Plus: how much does the internet weigh? It's not a couple of strawberries. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 25, 2025 | Read online
# Silent Hill isn't banned, 23andMe's sale means you don't know who has your DNA & Google says news doesn't make money Plus: how much does the internet weigh? It's not a couple of strawberries.
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Issue 2298 - Tuesday 25 March 2025
I forgot to say yesterday — I loved all the emails about the folding phones! Turns out we have a few foldies in our midst, although not all of them are happy. As always, feel free to reply, email me directly or let us know your thoughts on any story in the Slack server and forum.
# The News
### Silent Hill f isn’t banned but I won’t back down on Australia’s classification system
Silent Hill f isn’t banned in Australia. A Classification Board spokesperson confirmed to me that the game’s ‘Refused Classification’ has been removed from its database, that it does not currently hold a classification and will be classified before release. On Bluesky, Australian gaming reporter Edmond Tran suggested gamemaker Konami may have used an International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) tool which automatically gives it an Australian rating which is then initially adopted by our Classification Board (Classification Board). These automatic classifications — useful for the gazillion pieces of content created around the world that wouldn’t specifically seek Australian classification — are often appealed or resubmitted in a way that specifically addresses our domestic ratings so they’ll get a reduced classification. TLDR: Silent Hill f will probably get classified and released here at some point. (This is no longer an example of the system’s problems but FWIW I stand by my criticism of how Australia’s internet and digital content distribution is still regulated using a classification system made for when TV broadcast was the main game, an issue that I’m sure will come up again).
### 23andMe’s sale means customers have no idea who will own their DNA, and half their children’s DNA, and a quarter of their children’s DNA, and …
Just in case 23andMe customers already weren’t feeling worried enough about their DNA after the hack (The Guardian) and their deal with pharma companies (WIRED, $), the DNA testing company is now officially bankrupt and up for sale (404 Media, $). Like when I wrote about Pokémon Go creator Niantic a few weeks ago, the problems with allowing anyone to buy an enormous trove of private data — this time, arguably the most sensitive type of data — are pretty obvious. An ethical issue with DNA testing for me has always been ‘So you’re fine with a company having your DNA. What about your kids? And their kids? Or the rest of your relatives?’. DNA data has been used to catch killers using their family’s donations (Forbes) which seems like a good use, but what about when someone decides to use it for less good reasons? Anyway, a complicating factor in this story is 23andMe has been stuck in a weird governance fight for a while (The Guardian) so perhaps this process means the company will end up in good hands! Hope springs eternal, I guess. BTW If you are someone who has done a 23andMe test, or knows someone who has, here’s how to delete your data (Washington Post, archived). I would get onto that ASAP.
### Google says news doesn’t make them any money, but its actions suggest otherwise
Google has been running an experiment on its users (Google Blog). It says it removed news from the search results of a sample of its EU users and found that its advertising revenue didn’t drop. The point of this was to counteract “inaccurate reports that vastly overestimate the value of news content to Google,” says the company’s director of economics. This is similar to an argument made during the debate about the (admittedly silly) news media bargaining code by Meta who says only 3% of its feed is news content (ABC News). I fundamentally don’t accept the conclusions that they’ve drawn from their experiments and data. Google and Meta are the ones who set the amount of news content shown, and it’s in their interests to downplay the value of news to them. It’s like if you ran a supermarket, hid a store product in the backroom, and then said “well this product isn’t that important to us because no one seems to be buying it!”. Also, think about it: if Google removed news, would you keep using it? Would you keep trusting that it was giving you high-quality information? Yeah, I’d still probably Google some stuff, but I might look at alternatives. The appeal of Google is that it’s supposed to have everything. If Google really thinks news isn’t valuable and only causes them headaches, why doesn’t the company get rid of it? Because they’re not being honest.
#### Leftovers
Additional $14 million to keep communities and emergency services better connected (Communications Minister) Supermarkets should publish live prices: ACCC (Information Age) Exclusive: Quantum computing startup PsiQuantum raising at least $750 million, sources say (Reuters) Solana’s Memecoin Cabals Take Shine Off Hottest Crypto Frontier (Bloomberg, $) Could you walk across the UK in a perfectly straight line? Inside YouTube’s strangest challenge (The Guardian) Budget wish list: Innovation sector rallies behind R&D target (InnovationAus, $) Pentagon kills off HR IT project after 780% budget overrun, years of delays (The Register) Trump’s plans to save TikTok may fail to keep it online, Democrats warn (The Verge) Can we make AI less power-hungry? These researchers are working on it. (Ars Technica) Minecraft is getting vibrant with its visuals (The Verge)
# Oh, Also
### How much does the internet weigh? (It’s not a couple of strawberries)
You’ve probably heard that the internet has been estimated as weighing about as much as a couple of strawberries. This was the result of some back-of-the-envelope math by then-Harvard physicist Russell Seitz’s calculations of the mass of the energy in the servers (Adamant blog). As cute as that is — strawberries as a unit of weight is so nice and yummy — a WIRED piece debunks this common wisdom and comes up with a new weigh of calculating it (WIRED, $). I won’t spoil it but I will say it’s a bit harder to count in strawberries.
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
Kogan Magsafe-Compatible Magnetic Wireless Car Phone Charger - $9 at Kogan TOZO PE1 Portable Bluetooth Speakers - $35 at TOZO AU via Amazon AU JBL Quantum 100M2 - $38 at Amazon AU SDRplay RSP1A Receiver - $244 at VK Radio ANYCUBIC Kobra 2 Max 3D Printer (large size) with 2 Rolls of PLA - $369 at eBay Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000 Audiophile Headphones - $2299 Samsung 77" S95D QD-OLED 4K Smart TV & Samsung HW-Q600C Soundbar - $4291 at Samsung
Computing
Kingston Pocket-Sized USB 3.2 Gen 2 External Solid State Drive 1TB - $119 at Amazon AU AMD Ryzen 7 5700X CPU - $140 at SZCPU Store AliExpress HP OMEN 27q 27" IPS QHD 165hz Gaming Monitor - $270 at HP Official Store eBay Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Ultra Router, U6+ AP & PoE Injector Bundle - $375 at Scorptec Microsoft Surface Laptop 4: AMD Ryzen 5 4680 CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + Surface Dock (refurb) - $499 at BNEACTTRADER Apple MacBook Air 13" M3 Chip (10C GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $1552 at digiDirect Apple Studio Display 27-Inch 5K Retina MK0U3X/A - $2188 at Mobileciti
Mobile
Prepaid SIM Starter packs at Woolworths Lebara 360-Day 120GB + 2000 EDR Points for $119 amaysim 28-Day 50GB for $10 Samsung Galaxy A05s 64GB 4G Black - $225 Boost Mobile 12 Month 290GB Prepaid SIM + $40 TopCashback at Boost - $255 at Boost Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - $1238 with a lot of fucking around
# The End
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