Plus: Some sweet required reading for future Sizzles ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 26, 2025 | Read online
# Ransomware payment disclosure, Texas' hectic age verification and crypto helps family court dads Plus: Some sweet required reading for future Sizzles
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Flickr: pamhule
Issue 2339 - Monday 26 May 2025
# The News
### Ransomware payment disclosure and cyber attack inquest law coming into effect
Many businesses in Australia will need to report any ransomware payments starting from this Friday as some new government cyber rules come into effect (Security Brief). Under the Cyber Security Act regulations, companies with more than a $3m annual turnover must disclose information about a cyber attack, its impact, the amount of ransomware paid and how it was paid (Legislation dot gov dot au). It’s also the start date for a review board which will do a post-mortem on “significant” cyber security incidents — reserved for serious impacts to the nation, Australian people or “novel or complex” methods — referred by the government or the victim (Home Affairs). TLDR: we’re about to get some more content about people getting pwned in Australia.
### Texas to go app store-level age verification as Australia’s ban inches closer
If you thought Australia’s social media ban was full-on, check out Texas where they’re set to go even further (NBC News). The law will required social media platforms to verify the ages of all users, to ban all users under 18 and to make platforms give parents the ability to delete their children’s accounts within 10 days. Unlike Australia, this law specifically puts the onus on the app store to verify a user’s age, which has prompted Apple’s Tim Cook to personally lobby Texas Governor and whacko Greg Abbott to veto the bill (WSJ, gift link). Back home, the government trial of age verification technologies is getting to the pointy end with 25+ trial participants set to undergo “some degree of practical technical testing”, mystery shoppers and test classrooms soon (Biometric Update).
### Crypto is helping family court dads and dodgy business guys hide money
Wow! Another exciting use for cryptocurrencies has just emerged: Australians are turning to cryptocurrencies to try and hide money during their divorces or when their businesses are going bust (The Australian, $). Apparently, it’s becoming increasingly common to call in forensic experts to the family courts or via liquidators to just try and find where people are squirrelling away money, making these processes even harder and more expensive than they already are. Speaking of criminal crypto conduct: US President Donald J Trump held a dinner for the owners of his memecoin on Thursday night, US time, welcoming 220 investors who had collectively spent $220~ million on $TRUMP (Reuters). I wonder what they’re getting in return for their ““““““investment”””””?
| H.E. Justin Sun 🍌 @justinsuntron |
I was awarded a Trump Golden Tourbillon watch by Trump!
5:05 AM • May 23, 2025
3.34K Likes 246 Retweets
471 Replies
#### Leftovers
Telstra addresses external antenna claims by Vodafone (ITNews) AI to transform telecoms but technology won’t completely replace humans, new Optus CEO says (The Guardian Australia) Junk food ads are flooding your teenager's social media feeds and it's influencing what they choose to eat (ABC News) Buying an EV in Australia may be easy but getting one fixed isn’t that simple (SMH, $) Getting medicated has never been easier, and Canberra is worried (AFR, $) Regulating X isn’t censorship. It’s self-defence (The Strategist) Netflix joins OzTAM (Ad News) “Who will pay the journalists to go on providing that kind of information in the future, you IP-stealing fucking leeches?” (Unmade) Govt opened the innovation grant tap just before election (InnovationAus, $) Live facial recognition cameras may become ‘commonplace’ as police use soars (The Guardian) At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work (NYT, $) Leak suggests xAI is getting ready to ship Grok 3.5 (Bleeping Computer) OpenAI ChatGPT o3 caught sabotaging shutdown in terrifying AI test (Betanews) Anthropic’s new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline (TechCrunch) Google’s Veo 3 AI video generator is a slop monger’s dream (The Verge) A Wall Behind A Wall: Emerging Regional Censorship in China (Great Firewall Report) Jony Ive’s OpenAI Deal Puts Pressure on Apple to Find Next Big Thing (Bloomberg, archived) This Is One Of The Most Popular Games On The Planet Right Now (Kotaku) Cyan updates 'Myst' franchise for native Apple Silicon performance (Apple Insider)
# Oh, Also
### Some sweet requi
### red reading for future Sizzles
The “Oh, Also” section has been too low-brow, so it’s time to insert some intellectual rigour. I came across this fascinating paper discussing how the American confectionary industry protects its intellectual property and its use of patents that I wanted to share with you. ‘Trade Secrecy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory’ is a rollicking read published in the The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy: A Handbook of Contemporary Research (SSRN). I’m assigning this as Sizzle required reading so we can elevate the level of discourse in this newsletter.
Incredible footnotes
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronic
Xiaomi 67W Dual USB-A/C GaN USB-PD Charger and 1m cable - $34.90 at Xiaomi ANZ via Amazon AU SanDisk Extreme PRO microSDXC 256GB - $39 at Pocketshop Australia eBay Shokz OpenMove Wireless Headphones Grey - $103 at 99 Bikes SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wired Multi-System Gaming Headset - $275.92 at PC, PlayStation & Switch Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm LTE - $279.20 at Mobileciti Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic 47mm Bluetooth Silver - $314 at Becextech TP-Link Tapo RV30 Max Hyper Suction Robot Vacuum & Mop + Smart Auto-Empty Dock - $399 at JB Hi-Fi DJI Neo Drone Fly More Combo at Kogan Base for $412.20 Motion Fly More Combo for $640.80 Ecovacs X5 Pro Ultra Robot Vacuum (New User Only) - $740 at Taobao App Dreame X50 Pro Robot Vacuum - $750 at Taobao App Ffalcon 75" U64 4K UHD Google TV (2024) - $799 at JB Hi-Fi Sony FE 20-70mm F/4 G Lens with $100 Sony Cashback - $1099 at digiDirect Samsung HW-Q990F/XY Soundbar - $1590 at Appliance Central
Computing
North Bayou Gas Strut Monitor Arm: F80 9kg - $31.96 at Screen Mounts Amazon AU Alienware 720m Tri-Mode Wireless Mouse - $99 at ecofurb MSI B650M Gaming WiFi AM5 mATX Motherboard - $159 at Centre Com WD Blue Internal Hard Drive 8TB CMR 3.5-Inch SATA 5640 RPM 256MB Cache - $199.39 at Amazon Japan via AU Acer CZ342CUR H 34" UWQHD 1ms Curved Height Adjustable Monitor - $359 at JW Computers via Kogan Dell S2725QC 27" 4K UHD 120hz USB-C Monitor - $399.41 at Dell Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF CPU - $412.79 at Amazon US via AU AOOSTAR WTR PRO 4 Bay NAS (Ryzen 7 5825U) - $595.57 at China Box AliExpress MINISFORUM Bd795i SE Motherboard: AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX Onboard - $639.99 at MINISFORUM Store Amazon AU Gigabyte Radeon RX 7800 XT Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6 Graphics Card - $749 at Centre Com AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU - $758 at Tech PC Store AliExpress PNY Verto NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB Dual Fan OC Graphics Card - $959 at KS Computer Amazon AU AW2725Q 27 Inch 4K QD Oled - $977.02 at Dell ASRock Radeon RX 9070 Challenger 16GB - $1049 at Scorptec Gaming PC: AMD 9800X3D CPU RTX 5080 GPU 32GB RAM 1TB M.2 G4 SSD 850W PSU - $3492 at UMKLOGIC
Mobile
27% Cashback on Vodafone Prepaid Mobile Plans Railways - Train Simulator Traffix - $0 at Google Play Store amaysim 28-Day 50GB Prepaid SIM and 600 everyday rewards points - $10 at Woolworths In-Store Vodafone HMD Pulse+ 4GB RAM/128GB Storage with Vodafone $35 Prepaid Starter Kit - $89.10 at BIG W Samsung Galaxy A16 4G 4GB RAM/128GB Storage - $176.51 at Sydney Mobiles eBay Telstra 310GB 12-Month Prepaid SIM Starter Kit - $285 at AudiTech HMD Skyline Dual SIM 12/256GB Blue Topaz - $489.65 at Amazon AU Apple iPhone 16e and 1000 Everyday Rewards Points - $987 at BIG W
# The End
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