Hello, it’s Tuesday and here are five things making headlines in the tech realm this morning. Oh, just a warning. The BONUS ITEM today is NSFW, so be cautious at the end.
1. TikTok says it wasn’t hacked
A hacking group claims it exposed TikTok’s source code and user data, but the app everyone loves to hate denies this happened at all. It told BleepingComputer that data posted to a hacking forum is “completely unrelated” to the company. The hacking group known as AgainstTheWest claim to have 2.05 billion records in a massive 790GB database containing user data, platform statistics, software code, cookies, auth tokens and server info, among other important data.
2. Nirvana wins lawsuit against ‘Nevermind baby’
The ‘Nirvana baby’ has had his case against the band dismissed by a U.S. judge. A federal court in California has dismissed the lawsuit that alleged the cover artwork of Nirvana’s 1991 album “Nevermind” constituted child exploitation. Spencer Elden, 31, who appeared naked on the album cover as a baby, sued the band over alleged “commercial child sexual exploitation.”
3. Aussie Broadband cops $213,000 infringement
Aussie Broadband is the latest Australian telco to be hit with fine over ‘large-scale’ breaches of emergency alert service rules that every operator in the country must adhere to. An investigation by the ACMA found Aussie failed to provide customer information to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) on more than 30,000 occasions between November 2021 and May 2022. The telco has paid a $213,120 infringement notice.
4. Banning phones in NSW schools
The New South Wales Opposition has unveiled a policy that would restrict the use of mobile phones in public high school classrooms. The pitch is that it would help cut distractions, deal with cyberbullying and help students ‘catch back up academically’. Currently, kids up to year 6 aren’t allowed to have their phones on them, and other states have implemented a similar restriction for high school-aged students, too.
This will be a massive change in high school classrooms – but it’s the right thing to do.
A government I lead will stop the use of phones in all NSW public schools.
Making sure that where kids require access for special circumstances, they’re able to do so. pic.twitter.com/QqaT4Gcfn3
— Chris Minns (@ChrisMinnsMP) September 4, 2022
5. Meta fined $590 over Instagram’s privacy settings for teens
Meta has been fined €405 million (~$592 million) by the Irish Data Protection Commission for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The fine relates to Instagram’s violation of children’s privacy, including its publication of kids’ email addresses and phone numbers. It’s the third fine handed to Meta by the Irish regulator for breaching the GDPR. It’s also the largest one, with “at least six” other investigations underway.
BONUS ITEM: Perhaps don’t do this. Ever.