Plus: what is reCAPTCHA really doing to your data? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 10, 2025 | Read online
# UK demands Apple backdoor, AI goes to Paris and Australia's age tech check Plus: what is reCAPTCHA really doing to your data?
Issue 2267 - Monday 10 February, 2025
Hello and happy Monday! I was defeated by my remote controlled garage roller door this weekend. Hope your weekend was more victorious than mine - CW
# In Today’s Issue
UK demands Apple encryption backdoor AI goes to Paris Australia’s age tech check A jihad on reCAPTCHA Deals on audioengine home music systems, Philips Hue smart home products, Logitech keyboard and mice, Bose headphones, Apple Watch and iPad, Samsung monitors, used HP and Dell laptops and Boost prepaid SIMs.
# The News
### UK demands Apple encryption backdoor
This was passed around everywhere over the weekend, including the Sizzle Slack, but the UK government is reportedly making Apple put a backdoor into its encrypted cloud user data service (Washington Post, $). Last month, the Brits issued a notice under a law — similar to Australia’s 2018 anti-encryption law (Home Affairs) — that forces a company to help them access data from its new Advanced Data Protection (Apple) in a way that’s not tied to a single case. Apple can’t say anything by law but naturally other groups have pointed out that if you make a backdoor for a good guy, it’s there for a bad guy, too (BBC). There’s speculation based on previous Apple comments that it might withdraw from the market but apparently the law requires Apple to start working on a backdoor even as it appeals the matter. As far as we know, Australia’s never asked Apple to do the same. Those powers were used 66 times in the last reported year — but never for terrorism, despite being ostensibly the raison d'être for the law (InnovationAus, $).
### AI goes to Paris
Bigwigs from around the world are going to Paris this week for an international AI summit (AP News). JD Vance, Narendra Modi, Justin Trudeau will be at the “Paris AI Action Summit” however Australia’s science minister Ed Husic will not be in attendance (SMH, $). There will be panel talks and speeches about “key common actions to take on artificial intelligence” over the two day summit (website here), but all the action really happens on the sidelines as CEOs schmooze with top bureaucrats. If you’re not expecting much, the apparently leaked statement set to be signed by the attendees will not change your mind (Substack). Back home, Services Australia CEO says they’re all-in on AI (Canberra Times) while 20+ federal government agencies still have no policies governing the use of AI (InnovationAus, $)
Also Super Bowl Bonus AI story: A preview of Google’s Super Bowl ad promoting its AI product Gemini featured a hallucination claiming that gouda is the world’s most popular cheese, and was subsequently changed before the game (The Verge).
### Australia’s age tech check
Shall we check in on how Australia’s march towards its national age verification and estimation policy is going? As many of you would know, I wrote a lot about the teen social media ban last year (Crikey) which will come into effect in less than 10 months. At the moment, the government has commissioned a trial of technologies to tell users’ ages which will report back to inform the legal requirements for steps that the social media companies will have to take to stop <16s from logging on, as well as forthcoming requirements for adult websites to stop minors.
Apparently 44 companies have put their hand up to have their tech trialled — which was listed to start today — and details of the testing regime can be found on their website (Age Assurance). I had a chance to speak to one of them, a French company Needemand, which claims it can determine whether someone is an adult with 99% accuracy using only hand movements (Crikey, $). It would be a very impressive technology if it works — but no one outside of the company has used it yet. We will soon see if it and all these other products can really be adequate solutions when this report is handed to government by the middle of the year.
# Oh, Also
### A jihad on reCAPTCHA
I’ll be honest, I’ve never thought much about the humble but ubiquitous reCAPTCHA. Its original purpose to test if someone’s a human while also digitising old documents was a noble goal with a clever execution. I’ve wasted too much of my life trying to decipher inscrutable print, but I always had accepted it as part of the bargain of using the internet.
Now I’ve learned that not only is it useless — bots can read now — but also that it’s really a data collection device for Google that is wasting all of our time, according to a write-up (BoingBoing) of a new study (arXiv)?
ReCAPTCHA extensively monitors users' cookies, browsing history, and browser environment (including canvas rendering, screen resolution, mouse movements, and user-agent data) — all of which can be used for advertising and tracking purpose. Through analyzing over 3,600 users, the researchers found that solving image-based challenges takes 557% longer than checkbox challenges and concluded that reCAPTCHA has cost society an estimated 819 million hours of human time valued at $6.1 billion in wages while generating massive profits for Google through its tracking capabilities and data collection, with the value of tracking cookies alone estimated at $888 billion.
BoingBoing
# Bargains
Electric & Electronics
20% off home music systems at audioengine Vivitar 8 inch LED Ring Light with Tripod Stand - $4.99 at Pop Phones Cygnett MagCharge Magnetic Wireless Charging Cable 2m - Black - $10 at BIG W Arlec Smart Plug with Power Monitoring 2-Pack - $20 at Bunnings Anker 321 MagGo 5,000mAh Magsafe Powerbank for iPhone 12-16 - $32.50 at Amazon TP-Link Tapo P300 Smart Wi-Fi Power Strip - $39 at Bunnings Anker 325 Portable Charger (PowerCore Essential 20K) - $39.99 at Amazon Polycom 5300-M USB-C Bluetooth Speakerphone 360° Audio - $49 at Amazon Philips Hue Tap Dial Switch (White) - $57 at Amazon Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K - $59 at Amazon UGREEN 100W USB-C Fast Laptop Gan II Nexode 4 Ports Charging Station - $61.72 at Amazon AU Anker 537 Power Bank Powercore 24K - $69.95 at Anker Amazon Echo Spot - $89.40 at JB Hi-Fi Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 4-Pack - $99 at Amazon 4x Philips Hue White Ambiance 800 Lumens Bluetooth Downlight 90mm - $137.40 at JB Hi-Fi Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (Black) - $199.95 at Amazon AU Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro - $239 at Telstra Edifier 2.0 Bookshelf Bluetooth Studio Speakers: S1000MKII - $299 at Centre Com Bose SC Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones - $299 at Amazon Samsung Galaxy Watch7 AI Smart Watch 44mm Bluetooth Silver - $359.49 at Amazon Apple Watch Series 10 GPS Aluminium 42mm Jet Black - $577 at Officeworks Samsung HW-Q800D-XY 5.1.2 Ch Atmos Soundbar with Wireless Soundbar - $678 at Appliance Central TCL 65" C855 4K QD-Mini LED Google TV - $1,799.99 at Costco
Computing
Simplecom CHN436 USB-C and USB-A to 4-Port USB HUB with Gigabit Ethernet - $25 at Storm Computers Logitech MX Master 3S Wireless Mouse $101 at Amazon Logitech MX Keys S Wireless Keyboard - $139.90 at Amazon Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 RAM 32GB Kit (2x16GB) 6400 MHz XMP 3.0/AMD EXPO CL32-38-38-76 - $153 at Amazon HP OMEN 24 23.8" FHD 165Hz Gaming Monitor - $159.20 at eBay TP-Link Deco X25 (3-Pack) AX1800 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System - $169 at Harris Technology Asus TUF Gaming AX4200 Wi-Fi 6 Router (1x 2.5Gbps WAN Port) - $211 at Amazon Samsung Odyssey G3 32" FHD 180Hz Gaming Monitor - $227 at Officeworks Samsung C34H892 34" 3440x1440 VA 100Hz USB-C Curved Monitor (No stand, refurbished) - $277.20 at eBay HP Probook 430 G5 Laptop: Intel i5-8250u, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Win11, New Battery (used) - $285 at corporatepc Apple iPad (9th Gen) 10.2" Wi-Fi 64GB - $347 at JB Hi-Fi Dell Latitude 7420 2-in-1 Laptop 14" i7 1165G7 16GB RAM 256GB SSD LTE Win 11 Pro (used) - $499 at UN Tech Asus Dual Radeon RX 7800 XT OC Edition 16GB GDDR6 Graphics Card - $685 at Centre Com
Mobile
Boost Mobile Prepaid 170GB SIM - $208 at Lucky Mobile Boost Prepaid SIM Starter Kit 265GB 365 Days Plan - $247 at Oz Tech Biz Apple iPhone 13 128GB - $458.15 at eBay
# The End
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