### Issue 1327 - Friday 19th March, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- Tesla's Autopilot fails to stop a textbook example of an accident it should have prevented
- Utah wants a mandatory pre-installed porn filter on smartphones & tablets sold in the state
- Developer of FlickType suing Apple for abusing their App Store powers after he refused to sell his business to Apple
- Dick Smith Electronics can finally rest in peace after $25m class action settlement
- Afterpay Day Sale - Day 2

## The News

### Tesla's Autopilot fails to stop a textbook example of an accident it should have prevented

The USA's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is once again investigating an incident involving Tesla's Autopilot system. This crash is a weird one - a bloke (for what it's worth, driving with a suspended licence) crashed into a parked state trooper's vehicle on the side of a highway while using Autopilot. I have no idea what circumstances are in play here for the car to crash into a stationary object, as that's literally the most basic scenario for any driver assist system. There's a good chance the driver who was getting around without a licence is bullshitting about using Autopilot, but even then the emergency braking system really should have taken over.

### Utah wants a mandatory pre-installed porn filter on smartphones & tablets sold in the state

Utah really hates porn. So much so, their parliament has voted to make it mandatory for every smartphone or tablet sold in the state come pre-installed with an active porn filter. The law still needs the governor's approval before it takes effect and a condition in the law means it'll only kick off unless 5 other states also implement Utah's brain fart, but it's still a worrying trend. The free and open internet I grew up with is being sliced into pieces, all over the world. I think in less than 20 years we will look back the internet I loved during the mid-90s to mid-2000s as a cultural outlier.

### Developer of FlickType suing Apple for abusing their App Store powers after he refused to sell his business to Apple

Kosta Eleftheriou is the developer of an app called FlickType and is suing Apple for "flexing its monopoly muscle against potential competition". His case against Apple centres around Apple trying to buy FlickType and when he refused to do so, faced "roadblock after roadblock" trying to sell FlickType on the App Store as Apple refused to take down scam and copycat apps imitating FlickType in an effort to get him to give up and sell to Apple. When they realised that didn't work, Apple "removed his FlickType keyboard app and refused to approve future versions". A true David vs. Goliath battle here, God speed Kosta.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Dick Smith Electronics can finally rest in peace after $25m class action settlement

One of the very first things I wrote about on a regular basis in The Sizzle was Dick Smith Electronics implosion in late 2015/early 2016. Many years later I am tying up this loose end with news that a class action lawsuit from investors against DSE's management alleging "misleading or deceptive conduct" has ended up in a $25m settlement. $18.75m of that ended up with the lawyers for their time (who claim they spent $26m, hahah), $1.25m went to various administrators and $5m is going to the 2,700 former DSE shareholders to be split up based on how many shares you owned. I don't exactly know where this $25m is gonna come from - insurance I guess? Either way, let this whole mess stand as an example of how not to run your electronics store.

## Bargains

Every single decent deal on Ozbargain today is part of the Afterpay Day sale on eBay. So instead of wasting my precious Friday arvo typing them all out, just go to Ozbargain and browse the list yourself. They have pictures! I wish my fellow capitalists a happy weekend of consuming.

## The End

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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.​