Social Media dragons: The New Information World Order

Never assume that people in positions of responsibility are behaving responsibly.

— David McCullough, born on this date in 1933

Australia forms new joint law enforcement effort to tackle online investment fraud

OECD pressed Australia to drop plan to reveal where multinationals pay tax

Off the record’: Other PwC partners also shared tax information Neil Chenoweth Neil Chenoweth

“Due to taxpayer secrecy, I cannot confirm or deny whether an investigation is taking place

Mormons walk away from major multinational tax evasion scheme

The Declaration of Independence complained that Britain was “imposing Taxes on us without our Consent,” and Americans rallied around the idea of “no taxation without representation.” They wanted to be taxed by officials they elected, not by a faraway government that wasn’t accountable to them.

Schizer: Biden And The OECD’s Taxation Without Representation

To implement the 2018 MOA, OIRA adopted a framework for analyzing tax regulations that did not treat tax revenues as a benefit, despite revenue being the tax system’s primary goal. The incomplete and biased analyses that resulted did not improve tax regulation. But they caused a bottleneck in implementing tax statutes and responding to the large unmet demand that taxpayers have for regulations to clarify their legal obligations.

Huang: Modernizing Tax Regulatory Review

APS issued official guidance on workplace use of ChatGPT, Bard AI and Bing AI

Audit office to test ethical frameworks at ATO and DEWR

Seven public servants criticised in robodebt report as agencies consider response

The Luxury French Real Estate of Alleged Latin American Money Launderers and Officials Accused of Corruption

Kelly says Trump wanted to use IRS to come after Lisa Page and Peter Strozk and we’re supposed to believe the Comey and McCabe audits were random?!

Former Trump chief of staff John Kelly provided a sworn statement that Trump sought to have the IRS investigate both.

BUSTED: John Kelly Just Signed An Affidavit Trump Illegally Wanted To Sic FBI, IRS, On His Enemies

PAI and OSINT

Australia becomes first country to legalise medical psychedelics Sky News

As Department of Finance head Jenny Wilkinson was issuing new guidelines last month for Commonwealth tenders to consider governance concerns, the Tax Office was doubling down on its commitment to troubled tech stock Nuix with a whopping $6.8 million contract extension.

Nuix and its board is facing civil action from ASIC over what the corporate regulator says was breaches of directors’ duties and continuous disclosure obligations. ASIC also has an insider trading investigation over shares traded by Nuix CEO Jonathan Rubinsztein announced publicly to the market in May of this year. Then there’s the class action over the 2020 prospectus.

 ATO punts $6.8m on Nuix Neil Chenoweth

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: The New Information World Order.

Meta has decided to launch its own social media app in a direct challenge to Twitter. The WSJ writes: “Let the battle begin. Facebook parent Meta Platforms on Wednesday announced the launch of Threads, a stand-alone microblogging app that takes direct aim at Twitter as user unrest in that platform has grown since Elon Musk took the company over in October.”

The rise of social media as a news source and opinion shaper is eating away at the influence of traditional media platforms. Fewer people, mostly oldsters, still watch TV. Already, “almost half of Americans use social media as a news source, according to the Pew Research Center.” With the 2024 elections right around the corner, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter cannot go unanswered.

But the phenomenon is larger than just confirming the increasing importance of social media for news. Many separate pieces are moving toward what might be called a new information system that will have far more potential impact than the old tube. Social media, AI and even crypto are converging in as yet poorly understood ways to comprise an emerging environment.

All the players are still trying to build silos though, which do no favors to the free flow of information that the internet originally promoted.

Barely a quarter of Americans still have landlines

Highlights on cyber security issues, June 30, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few.

 On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Amazon delays virtual care service’s unveiling after senators raised privacy concern; FBI launches national ‘swatting’ database amid rising incidents; How Do Some Companies Get Compromised Again and Again?; and Does ChatGPT Save My Data? OpenAI’s Privacy Policy Explained

Czech Out  ANY TIME YOU LIKE…: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says. “Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival, is drawing users at an astounding pace, amassing 10 million signups in just seven hours, according to co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. But the highly-anticipated new service, which requires an Instagram account for onboarding, features an intriguing stipulation: Deleting a Threads account requires deleting the linked Instagram account.”