### Issue 2221 - Thursday 21st November, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Law to ban kids under 16yo from social media spewed into Parliament
- Social mediai summit was a sham, designed to manufacture consent not build consensus
- Author or report used as fuel for age restricting social media says report does not recommend it
- news that's not related to putting kids in padded digital rooms where fairies and angels take care of their every need and a titty shall never be seen
- 30 bargains today, but the big day is tomorrow

## The News

### Law to ban kids under 16yo from social media spewed into Parliament

Legislation amending the Online Safety Act to ban kids under 16 from social media was floated in Parliament this morning. It's pretty fresh so there isn't much analysis or reaction to it yet, but we do have a definition of what constitutes an "age-restricted social media platform". Unsurprisingly, it's incredibly broad and has a clause in it that allows the government to hand pick a service and say "this is an age-restricted social media platform" even if it doesn't meet the criteria. The legislation also doesn't set out how platforms need to ban kids, just that there's a civil penalty if they don't. Now we wait for it to land in the Senate for some political debate to froth up before a minor tweak is made and the ALP & LNP team up to pass it. Comms minister's press release is here if you want to read the party line. If you have any objections to the law, you have 24 hours to provide it - what a shitshow.

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### Social mediai summit was a sham, designed to manufacture consent not build consensus

Meanwhile, that Social Media Summit put on by the SA government a few months ago was a sham. While it was pitched as a way for the government to get feedback and consult stakeholders (industry, parents, the kids themselves), we now know thanks to an FOI from Crikey's Cam Wilson that the SA premier told Jonathan Haidt (the author of a book on this topic that's enamored politicians worldwide despite incredibly weak science) that the summit was actually put on "with the intent of building momentum and support for national legislation to enforce a minimum age for access to social media". The rub salt into the wound, "a group of academics met with Michelle Rowland's office and the prime minister's office" and were told they'd take their feedback onboard "only after the bill has been passed". Pig headed motherfucking politicians, all of them.

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### Author or report used as fuel for age restricting social media says report does not recommend it

One of the studies the communications minister throws around as evidence we desperately need to ban kids from social media doesn't say that at all according to it's co-author. Cam Wilson again, contacted a co-author of the study over at the University of Oxford and let him know about how it's being used as fodder for a ban, who responded with "I do not agree that it provides the justification for this policy. I think they have misunderstood the purpose and findings of our research" and instead recommend "targeted interventions that address the negative consequences of social media while also promoting its positive uses" - which align with the eSafety Commissioner's findings from last year, a parliamentary committee's report and 140+ experts that wrote an open letter to the minister saying not to do this.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### news that's not related to putting kids in padded digital rooms where fairies and angels take care of their every need and a titty shall never be seen

- The first developer preview of Android 16 is now out. Not seeing a huge amount of new user facing features listed in the announcement blog post. Updates to the Privacy Sandbox, APIs for health records that support FHIR format, a new photo picker and that's about it so far.
- 404 Media got their hands on leaked documents that show Graykey, "a phone unlocking and forensics tool that is used by law enforcement around the world" struggles to get data out of an iPhone running iOS 18. Still pretty wild they're even able to get some data off a modern iPhone despite all the effort Apple puts in to making sure that can't happen.
- Epic has given permission for the Internet Archive to freely distribute Unreal and Unreal Tournament as part of their preservation efforts. It shouldn't be news that a 30 year old video game can be legally preserved by a library, but unfortunately what Epic's done is so rare that this is unique enough to mention.

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## Bargains

- 10% off Amazon gift cards at Giftcards.com.au
- DJI Neo Fly More combo - $489 from Mobileciti's eBay store
- Xbox Wireless Controller - $59 at Target ($49 if you sign up for newsletter, free delivery via OnePass)
- Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 - $199 from Telstra
- Hisense 100" Q7NAU 4K QLED TV - $3441 with free local delivery & wallmount installation from The Good Guys
- DJI Osmo Mobile 6 Gimbal - $129 from Amazon
- Herman Miller Embody Gaming Chair - $2,548 from Living Edge
- Twelve South HiRise laptop stand - $69.99 from Macgear
- Motorola Moto G85 smartphone - $265 from Bing Lee's eBay store
- TCL NXTPAPER 11 Wi-Fi Tablet - $248 from Harvey Norman
- Refurb Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (i5-10310U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $364 from Bufferstock
- Samsung G93SD OLED 49" 5120x1440 240Hz curved monitor - $1367.14 from Samsung
- Nikon NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Super-Telephoto Lens - $2,149 from Amazon
- Affinity V2 Universal Licence for Individuals - $112.99 from Serif
- JVC Rechargeable DAB/FM Radio with Bluetooth - $19.58 at Big W
- 30% off PlayStation Plus subscriptions (PS+ Deluxe $137.87) via the PlayStation store
- Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) with Magsafe Case - $289 from Amazon
- 10% off Nintendo eShop gift cards at Big W (in-store only)
- Bose Solo Soundbar Series 2 - $149 at Amazon
(tip - this makes a nice computer speaker)
- Sony Alpha 7C II camera body & bonus battery - $2339 after Sony cashback via Sony
- Canon Selphy CP1500 Photo Printer - $169 at JB Hi-Fi
- Xiaomi 67W GaN USB-C/USB-A charger - $32.21 from Amazon
- 30% off Blu-rays at JB Hi-Fi (stacks with buy 2 get 1 free offer too)
- Sonos Beam (Gen2) - $595 at The Good Guys
- Google Pixel 8a 128GB & bonus $60 JB gift card - $647 at JB Hi-Fi
- Optus pre-paid 365-day SIM with 280GB data - $120 after cashback via Cashrewards
- 10% off Celebration gift cards (can be used at Officeworks) at Coles next week
- Logitech MX Keys S Keyboard & MX Master 3S Wireless Mouse - $239.90 at Amazon/OW/JB
- GMKtec mini PC (Ryzen 8845HS, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) - $800 from Amazon
- TCL 85C855 85" 4K QD-Mini-LED TV - $2985 from The Good Guys

## Image Of The Day

Constable Canute tries to hold up the great wave on the Internet, 1999 (Geoff Pryor / National Library of Australia)

## The End

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