### Issue 1599 - Wednesday 4th May, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Company sucking up location info is selling data on visits to abortion clinics
- Australian Digital Passenger Declaration app sucks very hard
- TPG also thinks Netflix, Meta, YouTube etc are getting a "free ride" on their infrastructure
- The Apple car lives! Long term Ford manager defects to Cupertino
- Cheap Intel laptop, WD external HDD, SanDisk microSD, Samsung SSD, Synology NAS, GoPro 10

## The News

### Company sucking up location info is selling data on visits to abortion clinics

Vice's Motherboard has uncovered a company called SafeGraph that "obtains location data from ordinary apps installed on people's phones", "repackages that location data and other data into various products" and sells that data. This is a common practice we all hate, but what's made this specific instance so gross is SafeGraph offering Family Planning Centers and Planned Parenthood as "brands" you can buy location data on, for only US$160. Combined with the US Supreme Court's plans to repeal legal abortion protections, the ability to easily know who is going to these clinics is fucking bad news.

### Australian Digital Passenger Declaration app sucks very hard

The little paper slip you'd give to Customs at the airport as you leave and arrive in the country has been replaced by an app and website - the Digital Passenger Declaration. Unsurprising for a government app, it sucks. The Community and Public Sector Union says its members "have estimated that up to 75% of passengers coming into Australia have been unable to properly complete the declaration on the DPD" and is pissed off the app is only in English, despite travelers from all over the world expected to use it. The union blames poorly supervised outsourcing and a government that didn't even bother to investigate if it could be done in-house.

### TPG also reckons companies making a profit off internet infrastructure they paid to use for is a problem

TPG has joined Optus in sooking about over-the-top services. According to TPG's CEO Inaki Berroeta, "the connectivity we provide has enabled the nation's shift to new ways of hybrid working, it's led to an acceleration in the digitisation of the economy, and it's provided the critical infrastructure other industries such as streaming, gaming and entertainment have relied, thrived and enjoyed a free ride upon" - apparently this is a bad thing?! Isn't that the whole point of infrastructure? A base to allow others to thrive? If you think it's a bad business to be in, move over and let someone else have a crack. I'm sure people like Phil Britt and Bevan Slattery would love to have this problem.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The Apple car lives! Long term Ford manager defects to Cupertino

Apple's car project is still alive. How do we know this? They've poached Desi Ujkashevic, a 31-year Ford veteran that was the global director of automotive safety engineering and was previously responsible for "managing engineering design deliverables including achievement of cost, profit, quality, and timing objectives". Why would you lure over an expert in automotive engineering if you didn't intend to build a car? Why would you quit after 30 years at Ford to join Apple if there was nothing serious going on? Still don't know what Apple has planned, but I am ready for it, whatever it is.

## Bargains

- Intel NUC M15 laptop (15.6" 1080p, i7-1165G7 CPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $1169.10 from Bing Lee's eBay store
- WD 16 TB Elements desktop external HDD - $407.45 from Amazon UK
- SanDisk Ultra A1 256GB microSD card - $32.95 + post from Shopping Square
- Samsung T7 2TB portable SSD - $297.21 from MyDeal
- Synology DS920+ NAS - $767.75 from Shopping Express eBay
- GoPro HERO10 Black with 1 year Go Pro subscription & 32GB microSD card - $529.95 from GoPro

## The End

📻 Wasted - Black Flag

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