### Issue 2081 - Monday 6th May, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Government making an app to alert people if their ID is verified without permission
- Microsoft seems very embarassed by recent spate of major security issues
- Envato sold to Shutterstock, Optus poaches NBN CEO, Telstra delays 3G network shutdown until August
- Everything you wanted to know about the News Media Bargaining Code but were afraid to ask
- Cheap gaming headset, gaming mouse, Lenovo Z1 Extreme, TCL TV, 10% off Macs, Boost Mobile SIM, free 4G Nokia for 3G trade-in, 44.5" monitor, Peugeot EV, IKEA Zigbee plug, Ryzen 8600G, DJI gimbal, Polaroid camera, refurb Dell micro PC, Samsung & Apple bluetooth trackers, AirPods Pro, Xbox Elite controller, ThinkPad X1 Carbon

## The News

### Government making an app to alert people if their ID is verified without permission

The Attorney-General announced it'll spend $11m to develop "a mobile app and secure website that will enable all Australians to easily and swiftly protect their identity credentials from cyber crooks". This unnamed app will work on top of the Credential Protection Register - a service the Attorney-General operates that blocks the use of known compromised credentials through the Document Verification Service. The new app will "will allow an individual to be notified, in real time, if someone is using their identity without their consent. Individuals will then be able to act immediately to control their identity credentials by enabling or disabling their use for verification". Sounds pretty good, hope they don't fuck it up.

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### Microsoft seems very embarassed by recent spate of major security issues

Satya Nadella sent a memo to all Microsoft employees last week telling them "if you're faced with the tradeoff between security and another priority, your answer is clear: Do security". I would have assumed that was common sense, but apparently that wasn't the case for Microsoft. In the memo he lays out three core principles that will guide "the entirety of our organization" - Secure by Design, Secure by Default and Secure Operations. The memo also mentions "prioritizing security over supporting legacy systems", a departure from Microsoft's status quo. You know it's serious when they're going to link some executive pay to "meeting our security plans and milestones". This is a response to a series of very shitty security issues like an Exchange 0-day that allowed Chinese hackers to access US government emails and the enormous SolarWinds incident.

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### Envato sold to Shutterstock, Optus poaches NBN CEO, Telstra delays 3G network shutdown until August

- Australia has two new very rich nerds. Collis and Cyan Ta'eed have sold Melbourne based Envato to Shutterstock for $373m after 18 years running the business. Collis Ta'eed basically had enough of Envato, cashed out and is now pursuing "other passions".
- Optus has a new CEO - Stephen Rue - the guy who has been NBN CEO since 2018. He said in a press release that he wants to "accelerate the transformation of Optus" so Australians have "the choice of a strong alternative telecoms provider". Cool, whatever.
- Telstra is delaying its 3G network closure. It will now be turned off August 31st instead of June 30. Not sure it'll make much difference to the areas where only 3G coverage exists. That's the bigger problem nobody's talking about IMHO.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Everything you wanted to know about the News Media Bargaining Code but were afraid to ask

Does the Australian government's News Media Bargaining Code totally confuse you? Why does it exist? Why is it so stupid? Why is Meta threatening to remove news from its platforms? Why are people who hate Meta and Google taking their side on this issue? Axel Bruns, a professor at QUT, has a blog post answering all those questions. A good quote from the post: "having news on Facebook may be important for society, as research shows that many citizens now use Facebook and other social media to inform themselves about the news; but it is not at all important to Meta itself, since Facebook is also used for many other purposes which generate more engagement and revenue than the news. In fact, for Meta news and politics is often more trouble than it's worth: while it might generate some engagement and advertising revenue, it also generates plenty of controversial debate, abuse, hate speech, mis- and disinformation that are costly to moderate".

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## Bargains

- Logitech G PRO X Superlight 2 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse - $189 on eBay
- EPOS Sennheiser GSP 670 Wireless Gaming Headset & bonus mouse pad - $99.01 on eBay
- Lenovo Legion Go Z1 Extreme handheld PC - $1199 from Lenovo
- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM with 170GB data, unlimited called & SMS - $189.50 from Telco Biz Traders
- TCL C845 Mini LED 65" 4K TV - $1366 from The Good Guys
- 10% off Macs at The Good Guys, Amazon and Officeworks
- Take your old 3G phone to Harvey Norman and they'll give you a Nokia 110 4G phone via Asurion's trade-in program
- Lenovo R45w-30 44.5" 5120x1440 165Hz VA-panel monitor - $797 at Officeworks
- Peugeot E-2008 GT electric car - $39,990 from Peugeot
- IKEA Tradfri Zigbee smart power outlet - $12 from IKEA
- AMD Ryzen 5 8600G APU/CPU - $319.02 on eBay
- DJI Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal - $985.42 on eBay
- Polaroid Now Plus camera - $156.75 on eBay
- Refurb Dell Optiplex 7060 micro PC (i5-8500T, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $178.62 on eBay
- Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 4-Pack - $97.50 on eBay
- Apple Airtag 4-Pack - $124.02 on eBay
- Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) - $329.99 from Costco (hit me up if you need a Costco member to buy for you)
- Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 - $149.25 on eBay
- Open box Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (i7-1255U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 1920x1200 14" screen, warranty until 12/2027) - $1,399 from Metrocom

## Image Of The Day

Department of Employment and Industrial Affairs, [1970-1990?] (National Library of Australia)

## The End

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