Good morning, folks, we’ve got a very Australian 5 Things for you today – a rarity we’re not displeased about.
1. Snap and the AEC want kids to vote in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum
Starting locally today and Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, has announced a partnership with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to encourage young Australians to vote in the upcoming referendum. Per a release, the campaign is now live on Snapchat and includes “immersive in-app experiences to learn more and encourage its community to share with friends and family. Using the power of augmented reality, an educational AR Lens will give Snapchatters the chance to test their knowledge about referendums.” Interestingly, the release from Snap doesn’t once mention the words “Indigenous” or “Voice”. Anyway, the AEC has been asking fellow kids how they do for a while now, so this isn’t the pair’s first rodeo.
2. auDA denies it was breached
auDA, or .au Domain Administration, the government-supported body that develops and administers the rules for domain names in the . au country code, has denied to reports it suffered a data breach. On August 11, the NoEscape ransomware gang claimed to have attacked the organisation and stolen 15GB of sensitive data that included personal information. This is alarming, as more than 4 million domain names are registered to .au. Anyway, auDA released a statement that said “auDA’s comprehensive investigation indicates that there is no evidence that cyber criminals have accessed auDA systems or have auDA data.”
3. Words about tech come out of politician’s mouths again
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has this morning sent an opinion piece out to all subscribed to his media alerts. In that piece, he discusses the 2023 Intergenerational Report, which is essentially a longer-term view of our economy, budget, and society over the next 40 years. Included in the shopping list is “investing in new data and digital innovations like cloud computing, AI, and machine learning; investing in a better skilled and more adaptable workforce; and embracing the net zero transformation.” Such tech investments, he said, include the Digital ID and the NBN, helping more businesses adopt new digital technologies, and investing in the quantum and artificial intelligence sectors.
4. Don’t use your phone while driving
Earlier this month, we reported on the problem with mobile phone detection cameras in NSW. Today, Tasmania is touting how good their trial has gone. Per the ABC, in the span of 43 hours, Tasmania’s new mobile phone detection cameras captured 339 people using their phone, which is an infringement every 7.6 minutes. The cameras have been attached to existing mobile speed cameras and we don’t yet know their plan for the future.
5. Tesla says May data breach was an inside job
It wouldn’t be an edition of 5 Things without mentioning Elon Musk once, so let’s end with the fact that Tesla’s data breach in May, which affected more than 75,000 people, was an inside job. According to the notice, German news outlet Handelsblatt informed Tesla of the breach on May 10 after obtaining the confidential information, then an investigation into the data breach “revealed that two former Tesla employees had misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla’s IT security and data protection policies and shared it with the media outlet”. Read more about that over here.
BONUS ITEM: “NASA wants your help studying Uranus from behind.” I will not make a joke, they’ve just left a big, gaping hole wide open for me to make one but I will not.
Have a super-awesome day.