Plus: This is why you should always check the footnotes ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

September 02, 2025 | Read online
# Nudify crackdown promise, Russia GPS attack and dodgy p*rn sites traffic boon Plus: This is why you should always check the footnotes
Edition 2409
"First Website Viewed on this VGA. This monitor came w/ our 1990, 386, 16MHz, 40MB HD, 1 MB RAM, CompuAdd computer. I hooked it up to my machine and it worked." (Flickr: Airplane Lane)
Hi all, I’m back in the Good Country. Great to be back!
# The News
### Australia to crack down on nudify/stalking apps… somehow?
The federal government says it’s going to “further strengthen” Australia’s online safety rules to crack down on so-called “nudify” (a.k.a. non-consensual sexually explicit deepfake) and stalking apps (Department of Comms). It plans to do this by “restrict[ing] access” by “engaging closely with industry”, which I assume means using various powers under the Online Safety Act.
The Sizzle: When it comes to tech for creating non-consensual explicit material of others, the cat’s out of the bag. But that doesn’t mean that we should accept that people are profiting by selling the apps (Crikey, $) to platforms are letting those app makers to promote their abuse tools (Crikey, $). It’s a good thing for government to act on but this isn’t anything yet. When I emailed the Minister’s office, they said “We are committed and the work starts now.”
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Russia suspected in EU President plane’s GPS jamming attack
Russia is suspected of jamming the GPS of the EU President’s plane as it was trying to land (FT, $). On Sunday afternoon, a plane carrying Ursula von Der Leyen was approaching a Bulgarian airport when its GPS stopped working, despite other aircraft in the area having their instruments unaffected, before the pilots manually landed using a paper map. Bulgarian authorities pointed the finger at Russia which denied it was them.
The Sizzle: Once limited to military use, GPS jamming and spoofing is becoming more common. particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reading this longer piece on “GPS warfare” (FT, $), I was interested to find out disruption isn’t purely an offensive tactic with countries like Russia and Israel using jammers in their own country to protect themselves. Also, I lol’d at “Residents of Israel, Jordan and Lebanon complain the interference has made it impossible to use taxi, takeaway or dating apps.”
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### P*rn sites that don’t age check have been swamped with traffic
P*rn websites refusing to comply with the UK’s age check laws have seen a surge of traffic.(Washington Post, gift link). Out of the top 90 adult websites, there were 14 not doing any age checks — and every single one of them had seen an increase in visitors since the UK’s new Online Safety rule came into effect. The regulator Ofcom says its launched four investigations into websites for failing to comply.
The Sizzle: With this law — like the teen social media ban — there is no further discussion about how people will circumvent it beyond “ah well”. Clearly, there is a point at which a policy becomes useless, perhaps even harmful if you think routing people to dodgier websites is a greater risk. So what is that point? If you want to prohibit access to something, and if you really care about protecting children, maybe we should talk about this.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Labor blames AI bots, foreign actors for its move to charge for Freedom of Information requests (CyberDaily) Not just under-16s: all Australian social media users will need to prove their age – and it could be complicated and time consuming (Guardian Australia) Hume City Council votes to implement new data centre energy and water management plan (ABC News) Western Sydney University tops the nation for employer satisfaction (Western Sydney University) FSD Supervised is boring, watch it take more than 40 roundabouts like a champ (techAU) China’s social media platforms rush to abide by AI-generated content labelling law (South China Morning Post, $) Apple removes iTorrent from AltStore Pal iOS marketplace (The Verge) Corruption, control, and the business of internet censorship in Turkmenistan (The Tor Project)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### This is why you should always check the footnotes
I wanted to share this delightful Bluesky thread from Guardian Australia’s Nick Miller who actually read the footnotes (Bluesky). He saw a claim from Australia’s business lobby that AI could “free up to 30 percent of a clinician’s time” and traced it all the way back to an journal article reviewing a pilot of My Health Record … which did not mention AI. Funny that! (This gives me a good excuse to share a recent, but instant hall-of-fame article about “checking someone’s working” by Derek Thompson).
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electrical & electronics
Zemismart Zigbee Neutral Push Switch Home Assistant Smartthings Control via Hub with SAA - US$19.71 at Zemismart Philips Chargers and Mounts at Mobileskin Qi 15W Wireless Car/Desk Mount for $29.95 65W GaN/PPS Charger for $34.95 LIFX Smart Lights at Clever House Colour A60 for $44.99 Beam Kit for $124.99 Starter Kit for $159.98 Elephas Mini Projector (1280 x 720) w/Tripod & Carry Bag - $49.99 at xisidianz Amazon AU Rayneo AIR 3S Pro AR Glasses from TCL - $359 at Rayneo Kobra S1 Combo - $729 at Anycubic (Down from $1199)
Computing
HP Wireless (Link-5) Keyboard T6U20AA - $15 at Australian Computer Traders Mercusys MR80X AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 Dual-Band Router - $58.90 at Amazon AU XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS 8GB XXX Edition OC+ - $159 at Scorptec Dell Latitude 5420 16GB RAM 256GB SSD (used, b-grade) - $249 Beelink ME Mini 6 Bay M.2 NVMe SSD NAS (Intel N150, 12GB/64GB, 2x 2.5G) - $333 at Beelink Official AliExpress Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF CPU - $399 at Amazon AU Galax GeForce RTX 5060 8GB Ex Graphics Card - $490 at Gamer Tech (Down from $549) Apple iPad 10.2" 9th Gen (2021) 256GB Wi-Fi+Cellular at Redial Phone Sales eBay iPad only for $566 iPad with Keyboard for $613 HP Zbook Firefly 14" Touch Laptop: Intel U5-125h, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1575 at Lotus Computers
Mobile
Kogan Prepaid Mobile (365 Days Flex): Recharge Voucher, eSIM or SIM Card at Kogan Medium 200GB for $149 Large 300GB for $179 Samsung A15 5G 4GB RAM/128GB Storage - $174 at amaysim with at least a $30/28 day plan.
# The End
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