toll that takes on you every single day, even if you don't get injured, it's just the fear every single day that maybe today that is going to land on you or your family members. so it's just an awful, awful situation. here we are in a one-year mark, and doesn't look like this war is going to end any time soon. it's sad and unfortunate. in terms of what we can do here, you know, keep sharing the truth. what you're doing and it's really important to share the truth about what's happening in ukraine, because putin and russia are experts at -- at -- you know, telling lies to the world and convincing us with propaganda and getting the truth out there is really important. it's a little bit like when your friend has a baby. everybody in the first days, you

want to babysit and help. but a year later, they've all moved on. now they need the help more than ever. >> any kurtzig, i wish you luck on your upcoming trip. thank you for joining us.

welcome back to "press: here." communities all over the united states have been cracking down on short-term rentals, airbnb and the like. limiting the number of days, for instance, the land lord can rent out a property. but enforcement has been lax, to say the least. cities are busy enough trying to do all the other things that citizens demand. to follow up on their own rules about short-term rentals. my next guest says cities are trying to catch up using

automation. pam is a short-term rental regulation expert. pam, let's talk about rules and regulations. give me an example of cities cracking down. what sort of rules are they establishing? >> it's a number of them. some of them are essentially limiting the number of short-term rentals that can be in a given community. so you have to be licensed within that community, and there's a cap on the number of licenses. we have everything from requiring noise monitoring to the number within a certain square mile radius, and even things such as home inspections are required. >> now, cities have up until now not been very good at enforcing some of the rules that they rote. but you say automation will change a lot of that. these land lords have been running under the radar, but now cities are figuring out how to use the radar. >> yes. so really what's happened is they have the rules and

regulations, but there's no way to know if somebody is using their house as a short-term rental unless somebody says something. if they are off book, they can just do that and nobody knows that. so what some of the communities are starting to do is look at artificial intelligence and data mining to say, take a look at listings out on like airbnb and compare that to the licenses within the community and say, do they match up? if they don't, then you have a number of them. so that's one way they are looking at doing it. >> it seems like a fairly obvious thing to do, right? up until now, cities have either not bothered or haven't had the technical know how to do this, but that's changing? >> yes, there are firms out there that are offering this service to say, we'll come in, we'll scrape the data and compare it to your data and highlight the ones that we see

that might match. >> it's about time. there is a crackdown. if you're going to set rules, then probably you need to enforce them. i know a number of cities have set rules like san diego, for instance, went to a lottery system to try to limit. >> people will go kind of underground or quiet, and then they'll just do this on the side in some way, shape, or form, or through word of mouth. and the cities don't really have a way to figure out what's happening. and they can still potentially, depending on the rules, they can still list on a platform to say hey, here is my house. but there's no way for a city to know that's happening unless a neighbor or somebody else says, hey, i think this house is being used as a short-term rental. cities don't have time to go around and check every house to see what's happening. >> right. and to do it by hand would be a

nightmare. you have have to go on airbnb, try to figure out if it's in your jurisdiction. computers will do that much more quickly. >> yes, much more quickly. >> it is an interesting business model. i assume there are businesses taking a cut to help the city figure out who is not adhering to the rules. >> yes, their pricing model may vary from companies that says it's just a flat amount you pay for a service. i don't know if they're doing it like on a contingency type basis, but yes, there's a number of companies coming forward that provide the service. >> as we are warning landlords that are skirting some of these city rules, we should remind ourselves that cities who actually enforce these sorts of things and collect these taxes

that they didn't know they were entitled to, cities are going to benefit in the long run from this new kind of automation. >> correct. there's a lot of revenue being lost if a short-term rental is not being registered and paying their lodging tax to the community. that's a lot of lost revenue from the permitting process. again, that oversight that happens. and then those people that aren't registered, often don't have a way to voice their opinion about legislative changes. so if you look at san diego, if you aren't registered, you couldn't say hey, i don't agree with this change in the registration, because they're not registered in the first place. so this really changes that dynamic to say look, you really do need to get registered, because not only are you supposed to be, but now you have an ability to have a voice and influence in regulations. >> that makes total sense.

pam knudsen giving the warning to land lords. the citieses are getting wise. pam is the short-term rental tax and regulation expert. we appreciate you joining us this morning. "press: here" will be right back. you go by lots of titles. veteran, son, dad. -it's time to get up. -no hair stylist and cheerleader. so adding a “student” title might feel overwhelming. but what if a school could be there for all of you?

career, family, finances and mental health. it's coming along. well, it can. national university. supporting the whole you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ you can beat it! ♪ visit youcanbeatit.org or call 833-422-4255 to ask for medication to treat covid-19. welcome back to "press: here."

meta, the parent company of facebook and instagram, has put a plan in place to charge users for a blue check mark, much the way that twitter did, though hopefully with slightly less catastrophe. that blue check mark on facebook will say to the world you are who you say you are. twitter, meantime, is planning to charge users for text-based authentication? should you have to pay for security online? chris pierson served on the department of homeland security's subcommittee for cybersecurity. he's the ceo of cybersecurity company black cloak. chris, morning. i assume all these changes in the social media platforms are to make money. >> well, in some cases, yes. and perhaps no. with twitter, what we have seen is a little bit different. so twitter is essentially saying that through the influx of

fraudulent attempts that they have had at verification, they are going to charge people for that text-based background method. opposed to actually implementing stronger security on their end to repel those types of attacks. so when you have 2.6% of the twitter platform using dual back ground investigation, everyone should be using it. we want more of the population to use it, so this is a turnoff. the money and the charges being held for you to use it is very, very common. probably the wrong message to be sending. as it relates to facebook and instagram, paying more money to achieve a verification through a government i.d., passport, whatever, that you are who you say you are, and reducing the chances of impersonation attacks against you. that is more of stepped up

authentication to make sure the real you is the real you on their platform. >> i would be annoyed if chase bank charged me for authentication. and twitter is going to offer a web-based authentication. but you have to make this frictionless, right? so few people are using it already. >> that's the key. right now, look, in terms of things overall, if you use a user name and password, you are at 5% cybersecurity. if you useauthentication, you get 85%, 90%, which is great. good enough to go ahead and repel attackers. the extra authentication factors

are great. we're not trying to boil the ocean here. what you would want to do is allow the masses to get better cybersecurity protection. and the fact is, it's the cost of doing business, especially for platforms that are free. make sure you don't rent a -- you go to your hotel room, they don't get a bill for $250 and say do you want a lock and a dead bolt? that's an extra $350. >> that's right. if you are saying that's a good enough security, i heard of physical security person once say, the point of a home burglar alarm that any competent sort of cat burglar can get around those. but that's not the point. the point is to go rob my neighbor. >> that's correct. dual factor authentication, if you are a high profile person, if you are someone of means, if you are a celebrity, they're

going to try to dupe you into getting your code from your text messages. they're going to try to go for those accounts. for the average person out there, having that extra level is going to be good enough and they'll turn their sights on user name and password only. >> i want to complete what we are talking about here. as far as two factor authentication, there are apps, like google offers one. they are compatible with twitter and facebook. >> there's something called an authenticator. there are a number of ones, all free and all basically equal in terms of what they do. the problem is this -- it's increased friction for the

normal individual to go ahead and learn how to download these tools, use them proficiently, opposed to something that is easy. taking your phone number, getting a code and type it back in. it's almost like with weight loss or getting healthier in the new year. sure, you can run 20 miles a day, eat only chicken and fish. but for the average person, just get out of the house, eat one fish or chicken meal a week. we want to get people on that path to better health and better cyber health, as well. >> so your expertise is protecting high net worth individuals. it's logical they would be better targets, richer, fatter targets because you can hack my bank account or a multimillionaire's bank account and i know which one i would try to hack. i assume the rich and famous

make the same sort of security mistake that the rest of us make. >> 100%. these days, if you're a cyber criminal, who do you want to target, a community bank or a small office or target someone who is a high profile, high net worth individual? you want to target that person, because they're going to be themself, but they have the -- and the resources of -- have the cash and resources. their accounts are much more likely to be targeted. on the flipside, you have corporate executives in terms of being able to provide them with reputational attacks, and they too are in the cross hairs. it's all about making sure that people have the right amount of cybersecurity in an increasing fashion, low friction and plans like especially on twitter, putting in hurdles and walls and things to jump over. this is just not good business.

there should be a different way of achieving the same results. >> chris pierson is the cybersecurity expert and founder of his company. "press: here" will be right back.

that's our show for this week. a reminder of our sister podcast sand hill road about venture capital where you can find all kinds of interesting, new information about funding, even today. yes, they are funding new startups. sand hill road, anywhere you find your podcasts. my thanks to my guests and thank you for making us part of your sunday.

damian trujillo: hello, and welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo. and today, a new art gallery in gilroy called fúchila on your "comunidad del valle." ♪♪♪ damian: we begin today with the monthly visit by the consulate of méxico right here in san josé. with me is ambassador alejandra bologna on "comunidad del valle." ambassador, it's been several months since we had you on the show. welcome back. alejandra bologna: thank you so much for having me. damian: yeah, it's a new year for all of us, but you're starting strong. that right now we're--that the topic is elections, right, and you're offering folks to register for the elections in méxico. alejandra: of course, but we are opening it as special