The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has provided an update into its investigation of Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys' use of in-store facial recognition technology. They kicked off the investigation back in July last year to find out if the retailers breached the Australian Privacy Principles and told Senate Estimates yesterday they expect it to be "resolved this financial year". The OAIC also told the Senate that the Good Guys investigation was dropped because the retailer "suspended their use of facial recognition technology and indicated that they weren't intending to reinstate it".
France has decided to introduce online age verification to view porn. According to Reuters, "people who want to visit these websites will have to install an application for government-licensed digital certification on their mobile phones to prove that they are at least 18 years old. Sites which do not comply will risk being banned from publishing in France". The UK tried and failed (but is trying again) and many others are trying to pass legislation - including Australia. But France, of all countries, seems like it will be the first to actually do it as the scheme will launch next week. It might sound okay on the surface that minors can't watch porn, but think about it - the French government will have a list of every porn site its citizens access. Gross.
Please enjoy this video of the official Windows 95 launch featuring Bill Gates and Jay Leno. It's pretty clear to me that Jay has never used a computer, let alone Windows 95, before this day. When he receives a demo of Office 95 I can see him visualising taking the humongous cheque Microsoft gave him down to the bank and buying a dozen supercars with the proceeds. They even had the balls to do a live upgrade from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 on a 486 during the launch! Lovely demo of MSN in there too. Bill Gates is no Steve Jobs when it comes to product launches but he is 1000 times better than Elon fucking Musk giving any sort of public presentation. It's almost as if Bill knows what he is talking about whereas Elon is making it up as he goes along.
Upper Hunter Valley environment exhibition poster created by Chips MacKinolty, printed at Tin Sheds Art Workshop, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1979 (National Gallery of Australia)
📻 Marquis In Spades - The Smashing Pumpkins
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