The use of a thumbs-up emoji in a text message can be a legally-binding agreement to a contract, a Canadian court has found. In the Court of King’s Bench in Saskatchewan, Justice Timothy Keene found that a farmer had agreed to a contract by replying to a text message with the thumbs-up emoji. The judge… Read more »
A National Anti-Scams Centre will be up and running by July under a $58 million federal budget commitment. Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones revealed details of the new centre on Monday, saying it will sit within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and act as a central place to report scams and share information with… Read more »
An Australian council mayor may become the first person in the world to sue AI platform ChatGPT for defamation over false claims he was imprisoned over a bribery scandal. The mayor of Hepburn Shire in Victoria, Brian Hood, discovered late last year that artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT was incorrectly claiming that he had pleaded guilty… Read more »
The Australian government has banned TikTok from all public service devices, claiming the app poses “significant protective security risk” to the Commonwealth. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced on Tuesday he had authorised a mandatory direction to ban the TikTok social media app from any device issued by a Commonwealth department or agency. State and territory governments… Read more »
The driver licence information of a hundred thousand Australians has been stolen after a major consumer finance company was targeted with a “sophisticated and malicious cyber-attack”. Latitude Financial, a major non-bank lender of consumer credit in Australia boasting 2.8 million customer accounts, revealed on Thursday that it had been breached following a significant cyber attack… Read more »
Government and Greens Senators have called for a significant trial of the four-day working week after hearing “substantial evidence” of its effectiveness. The Select Committee on Work and Care, chaired by Greens Senator Barbara Pocock, released its report late last week. A key recommendation from the report is for the federal government to undertake a… Read more »
Meta will trial a new subscription service for Facebook and Instagram users in Australia, at a cost of just under $25 per month. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the trial of Meta Verified on Monday morning, with Australia and New Zealand to be the first testing grounds for the service. The monthly subscription service will… Read more »
Twitter has been criticised for its move to make users pay for SMS-based two-factor authentication, with an expert warning that security on the platform is about to get worse. Last week it was announced that only paying subscribers to Twitter would be able to use two-factor authentication (2FA) via text message from next month. Two-factor… Read more »
The landmark three-year review of Australia’s Privacy Act has recommended significant new rights be handed to individuals, including to sue over privacy breaches, have their data erased and to opt out of targeted marketing. A widespread review of the Privacy Act was launched in 2020 by the former Coalition government on the back of a… Read more »
Tech salaries have bucked the global headwinds and continued to grow around the world, with pay for the most in-demand roles jumping by 20% in just a year. According to recruiter Talent’s More Than Money Salary Guide 2023, salaries for tech and digital jobs around the world have remained strong and in some cases continued… Read more »
Australian businesses are on notice. The gender pay gap within large Australian companies will be made public under legislation introduced this week by the federal government. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 was introduced to the Senate by Minister for Women Katy Gallagher on Wednesday afternoon. Under the legislation,… Read more »
A new report has revealed a number of global tech companies that are among the best places to be employed at in Australia. The Top Employers Institute has revealed its top ranking workplaces for 2023, with five tech companies scoring a place among the top companies in Australia. The Institute’s program certifies companies based on the… Read more »
The widespread talent shortage is hitting Australian IT project managers hard, with nearly three-quarters experiencing staff shortages, according to a new report. The Australian Institute of Project Management’s State of Project Management in Australia included a survey of more than 300 diverse Australian project professionals in July and August last year. Just under a quarter of… Read more »
The Australian game development sector is enjoying rapid growth on the back of unprecedented government support, with almost 800 new jobs created in the last year alone. The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) released its sixth annual Australian Game Development Survey this week, revealing that the sector has more than doubled in size over the last… Read more »
The federal government has begun the formation of its flagship $15 billion manufacturing fund, with legislation introduced to Parliament and discussions with industry to kick off next week. The National Reconstruction Fund, a key election pledge from Labor, will provide funding to tech areas including medical science, renewables and low-emission technologies, and critical technologies such… Read more »
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