### Issue 1389 - Friday 18th June, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- ALP doesn't like the Online Safety Bill but voted for it anyways (again)
- Facebook does what they do best and will put ads in Oculus Quest games
- Canon's smile based office door control, NHTSA's investigated 30 Tesla Autopilot incidents, Akamai's anti-DDoS platform crapped out
- Darknet Diaries podcast tells the legendary Pirate Bay story
- Cheap Zhiyun smartphone gimbal, Shure SM7B mic, Coles Mobile SIM, Elgato Stream Deck, 85" Samsung 4K TV

## The News

### ALP doesn't like the Online Safety Bill but voted for it anyways (again)

Fancy a laugh this Friday arvo? The ALP comedy act during the Senate's brief discussion of the Online Safety Bill yesterday will leave you chuckling. They agreed with the Greens that it was rushed with no consideration for the 400+ pieces of feedback gathered during the consultation process. They agree that a single person (the eSafety Commissioner) will have too much power that can be used too broadly. Yet they joined the government in voting for it, with Senator Nita Green literally saying, I quote, "While Labor will be supporting this bill we're certainly not happy with how it is being delivered". Weak as piss, again, just like what happened with the Assistance and Access Bill.

### Facebook does what they do best and will put ads in Oculus Quest games

Facebook is gonna chuck ads into Oculus Quest games. The first title to get the Zuck treatment is something called Blaston. Two other apps will get ads too, but Facebook hasn't said which ones. Facebook is promising that "raw images from Oculus headset cameras and weight or height information from Oculus Move fitness tracking" will "remain solely on users' devices" and has "no plans" to target ads based on movement data or recordings from its voice assistant. I guess this was inevitable. Showing ads is Facebook's reason to exist. It serves no other purpose but to show advertisments. Take away the ads and the whole thing collapses. Nobody would put up with Facebook's bullshit if it wasn't for the money.

### Canon's smile based office door control, NHTSA's investigated 30 Tesla Autopilot incidents, Akamai's anti-DDoS platform crapped out

- Canon's Chinese subsidiary has gone full dystopia and installed cameras at its offices with "smile recognition" technology. The cameras are linked to the company's door controls and meeting room booking system and will only allow similing employees access. Apparently "the system was intended to bring more cheerfulness to the office in the post-pandemic era".
- The USA's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Reuters that it has opened 30 investigations into Teslas that have crashed where Autopilot was in use since 2016. Of those 30, Autopilot was ruled out as the cause in 3 of them. The article doesn't explain the status of the other 27 but does say 24 investigations are pending.
- For a few hours yesterday, the websites and apps of the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac, St George, ME Bank, Macquarie Bank and Australia Post (and probably others?) shit the bed. The cause was an error with Akamai's anti-DDoS platform they all use. Apparently "a routing table value used by this particular service was inadvertently exceeded".

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Darknet Diaries podcast tells the legendary Pirate Bay story

I don't listen to many podcasts religiously, but one I enjoy popping in and out of is Darknet Diaries - "a podcast about hackers, breaches, shadow government activity, hacktivism, cybercrime, and all the things that dwell on the hidden parts of the network". A recent episode about The Pirate Bay is excellent. It's mostly an interview with Peter Sunde, going over the entire saga with about a decade of time since the bulk of the events. Even though I was around when it all happened, listening to it all distilled and laid out chronologically is a great reminder of how people thought of the internet back then. Now it would be naive to think that the free sharing of information and culture wouldn't go unchallenged by those who control that material.

## Bargains

- Zhiyun Smooth Q2 smartphone gimbal - $119 from Zhiyun
- Shure SM7B microphone - $560.28 from Amazon
- Coles Mobile (Optus MVNO) 365-day SIM with 120GB data & unlimited calls/SMS - $199 at Coles
- Elgato Stream Deck (15-key) - $173.17 from Amazon AU
- Samsung UA85AU8000WXXY 85" 4K TV - $2184 + delivery (free for Sydney metro) from Ozappliances

## The End

📻 Blind Youth Industrial Park - Metz

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

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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.​