### Issue 2101 - Monday 3rd June, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Ticketmaster & Ticketek leak data on everyone who's ever purchased a ticket to something
- Signal threatens to quit EU if Chat Control proposal gets up
- Internet Archive under DDoS attack, Framework upgrades 13" laptop, Threads gets redesign for desktop use
- Wired headphones that need Bluetooth to work
- Too much cheap stuff to list in a headline, just scroll down and whip out your credit card

## The News

### Ticketmaster & Ticketek leak data on everyone who's ever purchased a ticket to something

You probably already know by now, but Ticketmaster and Ticketek have experienced breaches of their vast (over 500 million people globally) entire customer databases. They don't seem to be linked, but the data lost seems like the usual name, date of birth (why??), physical address, email address and phone numbers. It's unknown exactly how the breach happened, but some middleware thing for AWS called Snowflake that Ticketmaster uses told Bleeping Computer it observed "unauthorized access to certain customer accounts", but "we do not believe this activity is caused by any vulnerability, misconfiguration, or malicious activity within the Snowflake product". I'm so nonchalant about data breaches I wasn't even sure if these are worth a mention. Data breaches happen so often and there seems to be no punishment for those involved, be it the "hackers" (if you can call these crooks that) or the companies that play so fast and loose with our personal info.

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### Signal threatens to quit EU if Chat Control proposal gets up

Once again Signal's boss has made a public statement saying that if the EU passes its shit "Chat Control" law, Signal will "leave the EU market rather than undermine our privacy guarantees". If you're unfamiliar with the EU's Chat Control, it's proposed mandate that will force operators of "apps and services with chat functions" to moderate user uploads. That means if you wanted to post an image, URL or video in WhatsApp or Signal, those services would have to look at the contents of your messages to make sure you aren't posting an image that the EU thinks is naughty. Countries like France and Belgium are pushing for it as a way to deal with CSAM and "grooming". It'll never end, will it? Random groups keep trying and trying with this horrible mass surveillance stuff and I'm scared that one day it's gonna stick when we aren't looking - then we are fucked.

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### Internet Archive under DDoS attack, Framework upgrades 13" laptop, Threads gets redesign for desktop use

- Some absolute fuckwit is DDoS'ing the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine. IA founder Brewster Kahle said that "the collections are safe, but we are sorry that the denial-of-service attack has knocked us offline intermittently during these last three days". Who the fuck DDoSes a museum or library? Pathetic.
- Framework has given its Laptop 13 a mild update. New mainboard selections that feature Intel's latest CPUs and Arc GPUs, cheaper Ryzen 7000-series CPU options and a new display option with 120Hz refresh and 2880x1920 resolution. Framework laptop with Qualcomm SoCs when?
- Meta's Threads got a redesign to be more desktop web browser friendly. If you liked TweetDeck, you'll feel right at home with Thread's new look. I want to like Threads but it feels like the enshittification is inevitable here so I don't want to get too attached. Also, Meta, eww.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Wired headphones that need Bluetooth to work

A bloke that pays for X (lol) made a long post about buying wired headphones with a Lightning plug that didn't work unless he had Bluetooth enabled on his iPhone. He tried multiple headphones at the store and each time he was told by the store staff to turn Bluetooth on, which to you and I seems ridiculous for wired headphones, but the store staff didn't see what the big deal was. Apparently there's loads of these cheap "wired" earbuds that are actually Bluetooth headphones and the wire is simply for power. This is somehow cheaper than paying for legitimate Lightning "certification" (i.e: the DRM chip that Apple mandates). What a world we live in.

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## Bargains

- Google Pixel 8 Pro 128GB - $1308 from Qantas
- DJI Osmo Action 3 Standard Combo/Adventure Combo - $242.10/$395.10 from Mobileciti
- EA Sports FC 24 (Xbox & PlayStation) - $29 from Amazon
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones - $499 from Amazon
- Bimawen 13.3" OLED 1080p portable USB-C monitor - $129 from Aliexpress
- Motorola G54 5G smartphone - $199 from Big W
- SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 wireless gaming headset - $233.99 from Amazon
- Refurb Dell Latitude 5420 laptop (14" 1080p touch, i7-1185G7, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $579 from Metrocom
- Seagate 12TB Exos X16 3.5" HDDs - $215 from East Digital
- Steam Deck 512GB OLED - $1004.53 from Kogan's ebay store
- Refurb Apple Watch Ultra 49mm - $592.02 from Loop Mobile's eBay store
- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM with 260GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $247.50 from TelcoBiz
- Inseego MIFI X PRO 5G mobile hotspot - $196 at The Good Guys
- Denon AVC-X2800H/X3800H/X4800H/X6800H AV Receivers - $1359, $1999, $3199, $4799 at CHT Solutions
- 10% off Ultimate gift cards (EB, JB, Officeworks, Good Guys, etc) at Coles
- Behringer UMC404HD 4x4 USB audio interface - $155.94 from Amazon UK
- WiiM Amp streaming amplifier - $420 for 1, $792 for 2 at WestCoast HiFi
- 10% off Nintendo eShop & Xbox gift cards at Big W
- Dell 27" S2722QC 4K USB-C monitor - $333.52 from Dell
- Amaysim 365-day SIM with 200GB/240GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $125/$175 after cashback from Amaysim, Cashrewards/Shopback
- XFX Qicksilver Radeon RX 7900 GRE Magair Gaming 16GB graphics card - $789 + delivery & surcharge from Scorptec
- iPhone 15 Pro 128GB/256GB, iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB - $1587, $1787, $1937 from JB Hi-Fi
- Refurb HP Elitedesk 600 G5 micro PC (i7-9700T, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $399 from Metrocom

## Image Of The Day

Technology provides the capacity to improve our standard of living. But whether such benefits occur depends upon how it's used... and for whom. Technology should be used to make our work easier and more rewarding not simply as a way of increasing productivity and reducing job satisfaction. (National Library of Australia)

## The End

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