### Issue 1665 - Friday 5th August June, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- University regulator gets a bunch of cheating websites blocked
- Apple HR has a history of ignoring sexual misconduct
- Visa cuts off PornHub's ad network after getting dragged in to PornHub's legal issues
- Unfold, an app for making fancy Insta Stories
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap 4TB Crucial SSD, Sony X90K TV, Kingston SSD, Google Nest Hub, Amazon Echo Show, Klipsch 5.1 speaker pack

## The News

### University regulator gets a bunch of cheating websites blocked

We've entered a new age of website blocking, with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) ordering ISPs to block 40 "of the most highly visited commercial cheating services that are targeting students at Australian higher education institutions". Yeah, that's right, a pissant government agency is able to get websites blocked because the law allows it to. I had no idea TEQSA had that sort of pull. Dunno which websites were blocked, nobody is saying. We might found out in a year's time after a few FOI requests? As usual (like the torrent and gambling sites regularly blocked in Australia), it's only a DNS level impediment and super easy to access if you use Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 DNS server or Google's 8.8.8.8 server.

### Apple HR has a history of ignoring sexual misconduct

Not even squeaky clean Apple can escape the Silicon Valley tech bro vortex, with 15 current and former female Apple employees telling the Financial Times (paywalled, sorry) about incidents where HR ignored their claims of sexual misconduct from fellow employees. One woman had her clothes removed and photos taken of her topless. Another had a colleague "texting her sexual messages at all hours of the day". A store employee was "raped by a colleague who offered to drive her home from work". Another colleague "hacked her devices and threatened her life after an abusive relationship". All these women said Apple's HR department virtually ignored the claims and did nothing, pretending like it never happened and minimising their experience.

### Visa cuts off PornHub's ad network after getting dragged in to PornHub's legal issues

Earlier this week I wrote about a US judge saying that allegations of Visa being complicit with Pornhub in monetising child porn are valid enough that a trial should be held to determine if it's true and to what extent Visa knew what was going on. Today Visa stopped offering services to TrafficJunky, an ad network owned by MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub. PornHub uses TrafficJunky to monetise the videos on their site. It is a big enough deal that Visa's CEO made a blog post about it. I find it hard to believe that Visa didn't know about the large amount of revenge porn and underage porn getting uploaded to PornHub, but also fuck people using Visa as a wedge in their anti-porn crusade.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Unfold, an app for making fancy Insta Stories

The Sweet Setup has a nice review of Unfold - a smartphone app that helps you make really nice looking Instagram Stories posts. Maybe there's other apps out there the kids use these days, but Unfold seems handy. Also can I just say how refreshing it is to read an in-depth review of a smartphone app? They were common a decade ago (I wrote dozens of them!) but since Apple ended affiliate links for the App Store, removing a way for reviewers to monetise their hard work, nobody seems to discuss mobile software anymore and the world is worse off for it.

## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- bozmond wants a cheap Thunderbolt 2 hub if anyone's got one taking up space
- _JB has been fucking around with Dall-E 2 and made some weird images
- patsch updated their thread about choosing a smart thermostat with some installation pics
- petecohen also updated their thread wondering about network latency with what they did to fix it a few months later
- coljac has been active in answering people's questions about the James Webb Space Telescope

## Bargains

- Crucial MX500 4TB SATA SSD - $449 + delivery from Umart
- Get a $500 JB gift card when buying a Sony X90K 65" TV
- Kingston NV1 M.2 NVMe SSD 2TB - $194 from BPC Tech
- Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen - $88 + delivery from Mobileciti
- Amazon Echo Show 5 with Alexa (2nd Gen) - $99 + delivery from Mobileciti
- Klipsch R-820F 5.1 home theater speaker package - $2,698 from West Coast Hifi

## The End

📻 Sleepwalking - Ammonia

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## 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.