The news media bargaining code was a dud so now we have the news media bargaining incentive. It'll require digital platforms pulling in over $250m of Australian revenue (so really just Meta, TikTok & Google) to either pay the government or enter a deal with news media outlets directly. The government is hoping the platforms will enter a deal as that will be cheaper than whatever number the government pulls out of its arse. They came up with this method so if Meta for example decides to block or ban news on its platform so it doesn't have to enter a deal with media companies, it'll have to pay the government anyways. Consultation paper coming next year according to the press release.
Automattic has been told by a judge to "stop blocking WP Engine's access to WordPress.org resources and interfering with its plugins" until WP Engine's beef is heard in court. If you've forgotten, Automattic's CEO and WordPress Foundation boss Matt Mullenweg accused WP Engine of "misusing the WordPress trademark and not contributing enough to the WordPress community", which now looks more like an extortion attempt than any genuine concern for WordPress. When the injunction was handed down, Matt spat the dummy on Slack, saying "it's hard to imagine wanting to continue to working on WordPress after this" and then changed his username to "gone" plus a skull emoji.
A bunch of academics and Paris Marx from the Tech Won't Save Us podcast have published Reclaiming digital sovereignty: A roadmap to build a digital stack for people and the planet. In it, they "outline a progressive reform agenda to enhance digital sovereignty for people and the planet with the following 4 key proposals". Those proposals are - "a democratic, public-led digital stack", "a research agenda focused on digital developments that could solve collective problems and enhance human capacities", "ground digital sovereignty in an ecological internationalism" and "strict mechanisms to dismantle state surveillance or misappropriation of collective solutions by specific governments". Interesting reading if you feel like getting revolutionary on a Thursday arvo.
From the 30 May 1970 edition of New Idea (HappySwordsman / Internet Archive)
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