Good morning. We’re so close to the end of the week. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. Australia to fund greater telco resilience
The Australian Government is putting $17.4 million towards improving network resilience, under the new Telecommunications Disaster Resilience Innovation program. The money will go towards funding 33 projects in the telecommunications space, with a focus on power backups, portable generators, satellite communications, and wide-area Wi-Fi networks. “While no network is ever 100 per cent disaster-proof, the Government is determined to do what we can to boost the resilience of our telecommunications networks when Australians need them most,” Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.
2. Australia to trial age verification test
The Australian Government is trialling an ‘age assurance technology’ for websites online, with the hope of protecting children from content like pornography and age-restricted services. It’s aimed at tackling extreme misogyny online and preventing access to damaging material, with the pilot to test privacy, security, and efficacy. The government has also announced plans to ban the creation and distribution of non-consensual deepfakes. “The reality is that digital platforms are influencing our culture and social lives. They have a responsibility to do more to meet community standards,” Federal Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland said. “The pilot – coupled with work already underway to update our outdated Classification Scheme – will inform how Governments at all levels can work collaboratively to address these harms.”
3. Dropbox discloses data breach
Dropbox’s ‘Sign’ product, designed for digital signatures of documents, has been breached by hackers, according to the company which disclosed the breach early this morning, per Bloomberg. The company said it had first become aware of the breach on April 24, and said there’s no evidence the breach led to compromised user accounts or payment information. “We discovered that the threat actor had accessed data related to all users of Dropbox Sign, such as emails and user names, in addition to general account settings… For subsets of users, the threat actor also accessed phone numbers, hashed passwords, and certain authentication information such as API keys, OAuth tokens, and multi-factor authentication,” the company said.
4. Rabbit denies it’s just Android in a cute box
The hottest AI gadget of the moment has been in hot water since yesterday, when people discovered that it was probably just an Android app on new hardware. Now, Rabbit’s developers have come out and said it’s not just an Android app. “We are aware there are some unofficial rabbit OS app/website emulators out there. We understand the passion that people have to get a taste of our AI and LAM instead of waiting for their r1 to arrive. That being said, to clear any misunderstanding and set the record straight, rabbit OS and LAM run on the cloud with very bespoke AOSP and lower level firmware modifications, therefore a local bootleg APK without the proper OS and Cloud endpoints won’t be able to access our service,” Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu said.
5. TikTok may curtail Apple fees
Engadget reports that TikTok may be thwarting Apple’s App Store fees in some marketplaces, with the company supposedly allowing users to purchase coins from its website. The app reportedly directed users to recharge their coins balance from tiktok.com to “save the service fee and get access to popular payment methods”, though it’s unclear why only some users have access to the alternate payment method. You probably remember when Fortnite did a similar thing some years ago, and it didn’t go too well.
BONUS ITEM: I’ll never stop being a .webp defender.
— vx-underground (@vxunderground) May 1, 2024
Have a lovely day.