In Feb 2020 a government committee submitted a report into age verification for internet gambling and porn and one of the recommendations in that report was to get the DTA to extend its Digital Identity system (aka, myGov/Aus Post Digital iD) to those kinda sites. The government has now responded to the committee's report and said it supports the DTA implementing an age verification service for porn and gambling, "in principle" and that "the Digital Transformation Agency is well placed to explore extending the digital identity program". It'll be absolutely useless in practice of course for porn (turn on the VPN and a world of naked people awaits), but hey, the government can say they're doing something and that'll keep any vested interests happy until the next election.
Another day, another ransomware attack - this time it's JBS, a Brazilian company that is the world's largest meat producer. The attack kicked off in the USA, by the usual suspects (Russian crims) but has impacted meat production worldwide, even Australia. JBS's local operations will be shut down for a few days according to the ABC, while it restores computer systems. The weird outcome of this attack is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture can't release accurate wholesale pricing for beef and pork because without JBS's data in the mix, "disclosures could potentially reveal proprietary information about JBS's competitors".
Truphone have eSIM plans available for the Apple Watch ($10/m or $100/yr with unlimited data) - but before you get excited that you can ditch your overpriced Optus/Telstra/Vodafone plan and move to a yearly pre-paid MVNO, there's a catch. The only way you can have separate numbers between your Apple Watch and iPhone is if you set up the watch via Family Sharing, which cuts down on the features available to you (i.e: the ECG feature isn't available on a watch set up via Family Sharing). Great if you have a kid or relative or whatever that you want to give an Apple Watch to so if they fall over they can get help or you wanna track them or something, but don't want to give them an iPhone. Truphone has a free 7-day trial if you wanna give it a crack anyways.
📻 So High, So Low - Mondo Generator
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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.