In This Issue

News

Cloud Print is the latest entrant to Google’s graveyard of dead services

Google is taking Cloud Print around the back and putting a bullet in its head on December 31st, 2020. I very sparingly used it, but when it worked it was like magic. I could be out and about, send a form or receipt or whatever that my wife needed to our printer at home via Cloud Print from basically any platform (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, yoi name it) and the printer would spit out a hard copy. The demise of Cloud Print is just another example of Google getting bored with an otherwise useful and serviceable product, putting those who do use it in the annoying position of looking for an alternative (if one exists) and adjusting their workflows.

Village Roadshow wants to block websites for apps that let you download pirate media

Village Roadshow is back on their bullshit, wanting to block 87 new sites - one of which is our old friend Popcorn Time. The law that allows Village to do this doesn't mention anything about software that allows you to download pirated material, just websites linking to or offering pirated material. But Village is trying to get Popcorn Time's (an app that after you download it, is basically as easy to use as Netflix but for free) website blocked, despite the fact the website is not linking to illegal material. I'm no big city lawyer, but if the Federal Court agrees to block Popcorn Time, that precedent could be used to argue that the website for apps like uTorrent or Transmission should be blocked too, wouldn't it? Talk about scope creep.

My Health Record ignores or doesn’t care about many aspects of patient data privacy

The Australian National Audit Office handed in its report on My Health Record today and found many issues regarding the privacy aspects of the project. The most glaring issue ANAO found was the lack of a privacy assessment, despite MHR spending $3.6m to do one. Seriously - in the years MHR was being developed, not one out of the four reviews designed to assess the privacy concerns of this massive nationwide project were ever completed. There was also no management of the risks that could occur when MHR is connected to 3rd party vendors and healthcare provider organisations, with no assessment necessary of the 3rd party's profeciency in handling sensitive medical information. No fucks given to what happens to patient data.

Not News

Social media is the greatest propoganda machine in history according to Borat & Ali-G

Sacha Baron Cohen was given an award by the Anti-Defamation League recently and his acceptance speech was 25 minutes of ripping social media and in particular, Mark Zuckerberg, to shreds. Sacha argues that lies and hate are way more engaging and profitable than the truth and harmony for any media company, including social media. By tackling this problem, money will be lost and the businesses less relevant. So Facebook, Google, Twitter and others let this garbage boil while the rest of us face the consequences of a society that increasingly thinks Muslims are invading, the Holocaust never happened and that vaccines give us autism. Watch the entire vid, totally worth it.

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😁 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Join us on Slack and chat with other Sizzle subscribers.

The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.​