### Issue 1983 - Tuesday 28th November, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Twitter/X booted from Digi lobby group for breaching misinformation code of conduct
- ACCC wants new laws to prevent anti-competitive Big Tech conduct in Australia
- Government releases terms of reference for Optus outage review
- CIsco makes special industrial switch for Ukrain's power grid operator
- Cheap Baseus battery pack, Nokia X20, Little Snitch, Amaysim 365-day SIM, AirTags, Spotify Premium, WD 22TB HDD, Apple gift cards, Aussie VPSes, Beelink Ryzen mini PC, Thunerbolt 3 dock

## The News

### Twitter/X booted from Digi lobby group for breaching misinformation code of conduct

Digi, the main industry body/lobby group in Australia for tech companies like Google, Apple, Meta, TikTok and others, has booted Twitter/X from its membership group. Reset Australia noticed X's "removal of a public user reporting mechanism" that resulted in Australians losing the ability to "report misinformation about politics mere weeks before a referendum" and reported this to Digi. After X ignored Digi's requests to explain itself, Digi kicked em out for breaching the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation, saying that X's "refusal to engage in any way with the process was disappointing and irresponsible". I expect no less from X's current management to be honest.

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### ACCC wants new laws to prevent anti-competitive Big Tech conduct in Australia

The ACCC's seventh interim report as part of the Digital Platform Services Inquiry highlights the need for "targeted consumer protections and service-specific codes to prevent anti-competitive conduct by particular designated digital platforms - i.e: Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft. The report doesn't accuse any of these services of anti-competitive conduct, but instead recognises that "platforms with significant market power can use practices like bundling or tying of products, pre-installation and default settings to limit customer choice or deter innovation from competitors". The report also proposes "new mandatory obligations on all digital platforms to address scams, harmful apps, fake reviews, including notice and action requirements and stronger verification of business users and reviews".

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### Government releases terms of reference for Optus outage review

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (why the hell are all these things in the same department???) released the terms of reference for its investigation of Optus' network outage a few weeks ago. It'll focus on a few areas - what happened to 000, what role the government plays in responding to these types of outages, consumer protections, complaints handling, how other networks can assist when one network goes down and what Optus and the other telcos are doing to make sure this doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, "the technical causes of the Outage, and the manner in which Optus remediated the Outage" is not in this review's scope - that's what I wanted more detail on the most! Anyway, a report based on this review should be handed to government by the 29th of February 2024.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### CIsco makes special industrial switch for Ukrain's power grid operator

Cisco has given Ukraine's state-owned electricity grid operator Ukrenergo "modified versions of the Cisco Industrial Ethernet 5000 series switches" with an internal crystal oscillator that can uses "enhanced clock recovery algorithms" and "modified switch code to provide an accurate time holdover when GPS was unavailable" due to jamming of GPS signals to thwart missiles and other military activity. The plan was hatched "over dinner at an upscale steakhouse near Stanford University in February" where Ukrenergo execs told Cisco execs about the constant GPS jamming "disrupting visibility for Ukraine's power grid operators, who relied on GPS-based clocks to relay information about power flow from one location to another".

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## Bargains

- Baseus 20,000mAh battery pack with 100W USB-C PD output - $58.75 from Baseus' eBay store
- Nokia X20 Android phone (dual SIM, Snapdragon 480 5G, 128GB storage, 6GB RAM, 6.67" screen, NFC) - $208.60 from Mobileciti's eBay store
- Little Snitch Network Monitor/Filter for macOS 50% off - $53 from Objective development
- Amaysim 365-day SIM with 210GB data, unlimited calls & SMS, 2000 bonus Everyday Rewards points - $165 from Woolworths
- Apple AirTag 4-Pack - $129 from MyDeal
- 3 Months of Spotify Premium - free for new subscribers
- Western Digital WD221KFGX 22TB Red Pro 3.5" HDD - $574.66 from Amazon USA
- 20x Everyday Rewards points on Apple gift cards at Woolworths
- KVM VPS in SYD/MEL/PER/AKL (8GB RAM, 4x vCPU, 100GB SSD, 2TB bandwidth) - $15.98/m from DreamITHost
- Beelink SER5 mini PC (Ryzen 5560U, 8GB RAM, 500GB SSD, Wi-Fi 6) - $312.30 from Amazon
- Kensington SD5600T Thunderbolt 3 Dock - $146.42 + delivery from PB Tech

## Image Of The Day

Advertisement for CD Week, that appears to be a weekly subscription to get a CD sent to your home with the latest software on it? (Jongleur / Internet Archive)

## The End

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