Apple made a statement to a handful of media outlets saying "due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these features - iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements, and Apple Intelligence - to our EU users this year". Going on to say that "the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security". They haven't said how exactly, so it feels to me like Apple is being petty and withholding these features as leverage, or even spite, hoping Apple users in the EU have a sook and public opinion shifts enough with a new EU parliament coming in soon, that the regulators look bad and a new cohort of politicians do something about it.
About 500,000 books have been removed from public view off the Internet Archive after it lost its court case against book publishers got upset the IA loaned out more digital copies than physical copies of books they owned they owned during COVID lockdowns while libraries were shut. Instead of simply being punished for that act (which depending how see it, was either a brave provocation to get a ruling that didn't go IA's way, or a reckless act that IA should have known better not to even try), the publishers have demanded over 500,000 be taken down and the IA had to comply. The IA is fighting a bigger argument about fair treatment of digital libraries by greedy publishers and the IA is appealing the court's decision to allow this. Probably a good time to remind everyone about Anna's Archive.
In a submission to the Senate Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, the eSafety Commissioner said "if age-based restrictions are imposed, eSafety has concerns that some young people will access social media in secrecy. This may mean that they access social media without adequate protections in place and are more likely to use less regulated non-mainstream services that increase their likelihood of exposure to serious risks" and that age assurance is "not a panacea for online harms" and education and awareness-raising activities must also be included". I agree, but what the hell? This is very different to the Commissioner's previous statements that social media being hell holes of CSAM, child grooming, cyber bullying and terrorist gang recruitment activity and welcoming age assurance technology trials.
Mozilla keeps shooting itself in the foot when we need them the most, this time wasting precious social capital and effort purchasing Anonym - "a trailblazer in privacy-preserving digital advertising" founded by two former Meta executives. Look, sure, maybe Anonym is good and actually does manage to preserve your digital privacy while also showing relevant ads, but hello, Mozilla, who gives a fuck? This is not what the kind of person that still uses Firefox and supports Mozilla's goals wants you to be dabbling in. Make Firefox the best open source browser it can be, find a way to stop sucking at Google's teat for revenue and be a strong and loud advocate for open web standards and digital privacy.
Department of Employment, Education and Training, 1987 (National Library of Australia)
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