### Issue 1561 - Monday 7th March, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- AEC launches a disinformation register
- eSafety commissioner thinks "anti-trolling" law is a dud
- Russia has been cut off of so many tech services
- Total cost of owning an MG ZS EV versus an MG ZST
- Cheap Sennheiser headphones, Xbox & PS games, Coles Mobile, Rode Videomic Go II, WD & Seagate HDDs, DJI Mini 2, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, Samsung Serif TV, Nintendo OLED Switch

## The News

### AEC launches a disinformation register

Our indomitable AEC have launched a disinformation register - a list of "prominent pieces of disinformation the AEC has discovered regarding the federal election process". It's not a place you can submit things you've seen, but somewhere for the AEC to debunk the crap getting spread on social media. As they say, the "AEC is not the arbiter of truth regarding political communication and do not seek to censor political debate in any way. However, when it comes to the election process we conduct, we're the experts and we're active in defending Australia's democracy". The register can be found here. Some of it is plainly obviously fake, but it's good to see it tackled so those who are yet to be fully lobotomised by Facebook and Telegram groups can get some facts.

### eSafety commissioner thinks "anti-trolling" law is a dud

The eSafety commissioner has sent the government feedback on its proposed anti-trolling laws. The law, if you need reminding, would force social media companies to reveal the personal information (name, address, etc) of its users, to someone that complains about content, should that content be found to be a defamatory comment. Essentially the commissioner reckons the law is impossible to create as the social media companies do not know who their users are and if they did, they can't be trusted to do the job of "collecting and holding large amounts of personal information in a private and secure manner". When the stooge you hand picked for the role doesn't play along, you know have a bad law on your hands.

### Russia has been cut off of so many tech services

Heaps more stuff is blocked/banned in Russia as part of the ongoing effort to make life uncomfortable there and in turn, uncomfortable for Putin and his cronies. A quick list of what's unavailable or reduced in capacity just in the last few days:

- Mastercard & Visa
- TikTok (no new videos or livestreams)
- Netflix
- Airbnb
- Cogent Communications (a big internet transit provider, cuts off a large chunk of RU access to US internet)
- Activision Blizzard
- PayPal
- Twitter & Facebook (blocked by Russia for "discrimination against Russian media")
- Samsung
- Nintendo's eShop
- Electronic Arts
- Microsoft

This is in addition to bans or lowering of services by dozens of tech companies to Russia in the past week. I reckon most of these are due to the fact banking/finance between Russia and "the west" is so difficult and not necessarily a political stance. It'll also be interesting to see how much this turns Russia towards China for these kinds of services, or bolstering its domestic products.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Total cost of owning an MG ZS EV versus an MG ZST

I got hit with a bout of spreadsheet-itis this afternoon and compared the total cost of ownership of the recently updated MG ZS EV to the petrol version of the same car, the MG ZST. My napkin math shows that over 7 years, in Victoria, driving the average 15,000km/yr, the EV version is still a tiny bit more expensive. But in NSW where the incentives are more generous and there's no EV road usage tax, the EV version is much cheaper to own, despite the higher purchase price ($46,990 vs $25,490). If you do a fair bit of driving, like say over 20,000km/yr, the EV version is cheaper, even in Victoria. With petrol prices the way they are lately, there's never been a better time to check out an EV.

## Bargains

- Sennheiser HD 560S headphones - $227.18 from Amazon UK
- Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, Red Dead Redemption 2, FIFA 22 for Xbox & PlayStation - $26.97, $36.27, $23.25, $36.27 from Big W's eBay store
- Coles Mobile 365 day SIM, 60GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $99 from Coles
- Rode Videomic Go II - $118.15 from digiDIRECT
- WD 16TB Elements external HDD - $413.51 from Amazon USA
- WD Red WD60EFAX 6TB HDD - $167.43 from Amazon USA
- DJI Mini 2 drone - $668 from Amazon
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (16" 2560x1600 IPS, i7-11800H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, RTX3050 Ti) - $2,399 from Lenovo
- Samsung LS01T 43" The Serif QLED 4K TV (2020) - $795 from The Good Guys
- Seagate Exos X18 18TB HDD - $486 from Amazon USA
- Nintendo Switch OLED - $464.07 from Big W's eBay store

## The End

📻 MF From Hell - The Datsuns

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info or change email address? Visit the customer portal.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

## Affiliate Links

Fastmail. Email where you are the customer, not the product. Loads of features, smooth no-nonsense web interface, plus calendar and contact hosting. They've been around for 20 years and I've been a customer for over 10. Use this link and get 10% off your first year and I get around 30c/month you remain a customer.

Aussie Broadband. Great customer service and responsive to community needs (they have an "unofficial" Discord, they publish their CVC!). I've been a customer since 2017 and don't plan on going anywhere. Use my referral code (1001031) to get $50 credit when signing up for an NBN plan and I get $50 credit towards my next bill.

Vultr. All my Australian-based hosting needs (3x VPSes) are handled by Vultr. Easy to use admin interface, automatic backups, built-in firewall, custom ISO support and reasonable prices. Sign up with my link and score $100 credit. I get $25 credit if you're active for 30+ days and spend at least $25.

## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.