The News

Microsoft doing the back end for Israel’s mass surveillance of Palestinians

Microsoft is providing the infrastructure for mass phone surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza by providing cloud computing for Israel’s military surveillance agency (Guardian). Despite Microsoft’s claim there is no evidence that its products are “used to target or harm people”, Israel’s Unit 8200 reportedly told Microsoft it was storing up to 70% of all of its data (much of it audio) on Azure servers. This included hundreds of millions of intercepted phone calls used to “used to research and identify bombing targets in Gaza”. This partnership started when the Unit’s head spy met personally with big dog Satya Nadella in 2021.

The Sizzle: Microsoft’s washing of its hands is fucking bullshit. This is exactly like Australian politicians saying we only supply “non-lethal” parts of F-35s (X). Every bit of these machines and technologies makes the whole possible. Maybe Microsoft didn’t know exactly what was happening until this report — nobody believes that but sure — but now there’s zero doubt that the company is knowingly profiting by helping to pull the trigger.

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Aussie raises millions for non-existent “ethical” internet

A guy with a history of dodgy investment deals has bilked thousands of Australians out of $19 million to take part in a vapourware “ethical” version of the internet called the “Lightweb” (ABC News). David Dayan Sevelle has been revealed to be behind the Equilux Lightweb, a supposedly paedophile-free version of the internet using identity verification. He was able to get around an ASIC ban because, instead of selling shares, Sevelle sold “broadcast certificates” which are like advertising slots for this future internet that he promised would grow in value.

The Sizzle: Many people will say these investors were dumb for falling for it. I’m going to be a glass half full guy and say, wow, great to see so many people interested in alternate version of the internet. Maybe they would love the Sizzle…?

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It’s crazy how often AI bots are hitting Aussie news websites

OpenAI bots scraped Nine entertainment’s seven times every second for the whole month of June, according to the company’s CEO (AFR, $). Matt Stanton said AI companies were crawling Nine’s websites — including smh.com.au, Nine.com.au, Stan etc — “tens of millions of time a month”. That’s despite banning the bots, via robots.txt presumably.

The Sizzle: It’s not a coincidence that Nine drops this info the day after the Productivity Commission report comes out. Australia has one of the most concentrated media markets in the world, and the heads of those companies — Nine and News, mostly — are already going hard against suggestions to ditch copyright protections. The Albanese government has been very receptive to their demands so far, so I’m not surprised to see Industry Minister Tim Ayres quickly say there’s "no plans” to change copyright law now (InnovationAus, $).

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Leftovers

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Oh, Also

Male version of women’s safety app practices feminism by also being hacked

After introducing you to the not-very-safe women’s safety app Tea that was repeatedly hacked last week, I thought it’s only fair to share this news: A male version of the app, called TeaOnHer, launched last week. It got filled with what looked like non-consensual sexual imagery. Then proceeded to get hacked too to reveal its users’ personal info (Tech Crunch).

Who said chivalry is dead!

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Bargains

Electrical and Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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

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