The International Fact-Checking Network, which includes the RMIT & ABC Fact Checking mob, has published an open letter to the boss of YouTube asking her to do more to stop the spread of bullshit on her platform. According to the members of the IFCN, who spend all their waking hours debunking all the nonsense that floats to the top of social media, YouTube is the least proactive in trying to counter it. They've noticed that non-English conspiracy content is rabid and slides under YouTube's radar. YouTube also does little to ensure its algorithm doesn't recommend conspiracy garbage. The letter asks YouTube for more transparency, add context and debunks to videos, punish repeat offenders and put way more effort into moderating non-English content.
Telstra is partnering with banks to lower the impact of identify theft. According to Telstra, "when a request is made to us by a banking organisation we’ll provide a rating (in the form of a number on a risk scale) which gives an indication of whether there has been any recent SIM swaps or port out activity for the mobile service you’re using as a form of identity with that organisation". I don't know what would flag such a request from a bank to Telstra, but it makes sense to do this as one data point of many to see if someone's getting ripped off. Usually a SIM swap to get any 2FA codes is step one for someone draining a bank account or any other banking related fraud.
We need to have a chat about Zachary Shakked. You may have seen this shitbird's tone-deaf tweets flying around, but if you haven't, he's a dude who decided now is a good time to rip off the popular game Wordle. Wordle's creator has gone on the record about not commercialising it and that he's happy just watching people enjoy his little game. Zach however, made an iOS app with a $30/yr "pro" version trying to pass itself off as the official Wordle app (there isn't one) and was gloating about its success on Twitter - until Apple removed all the apps with "Wordle" in the title, even though Wordle isn't a trademark. Instead of pissing off quietly, Zach goes on Twitter rants that I'm sure sound good in his broken capitalist brain but sound like pure fuckwit to the rest of us.
I thoroughly enjoyed this two part series from the NFSA about the launch of colour TV in Australia in the mid-1970s. There's a clip of the minister for science at the time explaining how Australia needed safety standards (radiation output, fire/heat safety) for colour TVs going on sale as they were afraid of shitty units getting imported that were banned elsewhere. There's a video of some TVs getting made at a Philips factory in Melbourne (the soundtrack fucken slaps). There's also some test patterns and demo content they used to wow the punters into buying a new TV. According to TV week at the time, "once you’ve seen color TV you will be hooked and the old monochrome set will seem like eating a meat pie without sauce". It's a shame most of these clips seem cut off and aren't available in full to enjoy.
Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.
📻 Hades, Baby (Orchestral Version from Abbey Road) - Demob Happy
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