Plus: A game for those who find Tetris too stressful ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 28, 2025 | Read online
# EU porn probe, self-hosting email and Trump's tech billionaire check-in Plus: A game for those who find Tetris too stressful
Flickr: jovike
Issue 2341 - Wednesday 28 May 2025
Sizzler Jarrod wrote in about the small Chinese hands NYT story in yesterday’s edition, sharing a 2022 story about when the Foxconn workers who make iPhones violently protested over COVID-19 restrictions (SCMP). “The people hurling steel poles are blokes, you'll notice...” Jarrod said. (As always, love hearing from Sizzlers).
# The News
### EU porn age verification complaint is the beginning of the end of an internet era
Major porn websites will need to introduce age verification methods for European users or face enormous fines (The Guardian). The European Commission announced an investigation into four large porn platforms — Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos — under Digital Services Act. Officials claim that these companies failed to protect children’s mental health from seeing inappropriate content by only having an “ineffective” one click self-declarations to verify age on their sites. These companies will have to introduce something stronger or face fines of up to 6% of turnover. This is a big moment for the global push for age verification, and imo the beginning of the end of an era of the internet that relied on the honesty system to prove age. As usual, this investigation won’t answer the million dollar question: so what are you actually going to do to prove people’s ages online? Bonus age verification story: a new Mississippi law will let people fine companies up to “$500,000 in noneconomic damages to victims harmed by viewing obscenity.” (Bluesky).
### Should punters host their own email?
US software engineer Matthew Sanabria published a simple blog post Own Your Own Domain (Matthew Sanabria). It argues if you use Gmail or Hotmail or any other external provider, your email belongs to them and you can be locked out at any time. Of course, this is true. But is self-hosting your email really worth the trade-off for most people? IMO, most people are much more likely to screw up self-hosting — whether it’s by fucking up settings or letting their hosting lapse — than get locked out by Google. I know many Sizzlers are self-hosters — I’m curious if you think the average punter should host their own email? Let me know! While we’re on self-hosting: I’ve started self-hosting Change Detector to keep track of web pages for reporting and Linkding after Sizzle godfather decryption mentioned it as a Pocket replacement.
I’m a self-hosting baby be nice
### Trump’s tech billionaire friends haven’t had much success buying favour
Shall we check in on how Trump’s tech friends are faring? Bloomberg (archive link) published a long piece on Mark Zuckerberg’s MAGA transformation which points it hasn’t resulted in any “tangible gain”, and that Trump’s policies are pushing up Meta’s hardware costs and imperilling their Chinese advertising revenue. Similarly, Trump is now threatening Tim Cook with 25% tariffs on Apple specifically (NYT, $) after initially giving the company an exemption from the 145% Chinese tariffs. Combine that with Amazon’s previous troubles, it doesn’t seem like those billionaires are getting much for donating their money and kissing Trump’s ring, does it?
lmaooo
#### Leftovers
Aussie big tech unionisation a sign of AI times (AFR, $) Services Australia refines public data to guide external AI use (IT News) Six MPs reported potential device hacks to parliamentary department in past year (Canberra Times) Exclusive: Legal Practice Board of Western Australia confirms Dire Wolf ransomware attack (Cyber Daily) Telstra expects to shrink workforce as it leans in ‘hard’ on AI — including in customer service (Guardian Australia) Tesla wins council approval for new factory in South Australia despite vocal anti-Musk sentiment (Guardian Australia) New advice on implementing SIEM/SOAR platforms in your organisation (Australian Cyber Security Centre) The App Store prevented more than $9 billion in fraudulent transactions over the last five years (Apple) Switching from iPhone to Android to get easier in iOS 19 with eSIM transfer (Apple Insider) Apple to Debut Dedicated Gaming App Within Days of Switch 2’s Arrival (Bloomberg, $) Fortnite and Sabrina Carpenter want you to come dance (The Verge) Windows 11 is getting top-level protection against the next generation of quantum cyberattacks (TechRadar) CISA loses nearly all top officials as purge continues (Cyber Security Dive) Tesla continues to circle the drain (The Verge) Elon Musk’s Neuralink raises fresh cash at $9B valuation (Semafor) Why the Original Macintosh Had a Screen Resolution of 512×342, and not 512×384 as One Might Expect (512pixels)
# Oh, Also
### A game for those who find Tetris too stressful
Life is hard. We’re all busy. So, when you find a few minutes to relax, why would you choose to spend it dealing with the stress of dealing with plunging blocks that stack up when you make a mistake? Enter Lazy Tetris. It’s the game that you know and love but without the timer, score and gravity. It’s even got an undo button. Give it a try — it’s actually quite satisfying. (PS not to be confused with Lazy Eye Tetris, a version of the game that apparently can help treat the eye malady).
Normally seeing this would spike my heart rate. But with Lazy Tetris, it’s as soothing as a head massage
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# The End
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