AusPrivacy #3

In the news

It was a busy week in regards to Elon Musk Vs. Australia, so it was hard to pick the best article. The whole thing is a mess and it will be interesting to see what the long term knock on is from it. Musk is annoying, but he has a point.

Peter Dutton backs Elon Musk and contradicts Sussan Ley on ‘silly’ demand for global removal of stabbing footage

The opposition leader says Australia ‘can’t be the internet police of the world’ amid dispute between the eSafety commissioner and X over Wakeley stabbing content removal

The GuardianJosh Butler

iTWire - Guardian scribe Karp punctures the encryption bubble at the NPC

It took just one question from Paul Karp, chief political correspondent at Guardian Australia, to put the brakes on at the National Press Club on Wednesday, during a Q&A for two top Australian security officials. ASIO chief Mike Burgess and AFP head Reece Kershaw were answering queries when Karp…

iTWireSam Varghese

Where there's smoke, there's probably your personal information sitting in a publicly exposed database.

iTWire - Australians ‘exposed’ in smoke alarm service provider data breach: report

Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler has discovered and reported an "unprotected database" belonging to Smoke Alarm Solutions, Australia’s largest smoke alarm installation and service provider. In the report for virtual private network firm vpnMentor, Fowler - cybersecurity researcher at…

iTWireGordon Peters

iTWire - Outsourcing firm OracleCMS affected by 'cyber-security incident'

Outsourcing provider OracleCMS says it has been affected by a cyber-security incident during which a third party gained access to a part of its data, adding that some files have been published online. "Upon discovery, OracleCMS engaged external cyber-security experts to help us secure our system…

iTWireSam Varghese

Vic councils’ after-hours call answering service breached

Take calls themselves while establishing exposure.

iTnewsRy Crozier

Asio boss says privacy ‘not absolute’ as he urges social media companies to do more on extremism

Mike Burgess also warns artificial intelligence ‘likely to make radicalisation easier and faster’

The GuardianJosh Butler

WA man jailed after global Genesis Market shutdown

Used stolen details to appropriate $17,500 from a couple’s superannuation.

iTnewsEleanor Dickinson

Software glitch saw casino give away millions in cash

Nobody cared enough to check why audits were out of whack

The RegisterSimon Sharwood

Artificial Intelligence

Decided to seperate this out so you can skip it if like me you're sick of hearing about it.

Alarm sounded on ‘deep fake’ health misinformation

Australia must do more to address health misinformation before artificial intelligence makes it harder to call out, leading experts say.

The MandarinRachael Ward

Australia’s Spy Chief Warns AI Set to Accelerate Radicalization

Australia’s domestic intelligence chief warned that artificial intelligence is likely to dramatically improve the capabilities of the nation’s enemies — resulting in increased espionage, disinformation and radicalization.

BloombergBen Westcott

Around the world

Is this freedom?

iTWire - US passes bill to ban TikTok, but only after presidential poll

The United States has passed a US$95 billion security bill that includes a provision to ban the Chinese short-video app TikTok - but only after the next presidential election. That means all 170 million Americans who use the app can continue to use it until after the 5 November poll. The bill passed…

iTWireSam Varghese

TikTok Australia makes its first stand after US ban laws pass

The US congress passed a bill on Wednesday requiring TikTok to be sold within a year or be banned in the country.

Australian Financial ReviewNick Bonyhady

Apple pulls WhatsApp and Threads from App Store in China [U: Signal and Telegram] - 9to5Mac

Update: Both Signal and Telegram have been removed at China’s insistence as well. Apple statement in story. Apple has removed…

9to5MacZac Hall

Selfhosted

The cloud is just someone else's computer, so why not self host. Here's a round up of some self hosting news

iTWire - Nextcloud Hub 8 features introduced to public at enterprise day

Open-source file syncing and sharing software company Nextcloud has presented its new release, Nextcloud Hub 8, to about 200 people at the Nextcloud Enterprise day in Munich on Wednesday. A statement said the release incorporated input from the public sector and fixed AI leaks, and issues relating t…

iTWireSam Varghese

The little smart home platform that could

With a new ownership structure, Home Assistant is making its next big move

The Verge

Link of the week

Being private and secure online is a daunting task, and everybody's threat model is different. Awesome Privacy is your guide to finding privacy-respecting alternatives to popular software and services.

Home | Awesome Privacy

Privacy is a fundamental human right; without it, we’re just open books in a world where everyone’s watching. Let’s take control back. Migrating open-source applications which do not collect, sell or log your data is a great first step.Awesome Privacy is a directory of alternative privacy-respecting software and services.

Awesome PrivacyAlicia Sykes