Issue 2284 - Wednesday 5 March, 2025

In Today’s Issue

The News

An Australian book publisher and Gina Rinehart’s AI plans

A prominent Australian publisher has given authors a week to agree to their books being used to train AI for an undisclosed company (The Guardian Australia). Black Inc, which publishes Quarterly Essay and predominantly non-fiction books, promised its authors a split of revenue and “increased visibility and credibility” in return for signing a broad agreement to use their work. Thankfully, Australia isn’t yet adopting the proposed UK copyright law reforms that reverse the onus so that authors need to opt-out of AI training on their data (The Guardian) — not that these companies give a shit about copyright anyway (TechCrunch).

A powerful parliamentary committee has called for a federal government-wide audit of AI use down to an individual public servant level (IT News). Its ‘proceed with caution’ report (APH) is pretty optimistic about AI use but also warns about risks and worries that time is running out to get a handle on the tech. The committee recommended a immediate, big policy response including surveying every public servant about its use and creating an on-going committee specifically to monitor government AI use. But you know who’s not worried about AI acceleration? Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart! She told a mining magazine during a International Women’s Day interview that one way to improve the industry for women is to “exit the Paris Accord [which would] allow more development of AI and its applications“ (Australian Mining Monthly).

Meta, TikTok and Snapchat attack YouTube ban exemption

TikTok, Meta and Snapchat have come out in a coordinated strike against Australia’s teen social media ban’s exemption for YouTube (ABC News). As those of you who’ve been reading my reporting (Crikey, $) already know 😏, there’s some puzzling decisions being proposed for the ban’s implementation. Key among them is how YouTube — which includes its TikTok clone YouTube Shorts — is specifically excluded from the ban. Snapchat says this is “arbitrary”, TikTok calls it a “sweetheart deal” and Meta says it “makes a mockery of the government's stated intention … to protect young people".

Hate to line up alongside big tech but IMO they are right on this one. One big question that I haven’t been able to get a good answer from anyone about is why YouTube needs an exemption even as an educational resource. Remember: the teen social media ban is only about stopping under 16s from having an account. So kids won’t be restricted from watching WooTube or Parliament (or any other junk YouTube video for that matter) even if YouTube was part of the social media ban, only from commenting or liking or posting videos. So… why are they excluded? Beats me. Very odd policymaking from the government. (Is it a coincidence that Google is the only big tech company still striking deals with news publishers under Australia’s news media bargaining code? You decide 🤷 )

Should we trust our data to companies from other countries?

Ontario premier Doug Ford — not to be mistaken with his proto-Trump brother Rob Ford — has cancelled his province’s Starlink contract and pledged to no longer give contracts to American companies, in response to Trump’s tariffs (ABC News).

In the UK, Apple is challenging its government’s backdoor demand which is still a current problem even after the tech company withdrew its encrypted cloud service from the region because the UK’s legal request was for access to the service worldwide (Financial Times, archived). What’s the link between the stories? Between the US’ authoritarian turn and the UK’s enormous demand, there’s more reason to be uneasy about trusting our data to be handled by companies beholden to other governments who might not treat it the way that we expect. See: ‘It is no longer safe to move our governments and societies to US clouds.’ (berthub.se)

Today’s leftovers

Apple launches a new M3-powered iPad Air (The Verge)
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: Apple and Google should be worried (Tom’s Hardware)
Vodafone, AST SpaceMobile agree to create satellite to smartphone service provider (ITWire)
2025 – a pivotal year for internet governance (auDA)
ACCC releases first quarterly dataset on NBN service quality and network performance (ACCC)
YouTube will soon restrict creators from mentioning certain online gambling sites (The Verge)
Google releases SpeciesNet, an AI model designed to identify wildlife (TechCrunch)

Oh, Also

A way to put your GameCube or Wii to good use

As someone who recognises how Australia’s overbearing restrictions on gaming may have made us recession-proof (X), I am so pleased to share this project with you: Windows NT on GameCube, Wii and Wii U (GitHub). Finally a good use for those godforsaken devices.

Bargains

Electrical & Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday afternoon. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.

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Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Gadigal 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.