Plus: We want YOUR LAN party photos ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

June 05, 2025 | Read online
# OpenAI can't delete chats, tech removing less bullshit and right to disconnect test Plus: We want YOUR LAN party photos
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Edition 2347
Flickr: wwward0
# The News
### OpenAI legally can’t delete your chats. Oops.
OpenAI has been ordered to retain all user chats, even those that are sensitive or intended to be deleted (Mastodon). The order was handed down by a court that’s hearing the copyright case filed by the New York Times and other news organisations against the AI company (court filing). Those news companies say that OpenAI only handing over chat logs from users who had chosen to save their conversations was essentially destroying evidence that people were using ChatGPT to circumvent paywall (Ars Technica) I actually think this decision by a single judge is insane, not least because, as OpenAI points out, forcing them to keep everything is a huge violation of existing contracts with users and probably has significant legal ramifications. (Another important point: this court order is nearly a month old and we’ve only just heard about it, which means that OpenAI hasn’t told its users about this?). I’m not going to turn this newsletter into the “I Told You So Daily” but remember when I said AI therapists were honeypots? You can’t say I didn’t tell you so
### Tech companies are removing less bullshit in Australia, we think
Big Tech’s Australian industry group has released its annual report on what it does to combat bullshit and lies on its platforms today (DIGI). As part of the Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI)’s self-regulation on mis/disinformation, companies like Meta, Google, TikTok and Twitch release Australia-specific stats on things like how many videos were removed and moderation actions. If you are a nerd like me, I encourage diving into the reports — I haven’t had a chance to yet — but the most interesting angle I’ve seen is content moderation actions for misinformation has plummeted (InnovationAus, $). Like, YouTube went from removing 20,000 videos in 2023 for misinformation to 5,000 videos last year. While some stuff in these reports is worthwhile, it’s worth mentioning that these “transparency measures” are not really that transparent. Things like raw numbers don’t tell us much by themselves, and governments should force tech companies to tell us more.
### Tech let our jobs swallow up our whole lives. Now, we can do something about it
It’s game on for Australia’s right to disconnect law, with the first case of someone citing the law in an unlawful dismissal case (AFR, $). A Cairns teacher is asking for just under $800,000 in lost income and pain because she claims she was illegally fired in part for refusing to respond to misconduct allegations on school holidays, a period which she claims was outside of her working hours. I’m a big fan of the right to disconnect — unless it’s unreasonable of course — because technology has enabled this cultural creep of always being available that legitimately wasn’t possible before email and the smartphone. On the other side of the double-edged sword, tech has also made work from home possible and it is crazy to me that so many companies have gone back to arbitrarily forcing people to trudge into the office (news.com.au). (If you have any thoughts re: right to disconnect or WFH, please send me an email and tell me how I’m right or wrong!)
#### Leftovers
Victoria Police refreshes online reporting (ITNews) Tech Council of Australia strengthens Board with appointment of Professor Simmons (TCA) Interesting to see which way Australia’s tech industry thinks the wind is blowing What Apple’s 30% App Store blow means for Australian businesses (Smart Company) One in five Australian secondary schools are planning to introduce or expand AI tech this year (Campion Education) Google and Chile sign deal for sub cable linking South America with Australia (Capital Brief) The Nintendo Switch 2 is here: all of the launch news (The Verge) World-first biocomputing platform hits the market (IEEE Spectrum) Not sure if this is bullshit or whatever, but it’s an Australian company so at the very least it’s our bullshit! Microsoft didn’t cut services to International Criminal Court, its president says (Politico) Trump tariff turmoil hurting global smartphone market, but hitting US hardest (The Register) “Analyst Counterpoint Research revised its global smartphone shipment forecast for 2025 … down to 1.9 percent year-over-year growth from a previously forecast 4.2 percent.” Ukraine claims it hacked Tupolev, Russia’s strategic warplane maker (Bleeping Computer) Musk’s Tesla seeks to guard crash data from public disclosure (Reuters) A Fatal Tesla Crash Shows the Limits of Full Self-Driving (Bloomberg) One thing Tesla and Comma ai overlooked in self-driving (Deep Dream Substack) Apple appeal to pause injunction enforcement allowing external linking fails (AppleInsider) Exclusive: AirPods to get camera control, sleep detection, new gestures, more (9to5Mac) Here’s what’s inside Meta’s experimental new smart glasses (The Verge) Autonomous drone from TU Delft defeats human champions in historic racing first (TUDelft) VC money is fueling a global boom in worker surveillance tech (Rest of World) Reddit sues Anthropic, alleging its bots accessed Reddit more than 100,000 times since last July (The Verge) Klarna CEO says company will use humans to offer VIP customer service (TechCrunch) This is where the trend of AI in business will go: rich people get humans, everyone else gets bot 5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT. (Washington Post) GenAI is Our Polyester (Culture) Enjoyed this a lot.
# Oh, Also
### We want YOUR LAN party photos
Sizzler Anne has passed on a call-out for people to submit LAN party photos for an upcoming exhibition at Australia’s video game museum, ACMI. A future exhibition Game Worlds “celebrates the golden age of multiplayer mayhem” and they need your greasiest, dimmest, stanky-est images to be immortalised. If you have a photo, send it to videogames@acmi.net.au (and cc me because, well, I just want to see it). I’m not being paid for this I just think it sounds sick!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can smell this photo. Flickr: kewima
# Bargains
Electrical & electronics
Otterbox Lightning to USB-C Cable Fast Charge Premium - $9.99 at ZUSLAB AU eBay Garmin Vivofit Jr. 3, Kids Fitness/Activity Tracker - $99 at Amazon AU Anker Prime 200W 6-Port GaN Charging Station (4x USB-C & 2x USB-A) - $107 at AnkerDirect via Amazon AU TP-Link Tapo C410 2K Camera 4-Pack - $232 at Amazon AU Technics Premium Hi-Fi True Wireless EAH-AZ80 Earbuds with Advanced Noise Cancelling - $259 at Amazon DE via AU Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 Earbuds (Black Graphite) - $260 at Amazon AU Canon EOS R8 FX Mirrorless Camera at Ryda-Online eBay (eBay Plus) Camera for $1529 with 24-50MM Kit for $1690
Computing
Folishine CAT 7 Flat Ethernet Cable 5m - $7.99 at Folishine AU via Amazon AU SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO microSDXC Card + SD Adapter - $29 at Amazon AU SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe 512GB - $56 at Amazon AU (Price Beat at Officeworks) Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny Mini PC i5-8400T 1.70GHz 8GB 250GB SSD (Refurbished) - $200 at Technology Locker eBay Lexar NM790 4TB SSD with Heatsink, M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe (Back Order) - $389 at Amazon AU Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Touch Laptop: Intel i5-10310U, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Win11 Pro (Refurbished) - $485 at CLS HP ProBook 440 G10 Laptop: Intel Core i5-1334U CPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $899 at Hub by Triforce Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 (14'' Touch DP, Intel Core i5-1335U CPU, Intel Iris Xe GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $1599 at Emporium Electronics Gaming PC Offerings at GALAPOWER RTX 5070 Deal for $1699 Ryzen 5 7500F 32GB 6000MHz CL30 1TB Gen4 RX 9070 XT for $1899
Mobile
1GB Travel eSIM (New Customers) - $0 at Saily Belong Mobile 100GB Starter Pack - $22 at Coles Half Price SIM Plan for 6 Months at Vodafone - only for certain postcodes, unclear if it’s primarily WA or all suburbian areas. Good luck! Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold 5G 256GB on JB Hi-Fi Mobile $99/M 24M SIM Plan - $197 upfront at JB Hi-Fi Boost Mobile 365GB Prepaid 12-Month Expiry SIM with $55 cash back - $320 at TopCashback AU Motorola Edge 50 Neo 12GB RAM/256GB Storage - $348 at Harvey Norman Samsung Galaxy S23 AI Smartphone 256GB, Green - $669 at Amazon AU Samsung Galaxy S25 256GB + Galaxy Tab A9+ 5G - $1063 at Samsung EDU Google Pixel 9 Pro XL at JB Hi-Fi 128GB for $1078 256GB for $1198 Apple iPhone 16 Pro at Costco 128GB for $1525 256GB for $1730
# The End
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