we have a model program really in silicon valley. how did it kinda become that way and what are some of the things about it that you want people to know about? dr. kamiya: so, we're very fortunate at silicon--in silicon valley, where we have a very, very supportive community that allows us this opportunity to pursue excellence. and you know, through our learnings in becoming a model shelter, our intent with that is to then become a resource for other shelters that perhaps don't have the same opportunities to, or you know, don't have the same resource levels. and so, that is our goal is to share our learnings. robert: and you have your expertise there, but also it is quite a state-of-the-art facility there. dr. kamiya: it is. it is a 48,000 square feet, gold leed certified facility where we see over 7,000 animals per year. robert: cats and dogs, right? dr. kamiya: cats and dogs, rabbits, some small mammals, and many of these animals are transferred from other shelters. robert: right, and the cats and some of those are also available f

to have that silicon valley startup. i think the future of work that was silicon valley and we don't mean that in a union way but but how to keep up with the pace of technology so how does that become a model? i don't think it is all bad. it is specific t7 worded the phrase come from quick. >> it describes the experience of a humanoid robot to fall into a valley like fiction it is human but not quite it is surreal but something is off. >> is at how you felt when you are out there quick. >> yes. it was an emotional experience in certain ways for sure. >> $69000 for your first job in silicon valley with benefits. >> in 2013 it was i had my whole department that was one third of my paycheck i did not have student debt or any loans so i definitely could survive but anybody now have to find an apartment might have a tougher time than i did. >> but it didn't take long to understand that fetish. >> i think around the time i was writing people were excited about big data and technology and then to know what is going on and with

valley and make the democrats the party of silicon valley. there were close ties with republicans at the national and state level. there is a moment where they try to figure a medium that is defined as the wild west and that is where the advocates of the internet from the valley are talking about it as a front tier and talking about it in a very frederick jackson turner sort of consciously, not but wide open spaces waiting to be conquered. but ares possibility arguing for keeping something that soundsciple very good to members of both parties as well as defenders of free speech that she is keeping the internet free and out of the influence of the media companies, including cable is possible. in which mediaue is defined as the telecoms and as the cable providers who want to control the information flow and were newly formed organizations like the electronic foundation are arguing to keep it a jeffersonian internet, so to speak, where many different voices can blossom. parties,f both republicans first in the opposition and then after 1995 as th

saldy: i would say it's a celebration 'cause it's silicon valley pride parade and festival. we're reo ay. we're here and queer and we're loud and proud. robert: how about for you? how important is this event for you personally? saldy: it's very important because, of course, i help plan this festival. also, being asian, asian american, you know, i'm very proud to be an asian american and being gay asian american, to celebrate this event. robert: we talked a little bit before about the asian american and pacific islander community within the community, but you feel like it's pretty blended in now, that it's a very much a easy mix, right? saldy: it's easy mix, yes, it's very blended, yeah, now. robert: yeah, how about in terms of the kind of that cultural input? does that help a lot, though? saldy: i would say so, yes. robert: in what way? saldy: in terms of culture, like, there's a lot of families now, especially the asian community, who are very accepting of their lgbtq children. robert: yeah, and that is a big thing, right? i mean, culturally speaking, i remember doing this

valley and to make the democrats the party of silicon valley. and prior there had been close ties with republicans both at the national and state level. but there is a moment where they're trying to figure -- you know, a medium -- that is defined as the wild west. and that where the advocates from the internet from the valley are talking about it as a frontier, talking about it in a very fredrick jackson turner sort of way. sort of wide open spaces waiting to be conquered, limitless possibility. but are arguing for keeping the -- something that on principle that sounds very good to members of both parties as well as defenders of free speech, which is keeping the internet free and as out of the influence of the media companies, including cable, as possible. so there is a political battle essentially in which media is defined by -- as the telecoms and as as the cable provider who want to control -- have control over the information flow and where newly formed organizations like the electronic frontier foundation, the eff argue to keep it a jeffers

we will continue to see silicon valley focus on solving a lot of silicon valley problems, which even china seems like it is doing well. you see over 200-some unicorns. it is not anyone in the u.s. who wants to play games made by tencent or shop on alibaba, and vice versa. google and facebook have been around for a long time in china anyway. it will continue to stay as it is. emily: edith yeung, partner at proof of capital, thank you so much. interesting to hear your insights on the show. coming up, we will speak exclusively to the amazon executive in charge of h2 development plans next. this is bloomberg. ♪ emily: welcome back to "bloomberg technology." talking about amazon now. a new program out to retrain workers, train workers from childhood to career. amazon dedicating over $700 million to provide people across its corporate offices, tech hubs, and fulfillment centers with access to training programs that will allow them to move into more highly skilled jobs within or outside amazon. one particular program is attracting students is called amazon future engineer, a comprehensive

the magic of silicon valley. my friend another silicon valley historian talks about a relay race passing the baton from one generation to another. that's the magic where they mentors and funds and does the same to the internet generation then to the social media generation. but they have this -- you know, what they say is pattern recognition. i give money to -- i'm going to invest in this guy, in this person because they went to stanford and they're wearing a hoodie and they're on the spectrum. yeah. because it's also this gut thing where you're giving, you know, resources to people because you just believe in the person, not just the product. so that is -- and that's part of what makes it work. i mean, that's the challenge. part of if you want to explain what the magic of silicon valley is, it's this insilarity. darpa, you know, it has become the giant in computer science. in part because of government austerity over the last 40 years. everything else got cut away. even computer scientists who were deeply ambiva

there is a really interesting -- it is the moment when silicon valley or the generation of silicon valley entrepreneurs turned/millionaires turned political activist start becoming a presence in washington. it is the moment partially when bill clinton is elected in 1992. works very hard starting from before he declares his candidacy to woo silicon valley and to make the democrats the party of silicon valley. prior there had been close ties with republicans both at the national and state level. but there is a moment where they are trying to figure a medium that is defined as the wild west and where the advocates of the internet from the valley are talking about it as a frontier. talking about it in a frederick jackson turner sort of way although not consciously , wide-open spaces waiting to be conquered. limitless possibility. but our arguing for keeping something that on principle that sounds very good to members of both parties as well as defenders of free speech which is keeping the internet free and out of the influence of the media companies including cable as possible. there is a pol

and this midday it is rattling silicon valley. >> good morning. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. this news just coming out within the last 30 minutes. we begin our team coverage with nbc bay area's kris sanchez live at the federal courthouse in san jose. and this indictment is really scathing. >> reporter: this is really directly ut it isis specifically related to anthony levan owski and through uber and the way mo unit accused of trading secrets when he left one company for the other. this press conference just wrapped up in the last ten minutes or so. we're just getting our first look at that indictment. so we'll be looking through that for the details but i can tell you that it was unsealed today. and it's because he was a google engineer at the time, a founding member of the group that worked on the self-driving car project. he worked on that project from 2009 until he resigned without notice from google. he eventually made his way over to uber and worked there. now neither of these silicon valley valley giants are named in the

could israel be home to the next silicon valley? why the nation is being dubbed startup nation, next. this is bloomberg. ♪ valley isicon notorious for tech giants like facebook, google and apple. with a population of just 8 million, israel might not be far behind. according to the 2018 global startup ecosystem report, tel aviv has the highest number of startups per capita in the world. and israeli tech companies raised $6.5 billion in venture capital last year, up 17% from 2017. joining us to discuss is -- wix is cloud-based development platform in tel aviv and a huge company. tell us som about some of the tech trends in israel that might surprise us. guest: i think the most interesting trend, israel has been dubbed a startup nation for a long time now. what is interesting today is the maturity of some of those companies. some of the companies are moving beyond just being startups and becoming full-blown companies like wix and a bunch of others. i think generally, you can see there's a new generation of entrepreneurs that are less

dave: dave lee, bbc news, in silicon valley. sophie: the way we describe television has changed in recent years. what was once the boob tube can now be prestige tv.s wasting ho the couch is considered binge watching. guilty pleasure is often applauded instead ofocked. how did we get here? emily nussbaum writes about tv for "the new yorker" and won the litzer prize in 2016. her new book is called "i like to watch." she joined me a little earlier from new york. you write about how you used to consider tv junk, a waste of time. is that still the case in any way what would you say? emily: r honestly, i sti into people who do talk about it that way, but the role of tv has changed so much. not only has it radically expanded, but it has moved so much to the center of the culture as an artform. it used to be the kind of thing that people would consider garbage and something that was bad for you, and i feel position is very different now. sophie: you havtalked about and observed, obviously, the iolationship between telev and society over

across the silicon valley, the average age of employees is strikingly low. according to independent research, the average worker at facebook is 29. by the numbers on, it's 30. but there is a movement to help those who want to stay relevant and fulfilled at sillicon valley firms. this is a meeting of a group called the modern elders, a community of older, mostly tech workers, who come here to network and learn how to adapt their skills. there is a lot of fear. people feel like they've put a lot of time and energy into a company, extremely dedicated, and then all of a sudden you're obsolete. there is a lot of energy and interest in millennial zande the younger generation and, so of course as we get older, it's really a question of where's our place? the people here all seem to set something in common, they've had to rebuild their confidence in order to bring their perspective to their sillicon valleyjobs. the man behind this movement thinks companies should see hiring them notjust as an obligation, but an opportunity. chip connolly founded the modern elder gro

organizers expects 70,000 people for the fourth year of silicon valley comic con. among the mast and came to superheroes is 11-year-old giovanni martinez. >> this is my fourth time.>> reporter: he has attended every year. >> he has a lot of dc work. >> reporter: it has grown in size got tens of thousands of people are expected, as well as a long list of stars, including aquaman, the terminators arnold schwarzenegger. and lou ferrigno, known for playing the incredible hulk. >> the fans are great, the people agree, everybody wants to be a superhero, san jose is a great town. >> reporter: it is heavy on technology. after all, apple cofounder steve wozniak is the man behind all of this. >> whirls does it make sense to do that but right here. >> reporter: filled with superpowers, light sabers and triton's, organizers say they stepped up security this year in light of the country's recent climate. >> you want to have the best security to guarantee safety without making people feel scared. >> going to the bathroom, and waiting outside for a minute and a half, and security

this is a big deal for silicon valley. taylor: talk to me about the difference between the two trials. they settled one, arbitration. but this seems to be a criminal probe. what does that tell you? eric: stealing trade secrets involves theft. it is not just about the harm to google, this is about fundamental laws and whether you can take things from your employer and use them for your own or someone else's benefit. that is what the case is about. taylor: one headline that caught my eye is that they said that the case is ongoing, which led me to think there could be more people at risk. who else do we think might be involved? eric: there are not a lot of details in the indictment. there are a lot of details in the civil cases, so we will be interesting to see what they found. obvious question is that travis kalanick sort of recruited personally anthony levandowski to come to uber. the question, is there anything untoward about what they agreed upon or talked about? kalanick would be the higher-level person here. other than

whether dressing up like a storm trooper or designing your own droid, silicon valley's comic con has something for everyone. >> i saw the movie and immediately wanted one. i thought how can i get one? can i buy one? no. you can't. i wanted a full size one. i thought i could make one. >> the celebration features appearances by pop culture icons. like lou ferrigno. >> the brain child of apple cofounder, the convention puts science center stage. like this protype of the mars lander. >> scientists working at nasa research center in silicon valley, california, and i work on making science fiction fact. >> reporter: she works on a program that hopes to return to the moon by 2024. on the convention floor today, limited only by the imagination. >> it made sense to talk about science and technology and how pop culture and those two influence each other. >> reporter: organizers estimate attendance for comic con to be 70,000 over three days. in san jose, devin fehely, kpix 5. >>> a controversial plan to allow taller buildings in downtown pleasanton is causing controversy. the plan would allow u

we were unpopular when we started financing in silicon valley. we were unpopular when we built in silicon valley and we're still highly controversial because we have a very differentiated view than our colleagues. googlether words, famously basically backed off a $10 billion contract with the .epartment of defense you are basically saying not going to happen at palantir? >> just to add a little color with this, many people believe -- i happen to share this belief -- that the present and future ability to control the rule of law and its application will be determined by our ability to harness and master artificial intelligence and its precursor, machine learning. very radical decision to say you will not help the u.s. on this. i believe it is every right of google and their engineers to make a decision. i believe, however, that they should not be making this decision. i don't think any other consumer internet should make the decision. u.s. legislators and voters should make this decision. to factor, google and other companies are deciding what the

we were unpopular when we financed in silicon valley. we were unpopular we built palantir and we are still highly controversial and unpopular in silicon valley because we have a differentiated view from our colleagues in silicon valley. famously backed off a $10 million contract with the department of defense amid -- you are basically saying not going to happen at palantir. colorjust to add a little to this discussion many people , believe -- i happen to share this belief -- that the present and future ability to control the rule of law and its application will be determined by our ability to harness and master artificial intelligence and its precursor machine , learning. it is a very radical decision to say you will not help the u.s. on this. now i believe it is every right of google and their engineers to make a decision. i believe that however that they should not be making this decision. i don't think any other consumer internet should be making this decision. u.s. legislators and voters should make these decisions. de facto google a

i think -- and, you know, this is like, this is an open secret in silicon silicon valley. a lot of people think this is kind of crazy, what google's doing. outside of silicon valley when you talk about it, people don't believe you at first, and then they tend to get very angry. but i think that this is, i think the first step is to at least talk about it. and i sort of feel like i'm, you know, the little kid saying the emperor has no clothes. it's just something -- it's a secret hidden in plain sight. maria: yeah, i want to ask you the kind of reception you got in a moment. but in terms of china using corporate espionage to recruit american technologieses, how significant is that? we know they've been stealing intellectual property for decades, and we know they forced the transfer of technology. these are the two big ticket items that the president wants changed in order to move forward with any deal. >> there's a trade war, tech war, all these different issues. i think that it's, i think the ip theft and forced transfers, you have to think of to it as almost linked in a w

and this is like an open secret in silicon valley. a lot of people think this is like kind of crazy what google is doing. outside of silicon valley when you talk about it and i sort of feel like i'm the little kid saying there's no clothes it's just a secret hidden in plain sight. maybe what google is thinking if they don't give the technology to china through the front door, with their ai lab in beijing, it will go out the back door through ip theft. i think we are at a point where this relationship is going to be rethought quite a bit. there was sort of a strategy under president nixon and reagan to build up china as a counterweight to the soviet union, and i think that made sense in the 70s and 80s. it probably stopped making sense in the 90s and we kept doing this with china, and so i think this sort of way that we have interacted with communist china has probably not made a lot of sense since about 1989 and i think it is being rethought, president trump is rethinking of this, he's changed the conversation nationally, on this , an

so all of the legends of silicon valley because i ere before the pc industry really happened. so i got to grow up with all of them. [smith] right, your contemporaries. [mcnamee] exactly, and so, these were my friends and by the time i was introduced to mark, it was because he was facing a crisis and he needed to talk to somebody who waseally experienced and not conflicted. [smith] right now by crisis, we mean yahoo! wante to buy facebook for a billion dollars. [mcnamee] i did not know that-- [smith] ye's a hell of a crisis by the way, i wish i had such a crisis. [mcnamee] well, exactly. but you have to remember, the company had essentially no revenues and he had, in my opinion, the best idea i'd seen since google. even though it was just for college students and high school students ithad your picture, your name, your address and your relationship status, there was no new feed, it wasn't -- [smith] it was very modest at that point. [mcnamee] it was very, i mean practically no revee. and so, when he comes in to see me, i say woark, before you say , you gotta let me give you som

cooper and a few others are legends in silicon valley. who are they. >> scott kupor: originally made his fame as a founder of company called netscape. back in 1993 which was the first company to actually commercialize a web browser. they famously went public in august 1995. the first really kind of tech wrote evolution in the modern era that started in the early 90s. he's been gone on to be involved in other important companies like the board of facebook and hewlett-packard. a very important venture. now we are likely to have him as a partner of ours. then i actually got to know mark because he worked at netscape and he ran a number of the products on behalf of mark. what is at netscape and they became very close friends in college through that they ultimately started a new company 1999, called loud cloud. many people have probably not heard and we are trying to build something that is very can to what amazon web services do today. kind of compute on demand. as we talked earlier with insta cart for example, is a good example that was prob

across silicon valley, the average age of employees are strikingly low. according to independent research, the average worker at facebook is 29. amazon, 30. but there is a movement helping those who want to stay relevant and fulfilled at silicon valley firms. this is a meeting of a group called the modern elders, a group who come to network and adapt skills. as founder of the group literally wrote the book of wisdom in the work. . at 58, much older than many of his co—workers. 0nly older than many of his co—workers. only 8% of companies have a diversity and inclusion programme have expanded that to include age, just as relevant metric of diversity as race or gender. we are living longer and most of us will work longer, some by choice, some by necessity. how do we have modern elders have a continuing role in the workplace? what other business stories has the media been taking an interest in? many and varied, we have picked out some of them. jeremy thomson—cook from complete currency consulting joins us again 0ne one from our own website, electric was

this is a big deal for silicon valley. taylor: talk to me about the difference between the two trials. they settled one come arbitration. but this seems to be a criminal probe. eric: stealing trade secrets involves theft. , its not just about the arm is about fundamental laws and whether you can take things from your employer and use them for your own or someone else's benefit. taylor: one headline that caught my eye is that they said that the case is ongoing, which led me to think there could be more people at risk. eric: there are not a lot of details in the indictment. an obvious question is that travis kalanick sort of recruited personally anthony levandowski to come to uber. the question, is there anything untoward about what they agreed upon or talked about. levandowski has been the central figure here. kalanick was a central character in the civil litigation. taylor: remind me what is at stake. who are these characters? for people who haven't been following this, what are we really looking at? levandowski is a key f

s extension will create better opportunities for businesses in the silicon valley. >> it will totally transform downtown san jose. not only from transportation perspective but the economic growth, to housing development, business and commerce. . >> san jose city leaders are touting the plan and saying it will create a silicon valley for everyone. >> note, this $125 million is really a down payment on the future. >> the cost of the project is $5.5 billion. back to you. >> thank you very much. >>> new tonight, a non-profit fighting homelessness in san francisco and san jose just got $1.5 million from google. salvation army and the 8 is bay says it will use $1 million for 225 affordable housing complexes and 75 transitional housing units. the remaining cash will be used in san francisco for veteran residential detox and addiction treatment programs. . >>> families are displaced in contra costa county tonight after a grass fire broke out on a ranch. the fire sparked near marshall creek road. spreading to a barn and burning another building. once the fire was out it left behind a charred m

that keeps the rest of the south bay heading in through silicon valley at a lighter volume. i do want to call out that we do have slowing in oakland past the coliseum. you will notice at the top of the screen they are starting to clear the construction crew, but that's the backup here, starting to recover as the folks head up to the bay bridge. the crash is out of morgan hill and approaching highway 85, where only that slow lane is open. >> all right. >>> meanwhile it's thursday, and i think we can say -- i don't know about monday where we're looking forward to the weekend, but on thursday, yeah. >> yeah, there's a lot of events going on. it's teen science tomorrow night, and this is a free event, maybe one of the last weekends before they head back to school so let's kick off learning a little early. we will have great weather for that, and in the mid-60s throughout the evening. and for the overall saturday forecast, more clouds at the coast, and the bay reaching the upper 80s and for the inland areas, they will reach up to the mid-80s. we are just saying heads up for the n

that is a radical position in silicon valley and one that has made us unpopular from the beginning. we were unpopular when we started, when we finally in state, we were unpopular when we built it, and we are still highly controversial and unpopular in silicon valley because we have a very differentiated view than our colleagues. famously backed off a $10 billion contract with the dod amid employee protests. you are saying it is not going to happen. >> just to add a little color to these discussions, many people believe -- i happen to share this belief -- that the present and the future ability to control the rule of law and its application will be determined by our ability to harness and master artificial intelligence as a precursor to machine learning. >it is a very radical decision o say you will not help the u.s. on this. i believe it is every rate of google and their engineers to make a decision. i believe however that they should not be making this decision and i don't think any other consumer internet should make the decision. u.s. legislators and voters should make these deci

lou: more concerned about silicon valley than the russians. tomorrow director >> 5 a.m. hoar are your top stories is at this hour defending on iowa states there where the u.s. trade war with china is front and center. how voters and farmers are feeling about about president trump tough talk on beijing and the economy. >> joe bide stirring confusion instead of emotion are voters still buying his president pcial pitch or should he be worried when the other 2020 hopeful storm the caucus state this weekend? >> Über shares in reverse after the company lost more than 5 billion dollars in the latest quarter. and the bonds may keep on coming world biggest hail company keeps losing money what does it mean for

valley and those types of folks, and i was told beforehand that andrew yang is sort of like an asian bernie and i was not -- i was not surprised at all when i met him because he was exactly that.

it's a bit warm out, but there is a storm here at the silicon valley comic-con. she and 70,000 others are expected over the weekend. abc7 news starts right now. >> now news to build a better bay area from abc7. >> a mistake was made that allowed someone who unfortunately is clearly a danger to the public to be released. >> there is growing fallout tonight over a judge's decision to release the suspect in a violent attack in san francisco. today, the judge in the case ruled the suspect must wear an ankle monitor. >> news reporter liz kreutz caught up with san francisco mayor breed who says that's not enough. >> reporter: this video has been widely shared but dayslarity the story is getting messier. today we learned the judge hadn't even seen the video. we asked the mayor about this. she was critical about the judge and says mistakes have been made. >> regardless of who made the mistake, a mistake was made that allowed someone who unfortunately is clearly a danger to the public to be released. >> reporter: this is mayor london breed reacting to a bombshell revelati

. >>> google plans to restore one of silicon valley's most recognizable landmarks. the new report on hangar one. >> good evening i'm juliette goodrich. >> and veronica de la cruz. we begin tonight with several bay area families accusing a travel agent taking their money. >> ultra vasquez reports, they thought they were paying for a trip to hawaii but ended up losing thousands of dollars. >> police say they are investing dozens of cases where people treat -- paid money to a travel company but that trip never came through. folks in alameda county also have travel plans that never got off the ground. >> she took a trip away from the family to hawaii. >> reporter: jodi grand paid a travel company to take her family of five to the disney resort in hawaii next january. jody said she paid $4500, but received notice that the plans have fallen through. >> i kept texting her and she said you are on our . m gog pa just in a bad situation right now. i'm really upset, and right now just really frustrated, and i want wendy to be arrested, for you know, what she has done to all of

. >> celebrating the lgbtq community, thousands of people turn out for silicon valley pride, at 10:30 how the san jose police department played a role in today's festivities. >>> this portion of ktvu news is brought to you by mazda, feel alive. >>> a brushfire in southern california forced evacuations and caused delays on freeways today. the fire broke out about 4:00 this afternoon in the interchange at the 2 and the 134 freeways threatening homes and sent up a large plume of smoke that could be seen around l.a. the she was glendale issued mandatory evacuations to about 100 homes and some roads in the area are shut down. the l.a. fire department says the fire has only burned 30 acres and was 25% contained as of 8:00 tonight. >>> in lassen county fire crews are battling a large fire north of lake tahoe. the long valley fire broke out yesterday and burned more than 2,400 acres and is 50% contained. an evacuation center opened in nevada at cold springs middle schools for people and small animals, dozens of homes threatened, but so far no word of damage. >>> the city of berkeley is trying

he along with bennett over at the fbi made a big silicon valley this morning. to extend out the wild west metaphor, there's a new sheriff back to you. >> thank you, scott. scott will continue to offer more insight and context on "today in the bay." follow him on social media as well, his twitter handle is @scottmcgrew. >>> demarcus cousins' girlfriend is trying to get a restraining order against him after she says he tried to kill her. tmz released audio of cousins allegedly telling his ex that he would shoot her in the head. they were arguing over allowing their 7-year-old son to attend cousins' wedding to another woman. cousins signed with the lakers but tore his acl and could miss the season. the lakers say they're gathering information and they take the claim seriously. >>> vandals have defaced a brand-new mural at a high school. it features civil rights leader cesar chavez. an artist painted it on lowell elementary school near downtown. vandals did this damage overnight, you can see it there. teachers and community leaders are in shock. >> very heartbreaki

hiding from silicon valley. here is joel weber on tech lash. >> there in the zeitgeist right now, tech lash, one of the words of the week. -- the year. there is this overarching theme of people outraged at tech and the privacy issues. when we thought about that, this image resonated more than any other with us. it was this image that a company, joel stein's story, he experimented with how to take back privacy in his own life and disable tech from encroaching in his world. he found a mask. the cover image is creepy. it is for facial recognition technology. it speaks to a larger thing. there is tech lash, in d.c. especially. that is a theme. antitrust is a theme. those things feel out of your domain as an individual. this cover is an attempt for us to say, you as an individual, what can you do in your daily life that will still have a modest consequence? carol: as joel's story shows us, it is not so easy. as those masses story. -- as does max's story. >> he has been on gmail for 15 years. the thing that is so part

this weekend is silicon valley comic-con. "abc 7 news" reporter amanda del castillo rubbed shoulders with cool characters. >> whoa! >> reporter: whoa is right. the world's most recognizable villains, heroes and comic book characters in san jose for the annual silicon valley comic-con. >> we're not nerds. we are creative times. we have an outlet. we want to express our gratitude for what we grew up with. >> reporter: matthew o'connor could have fooled us. regular people with a passion for pop culture. >> you want to go as something and you start to work on it four or five months ahead of time and hopefully it comes together for that time. >> reporter: for others it is incredible the impact they can make without having to be all made up. >> i have women coming here, they're crying, hugging me, you know, mothers telling me how much they hated me because their children broke tvs, green makeup all over the house. >> reporter: even the filmmaker says he is fundamentally a fan. >> i am a geek. i totally identify with this. to me it

how to hide from silicon valley. it is a series of stories on this week's feature section on taking back your privacy. here's editor jeff muskus. jeff: if you have been paying attention in the past couple months, you have probably already gotten sick of the buzzword contraction "techlash," but it is used to describe a general surge against what is perceived depending on your interest in the sector as too much power the biggest tech companies have to either decide what information we are all seeing or how much market power they have. there is a growing push among a wider range of groups that have been active to challenge these companies recently on antitrust grounds. carol: one story that is really fascinating is a first-person story by max chafkin. it is about setting up his own private server, a la what hillary clinton tried to do. it's not easy to do. jeff: when max came to me with his pitch for setting up his own private email server. i was one of the people he describes in the story who stared blankly. carol: how

happening today, silicon valley's comicon kicks off. crews have been busy getting the san jose convention center ready for the three-day event. the big names will be attending, lou ferrigno, stone cold steve austin and former california governor arnold schwarzenegger. doors open later at noon. will you make an appearance? >> steve austin, talk about it, laura, yeah, yeah, yeah! >> maybe you should go. >> maybe! >>> coming up on "today in the bay," facebook users suing the social media giant following its worst security breach ever. what facebook is saying about the information belonging to the 29 million users affected. >>> and twitter taking new steps to protect users from unwanted offensive messages. how people can trash the offensive content before seeing it. oh thaphenomenal!, that's unfair. that's so unfair. c'mon jay-bo. let's go. let's go. woahh! try my $4.99 bbq bacon double cheeseburger combo. only at jack in the box. ♪ try my $4.99 barbeque bacon double cheeseburger combo. >>> good morning. i'm frank holland at cnbc headquar