Plus: I regret to inform you about another cool Raspberry Pi use case ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 13, 2025 | Read online
# Teens s*xtorted but promising scam signs, Saudi owns your Pokémon Go data and Google ends affiliate hijacking Plus: I regret to inform you about another cool Raspberry Pi use case
Issue 2290 - Thursday 13 March 2025
# In Today’s Issue
Huge number of teens sexually extorted but there’s promising signs in the war on scams Played Pokémon Go? Saudi Arabia almost certainly owns all your location data now Google ends affiliate hijacking Chrome extensions as UK says mobile browser market is ‘not working well’ I regret to inform you about another cool Raspberry Pi use case
# The News
### Huge number of teens sexually extorted but there’s promising signs in the war on scams
Just over one in ten Australian teens have been sexually extorted online, and 40% of those cases involve deepfake content (Canberra Times). That’s according to an academic who published a national survey last month that is frankly eye-opening reading (Australian Institute of Criminology). Coincidentally, I just spoke with the Australian arm of ICMEC who’ve been researching the finances behind these “nudify” apps that it says are being propped up by an economy of people paying for access to the apps or to have non-consensual images made of people on their behalf (Crikey, $). I think it’s hard to actually comprehend but I really encourage you to think about it: if it’s statistically likely that each classroom has one kid who’s been sextorted, what’s that doing to a whole generation? Zooming out, what is the impact on our collective minds that we’re bombarded with texts, emails, calls, ads that are trying to scam us? It can’t be good. I’m pleased to share that there are some early, promising results responding to this stuff. The government says that scam losses have fallen by a quarter in 2024 (Communications Minister). This data captures the period before the government’s new scam framework law and the new anti-scam measures that keep getting rolled out: Telstra is going to start flagging potential scams on caller ID (EFTM) and the government is going to let regulators investigate banks that receiving scam funds (Information Age). It’s not often that there is good news to share, but it seems like things might be improving.
### Played Pokémon Go? Saudi Arabia almost certainly owns all your location data now
Pokémon Go creator Niantic Labs is selling its video games arm to a Saudi-owned company (The Guardian). The obvious question that follows is: what the hell is going to happen to all the location data from hundreds of millions of users that was captured by the app and is now owned by a non-democratic state with a history of allegedly using data to torture dissidents (The New Arab)? The answer so far: plenty of words but no real response (404 Media, $). Niantic, for what it’s worth, will now focus on an arm of its company that is commercialising an AI model that it claims can navigate the world that was trained by — you guessed it — player data from games like Pokémon Go (404 Media, $). Moments like these make personal efforts to protect your privacy and even privacy regulation feel a bit silly. After all, what can you do if a country just buys an enormous trove of data including your own personal information?
### Google ends affiliate hijacking Chrome extensions as UK says mobile browser market is ‘not working well’
Google is cracking down on extension like Honey which are hijacking affiliate links without any benefit or user interaction (TechRadar). Flagged by Sizzler Dave, this is seemingly a response to a YouTube video I put in the Sizzle earlier this year that shone a spotlight on Paypal-owned company Honey essentially stealing affiliate revenue by creating an extension that would sub in the company’s own affiliate links in for whatever link the user had actually clicked on. While we’re talking browser stuff, the UK’s competition watchdog said that mobile browser competition is “not working well” because Apple and, to a lesser extent, Google’s policies and preferential treatment for their own browsers (The Verge). It’s nice to hear but the findings have no consequences. Perhaps the UK government is just waiting to see what happens with the DOJ’s recently reiterated demand that Google sells off Chrome (WIRED, $).
#### Leftovers
Exclusive: Adobe slammed for use of AI-Generated images of Indigenous people and artworks (NIT) ‘We’re not embarrassed’: Tesla owners shrug off Musk stigma (AFR, $) NDIA goes to ground on its ongoing Salesforce blowout (InnovationAus, $) Scott Farquhar to succeed Robyn Denholm as Tech Council chair (AFR, $) ‘Just caught a baby wombat’: American influencer suffers backlash after viral video (SMH, $) Amazon, Google and Meta support tripling of nuclear capacity by 2050 (FT, $) Donald Trump Bought a $90,000 Tesla With 37 Recall Notices Against It (WIRED, $) Alibaba Releases AI Model That Reads Emotions to Take On OpenAI (Bloomberg, $) Meta rep flagged 'critiques of tech industry figures' as 'sensitive or controversial content' (Usermag, $) In Memoriam: Mark Klein, AT&T Whistleblower Who Revealed NSA Mass Spying (EFF)
# Oh, Also
### I regret to inform you about another cool Raspberry Pi use case
I probably don’t need to give you any new excuses to justify buying a Raspberry Pi but I enjoyed this very easy-to-read guide about how to use a Raspberry Pi 4 B+ to build and run a website (Mira Welner). The blogger, who is a ML researcher from the US, says he spent five years fiddling away at it and has put something together that looks simple enough for anyone (maybe even this dullard tech reporter) to follow. Some other cool Raspberry Pi projects I saw while poking around: a nocturnal wildlife camera (RS-Online), a possessed portrait (Hackster) and a fireplace (Instructables). WARNING: RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO BUY A RASPBERRY PI OR, WORSE YET, ANOTHER RASPBERRY PI. IF YOU DO, YOU MUST SEND ME $5 AS PENANCE.
# Bargains
Electrical & electronics
$30 off when spending over $200 Good Guys Voucher 50% off FitTrack Storewide Aiivioll Wireless Mouse USB Charging Cable - $6 at Amazon Charmast Power Bank & Wireless Charger for Apple Watch - $10 at Amazon Our Pure Planet 30W 1C1A Charger + USB-A to C Cable Bundle - $14 at MobileSkin EFM 30000mAh Digital Power Bank with 20W Output - $59 at Pop Phones Philips Hue Akari White Colour and Ambience Downlight 90mm - $64 at Amazon Biolite 750 Lumen USB Rechargeable Headlamp - $69 at Wild Earth Soundcore Space A40 - $84 at Soundcore maXpeedingrods 3500W Portable Inverter Generator - $583 at eBay Creality Falcon A1 10W Enclosed Laser Engraver & Cutter - $799 at CrealityFalcon Dyson Gen5detect Absolute Cordless Vacuum - $988 at JB Hi-Fi
Computing
Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds (Diamond 60th Edition) - $299 at JB Hi-Fi Nebula Gaming PCs Ryzen 7 8700F, RTX 4060, 32GB 6000MHz RGB RAM, 1TB M.2, 650W PSU for $1188 RTX 4060 Ti for $1328
Mobile
Dbramante $19 iPhones/iPads/Airpods Covers, Watch Straps, $39 Laptop Bags at Phonebot Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Graphite (Overseas Model) - $89 at Dick Smith Motorola Moto G85 8GB RAM/128GB Storage - $269 at BIG W Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 - $299 at Officeworks Motorola G75 5G 8GB RAM/256GB Storage & Bonus Moto Buds - $342 at Mobileciti
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