Month: October 2022

Some sites that mediate the sale of hacked data use Reddit-style upvoting systems to weed out scammers and law enforcement Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast When personal data is stolen in a breach, such as the recent high-profile attacks on Optus and Medibank, it often begins a …

‘Buying bad’: the black market where access to hacked Australian data can cost just $500 Read More »

To mark the site’s takeover by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, we present a survey of its most media-friendly moments Twitter has great influence for a social media platform. It has a comparatively modest 230 million users, given that the likes of Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have user bases that run into the billions. …

From Ed Balls to BTS: the greatest hits in Twitter’s history Read More »

Fears have grown that the world’s richest man would remove the social network’s controls on hate speech – but can he really afford to? Elon Musk is not buying Twitter to make more money: he’s doing it to help humanity. In a message to advertisers last week, the world’s richest man said it was important …

Heaven or hellscape: what will Elon Musk’s Twitter look like? Read More »

After the astonishing wealth earned during lockdown, investors fear times may never be as good again for Silicon Valley’s giants Last week was a bad time to be a tech billionaire. When the pandemic drove the world online, the founders of Facebook, Google and Microsoft reaped wealth gains described as “pornographic” and cemented their position …

Will plunging shares end big tech’s era of ‘pornographic’ profits? Read More »

Techniques which allow the sharing of data whilst keeping it secure may revolutionise fields from healthcare to law enforcement Rachel is a student at a US university who was sexually assaulted on campus. She decided against reporting it (fewer than 10% of survivors do). What she did, however, was register the assault on a website …

Can a new form of cryptography solve the internet’s privacy problem? Read More »

The billionaire owner suggests the platform could have different video game-style modes, including a ‘player versus player’ Elon Musk has indicated that Twitter could be split into different strands where users give their posts content ratings and stage online rows in a specially created space on the platform. The world’s richest man moved to assuage …

Twitter could split into strands allowing users to stage rows, Elon Musk says Read More »

The British photographer said his son could ride the ghost train – but didn’t expect to see him quite so spooked Looking back, Mark Chilvers says he thought the ghost train he put his then six-year-old son Louie on would be a “Scooby-Doo level of scary”. The pair were at a London funfair in the …

‘It wasn’t my best parenting decision’: Mark Chilvers’ best phone picture Read More »

Conservative users began recirculating conspiracy theories as others voiced concerns over allowing hate speech and disinformation Among the most urgent questions facing Twitter in its new era as a private company under Elon Musk, a self-declared “free speech absolutist”, is how the platform will handle moderation. After finalizing his takeover and ousting senior leadership, Musk …

Elon Musk declares Twitter ‘moderation council’ – as some push the platform’s limits Read More »

Experts say the recent prominence of data breaches is just companies being more forthcoming and the media more focused on reporting them Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast It might seem like data breaches are occurring more frequently than ever in the wake of the Optus cyber-attack, but …

Cybercrime in Australia has been on the rise for years, but Optus and Medibank have been wake-up calls Read More »

A chronicle of months of corporate to-and-fro, distrust and unpredictability The saga is over. Elon Musk has finally bought Twitter after months of to-and-fro marked by legal rows, U-turns and, inevitably, Twitter spats. There will be more drama to come, by virtue of the platform’s centrality to news and politics as well as the unpredictable …

The twisty, drama-filled Elon Musk-Twitter saga: a timeline Read More »