Tis but a scratch
Optus penalised $1.5M for public safety failures
Optus Mobile Pty Ltd (Optus) has paid a $1,501,500 penalty after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found large-scale breaches of public safety rules.
An ACMA investigation found Optus left close to 200,000 mobile customers (supplied under the Coles Mobile and Catch Connect brands) at risk by failing to upload required customer information to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) between January 2021 and September 2023.
The IPND is used by critical services like the Emergency Alert service to warn Australians of disasters such as flood and bushfires, and by Triple Zero to provide location information to the police, ambulance and fire brigade in an emergency.
ACMA member Samantha Yorke said the ACMA commenced its investigation after a compliance audit indicated Optus had failed to upload data via its outsourced supplier, Prvidr Pty Ltd.
āWhen emergency services are hindered there can be very serious consequences for the safety of Australians,ā Ms Yorke said.
āWhile we are not aware of anyone being directly harmed due to the non-compliance in this case, itās alarming that Optus placed so many customers in this position for so long.
āOptus cannot outsource its obligations, even if part of the process is being undertaken by a third party.
āAll telcos need to have systems in place that ensure they are meeting their obligations, including having robust oversight and assurance processes for third-party suppliers.ā
In addition to the financial penalty, the ACMA has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Optus that requires an independent review of its IPND compliance where it uses a third-party data provider, and make any improvements recommended by the review. Optus has also been formally directed to comply with the IPND industry code.
If the ACMA finds Optus fails to comply with the direction or the enforceable undertaking, it may commence proceedings in the Federal Court, which can order penalties up to $10 million per breach or make orders in relation to the undertaking.
Over the past 18 months the ACMA has taken action against 5 telcos for IPND breaches, with financial penalties totalling more than $2 million.
honestly, just to have a consistent platform at home - everything is fragmented at the moment (Fire TV Stick in my mums bedroom, Chromecast in one of the loungerooms, TCL 65" with Google TV in the kitchen lounge area, and a couple of Apple TVās in my bedroom, and the pool room)
Google TV seemed to be the most platform-agnostic, so I figured to go for that, but am open to other platforms that might do a good job too.
The Australian Financial Review reports SingTel is discussing a sale of Optus with Canadian asset manager Brookfield, in a deal which could be worth $18 billion.
UPDATE
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Social Media
I did my first de-soldering/soldering project tonight. My Nintendo GameCubeās clock battery needed replacement. Thought Iād give a crack at not just replacing the battery but modding it so I can still replace it without the need to solder it on again. Only took 30 minutes and the GCN now keeps time properly. Not bad.
Some of the restrictions do hamper competition and their recent attitudes regarding the new EU laws was just disgusting. I donāt think much will change. They probably need to split the company.
Someone should be going after them for the insane overpricing they charge to upgrade RAM and Storage on MacBooks and iMacs.
What surprised a lot of the industry is AWSās attitude regarding egress charges. They are allowing data to be moved out of AWS at no charge. It was previously used as a lock in method where it was cheap to get the data in but very expensive to get it out. Apple could learn alot.
The M1, M2 and to some degree M3 surprised the market as the devices are small and very quick and there was nothing like it on the market. That has changed a little in the last 6 months but if you want a light powerful laptop it is still a good option. Yes I agree the upgrade costs are excessive. I have a M2 Mac and I just use a 2tb Samsung SSD to complement the storage. Itās small about the size of a credit card and maybe 2 to 3cm thick. If more people do that the powers to be at Apple should notice the price is excessive eventually reduce the price on new models.
Sadly, I think people are just going to pay the price especially if they really want Apple hardware and it canāt be upgraded later. It sucks because RAM and SSD are probably the cheapest components and Apple is really price gouging people to upgrade their awful base configs to something usable in 2024.
True however with Apple you can get away with less RAM than you can with Windows laptops. My M2 laptop only has 8GB of RAM and I never have had issues. My Windows laptop I eventually upgraded it from 16 to 32GB due to issues I was having. Most people buying Windows laptops need 16gb of RAM these days due to the amount of RAM browsers like Chrome use but because Apple is Unix based it is better at managing RAM so you donāt need as much. Most people can get away with just 8GB.
British mobile phone brand Nothing will launch in Australia in April, with two models available via JB Hi-fi.
Under the regional Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) agreement, Optus will provide TPG Telecom with access to its regional radio access network and they will share spectrum in regional Australia.
TPG Telecom will gain access to 2,444 Optus mobile network sites in regional Australia, increasing its current national 4G coverage from around 400,000 square kilometres to around 1,000,000 square kilometres and 98.4 per cent of the population.
Optus will licence some of TPGās spectrum for use in the MOCN, delivering enhanced capacity, speed and service quality to TPG and Optus customers in regional Australia.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said all 18 recommendations made to the government by an independent review into the sector would be agreed to, including ānew rules mandating how, what and when telecommunications carriers communicate with their customers during and after a major outageā.
There will also be a triple-zero ācustodianā appointed to monitor the service and hold the telcos to frequent stress testing, after close to three thousand Australians were unable to access emergency services during the recent Optus outage. Telcos will be required to share all real-time network information with emergency services in the case of any outages.
Each telco must also āprovide work plans to the regulator following a major outage, to explain how an impacted telco will mitigate the risk of a similar outage in futureā.
Apple unveiled new iPad Air and iPad Pro models overnight.
iPad Pro now has an OLED display and the new M4 chip.
Also unveiled a new āApple Pencil Proā for $219.
ā¦ and of course, the new Pro is not compatible with the 2nd gen pencil. Not sure whether its worth upgrading from my 2018 iPad Pro nowā¦ Iāll have to fork out over $2k including the magic keyboard too.
my M2 iPad Pro is definitely good value, probably still good value even now
Though the OLED screen sounds tempting!
I only upgraded last year, so will give it a miss this time.
But oh the prices! My eyes hurtā¦ For a 13 inch 2TB cellular nano glassā¦ $4,479!!! 