### Issue 1952 - Friday 13th October, 2023

Thanks for having me folks, Anthony will be back on Monday. For anyone keen to chat and scheme about digital rights, come find me on socials! Have a lovely weekend and let's all keep our fingers crossed for a good referendum outcome. CW: some mention of stalking and family violence below. Take care.

## In Today's Issue

- Artist sabotaging AI
- Major Cloud Providers release findings on record-breaking DDoS attack
- Dozens join lawsuit against Apple over AirTag-assisted stalking
- Get me back into the Buffyverse right now (please)
- Baseus Powerbank, Bose gear, Corsair Keyboard, HyperX Gaming Headset

## The News

### Artist sabotaging AI

A new tool called Kudurru has been launched by a startup called Spawning to help artists block new attempts to train AI models on their work. How does it work? Spawning basically operates a "defense network" of websites to generate an IP blacklist. Beyond simply blocking blacklisted IP addresses, artists can opt to sabotage or "poison" the scraped training data by sending back a different image than the one requested. It's too early to tell how this might play out but this kind of sabotage could end up spoiling how AI generators interpret prompts. Artists and creative workers are truly on the forefront of the battle with creeping AI, from organised labor movements, to author lawsuits and copyright activists, and of course, creative technological sabotage.

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### Major Cloud Providers release findings on record-breaking DDoS attack

Earlier this year, a botnet of 20,000 compromised machines set a new DDoS record, bombarding servers with over 398 million requests per second. These figures steamrolled previous DDoS records (which, if you're feeling nerdy and nostalgic, you can read about here.) They did it by manipulating a HTTP/2 feature that allows a web browser to cancel its request for data. This week, AWS, Google and Cloudflare have released their findings about the attacks, as well as recommendations for mitigating techniques.

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### Dozens join lawsuit against Apple over AirTag-assisted stalking

More than three dozen people who have experienced stalking through the use of Apple AirTags have joined a class-action lawsuit against Apple. Plaintiffs are arguing that Apple has been negligent in mitigating the risks caused by AirTags, especially given the increased reporting and case studies demonstrating how AirTags have been used for stalking, violence and other forms of abuse and harassment. What makes this all the more frustrating is that both tech and family violence experts warned Apple about the potential harms before they released AirTags. Apple went ahead anyway. At the time, cybersecurity expert Eva Galperin called AirTags "uniquely harmful," and said that Apple's mitigation efforts when they came out were "woefully insufficient." To learn more about why Apple AirTags are particularly dangerous (compared to say, Tile), head here. Apple is expected to move to dismiss the lawsuit by 27 October.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Get me back into the Buffyverse right now (please)

A bunch of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have reunited for an audio original podcast called "Slayers: A Buffyverse Story." Is this appropriate to go in this section of the Sizzle? Friends, I don't know but this is what I do know: I need this. I need it to be good. Given all the Big Bads in the world, I'm sure you can relate to taking solace in your favourite pop culture escapism. It also feels important given a key motivation is to reclaim the Buffyverse after creator Joss Whedon allegedly abused power on set. Heartbreaking. I hate Amazon and want to see it burn but then again, if this Audible original can bring the Buffyverse back to life and empower the actors and writers working on it, I'm so in.

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## Bargains

- Baseus 65W Type-C Powerbank - $54.09 from Baseus eBay
- Bose Soundbar 500 - $549.95 (down from $799.95) from Bose
- Bose QuietComfort SE headphones - $369.95 (down from $449.95) from Bose
- Corsair K100 Wireless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - $433.95 from Amazon
- HyperX Cloud II Wireless Gaming Headset - $209 from Amazon

## Image Of The Day

Linus Torvalds, who wrote the free Linux computer operating software, demonstrates "Crusoe" 19 January in Saratoga, California. Crusoe is a smart microprocessor based on sofware that could revolutionize the field of mobile computing. Torvalds is part of Transmeta's engineering team for the Crusoe smart microprocessor. (JOHN G. MABANGLO/AFP via Getty Images)

## The End

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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.