Well, this was inevitable, wasn’t it? Just as the UK rolls out its draconian online age verification requirements, a dating safety app called “Tea” has had its entire verification database leaked. Personal IDs, photos, location data from EXIF files – the whole bloody lot. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect to illustrate exactly why these “papers please” digital policies are such a catastrophically bad idea.

The Tea app, for those who haven’t heard of it, was marketed as a way for people (primarily women) to share information about potential dates – essentially a digital gossip platform with ID verification. Users were required to upload government identification to verify their accounts. Now, thanks to what appears to be amateur-hour security practices from a founder whose impressive qualifications include a six-month HTML course that he’s somehow spun into “Software Engineering, Computer Science” from UC Berkeley, all of that sensitive personal information is floating around the internet.

Been having one of those conversations lately that makes you question everything you see online. You know the type – where someone mentions how they’ve been getting friend requests from celebrities on Facebook, and suddenly everyone’s chiming in with their own bizarre stories. Mel Gibson wanting to be mates, Steven Miller sliding into DMs, even Ryan Gosling’s mum apparently making the rounds. It’s almost comical until you realise what’s actually happening beneath the surface.

The other day I stumbled across a discussion about finding free samples online, and it got me thinking about our relationship with freebies in this digital age. There’s something almost primal about the appeal of getting something for nothing - maybe it’s the thrill of the hunt, or perhaps it’s just good old-fashioned thriftiness. Either way, the conversation revealed some interesting perspectives on the modern freebie landscape.

What struck me most was the immediate warning about scams and data harvesting. Someone pointed out the obvious but often overlooked reality that many “free” sample sites are actually sophisticated operations designed to collect your personal information. It’s a sobering reminder that in our connected world, your name, phone number, and address have real value - sometimes more than whatever trinket they’re offering in return.