Plus: A cute weather app for your terminal ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 20, 2026 | Read online
# Tech platform takedown time limits, slanderous AI agent owner revealed and the Sizzler Say Plus: A cute weather app for your terminal
Edition 2506
"Computer-Tastatur-Belegung deutsch QUERTZ" by CulmSee-Axel-acad.2161 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Hey folks, quick message from me: have a pearler of a weekend - CW
Mentioned in today’s edition: Keir Starmer, crypto bro, NBN, Amazon, BOM app, Meta, Weathr and Andrew Charlton. Plus, deals on Apple AirPods, Breville coffee machines and Nothing phones.
# The News
### Countries are embracing tech platform takedown time limits, but they could backfire
Tech companies will have 48 hours to remove "revenge porn" and sexual deepfakes or face having their platform blocked, under a new law proposed by the UK government (Guardian). Prime Minister Keir Starmer has proposed new legal requirements on tech companies to remove both real and synthetic (aka deepfake) non-consensual sexual images within two days after having them flagged by the media regulator or face penalties. India has introduced a 3 (!) hour deadline to remove unlawful material (including deepfakes, impersonation, etc) as well as requiring the platforms to automatically label AI-generated content (BBC)
The Sizzle: Forcing platforms to act quickly on the illegal, disgusting content that is prevalent is undeniably a good thing. There's far too much. These platforms could clearly be doing more (if you're raking in billions of dollars to spend on AI data centres, I reckon you got a few more shekels to enforcement). Too often, tech companies say something is impossible, then they figure out a way when they're forced. The fact that the major platforms don't really proactively try to detect AI content I think is because they don't think it's worthwhile for them, not because they can't (to some level of confidence).
However, it's a little bit more complicated than that. We want social media to be a place where free speech — within the limits we democratically decide — is allowed to happen. When you implement prescriptive, severe rules about enforcement, there is a risk that tech companies choose to sacrifice YOUR free speech just so they don't get penalised. If you have a three hour window to take down speech that the government flags, there's not much opportunity to review it or even push back if it's not something that should be removed. Quickly, these tools can turn into censorship weapons. If you ask me, the UK's requirements are more reasonable than India's -- but, really, the devil is in the details.
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### The AI agent that slandered a guy was supposedly the work of a cryptobro dickhead
A coda to the story about the the AI agent who attacked an open source maintainer in a blog post for not accepting their slop pull request: After some speculation that the "AI agent slander" belonged to a cryptobro and maybe wasn't some emergent behaviour (Pivot to AI), someone claiming to be the bot's owner came forward and ... well... didn't really apologise for it (Crabby Rathbun)? They explained themselves but mostly defended what they and their agent did.
Between the tone of his post, and the AI's instructions that its owner shared ("Your a scientific programming god!), I don't think AI has decided to rise up against us humans. I'm pretty sure some dickhead just made a dickhead widget in his image.
Now here's a much more productive use of AI: a foreign Facebook page creating slop videos of big-chested women saying racist things for Australians (AAP)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### The Sizzler Say: EV subsidy, smart light switches, NBN network update
Should Australia cut the EV subsidy? Sizzlers on the forum were surprisingly split As with everything smart home-related, there was a surprising amount to talk about smart light switches on Slack On foldable phones: Ninjacatfish on the forum shared the work of a foldable evangelist. For the real NBN sickos, MMC explained on Slack an interesting network update I forgot to add this last week but an anonymous reader contacted me on Signal to tell me about the subreddit r/Australia's censorship of protest-related videos after last week's Sydney protest. I tried to speak to the admins but heard nothing back -- so if you see/hear anything on this, let me know!
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Leftovers
Australia:
The AFR started going really hard on AI-friendly copyright reform this week, with the latest article about Andrew Charlton's meeting with Anthropic! Fair Work Commission Bogged Down by AI Filings (iTnews) Australia Welcomes Anthropic, but Stalemate Over Copyright Remains (Australian Financial Review, $) Eucalyptus Sells to New York-Listed Healthcare Giant in $1.6B Deal (Australian Financial Review, $) Big few days for Telstra which posted a billion dollar profit while also going at the government over spectrum fees Superloop Acquires Lynham Networks for $165m (ARN) Mazda’s Second EV Set to Land in Australia in July Starting From $50,000 (The Driven) A mean phishing test posted to r/AusCorp
Rest of World:
I Hacked ChatGPT and Google's AI and It Only Took 20 Minutes (BBC) lol maybe I should do this New York’s Robotaxi Plan Pulled in Setback to Waymo Expansion (Bloomberg, $) There's a $10K bounty for anyone who can get Ring Doorbells to run locally (The Verge) iPhone Camera Microphone Dot Can Be Suppressed If You're Already Hacked (AppleInsider) Google Pixel 10a Is the Same Damn Phone as Pixel 9a (Gizmodo) phonemakers are literally out of ideas Taking Photos With Scotch Tape Instead of a Lens (Hackaday) I'm Working on a Game About IT Support in Hell and Someone Filed A Real Ticket With Me (Reddit)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Oh, Also
### A cute weather app for your terminal
We're spending more time in our terminals these days, so I'm on a real terminal app kick. Weathr is a cute project that animates your local weather, even plane flights! I'm not sure it's more useful than the BOM app but idk, sometimes it's fun to have fun.
cute cute cute
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Bargains
Electronics
UGREEN Nexode Power Bank 25000mAh at Gadget Hive AU 165W Nexode Power Bank 25000mAh for $90 200W Nexode Power Bank 25000mAh for $99.90 (Down from $179.95) Apple AirPods 4 - $169 at Hub by Triforce (Down from $269) JBL PartyBox Encore Essential 2 - $246 at The Good Guys Commercial via Origin Energy (Down from $349) Monster Vision 2 Portable Entertainment System, 15.6" 1080p, 60W Audio - $314 at Gizmoo (Down from $699) JBL Boombox 3 - $389 at Costco (Down from $699)
Computing
Logitech K580 Slim Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard (Black) - $47 at Amazon (Down from $83.95) Logitech MX Keys Mini Wireless Illuminated Keyboard (Graphite) - $95 at Amazon (Down from $135.95) AMD Ryzen 7 7700 CPU - $285 at Binary Tech Store AliExpress (Down from $629) Gigabyte X870 Eagle WIFI7 AM5 Motherboard, ATX, DDR5, 4x M.2, PCIe 5.0, USB4, Wi-Fi 7 - $293 at Amazon (Down from $453) Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 RAM 96GB (2x48GB) 6000MHz CL36-44-44-96 1.4V Desktop Computer Memory - $1169 at Amazon (Down from $1321)
Mobile
SIM Only Plan 12GB/Month - $12 at E.Tel for 8 months Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Series at Mobileciti Redmi Note 15 5G 8GB/256GB for $357 Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G for $437 Redmi Note 15 Pro+ for $537 Nothing Phone (3a) Lite at Officeworks 128GB White/Black for $389 256GB White/Black for $439
# The End
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