The World Today
Vacuum robots spying on Australians
ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more. Hello and welcome to the world today. It's Friday the 4th of October. I'm Rachel Mealy, coming to you from the lands of the Turbul and Yaghurah people in Brisbane. Today, as Israel continues its bombardment of Lebanon, the US president reveals Iran's oil assets could be next on the target list. And spies in our midst, the robot vacuum cleaners that can be hacked from a distance sharing video from inside Australian homes. "I want to show them, I want to show them." That's insane. "People don't think of their dishwasher as a robot. They don't think of their fridge as a robot. The cameras are always on, always watching." Israel is continuing to strike parts of Lebanon as it considers what action to take against Iran in the escalating Middle East conflict. The federal government is pleading with Australians to flee Lebanon while they can. Back home, debate continues over plans for pro-Palestinian protests this weekend, as the one-year anniversary of Hamas's deadly October 7 attacks approaches. Alexander Humphreys filed this report. Overnight, Beirut's southern suburbs were hit with a series of major blasts, while explosions erupted near the city's airport. Since the start of Israel's bombardment earlier this week, Lebanese authorities say around 2,000 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 wounded. Lebanon's health minister, Firaz Abiad, has accused Israel of violating international law by targeting health workers. "What is happening is dangerous because it is a violation of international laws and treaties. This is a war crime. There's no doubt about it." Israel says it does not target civilians. As Israel's land invasion into Lebanon advances, authorities are pleading with Australian citizens to leave the country. More than 2,300 Australians are already trying to get out. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today reiterated that call. "We have been warning for many months now, pleading with people to please leave Lebanon because it is not a safe place." Imad Salome is an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University, speaking from Beirut. "The situation is very difficult, very challenging to a lot of people, especially in Beirut right now, that is hosting much more displays and refugees than ever before. It's very crowded with people on the streets, with people trying to find places to sleep. Those people have been forced to flee their homes." Dani Citronowitz is a former Israeli Defense Intelligence Officer and a research fellow in the Iran program at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies. "Definitely the casualties, unfortunately Hezbollah is hiding behind the Lebanese civilians, using them as a human shield, and is hiding the strategic abilities over there. So Israel has to work hard in order to eliminate those capabilities without hurting civilians, but unfortunately, like every war, like Israel is suffering, civilians are hit them, unfortunately." And many expect the conflict to soon worsen as Israel considers its response after Tuesday's mass strike by Iran involving nearly 200 ballistic missiles. U.S. President Joe Biden says he's in discussions over possible Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities. Jason Razayan is an Iranian-American journalist who served as Tehran Bureau Chief for the Washington Post. "I think Israel really has the advantage here at the moment. And Iran is in a really, really weak position, much weaker than they've been likely in the last 30 years." "I don't think that there is necessarily an incentive for Israel to back off. I think there is an incentive for the world to try and own emotions in the region and lower tensions. I think it's a moment where the U.S. and its allies should explore the opportunities to kind of try and bring the Islamic Republic to its knees a little bit." Fallout from the conflict continues to play out in Australia. Ahead of the anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attacks this weekend, all state police forces and the Australian federal police have issued a joint statement, warning there will be no tolerance for illegal behavior at planned pro-Palestinian rallies. Tim Watts is Australia's assistant foreign minister. "I just implore Australians when you're exercising that those rights as Australian citizens consider your fellow Australian citizens, consider the trauma they're experiencing, consider that October 7 is the day of the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust." More than 1,700 Israelis were killed in those attacks, while nearly 42,000 Gazans have been killed in the years since. Alexandra Humphrey's reporting. While the U.S. president's off-handed mission that Israel was considering targeting Iranian oil assets has again raised concerns about an escalation in the current conflict. How would a retaliatory strike play out? Ben and Ben Taliblu is a senior Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. We spoke earlier. Ben and Ben Taliblu, Joe Biden, has said that the United States was in discussion about the possibility that Israel might strike Iran's oil fields. How do you read those comments and how seriously would Iran interpret what's been said? Most certainly, there is a change in the way the Biden administration has talked about, Israeli military action after an Iranian missile attack. The first one was in April, now the second one was in October. The first time the Biden administration basically told Israel to take the win because the interceptions were so successful. Days later, there was just a smaller pin-prick Israeli admittedly high-tech and undetected attack on Iranian radar. Now the conversation, as you mentioned, has ranged from potential military targets to critical infrastructure to oil fields, as you mentioned, and even potentially even a counter-proliferation operation. The fact that the Biden administration simply mentioned the oil one is, I think, quite big because in the past attacks and even sanctioning Iran and oil has gotten the regime's attention before. And most recently, Israel has actually struck oil storage terminals at least twice that belong to Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who also have been firing in Israel. So I think there is an attempt by the Biden administration to connect the dots here. And the administration has been supportive, at least philosophically, of Israeli retaliation. But we'll see how that holds once the target is chosen and should Israel actually pull the trigger. How would an attack on Iran's oil fields escalate this situation? Well, the thing about targets that are either political or economic or strategic importance to the regime is that the more important it is, the more attention it gets, and it can go really one of two ways. The regime, because it's so important, has to escalate to trying to prevent more attacks against that, or has to absorb entirely because that, which was hit with so precious, and they can't afford to have it be hit again. There is precedence for both in the past 45 years of Iranian history, in particular, when it comes to oil, the military or economic moves against it. Likely, I think the Iranians in the short-term would absorb and then try to continue to turn a military loss into a political win. Much also depends on the level of cover the Iranians believe the attack. It would be given from the Americans, and also if the Iranians tend to make it on this very old threat they've had about oil, which is that they can't export oil, no one can. And given the fact that this regime in 2019 struck major oil storage and petrochemical facilities in Saudi Arabia with drones and cruise missiles, then there is also the chance of them not retaliating directly to Israel, but trying to bring America into a wider conflict to arrest Israel's military retaliation. And so, during perhaps target oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or even vessels indirectly in the Persian Gulf and certain Hormuz. Ben and Ben Talablu, thanks very much for joining the world today. Thank you. And Ben and Ben Talablu is a senior Iran analyst at the foundation for defense of democracies. An Australian pianist is taking the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to court, accusing it of undermining his freedom of speech by cancelling one of his concerts. The funeral began when the MSO canned a performance by Jason Gillum, after he dedicated a piece of music to journalists killed in Gaza. It's fueled an ongoing debate about the extent to which employees can be censored by their employer. David Estcourt reports. Usually, Australian pianist Jason Gillum is known for this. Classic compositions and concertos play to audiences around the world. But now the artist is playing to a different tune, about free speech, claiming when he spoke out about the deaths of journalists in Gaza at a performance earlier this year, the MSO treated him with hostility. In August this year, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra cancelled my performance after I dedicated a piece to journalists in Gaza and provided factual context about their deaths. I was silenced for speaking the truth, that Israel targets journalists. After my reasonable requests to remedy the situation were rejected outright in a hostile letter from the MSO's lawyers. Israel says it does not deliberately target journalists, but cannot guarantee the safety of media in Gaza. The spat is now headed to the federal court, with Mr Gillum claiming the MSO has illegally silenced him for his views on the conflict. He also argues the case is about the extent to which employers can control what their employees say. This battle in the federal court is about defending everyone's right to freedom of speech. It is about ensuring artists can perform with integrity and without fear of censorship. Together, we can create a watershed moment, setting a precedent for free speech and artistic freedom in Australia and beyond. Dr Giuseppe Carabetta is an associate professor of employment law at the University of Technology, Sydney. The starting point is that the term freedom of speech really, you know, we don't have a constitutional freedom of speech in this country, unlike say the Americans. So that's really the starting point, and that surprises a lot of people. The tension is if I've got a social media policy, if I've got a code of conduct that's broadly worded and says that as an employer and says you're not to bring this organization into disrepute, he said the policies can apply to everyone, not just high profile people in positions of power. It doesn't just apply to these high flyers, you know, who are bound by these courses, so they're becoming more and more widespread. And he thinks it's now up to Parliament to intervene and provide better protections for employees. I think that ultimately then Parliament needs to address this. So Parliament needs to say something like employees can have a freedom to say things that, you know, don't go to, you know, hate speech in broad terms, you know, or that don't discriminate against others. Even the ABC has grappled with this question. Journalist and presenter Antoinette Latouff was taken off air part way through a radio presenting stint at ABC Radio Sydney in December. Ms. Latouff claims she was unlawfully sacked after sharing content from Human Rights Watch about the war in Gaza on her personal Instagram account. Her case is ongoing. Justin Pennefield, principal solicitor at J Penco Lawyers, has worked on several high profile cases in the area. In some ways the onus really is on employees to make it clear what is tolerated in the workplace. And then of course it's incumbent upon employees and workers to be really familiar with that. He agreed that the federal government should consider laws to better protect free speech. You know, we've certainly seen cases recently popping up with what's going on around the world, but they happen every year on different topics, everything from political conflicts to religion. Now Mr Gillum is asking people to support his legal fund as he continues to tour in Australia. The MSO confirmed it had been served with a statement of claim by Mr Gillum, but declined to comment. David S Court reporting. On ABC radio across Australia, this is the world today. Thanks for your company. Robotic vacuum cleaners can be pretty annoying when they suck up your shoelaces or find a door and escape the house. But have you ever considered that the robot vacuum cleaner could be doing something far more insidious? Well, a Chinese company's vacuums can be hacked from a distance and transmit video from inside customers' homes. ABC reporter Julian Fell hacked one himself to find out how easily it could be done. EcoVax is one of the most valuable home robotics companies in the world, with thousands of its robots roving through Australian households. But several of the company's most expensive vacuums have a critical vulnerability. They can be easily hacked. That's insane. Brisbane resident Sean Kelly consented to the ABC, spying on him through his EcoVax X2 robot, but didn't expect us to be able to speak to him through it as well. With a few simple steps, we were able to gain full access to the vacuum's camera and internet connection. It's a hack that could be carried out from 100 meters away. Sean Kelly says he wasn't warned by the company about his privacy being put at risk. It's like having a webcam that can roll around your house and look at your family. But I didn't think that someone could just directly hack in and look through my particular machine. But that's exactly what I managed to do with help from Dennis Geeser, the Berlin-based security researcher who first found the problem. Standing in a park outside Sean's office building, I connected to his robot vacuum via Bluetooth, allowing Dennis to exploit a floor in the company's code. It feels a little bit like the 90s or early 2000s in the sense of like win a bill because this is like stuff which we had back there. EcoVax had failed to secure its Bluetooth connector. So Dennis was able to take full control of the device. He silently took photos of Sean while he made coffee in his office kitchen. As soon as you said that it's potentially compromised, I started just tossing a little dishcloth on it when it's not in use. It's a problem that goes beyond expensive vacuum cleaners. Donald Dancerau is a senior lecturer at the Australian Center for Robotics. He says the threat from lack cybersecurity measures in modern devices is bigger than many might think. People don't think of their dishwasher as a robot. They don't think of their fridge as a robot. When you go outside, you see cars driving around, all kinds of cameras on some car manufacturers. Famously, the cameras are always on, always watching. Australia has no mandatory rules for ensuring that smart devices are safe from being hacked. There's only a voluntary code of practice where compliance is encouraged but optional. This means that companies' manufacturing devices aren't required to test their products are secure. However, EcoVax did in fact have the X2 tested and certified as secure by a German company called Tube Rheinland. But experts say this incident raises questions about the suitability of these cybersecurity certifications. Lim Young-Z is a former cybersecurity tester based in Singapore, who has worked with robotic vacuum cleaners. He says testing isn't as rigorous as it should be, and the results are often left open to interpretation. It really depends on the experience of the laboratory as well as the personnel who is handling the device for cybersecurity testing. He says that this means consumers don't know if the devices they're buying have been properly tested, even if they've been certified as secure. For consumers, of course, it is very difficult. There's no way to tell it that's secure. In a statement, a spokesperson from the Department of Home Affairs said the government plans to introduce mandatory security standards for smart devices later this year with enforcement provisions designed to prevent non-compliant devices from being sold in Australia. An EcoVax spokesperson told the ABC in a statement that the company is proactively exploring more comprehensive testing methods and committed to fixing the vulnerability in its robots by November. Julian fell reporting there. Cycling groups say more Aussies are making the switch from four wheels to two. As the cost of living rises, it's one of the areas some families say they're able to make a difference, and the introduction of eBikes means some are able to leave the car at home, even if they have kids to transport. Elizabeth Kramsi reports. In Ballarat in regional Victoria, Alice Humble no longer uses the car to take her kids to school. It was all about just wanting to maintain that ride and commute for environmental reasons, for physical reasons, and now I can just do that with my children, which is brilliant. The longtime cyclist has recently made the change to a cargo bike so she can leave the car at home for the majority of her day-to-day errands, even when she needs to take her two kids along. Both of me and my husband ride to work, but we use the car to get to swimming lessons, and then to get back to Melbourne to see my parents we drive. If we want to go out to, you know, Bendigo, we went to Bendigo on the weekend, all those little things we still have the car for, but I probably drive the car probably about once a week. Peter McLean, who lives in Southwestern Sydney, also does a lot of his daily commuting on the cargo bike. It's actually a really great start of the day. I get to go across over the hill and see the sunrise, so it's quite a great health and wellbeing activity, but of course it's great to save a few dollars, particularly with the price of petrol and registration and insurance. The CEO of Bicycle New South Wales says he cycles up to 5,000 kilometres a year, which probably saves him at least $2,000 in petrol alone. While his family has held on to their car, he reckons if they lived closer to the city, he would have sold it by now, and he thinks it's part of an upward trend in people cycling, particularly with e-bikes and cargo bikes. Particularly in the metropolitan spaces, in the central CBD area of Sydney alone, we're seeing 5,000 trips each and every day take place. So if you replicate that across many other areas of NSW and in Ditas, where we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of trips each and every day on a bicycle. He's not the only one seeing an increase in cyclists. Alison McCormack is the CEO of Advocacy Group Bicycle Network. We've actually seen a ridership increase of around 6% across Victoria in particular, but we've also seen a phenomenal increase in people using e-bikes. In fact, 11% of people were commuting on e-bikes. She believes a fair chunk of those numbers are people new to cycling. Well, what we're actually seeing too is an increase in female riders as well. Around 30% were female riders, which is actually quite large because usually we see that to be around 16% female. So more females are riding an e-bike and we feel that that is new people to bike riding. According to the Australian Automobile Association, data from the second quarter of this year shows the average Australian household, including a couple with two children, spends about $459 per week on car running costs, loan repayments and fuel account for more than two thirds of that amount. And that's before you start taking the big hitters like insurance, servicing, tires and registration into account. Ballarat resident Alice Humble says investing in infrastructure could encourage more cyclists to hit the road. Making it safe, so we've protected bike lanes, but also making it comfortable, convenient, direct would be massive in encouraging people to leave the car at home. That's Ballarat resident Alice Humble, ending that report from Elizabeth Cramsey and Claudia Foresburg. Rugby League fans are gearing up for an epic grand final between the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm in Sydney this weekend. For the Panthers, it's a chance to cement their legacy as one of the most successful teams of the modern era, with a fourth successive premiership. Standing in their way are the storm who are hoping to spoil the party. Our reporter Rachel Hater is in Penrith, we spoke earlier. Rachel, just describe the atmosphere where you are. Rachel, I'm at the Penrith Rugby League club, right outside the merchandise shop in the Foyer entrance. And I'm looking at two big Black Panther statues guarding the entrance, ancient Egyptian style with shiny sashes of red, green and yellow around their necks. For the past 45 minutes or so I've been here. There's been a very steady stream of customers coming in with smiles on their faces and leaving with merchandise under their arms, mainly Black jerseys with proud stripes on the sleeves. And Rachel, I've stopped some of these fans to ask them how they're feeling ahead of the big game on Sunday. I'm a little bit nervous because Melbourne Storm is a good team. Really excited looking forward to it. Well the story is up here that you've got to lose one to win six. I've been supporting them since I was 10 so you used to go to the games hoping they'd win now you sort of go to the games expecting them to win. Yeah you sort of get that feel on that but yeah they just can do it. It's a good feeling. I'm nervous because they've won so many games and I really want them to win this one. They're all good players and they know the girls. They know the drill. Some loyal, excited and proud fans there Rachel all wearing the Penrith colours that are not just being donned by people that houses and fences all over town. On the way in I saw heaps of houses with streamers and balloons and massive faces of their favourite players stuck up on the walls as well as cars with Black Panthers flags hanging out of their windows. And if Penrith can get the job done what will it mean for that community? I think Rachel the benefits for Penrith are already here. There's such a holiday atmosphere in town today and just an incredible sense of excitement and celebration. But honestly the real feeling I'm getting from locals is that Penrith are already winners. Fans have done this before. The team has done this before. They know the drill as one little girl told me. This is a community more united thanks to their love for this team and they're all hoping they can do it again and take home yet another premiership this Sunday four from four. The game against the Melbourne Storm starts at 7.30 Sunday night at a core stadium Rachel. Rachel Hator there and that's all from the World Today team. Thanks for your company. I'm Rachel Miele. Hi I'm Sam Hawley, host of the ABC News Daily podcast. When journalist Deborah Stone learned about the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel a year ago today she had to get to work as a Jewish woman and editor in chief of the Jewish Independent. Finding a balance in the reporting was what she strove for then and now. Today I speak with Deborah about the past year. Look for the ABC News Daily podcast on the ABC listener. (guitar strum) [BLANK_AUDIO]