### Issue 1848 - Thursday 18th May, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Meta reckons if new privacy laws mandate opt-out of targeted ads, they'll need to introduce subscriptions
- Google's gonna nuke your account and all its data (except YouTube) if you don't log in for 2 years
- Drobo's broke, 1Password adds passkeys, Logitech & iFixit team up, Pixels to get dashcam feature, Twitter still ignoring comms minister
- An interactive story on how all those little data breaches add up to a big underground dossier
- Cheap Dell & Lenovo 34" monitors, Transcend 2TB SSD, Uniden radio 4-pack, Logitech 4K webcam, Cricut Joy, Pixel 7 Pro, Apple Watch Ultra, Silicon Power 1TB SSD, Samsung 8TB SSD, Diablo II Resurrected, Xiaomi smart home kit, refurb iPhone SE

## The News

### Meta reckons if new privacy laws mandate opt-out of targeted ads, they'll need to introduce subscriptions

Meta's submission to the government review of privacy law reforms has been made public and being one of the biggest boogeyman when it comes to privacy, their submission is getting some attention. They're actually okay with the vast majority of the law changes, including the right for individuals to sue for privacy breaches. Meta's main beef is the proposal to define all online personalisation as targeting and allowing users to opt-out of targeted advertising, because if too many people opt-out, online platforms will have to make "less-desirable choices, like relying on generic, less effective, and more costly advertising, or moving to other business models such as subscriptions". Umm, good?

### Google's gonna nuke your account and all its data (except YouTube) if you don't log in for 2 years

Google announced yesterday that starting in December 2023, "if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents — including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos". That's a pretty bold move considering there's lots of personal data there that probably isn't backed up, that someone might want to access eventually. They say they're doing it to avoid the risk of account takeover as idle accounts usually have crap passwords and no 2FA. Google has already made a slight adjustment after some community outcry, excluding YouTube from the list of data nuked after 2 years of inactivity.

### Drobo's broke, 1Password adds passkeys, Logitech & iFixit team up, Pixels to get dashcam feature, Twitter still ignoring comms minister

- Drobo's gone bust, filing for bankruptcy. I'm surprised they were still in business to be honest. These external RAID HDDs were super popular like 15 years ago and I bet there's still a few photo and video people still using them. Time to move on.
- 1Password has announced they will add support for the storage and sync of passkeys in a few weeks. This feels like a way better idea than using the built-in iOS or Chrome password managers to store passkeys, but I'm still not gonna use passkeys.
- Logitech has joined Google, Apple and Samsung in providing genuine parts and instructions to iFixit. Right now it's just the MX Master and MX Anywhere mice and they don't ship parts to Australia, but cool to see more brands at least try this.
- Google's testing an addition to the Personal Safety feature on Pixel phones that'll turn the device into a car dashcam. Would be an awesome way to re-purpose old smartphones, but what about the heat of the dashboard in summer? I don't think most phones can tolerate that.
- Twitter still hasn't responded to the communication minister's months-old letter asking they're going to do about the Online Safety Act now that they've closed the Australian office. Go on, tell ACMA to block Twitter in Australia. Do it. I dare you, please!!

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### An interactive story on how all those little data breaches add up to a big underground dossier

The ABC has a great interactive article explaining how scammers and hackers use data gained by multiple data breaches to create a detailed overview of someone's digital footprint. Using data from HaveIBeenPwnd, you can enter your email address and see a visual representation of all the data breaches that address is part of. I put in my email address and the top 3 biggest sources of data about me on the darkweb are from services I have no recollection ever signing up for or using - Wattpad, VerificationsIO and Apollo. I think for most of us this is common knowledge, but for a large section of society that thinks "well I have nothing to hide, what's the big deal?" about account security and mass data collection, it could be educational.

## Bargains

- Dell S3422DWG 34" 3440x1440 144Hz monitor - $561.21 from Dell
- Transcend 220S 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD - $169.03 from Amazon Germany
- Uniden UH45 handheld UHF radio (4-pack) - $78.30 from JB Hi-Fi
- Lenovo ThinkVision T34w-20 34" 3440x1440 USB-C monitor - $589 from Lenovo
- Logitech 4K Pro Webcam - $161.10 from JB Hi-Fi
- Cricut Joy Machine - $185 from Spotlight
- Pixel 7 Pro 128GB/256GB/512GB - $944.10, $1079.10, $1214.10 at JB Hi-Fi
- Apple Watch Ultra - $1117.80 from Wireless1's eBay store
- Silicon Power A55 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD - $55 + delivery from mWave
- Samsung 870 QVO 8TB 2.5" SATA SSD - $640.39 from shallothead's eBay store
- Diablo II Resurrected PS4/PS5 - $23.08 on the PlayStation Store
- Xiaomi Smart Home 4-in-1 starter kit (hub, window/door sensor, wireless switch, temp & humidity sensor) - $29.95 from PC Byte
- Refurb Apple iPhone SE 64GB - $199 from Coles

## Image Of The Day

Tiny Temperature Monitor. A tiny seven segment temperature monitor using ATtiny861A microcontroller and BME280 sensor. Powered by a CR2032 coin cell. (Mohit Bhoite via Kottke.org)

## The End

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