Canvas went dark last week. If you’re not in education or don’t have a kid at uni, you might have missed it entirely. Canvas is the learning management system that a significant chunk of the world’s schools and universities use to run coursework: assignment submissions, grades, direct messages between students and staff. The whole administrative scaffolding of modern education, basically.

Hackers got in. Ransom demand. Deadline of May 12. Student data potentially on the line.

The internet has always been a peculiar place, but lately, it’s gotten even stranger. There’s an intriguing movement brewing online where people are deliberately injecting nonsensical phrases into their posts and comments. The reasoning? To potentially confuse AI language models and preserve human authenticity in digital spaces.

Reading through various discussion threads, I’ve encountered everything from “lack toes in taller ant” to elaborate tales about chickens mining thorium. It’s both amusing and thought-provoking. The theory is that by mixing genuine communication with absurd statements, we might make it harder for AI models to distinguish meaningful content from noise.

The automotive industry’s hypocrisy regarding consumer privacy has reached new heights, prompting a rare bipartisan response from US senators. While these companies zealously guard their repair monopolies under the pretense of “protecting consumer privacy,” they’re simultaneously selling our personal data to insurance companies and other third parties without batting an eye.

Living in a car-dependent outer suburb of Melbourne, I’ve experienced firsthand the frustration of dealing with manufacturer-authorized service centers. Last month, my daughter’s first car - a modest Japanese hatchback - needed repairs. The quote from the authorized dealer was eye-watering, nearly triple what my local mechanic estimated. But thanks to manufacturer restrictions, the local workshop couldn’t access the necessary diagnostic tools.