### Issue 1413 - Thursday 22nd July, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- ACCC to dig into the business practices of Australian e-commerce marketplaces
- Kid that killed a bloke for his Twitter username via swatting sentence to jail
- Elon Musk said Tesla is going to let other EVs use its Supercharger network
- The 3-2-1 backup rule is good, but now there's 4-3-2 and 3-2-1-1-0 rules to consider
- Cheap Xiaomi window/door sensors, 10% off Macs at The Good Guys, Far Cry 5 for PS4, Two Point Hospital for Switch

## The News

### ACCC to dig into the business practices of Australian e-commerce marketplaces

The ACCC is going to investigate online e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon Australia, eBay Australia, Kogan and Catch.com.au as part of it's ongoing remit to regulate digital platform services. They will "will consider pricing practices, the use of data, the terms and conditions imposed on third-party sellers, and the impacts on competition when the marketplace itself operates as a seller on the platform". On the consumer side of things, "the ability of customers to leave and read reviews of sellers and products, how complaints are handled and how consumers’ data is collected and used" will be investigated. The ACCC has a survey for consumers to share their thoughts on online retail marketplaces. Now is your chance to whinge and be listened to!

### Kid that killed a bloke for his Twitter username via swatting sentence to jail

Shane Sonderman, an 18 year old that killed a man via "swatting" has been sentenced to jail for 5 years. For those unfamiliar, swatting is the act of making a fake report to police that there's an active shooter at someone you don't like's home, so the police come flying in guns blazing and scaring the shit out of ya. That's exactly what happened to Mark Herring, so got so scared when the police showed up, he had a heart attack and died. Why was he swatted? Because he owned the Twitter handle @Tennessee and Sonderman wanted it. Sonderman had form, doing the same to other owners of "prestige" usernames on social media accounts. Reply All has a good podcast episode about the antics of "hackers" (usually teens) who steal people's social media accounts for the fancy usernames.

### Elon Musk said Tesla is going to let other EVs use its Supercharger network

Elon Musk let loose on Twitter that Tesla will be "making our Supercharger network open to other EVs later this year". Don't know much more else than that, but in Europe and Australia, all of Tesla's Superchargers use the exact same plug as every other EV (called CCS2) so it's certainly physically possible - the problem would be the billing side of things. I reckon Tesla is going to replace their current proprietary billing method with Plug & Charge, which part of the ISO 15118 standard for EV charging. It requires the EV's charging hardware to support it and no EVs on the road currently have it, but it'll become available for new EVs pretty soon and vastly improve the public charging experience.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The 3-2-1 backup rule is good, but now there's 4-3-2 and 3-2-1-1-0 rules to consider

Anyone that's ever asked me about backups has heard me crap on about the 3-2-1 rule. 3 copies of data, 2 on different mediums and 1 offsite. Simple to understand and it's never let me down so far, but Backblaze are making the argument that it's time for more modern backup strategies like 3-2-1-1-0 or 4-3-2, so that "one or more copies should be physically or virtually isolated in the event of a digital disaster like ransomware that targets all of their data, including backups". 3-2-1-1-0 is interesting - it adds an 1 offline/immutable copy and verification that data can be restored with 0 errors to the 3-2-1 setup.

## Bargains

- Xiaomi Aqara Smart Window Door Sensor (2-pack) - $29 from Banggood
- 10% off Macs at The Good Guys, with free delivery for VIC/SA/NSW
- Far Cry 5 for PS4 - $12.99 for PS+ members, $17.99 for scrubs
- Two Point Hospital for Nintendo Switch - free for Switch Online members next week

## The End

📻 Too Old To Die Young - Brother Dege

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.​