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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Everything Too Open? (David)
2. We do not want truth to become a luxury good in a sea of slop
(Tom Worthington)
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:03:57 +1100
From: David <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] Everything Too Open?
Message-ID: <5254827.Qq0lBPeGtt@ulysses>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
On Wednesday, 21 January 2026 10:23:14 AEDT Tom Worthington wrote:
> This is very topical, with the ACT Government checking if their electric
> busses can be remotely sabotaged.
> https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2026/01/everything-open-2026-at-university-of.html
This is a fundamental problem with all Internet-accessible products. There was
a recent report of Tesla remotely disabling thousands of PowerWall units in the
U.S. for some indefinite time after (from memory) one caught fire and the owner
sued.
Then there's this here in Oz, see
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-25/tesla-taxpayer-subsidies-batteries-deprive-basic-services/104640846
> In short:
> Tesla is receiving taxpayer subsidies for batteries that do not provide basic
> capabilities for consumers or the electricity grid.
> The company reportedly disables in Australia the software that allows its
> Powerwall products to be compatible with other smart devices.
And this at
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-09/claims-agl-drained-household-batteries-spark-trust-warning/105234050
> Trust 'on the line' amid claims AGL drained householder's battery at peak
> times
There are other buyer-beware issues we rarely hear about. For example, I
understand many batteries won't automatically fall back a home to battery /
inverter power in the event of a blackout. This results from a regulation
intended to prevent those working on the power lines from receiving a shock
caused by reverse-feed from domestic inverters, a requirement which is
certainly justified. But it's still possible to implement fallback if the grid
supply fails, the very function many bought them for in the first place.
As always when domestic technology gets involved, one just needs to know about
what questions to ask.
_DavidL_
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 10:22:04 +1100
From: Tom Worthington <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] We do not want truth to become a luxury good in a sea
of slop
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
Greetings from day 2 of Everything Open 2026 at University of Canberra.
Keir Winesmith, Chief Digital Officer of the National Film and Sound
Archive of Australia ended his keynote with "We do not want truth to
become a luxury good in a sea of slop". This is particularity relevant
on the National Day of Mourning for the victims of the Bondi Beach
terrorist attack.
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2026/01/we-do-not-want-truth-to-become-luxury.html
--
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au
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