melbaboutown
@melbaboutown@aussie.zone
- Comment on Christmas Present Inspiration Thread 1 hour ago:
Gift mugs are a good cheap standby in case someone you don’t know well is unexpectedly coming and you didn’t have anything for them.
Buy a large mug, fill it with small food or cosmetic items that look nice together half sticking out and wrap it in cellophane.
- Comment on Australia’s Social Media Ban Was Pushed By Ad Agency Focused On Gambling Ads It Didn’t Want Banned 2 days ago:
I wish it would advertise things I actually want and am looking for /hj
- Comment on Australia’s Social Media Ban Was Pushed By Ad Agency Focused On Gambling Ads It Didn’t Want Banned 2 days ago:
Pretty sure you still see ads on YouTube when logged out. And maybe even less personalisation makes it default more to alcohol and gambling ads
- Comment on Reddit files legal challenge against social media ban for under-16s 6 days ago:
Can you still access the connected email? Dumb question but I’m not certain of how it all works
- Comment on Reddit files legal challenge against social media ban for under-16s 6 days ago:
I think it’s to sign in to google. But still that’s going to restrict access to information if you don’t verify.
Not reasonable :/
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
I’ve got no idea. Maybe someone with filters on can perform the movements that get asked for.
I’m not going to use a real name one though which is the only one old enough. Facebook is also really kind of crap, I haven’t gone on it in ages.
Also years ago I got my data out of curiousity and Google though I was an 18 year old male gamer.
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
Random thought.
I’m aware that COPPA applies to American kids (and specifically kids under 13) but Google and YouTube just got in huge trouble for collecting kids data… and now to prevent kids accessing them the government has created a situation where they’re again collecting biometric data from minors.
And I have no idea whether or not it’s stored, but the kids are passing as not being minors so that data may not be treated accordingly.
Bruh.
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
Probably, unless they found a way to fix it. Kids in the UK already did that by using some mode in Death Stranding and another game to make the character open his mouth and make the required expressions on camera.
I hate ai but you could probably pull some fake old geezer off google and there might be a few with different faces.
I won’t be bothering though. I’m tired. Think I’ll just drop my email or number to a handful of people still on the platforms and if they don’t keep in touch then that’s that.
My reliance on social media has been externally forced and using it has started to aggressively suck. Lemmy may be the one platform I bother to try to keep.
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
Oh, it’s an Aussie slang word referring to a conspiracy theorist, often one that’s engaging in antisocial behaviours or very far down the rabbit hole and imposing it on others.
Think aggressively screaming antivaxers, sovereign citizens, Qanon, you get the picture.
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
Ha sorry, still a good suggestion though
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
I just lazily switched to Brave because phone and it stopped the ads.
I mostly wanted to back up a copy of my comments for myself and then wipe them off Reddit, but the process of installing the GitHub tool to grab my posts didn’t quite work and I was very tired.
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
I actually played Age of Empires when it was on disc! I had no idea it was an mmo now. Thanks, I’ll have to sort the problem of almost full drive and give it a try.
- Comment on Honest Government Ad | Social Media Ban 1 week ago:
I hope the search engine signin verification doesn’t make this annoying. I have no idea of the extent it affects the actual email address.
Context: An android I intended to use for Revanced requires a previous Gmail login to unlock the phone (although it’s brand new), and the sneaky workaround also hinges on the Gmail signin.
And it won’t make calls until unlocked so I can try to call from another phone with the IMEI number but if that doesn’t work… can’t use the phone.
If it’s too much of a stuff around I’ll just have to buy a secondhand unlocked android.
- Comment on Honest Government Ad | Social Media Ban 1 week ago:
👆 All of this.
Parental controls can still be used to isolate if the parents are extremely religious or abusive but this is a much more reasonable and effective way to go about it.
Will some kids get around it? Yes, some kids will get around whatever. They will also get around this impending legislation.
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
I’m a disabled adult that lives in an unsafe area, relying a lot on the internet for entertainment and a connection to the world.
I also don’t fancy the risk of identity theft or being doxxed. And even if I wasn’t in a position to be chronically online, these measures set a concerning precedent for online privacy and control of information that is much larger than our individual screen time.
YouTube: It will be locking me out of my YouTube account so I’ll lose all my saved playlists, can’t block harmful channels or recommendations (though the algorithms still function to serve them), could not choose to go premium to stop the alcohol and gambling ads, and I can’t watch certain favourite songs or my mates gaming channel.
I am still able to find plenty of uncensored material that’s not suitable for children while signed out though. So that’s something /s
Facebook: There are people I’d like to casually keep in touch with that are more likely to use the platform than text or email. Guess I kiss acquaintances goodbye? There are also disability support groups on there.
Twitch: Can’t watch a friend’s content or use the platform. This better not affect my Minecraft.
Reddit: This will prevent the choice of going back and talking to our Redditor buds who didn’t migrate over to Lemmy. (The Melbourne Daily Discussion Thread began on Reddit and before the exodus everyone had been internet friends for a long time.)
Also if I want to go and read only I may be prevented without an account. I also didn’t get it together in time to back up my comments in order to delete my account, so I may not get to.
TikTok: Hate the platform and avoid it as much as possible but increasingly everything is being put on it.
Everything else: I don’t use it but resent being told that I can’t unless I submit to an unreasonable invasion of privacy.
More broadly the UK version of this has shut down a number of small forums. So they’re gone. And there is still the potential for Australia or other countries to expand the targeted sites in future and do the same. Deciding on what they want to do and who can afford to fight or comply.
I hope this is an embarrassing fail. But if this precedent is set and the scope is allowed to creep there is the possibility that there won’t be independent alternatives to the large tech companies and they will be empowered to behave worse.
Also did I mention the control of information flow and potential for censorship?
- Comment on MegaThread: Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required 1 week ago:
GitHub was being considered but is not currently on the list. Currently is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
Fuuuuuck. This is happening over different countries which I knew but I didn’t realise it was going after small forums and forcing them to shut down
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
Nah, Ofcom tried to fine 4chan and another site for noncompliance and those sites are suing Ofcom
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
They could probably just geoblock 4chan I guess? Maybe? Or try to? I don’t know what the government think they’re going to do. But Mississippi residents did get geoblocked from Bsky.
I hope you’re right and we just keep flying under the radar. Especially as they’d probably try to use AI for the workload of hundreds of instances, with not great outcomes.
Yeah, nothing concrete. And they claimed to have nothing concrete in mind. But they’re definitely thinking about it, I’ll see if I can find the article again
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
Luckily I was able to memorise enough of a program to produce a broken database and a B+ then move on
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
4chan are fighting it and they reckon they’re going to deal with 4chan in the next wave of restrictions. I’m bringing popcorn
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
spoiler
Image ___
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
They seem to for now?
From what I can tell these relaxed measures for Aussie Zone are pre-emptive, to establish that ‘reasonable steps’ were taken and hopefully avoid being pressured to demand more intrusive verification in future.
However that doesn’t mean things won’t change. Afaik Dreamwidth and 4chan are litigating to not have to comply. And more sites could be brought in during the second wave.
I see the UK government has noticed Bsky (part of the fediverse) and demanded verification there so it’s possible ours might learn what it is as well.
Creepily the UK also seem to be making tentative noises about VPNs now.
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 1 week ago:
Photo of your old JNCOs or hammer pants
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 2 weeks ago:
Yeah HyperCard was a bit before my time.
I do remember hypercolour which was something completely different
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 2 weeks ago:
Oh god. Does anyone remember FoxPro
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 2 weeks ago:
I didn’t actually watch it, I thought it was a government initiative/tuckshop thing like the free milk and then when I saw that was still going (so not useful for age purposes) I just googled Queensland breakfast club.
So technically I cheated.
However I do remember when you would buy jam in tins. Sliced pickled cucumbers too. And I remember being served pink junket.
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 2 weeks ago:
Oh ok it was a kids tv show reddit.com/…/brisbane_tv_from_the_olden_times/
Not from Brisbane so I would never have got that.
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 2 weeks ago:
Can you tell her about the Breakfast Club that only 70’s/80’s kids from Queensland would know?
Hang on, is this to do with the free school breakfasts program?
I have one old memory of free breakfast being held at my Melbourne primary school but I don’t think it lasted long for us.
- Comment on As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone 2 weeks ago:
I just realised… we’re technically complying with the law by verifying but we’re all DMing a ‘16 year old’.
New legal issue created. /s
