Plus: this might be the world's worst website ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 24, 2025 | Read online
# Streaming costs more $ and is less Aussie, anti-terrorism powers not used for terrorism and Silent Hill game banned? Plus: this might be the world's worst website
Issue 2297 - Monday 24 March 2025
Happy Monday all! I wrote a forum post about my offer to help anyone who is struggling or can’t afford the Sizzle. I think the Sizzle is pretty good value but, even still, I know it can be hard sometimes to afford something like this. Thanks to all of you Sizzlers who make it possible for me to extend this offer to people! OK, enjoy your week 🔥😎
# The News
### Streaming is getting more expensive and featuring fewer Australians
Streaming is at a very interesting price. The rise of streaming video over the past decade — reportedly overtaking TV (Unmade, $)— has coincided with the complete collapse of Australian TV and film, researchers say in a new report (SIGN Research). The reason? The new entrants like Netflix as well as existing players getting into on-demand services like 7NOW et al. are unregulated, meaning they have no local content quotas. Late last year, the government shelved plans to put quotas on streaming services (ABC News). So now Australia is spending more on subsidising less Australian video content that is increasingly being put behind paywalls. Great system 👍️ And now, there’s more paywalls and they’re more expensive! Max is launching next week (WhistleOut) with much of the content that was on Binge — and lord knows what that platform’s future since it was sold to sports streaming service DAZN as part of the Foxtel sale (The Guardian Australia) — and then there’s Disney+, Prime Video, Stan and of course Netflix. And, according to one calculation, Australians are paying 44% more for the same streaming services than they were a year ago (Reviews.org). It feels like something has got to give.
### Australia hasn’t used its ‘anti-terrorism’ anti-encryption powers on terrorism cases, six years running
In late 2018, the Coalition government and Labor agreed to give law enforcement agencies new powers to ask or force tech companies to break into their software, even if it is encrypted. Then-law enforcement and cyber security minister Angus Taylor said encryption had “directly impacted 200 serious criminal and terrorism-related investigations” that year. Anyway, in the half decade since, the powers have not been used once in terrorism investigations. The latest report about the powers’ use in 2023-24 showed that AFP for the first time used powers to force a tech company to help them access data (InnovationAus, $), just the second agency to use them after NSW Police. But still no government agency has used the strongest power — forcing a tech company to build a new capability to break into its software — à la the UK’s Apple backdoor fight which is still happening (The Guardian). I have a lot of complex thoughts re: these powers but one thing is unmistakable: they’re not being used for the reasons that politicians said we needed them.
### Silent Hill game might be banned from sale because it’s 1964 and the government still controls what can be broadcast over the wireless
It’s 2025 and Australia’s dinky little Classification Board is still banning mainstream, popular video games. This time, the latest instalment in the horror blockbuster Silent Hill series, Silent Hill f, was listed on the board’s website as ‘Refused Classification’ which means that you can be put in jail or fined $275,000 for selling the game (Press Start). The game, according to studio Konami’s own listing, features “ gender discrimination, child abuse, bullying, drug-induced hallucinations, torture and graphic violence” (PC Gamer). It is, of course, sold in the rest of the world but we couldn’t possibly see it because Australia’s current approach to deciding what content people should see was created in 1995, despite the fact that I could Google and see much worse content than that in about 2 clicks. Since these original stories were written, the classification has been taken offline — so I’ve emailed the Department of Communications (which oversees the Board) to find out WTF is going on. Post-edition update: Looks like this is probably more of a quirk an international classification workflow than a decision by the Classification Board, and that there’s a good chance it will be appealed/overtuned. Glad that I hedged, somewhat, but the broader point about Australia’s bizarre classification system stands.
| Edmond Tran @edmondtran.bsky.social |
Lots of big "OMG WTF" style reporting around this one over the weekend but tbh it feels kinda clear what happened? Konami submitted via IARC, which is a free, self-submission tool that gets your classification set up for various regions and storefronts easily.
Eurogamer @eurogamer.bsky.social Silent Hill f has been banned in Australia, and no one knows why www.eurogamer.net/silent-hill-...
10:42 PM • Mar 23, 2025
14 Likes 2 Reposts | 2 Replies
#### Leftovers
Tesla Model Y new pricing revealed, first Australian deliveries in May (The Driven) Free Audible audiobook/month added to Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions (TechAU) 'Everyone dies, or worse': The Australians bracing for AI catastrophe (Capital Brief, $) Meta settles UK ‘right to object to ad-tracking’ lawsuit by agreeing not to track plaintiff (TechCrunch) China says facial recognition should not be forced on individuals (ITNews) The Apple Watch may get cameras and Apple Intelligence (Bloomberg, $) Oracle denies breach after hacker claims theft of 6 million data records (Bleeping Computer) Hungary bans Pride events and plans to use facial recognition to target attenders (The Guardian) Porn on Spotify Is Infiltrating the Platform’s Top Podcast Charts (Bloomberg, $) Cloudflare is luring web-scraping bots into an ‘AI Labyrinth’ (The Verge) Google confirms it deleted Maps Timeline data for some (The Verge) OpenAI’s Sora Is Plagued by Sexist, Racist, and Ableist Biases (WIRED, $)
# Oh, Also
### This might actually be the world’s worst website
Do you want to ruin your Monday? Then I have the website for you. It’s worldsworstwebsite.lol and literally spending 3 minutes spiked my heart rate according to my Apple Watch. The pop-ups, the notices, the scrollbars that don’t do anything… and that’s all before you mention the design. You really don’t have to click on this. PS if you are glutton for punishment, this reminds me of the Redditors competing to make the worst possible (Kotaku).
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
LiCB CR2032 3V Lithium Battery (10-Pack) - $7.99 at LiCB via Amazon AU SONIQ 24" LED TV - $89 at SONIQ Reolink Smart 2K Wired PoE Video Doorbell (Expired) - $84 at Reolink AliExpress Arlo Essentials 2K Video Doorbell (2nd Generation) - $99 at Bunnings Warehouse SunSare Cordless Vacuum, 40kPa, 450W 55mins Runtime - $104 at Link Best Amazon AU JBL Live Beam 3 True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds with Screen - $143 at Amazon AU JBL Bar 500 590W 5.1 Channel Virtual Atmos Soundbar - $643 at JB Hi-Fi Lubluelu SL60D Robot Vacuum and Mop - White - $154 at LublueluVac Temu ANYCUBIC Kobra 2 Max 3D Printer - $399 at Anycubic Australia eBay Canon EOS R6 Mark II Mirrorless Camera Body Only - $2598 at Harvey Norman & Georges Cameras
Computing
WD Black 2TB P10 Game Drive External HDD - $99 at Centre Com AKAI 15.6" Touch Screen Monitor - $109 at BIG W Kingston Pocket-Sized USB 3.2 Gen 2 External Solid State Drive 1TB - $119 at Amazon AU Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny PC i7-6700T 8GB RAM 256GB SSD (Refurb) - $143 at UN Tech via eBay Xiaomi Mi Router BE7000 - $177 at TRUE Mi Store via AliExpress Chatreey 2 Bay NAS (Intel N150, 2x M.2 NVMe, 2x 2.5G LAN, DP/HDMI/USB-C) - $239 at chatreey AliExpress Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Ultra Router, U6+ AP & PoE Injector Bundle - $375 at Scorptec AOOSTAR WTR PRO 4 Bay NAS (Intel N150, 2x NVMe, 2x 2.5G LAN, HDMI/DP/USB-C) - $450 at China Box AliExpress AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU - $539 at JS-Computer Store via AliExpress Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ Wi-Fi 256GB - $711 at The Good Guys eBay AMD Ryzen 9 9950X CPU - $954 at Amazon US via AU Apple Mac Mini M2 Pro (10C CPU, 16C GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $1144 at Officeworks PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper 16GB Graphics Card - $1249 at Centre Com HP OmniBook Ultra AI 14” Laptop AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX375 32GB Radeon 890M 1TB Storage - $2299 at Amazon AU
Mobile
Lifetime Subscription for iOS Screen Mirror for Chromecast - Free at Apple App Store Prepaid SIM Starter Packs at Coles amaysim 28-Day 50GB for $10 Lebara 30-Day 15GB for $7 Lebara 30-Day 70GB for $10 Catch Connect 365-Day Prepaid Mobile Plan 360GB - $179 at Catch Telstra Prepaid SIM Starter Kit 365 Days - 310 GB Data - $279 at TelcoBiz Google Pixel 8A 128GB (Bay) - $619 at Skyradar via Amazon AU Apple iPhone 15 128GB - Pink - $1167 at BIG W
# The End
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