As seen in Ashfield. (You never know who the ghost watches).
You may have seen the news about KMart's smart glasses selling out. Smart glasses are being marketed as a lifestyle accessory but they're actually covert recording devices that anyone can buy off the shelf; we should be treating them that way.
Friends, a new piece for Crikey - on how Google Earth being crammed with AI slop is the perfect distillation of a company obsessed with doing exactly the wrong thing as fast as possible, in every way imaginable, for as long as they can get away with it www.crikey.com.au/2026/08/04/g...
Apparently, on Christian album covers in the ’60s, the only thing worse than the hair was the obliviousness to the lewd double entendres.
Woo! 😄 Common Ground · No. 0077 · 2026-08-03 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ● ● ● ● ■ ■ ■ ■ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ commonground.games
Common Ground — Daily international word puzzle
Sort sixteen words into four quiet kinships. A daily word puzzle that works in any country — no US-only categories required.
commonground.games
The biggest threat to our freedom rarely arrives wearing a balaclava. It usually arrives wrapped in the those awful 2 words, "public safety". NSW is quietly handing police unprecedented access to our digital lives. Are you paying attention?! #nswpol #auspol
NSW Police to Be Given Powers to Access and Download Phone Content on the Beat
The NSW government is introducing laws that would give police officers broad power to compel individuals to provide access to their digital devices for scanning and downloading.
sydneycriminallawyers.com.au
Google appears to be in an active race to destroy all remaining goodwill the company once had. They've almost entirely destroyed search and now they're screwing with Google Maps.
I used to do some work on the ethical use of satellite and drone imagery for aid and disaster response, and it is genuinely hard to express in words what a dangerous, stupid thing Google is doing by making it easy to use GenAI to create faked satellite imagery:
I always feel insane about this because it's unfair and it's not like it's impossible for a cop to spend two years reading theory and developing some intricate ideological scaffolding, but also my god every fucking cop that gets revealed is always like this:
‘Handbook for Exposing an Undercover Cop’ "This manual was written by activists who have experienced police infiltrations first hand… It is aimed at all past, present & future activists, as well as all organisations & groups that are in any way concerned about the security of their spaces."
christ if that’s not a metaphor for our times
Cult survivors say they have been left fearful after an "unacceptable privacy breach" where their identities were potentially shared with groups they have been hiding from.
Cult survivors fearful after inquiry accidentally shares email addresses
Cult survivors say they have been left fearful after an "unacceptable privacy breach" where their identities were potentially shared with groups they have been hiding from.
abc.net.au
Do not spam with dickpics Freetopg@cobratate.com Cameltoe tate wants attention 🍆
Please don't misuse this email request people www.thepoke.com/2026/07/28/a...
“If you've ever asked yourself ‘what would I do during the burning of the Library of Alexandria’ then that time is now” - Julianna de Tortilla @julieofthespirits@kolektiva.social
AI companies are destroying rare books for profit
The AI companies' latest crime against humanity is buying up rare books, scanning them for data, and then pulverising them
thecanary.co
Meta has patented an AI wearable that could track users’ voices, surroundings and emotions to create workouts based on mood. This ‘fitness innovation’ is a privacy disaster for life and for society.
I'll tell you why. Because corporate surveillance has never been about safety or security. It has always been about the consolidation of power, protection of profit, and the petty grievances of the super-rich. Join @fightforthefuture.org's campaign to ban the use of AI surveillance at concerts!
Ban Facial Recognition at Live Events
Artists and venues take the pledge: no facial recognition at shows.
banfacialrecognition.com
MSG owner James Dolan insists that the facial recognition system deployed at his venues is an essential security measure. So why was it disabled during one of the year's most high-profile events: the pre-wedding celebration of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? www.wired.com/story/for-ta...
A lost container can become a mass experiment that no research program would deliberately stage.
How Shipping Container Disasters Became a Scientific Goldmine
Oceanographers have quietly used lost cargo to build the most precise maps of ocean currents ever created.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
📢 After advising it had been caught up in a data breach on Wednesday, Origin Energy has revealed the full extent of stolen materials.
Origin Energy reports customer bank, credit card details caught up in data breach
sbs.com.au
Energy company Origin confirms there has been unauthorised access to and disclosure of some customers' data, a day after it announced it was investigating a "potential" breach.
Breaking: Origin Energy confirms breach of customer data
Energy company Origin confirms there has been unauthorised access to and disclosure of some customers' data, a day after it announced it was investigating a "potential" breach.
abc.net.au
This is depressingly accurate, regarding how the civilian drone industry in the US has been totally devoured by MAGA-supported military and police money (which means no one is making a replacement for now-banned DJI drones for US consumers):
Sorry kid, drones are for war now
DJI is banned in the United States and nobody is coming to save you.
theverge.com
Origin Energy says it does not believe customer credit card or bank details have been affected by a suspected data breach at the company.
Breaking: Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach
Origin Energy says it does not believe customer credit card or bank details have been affected by a suspected data breach at the company.
abc.net.au
Tasmanians who use AI-enabled smart glasses to secretly record private conversations could face up to two years in jail or a fine of more than $8,500, a lawyer has warned pulsetasmania.com.au/news/wearing...
Wearing AI glasses in Tasmania? Secret recordings could break the law
A lawyer says existing Tasmanian law covers the emerging technology…
pulsetasmania.com.au
Was curious if I could use AI (Graylark) to find coordinates of this house using just a *reflection in a keypad* of the surroundings. Well...it worked. YIKES. Daniel Heinen does not make this AI tool available to the public for this reason. youtube.com/shorts/Xzbvi...
Can AI geolocate using just reflections?!
YouTube video by SocialProof Security
youtube.com
These adversarial clothing projects are cool but they do not work. At all. Not even a little bit. Please wear a baseball cap with a brim and sunglasses. And keep your face tilted down at the ground in front of you.
A boyfriend betrayed 17-year-old Xiaoxue, so she made an AI partner. But now the government is trying to end her relationship.
China wants more babies, so it's breaking up AI relationships
A boyfriend betrayed 17-year-old Xiaoxue, so she made an AI partner. But now the government is trying to end her relationship.
abc.net.au