March 05, 2025 | Read online
# Gina Rinehart and Aussie publisher's AI plans, YouTube ban carve-out attack and should we trust our data to foreign companies?
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Issue 2284 - Wednesday 5 March, 2025
# In Today’s Issue
An Australian book publisher and Gina Rinehart’s AI plans Meta, TikTok and Snapchat attack YouTube ban exemption Should we trust our data to companies from other countries? A way to put your GameCube or Wii to good use
# The News
### An Australian book publisher and Gina Rinehart’s AI plans
A prominent Australian publisher has given authors a week to agree to their books being used to train AI for an undisclosed company (The Guardian Australia). Black Inc, which publishes Quarterly Essay and predominantly non-fiction books, promised its authors a split of revenue and “increased visibility and credibility” in return for signing a broad agreement to use their work. Thankfully, Australia isn’t yet adopting the proposed UK copyright law reforms that reverse the onus so that authors need to opt-out of AI training on their data (The Guardian) — not that these companies give a shit about copyright anyway (TechCrunch). A powerful parliamentary committee has called for a federal government-wide audit of AI use down to an individual public servant level (IT News). Its ‘proceed with caution’ report (APH) is pretty optimistic about AI use but also warns about risks and worries that time is running out to get a handle on the tech. The committee recommended a immediate, big policy response including surveying every public servant about its use and creating an on-going committee specifically to monitor government AI use. But you know who’s not worried about AI acceleration? Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart! She told a mining magazine during a International Women’s Day interview that one way to improve the industry for women is to “exit the Paris Accord [which would] allow more development of AI and its applications“ (Australian Mining Monthly).
### Meta, TikTok and Snapchat attack YouTube ban exemption
TikTok, Meta and Snapchat have come out in a coordinated strike against Australia’s teen social media ban’s exemption for YouTube (ABC News). As those of you who’ve been reading my reporting (Crikey, $) already know 😏, there’s some puzzling decisions being proposed for the ban’s implementation. Key among them is how YouTube — which includes its TikTok clone YouTube Shorts — is specifically excluded from the ban. Snapchat says this is “arbitrary”, TikTok calls it a “sweetheart deal” and Meta says it “makes a mockery of the government's stated intention … to protect young people". Hate to line up alongside big tech but IMO they are right on this one. One big question that I haven’t been able to get a good answer from anyone about is why YouTube needs an exemption even as an educational resource. Remember: the teen social media ban is only about stopping under 16s from having an account. So kids won’t be restricted from watching WooTube or Parliament (or any other junk YouTube video for that matter) even if YouTube was part of the social media ban, only from commenting or liking or posting videos. So… why are they excluded? Beats me. Very odd policymaking from the government. (Is it a coincidence that Google is the only big tech company still striking deals with news publishers under Australia’s news media bargaining code? You decide 🤷 )
### Should we trust our data to companies from other countries?
Ontario premier Doug Ford — not to be mistaken with his proto-Trump brother Rob Ford — has cancelled his province’s Starlink contract and pledged to no longer give contracts to American companies, in response to Trump’s tariffs (ABC News).
| Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social |
Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancels Elon Musk’s Starlink contract and bans all US companies from government contracts: “It’s done, it’s gone... We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country.” “They only have President Trump to blame.”
10:05 PM • Mar 4, 2025
3.5K Likes 846 Reposts | 115 Replies
In the UK, Apple is challenging its government’s backdoor demand which is still a current problem even after the tech company withdrew its encrypted cloud service from the region because the UK’s legal request was for access to the service worldwide (Financial Times, archived). What’s the link between the stories? Between the US’ authoritarian turn and the UK’s enormous demand, there’s more reason to be uneasy about trusting our data to be handled by companies beholden to other governments who might not treat it the way that we expect. See: ‘It is no longer safe to move our governments and societies to US clouds.’ (berthub.se)
#### Today’s leftovers
Apple launches a new M3-powered iPad Air (The Verge) Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: Apple and Google should be worried (Tom’s Hardware) Vodafone, AST SpaceMobile agree to create satellite to smartphone service provider (ITWire) 2025 – a pivotal year for internet governance (auDA) ACCC releases first quarterly dataset on NBN service quality and network performance (ACCC) YouTube will soon restrict creators from mentioning certain online gambling sites (The Verge) Google releases SpeciesNet, an AI model designed to identify wildlife (TechCrunch)
# Oh, Also
### A way to put your GameCube or Wii to good use
As someone who recognises how Australia’s overbearing restrictions on gaming may have made us recession-proof (X), I am so pleased to share this project with you: Windows NT on GameCube, Wii and Wii U (GitHub). Finally a good use for those godforsaken devices.
entii for Work Cubes: Windows NT Workstation 4.0 on the GameCube
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
UGREEN 35W Nexode 2 Ports GaN II Compact Charger - $22 at Amazon AU Moshow Mecha 32W GaN 5 USB-C Charger - $35 at AliExpress Maxell Premium Alkaline AA Batteries 120-Pack - $54 at Maxell Shark S1000 Steam Mop - $63 at Catch Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, Black - $398 at Amazon AU Bose SC Headphones - $249 at mobilexpressAU Shark Corded Self-Cleaning Brushroll Vacuum Cleaner - $279 at Catch Dreame D10s Robot Vacuum - $329 at mobilexpressAU Swann 4CH 4K Wireless - $499 at mobileexpressAU Meze Audio 99 Classics Closed Back Audiophile Headphones w/ Boom Mic - $570 at Mwave Reolink 8-Channel NVR & 4× 8MP Dome Security Cameras - $689 at The Good Guys (Online Only) Reolink 8 Channel NVR 8x 8MP Dome Security Cameras - $799 at Costco (NSW only) Roborock Qrevo Master Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - $1519 at Costco
Computing
TP-Link Omada EAP655 AX3000 Wall Plate Wi-Fi 6 Access Point - $109 at Amazon AU Silicon Power US75 Gen 4x4 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD - $159 at Umart SOYO M2 PLUS 2 Mini PC (Intel N100, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, Win11 Pro) - $175 at AliExpress Alldocube iPlay60 Mini Turbo (8.4", 8GB/128GB, SD6 Gen1, Widevine L1) - $217 at AliExpress Acer Aspire 15.6" Intel Core 5 120U 8GB DDR4 512GB NVMe - $639 at The Good Guys (online only) HP 15 Laptop 15.6" Core Ultra 5 U5-125H, 8GB DDR5/512GB NVMe - $697 at Officeworks Gaming PCs at Nebula PC 8700F, 7800XT, 32GB RAM, 240mm AIO, Monster Hunter Wilds for $1548 9700X for $1888 7800X3D for $2088
Mobile
Felix Mobile Unlimited Data SIM Card - $15 at Woolworths Boost Sim 265GB - $227 at mobilexpressAU Samsung Galaxy S24FE at Samsung eBay Store 128GB for $699 256GB for $799
# The End
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