Gibney's documentary about cyber warfare all but predicted the hacking of the Democratic National Committee; the operator of an illegal venue says the city should not take a blanket approach to its crackdown; life as a voiceover actor (part 1).
LA underground venues forced to close in the aftermath of Oakland fire
Amid the fallout from the tragic fire in Oakland that killed 36 people earlier this month, officials have been cracking down on illegal venues operating without a permit in cities across the country, including Los Angeles.
Purple 33, a D-I-Y club near Culver City, is one of many that have been forced to shut down. The building that houses Purple 33 is zoned for commercial and industrial use, but the space has been everything from a concert venue to a comedy club. Host John Horn spoke with the venue manager and tenant, Donald Cassel, who has been running events in the space for more than two years.
"They cited us for certain things, and they were correct. We didn't meet some codes," said Cassel, whose space was inspected by the Los Angeles Fire Department. "They were just doing their job."
Prior to running Purple 33, Cassel had attempted but failed to obtain permits for another creative space. He said he ran into a lot of bureaucratic hurdles with the city during the application process. "I spent [$60 thousand], and a large portion of that was kept by the city. I was devastated."
Going forward, Cassel hopes the city will not take a blanket approach to closing such venues, saying it could be "a win-win situation. There's a win for creative types that want to have these events and a living space. There's a win for the city in terms of more revenue, and knowing that these spaces are safe."
Click on the media player above for the full interview.
Voice actors: The unseen heroes of film and television
You probably wouldn't recognize most voice actors walking down the street, but you almost certainly recognize their voices. From cartoons to video games, voice actors carry a cast of characters inside their heads. This week we hear from two veterans: Rob Paulsen and Tress MacNeille.
Paulsen and MacNeille worked together on the 1990s WB series "Animaniacs" and several other shows. They're back together on the Netflix series, "VeggieTales in the House," in which they play every single character other than the two leads.
MacNeille says her family played a big role in shaping her career: "I came from a very large family, everybody is a comedian. So it was just very verbal. My background and my psychosis all kind of combined to make a very good voice actor."
You may find her voice strange familiar if you're a fan of the "Simpsons." McNeille played several residents of the fictional town of Springfield. But before she was the neurotic mother of Principal Skinner, MacNeille was Daisy Duck, Chip in "Chip 'n' Dale," and a baby giant in "The Smurfs."
Recently, MacNeille has taken on more roles in video games. "You have to die in so many different voices," she says. "Short, medium, long." Fortunately, MacNeille doesn't do screaming roles anymore. "I do acting!"
Click on the media player above to hear the full story. Tomorrow: part 2 of this series with Rob Paulsen.
What Alex Gibney's 'Zero Days' teaches us about cyber warfare
Alex Gibney's "Zero Days" is a deep dive into the world of cyber warfare, a subject that has become unsettlingly relevant after Russia's alleged hack of the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations.
The documentary focuses on a powerful cyber weapon called Stuxnet. It’s a “malicious computer worm” that experts believe was developed by the United States and Israel in a joint effort to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities. Now, a study by the cyber security firm Symantec shows that Stuxnet has spread far beyond its original target, popping up on computers around the globe.
Gibney joined Frame host John Horn to discuss the making of "Zero Days" and its increased relevance in the wake of recent events.
Interview Highlights
On the secrecy surrounding Stuxnet:
We ended up making an issue out of the fact that nobody would speak. So we recorded over and over again how many people said, Sorry, I can’t comment on that. And also how ridiculous it was, because we were asking them to comment on something that was well known. It wasn’t like a covert operation that hadn’t been blown. It had been thoroughly blown — which is to say the Stuxnet worm in the Natanz plant in Iran.
On the importance of cyber regulation:
The conversation has got to be, What are the rules of the road when it comes to cyber conflict? Because we need to know. And we need to know now. Obviously, the recent hacks into the DNC and the emails [of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman] lead us in a different direction. Or the Sony hack by North Korea. When is an attack something that’s an attack of espionage? And when is it an actual attack on critical infrastructure, which can be defined as an act of war. But there are no rules in cyber. As one lawyer inside the NSA explained to me, the rules are basically, Do whatever you can get away with. Which is not a very good set of rules.
On being part of the story in 'Zero Days':
It was the frustration over people not talking that led me to become part of the story. In other words, I’m the listener. I’m expecting to be talked to. There’s silence at the other end of the microphone. I had to fill the silence, in effect, to talk about how frustrating it was. And that was a way of me talking back to these people who were absurdly refusing to talk. And frankly, that became one of the themes of the film. When you have weapons this powerful, the idea that we’re not talking about their power, and how they should be governed and how they should be used, is obscene. It’s really an offense against democracy.
On how little we know about cyber warfare:
I think most Congress people are pretty ignorant. Obviously there are some committees that deal with this material and those Congress people have been briefed. But I think, whether it's Congress writ large or the citizenry of this country, we really know painfully little about how this stuff works. And one of the reasons for that is that the U.S. has kept so secret about its own weapons because it wanted an advantage.
Takeaways for personal cyber security:
In terms of email, nothing is ever secure. So type every email as if it's going to be published by the New York Times. We did use a certain amount of PGP — "pretty good privacy" email. That is to say, encrypted email. And we also used some old school techniques, like using a typewriter instead of a computer. But when it comes to passwords and such ... I have learned that you don't use the same password. You keep changing your passwords and you do something simple ... which is have two-factor authentication.
On the possibility of a 'Zero Days' sequel:
Our election became something that was being manipulated by a foreign power who was kind of monitoring it in real time. This story has gone so far, has become so present. It would seem a shame not to revisit it.