### Issue 1926 - Wednesday 6th September, 2023

I don't mention jobs here, but there's a remote job opening at Assembly Four for a Business IT Manager. I don't know much about the job itself, but I do know that Assembly Four is fucking awesome. I just cracked my one year anniversary there (I'm part time in the content team writing blog posts and stuff) and I haven't come across a nicer group of people in my working life. A really kind and smart bunch of humans that genuinely give a shit. Read the job description and if it sounds like something you have the skills for, apply!

## In Today's Issue

- eSafety Commissioner and X talked about online hate speech and what X is going to do about it
- Experts reckon people have brute forced stolen LastPass data and gained access to user data
- AFP having a sook that they can't use Clearview AI despite it being a privacy dumpster fire
- Google is 25 years old, God help us
- Cheap Sennheiser earbuds, Anker speakers, Sony lens, EV charging cable, Arlec powerboards, Vretti thermal printer

## The News

### eSafety Commissioner and X talked about online hate speech and what X is going to do about it

The Guardian submitted an FoI to see communications between Twitter/X and the eSafety Commissioner and discovered that the commissioner wanted to chat with X about the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, regarding what X is going to do about "hate speech" pre and post the vote. X unsurprisingly "had not substantially responded to the concerns raised by the regulator", but what was more interesting in the FoI is that X did respond to an earlier legal notice from the commissioner (punishable by a max $700k/day fine if they don't respond in 28 days) about hate speech overall. eSafety said they'll publish a summary of X's response, but I'm surprised they bothered to respond at all.

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### Experts reckon people have brute forced stolen LastPass data and gained access to user data

Remember all those LastPass hacks that made the news the last year or so? A "steady trickle of six-figure cryptocurrency heists targeting security-conscious people throughout the tech industry has led some security experts to conclude that crooks likely have succeeded at cracking open some of the stolen LastPass vaults". CEO of MetaMask (a cryptocurrency wallet) and Chainalysis have a strong hunch that there's a growing group of tech savvy people who have had their crypto wallets drained and have no signs of phishing or hacking. The only thing they have in common is the storage of credentials in LastPass. LastPass isn't answering questions, "citing an ongoing law enforcement investigation and pending litigation". Disturbing is true. I wonder if 1Password's cloud storage carries the same risks?

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### AFP having a sook that they can't use Clearview AI despite it being a privacy dumpster fire

The Australian is running propaganda for the AFP today, claiming that unless the AFP is allowed to use "AI technologies such as Clearview AI – a platform banned in Australia", a "tsunami" of online child abuse will wash over us. The article quotes a former QLD cop saying that "we are fighting with our hands behind our back" and "right now the privacy we're protecting is the child sex offender". Lovely timing on this article, published a few days after the federal government grew a spine and stood up to the "won't somebody think of the children" brigade for once. The article also doesn't mention that the OAIC told the AFP to stop using Clearview AI without doing a privacy assessment. If the AFP is so keen, why aren't they going about it the right way? Probably because Clearview AI is a privacy nightmare and is more hassle than its worth.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Google is 25 years old, God help us

Can you believe its been 25 years since Google launched? I'm old enough to vividly remember searching for things on the web using Altavista, Lycos and Yahoo (which was more of a big directory than a search engine) and when Google hit the scene it was a revelation. This clean minimal search engine really worked! It felt like there was no corner of the internet it didn't have knowledge about. Google was cool back then, Gmail had an invitation system to sign up, all my friends were on Gtalk, Google Reader was great, Maps still is fantastic, Chrome was fucking fast, I used an Android device before I used an iOS device and Adwords was an easy way to make a few bucks off your blog. Now Google is one of the world's biggest companies and everything they do has a sheen of skepticism about it. They aren't cool. I'm actually a little afraid of them and their proposed Web Environment Integrity API makes me so sad. Who wants to guess what crap Google has in store for us in the next 25 years?

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## Bargains

- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 noise cancelling Bluetooth earbuds - $238.99 from Amazon
- Anker Soundcore Motion+ Bluetooth speaker - $108 from Soundcore
- Anker Soundcore Motion Boom Plus - $179.99 from Amazon
- Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G camera lens - $1259 from Harvey Norman, but you can price match down to $1133 from Sony direct
- Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable 22kW 5m - $207 from EVSE
- Arlec 8 Outlet 2x USB powerboard 2 pack - $5 at Bunnings (in-store only, limited stock?)
- Vretti D465B 6" x 4" USB thermal printer - $99.70 from Vretti

## Image Of The Day

Dick Smith's Guide to Getting to Know Personal Computers, 1982 (Jongleur / Internet Archive)

## The End

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