Good morning, hope you’re well. We’ve got a few things from the tech world to share with you today – enjoy.
1. BetDeluxe gets a ‘cheeky’ fine
BetDeluxe has paid a $50,172 infringement notice as part of the ACMA’s crackdown on spam-unsubscribing rules. An investigation by the regulator found BetDeluxe sent over 104,000 SMS’s without an unsubscribe function and more than 820,000 SMS’s that did not contain the sender’s contact details. The messages sent between December 2021 and February 2022 advertised a ‘cheeky punt’ and ‘VIP service’ on sports and racing, and promoted bonus bets and money-back offers, ACMA said, noting it was “unacceptable to send commercial messages with no way for consumers to opt out”.
2. Warrantless access loophole to close
The federal government has agreed that serious organisations looking at serious crimes should be the only ones with access to metadata, agreeing to push through new legislation that would prevent agencies from bypassing restrictions within the country’s metadata retention laws. The agreement comes in a government response provided to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security following its 2020 probe into the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (TIA Act). The government accepted 20 of the 22 recommendations made.
3. Microsoft recruits Nintendo for regulator fight
Microsoft’s Brad Smith announced the signing of a 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo consoles. The news comes as Microsoft’s roughly $US69 billion ($AU100 billion) acquisition of Activision Blizzard is put under the magnifying glass by almost every regulator imaginable. Microsoft has been trying to convince Sony that it will keep Call of Duty on PlayStation if its Activision acquisition is approved, but the companies haven’t come to an agreement over the terms of any potential deal. As The Verge notes, that’s clearly left Microsoft frustrated and looking for partners to counter concerns from regulators. Both Nvidia and Nintendo have stepped up to help Microsoft try to ease regulator concerns.
We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers. This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms. pic.twitter.com/JmO0hzw1BO
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) February 21, 2023
4. This is…awful
We’ve had fun with some of the strange things people have been using AI chatbots like ChatGPT for, but this instance isn’t one of them. Per Vice’s Motherboard, last Friday, students at a university in Tennessee received an email from school administrators about the mass-shooting which killed three and injured five at Michigan State University. It was a typical response to a tragically common occurrence in the U.S., except for one thing: the email stated it was written using ChatGPT, the automated tool that uses AI language models to generate text.
school administrators using ChatGPT to write a generic PR email about a mass-shooting. that’s right we have fully crossed the Rubicon, baby https://t.co/bibEPdtaPw
— Janus Rose (@janusrose) February 21, 2023
5. A ‘hive of spies’ removed by ASIO
Via The Guardian we learn today that Australian security officials say they have “removed from the country” a major spy network – including some members working undercover for years – that was trying to steal sensitive information. Head of ASIO Mike Burgess apparently boasted of the removal of what he called a “hive of spies”, declaring his agency was taking a “more aggressive counterespionage posture”.
BONUS ITEM: Dildo yesterday, toilet today. What will tomorrow bring?
Archeologists in China have found the remains of what may be the world’s oldest known flush toilet.https://t.co/OWiNbyxiwc
— CNN (@CNN) February 21, 2023
See you back here tomorrow to find out.