Facebook is reversing its news blockage in Australia after the changes to media mandatory bargaining code that passed Parliament last night. The law has been tweaked so that it won't apply to Google or Facebook if they sign deals with "enough" media companies (whatever that means), giving the government discretion on forcing the mandatory arbitration section of the law. Facebook would just pull the news again if they were forced into arbitration so yeah, Facebook and Google cough up a bit of cash and continue business as usual, the government gets to look good appearing to standing up to big tech and the whole issue fades away because the media class got paid off so will stop whinging.
The Online Safety Bill has already been submitted to Parliament today, despite the consultation period only ending a week ago. At its core, this law will allow the eSaftey Commissioner to remove "harmful online abuse" from the internet. The commissioner can order any website, social media platform or online service to remove any content that fits the ambiguous definition of harmful content. Digital Rights Watch has a page explaining the Online Safety Bill and how wide ranging it is. Remember Senator Stephen Conroy's porn filter? This is it, but instead of blocking stuff at ISP level, they're using enforceable legal requests to remove content the government doesn't like. Australia is really going hard on shit tech related laws lately!
I've never heard of companies like HireVue or Pymetrics, but they're used by many multi-national companies as part of their recruitment processes to weed out the bulk of applicants without any human intervention. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but as we well know, the algorithms these software platforms use to determine who should or shouldn't progress to the next stage of a job application are not always fair. There's even YouTube videos with tips and tricks to make sure the AI doesn't shitlist you. Makes those group interviews I did back in the day to work at Officeworks not so bad.
📻 To Hell With Good Intentions - Mclusky
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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.