Mr. Collier. (Photo: watoday.au.com)

There’s really not a whole lot going down down under, so this is what’s making news: An Australian politician has apologized for accidentally liking a Facebook photo of a 16-year-old prankster exposing himself. It was part of a prank called "sneaky nuts," a time-honored tradition where teenaged boys sneakily expose their balls through their pants.

Peter Collier, a minister for education in Western Australia, apologized for his actions, claiming he didn’t see the boy’s nuts exposed in what he thought was a normal photo. The incident happened in 2011, when the boy was 16, but he bragged about Mr. Collier's like late last month on Twitter.

Mr. Collier released an apologetic statement:

"It was a silly mistake on my part. I only became aware of the actual content of the photo when shown by a journalist today. This obviously highlights the pitfalls of social media. I apologise if I caused any offense."

Apology nut accepted.

(Photo: Tumblr)

One foolproof way to avoid getting your phone jacked by a roving band of hoodlum teenagers? Have a really shitty phone.

News.com.au reports that a group of teen robbers approached a man in a Sydney park and demanded he hand over his cell phone. When they saw that it wasn't a smartphone, but more like one of those flip phones your Dad still carries around attached to his belt, the pretentious tweens were all screw that. They let him keep the damn thing.

Although the victim held on to his outdated device, the robbers reportedly stole his sunglasses and sent him to the hospital for injuries to his face. Ugh, youths.

(Illustration: Jose Mesa, flickr)

Julian Assange has filed documents that will allow the WikiLeaks founder to run for the Australian senate, clearing the way for a campaign dedicated to ''the democratic requirement of truthfulness from government, according to The Age.

Mr. Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he is avoiding extradition to Sweden (and possibly the United States). If elected, and prevented from holding office by his legal predicament, Mr. Assange has indicated that he would cede his seat to another member of the WikiLeaks Party.

We wonder if it's possible to PayPal Mr. Assange a campaign contribution.

Not as glamorous as the movies make it seem. (Photo: Redbox.com)

Talk about a dubious distinction: Wired reports that an Australian man named Paul Leslie Howard is now the first to be convicted of a crime involving Silk Road, the Mos Eisley of the Internet. Mr. Howard copped to importing hard drugs using the site, and he now faces as many as 25 years in prison.

But does this signal a coming crackdown?

The Silk Road aspect of the case is causing quite the stir. When Mr. Howard was arrested, local law enforcement issued an ominous press release promising they'd get anyone using the site. It seems the pearl-clutching continued as the case went to trial, as well. Aussie paper The Age says the presiding judge showed alarm at the idea of just how easy Silk Road seemed: "Any kid short of money can become a part-time drug importer."

The prosecutor also read from Mr. Howard's early posts on the site, which certainly make it sound like just about anybody can refashion himself as Omar from The Wire: "Hey guys, I'm just starting out here. I'm Aus based and only shipping to Aus as not to roach on anyone's turf," he wrote, adding, "I'm keen for any tips or just some chat from you guys as I'm still learning!"

But it's not like Mr. Howard was convicted on the strength of his Silk Road profile alone. According to The Age, authorities first seized some of the man's drugs while in transit--through the damn mail--from the Netherlands and Germany. That was followed by a raid, in which the cops found "digital scales, clip seal bags, $2300 cash, a money counter and 35 stun guns disguised as mobile phones."

The police also got two mobile phones with more than 20,000 text messages, which said things like: "I got 5 grand worth if you want", " ... promote the LSD I got more in. I sold 200 cubes last week" and "no cubes left atm but some other 'things' u might like!"

Yeah, the prosecutor probably didn't have to pull any all-nighters on this one. We suspect this is less the sign of a coming crackdown than a reminder of a) why you shouldn't have drugs shipped to your house and b) all the ways in which Weeds was unrealistic.

Nonetheless, it's worth noting that here in the U.S., the DEA is well aware of the site's existence and investigating. So don't do anything dumb, okay?

(Jose Mesa.)

You might think that a person wanted for extradition by one or more countries would make a problematic political candidate—if not for the stigma that comes from being a wanted person, at least because it would presumably be difficult to turn out the vote from a remote location.

Unless, of course, you're Julian Assange. According to The Age, the WikiLeaks founder has confirmed his intention to mount a campaign for the Australian senate, despite his current confinement in Ecuador's London embassy, where he's spent the last six months avoiding extradition on to Sweden (from where it's generally presumed, the United States would seek to extradite him).

What's more, it sounds like he has a reasonable chance to win. According to The Age:

Opinion polls this year by UMR Research, the company the Labor Party uses for its internal polling, have suggested that Mr Assange could be a competitive Senate candidate in either NSW or Victoria, most likely fighting it out with the Australian Greens for the last of six seats up for grabs in each state in a half-Senate election.

lol. (Photo: Social Times)

Apple has redrawn a portion of Maps to keep Australians from being led astray into the middle of nowhere. [The Guardian]

Despite the fact that 88 percent of respondents voted to keep the voting structure, Facebook has decided to nix it anyway. Democracy on Facebook is dead, not that it ever really existed to begin with. [TechCrunch]

Here is a rock musical about the life and times of John McAfee. [PandoDaily]

Children's apps are still fooling parents about what kind of data they collect, including phone number and precise location. [New York Times]

Here's Twitter's 2012 week in review. Sadly it doesn't mention how annoying all those parody accounts got. [Twitter Blog]

A hypothetical Silk Road customer. (Getty Images)

Australian authorities have put supposedly anonymized users surfing Silk Road for weed and other sundries on notice: the coppers are one step ahead of you. A joint press release published by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service on Wednesday may serve as notice to anyone who is happily booting TOR and using the miracle of the Internet to score weapons-grade kush:

Silk Road is an overseas based illicit e-commerce website which facilitates the sale of drugs, weapons and other items prohibited under Australian law.

Law enforcement is well aware of this method of drug procurement and other illicit e-commerce platforms and are committed to identifying and combating users importing narcotics via this website into Australia.

This warning comes after a Melbourne resident was snagged for allegedly using Silk Road to transport unspecified narcotics into the country.

The most interesting part of the release might be a quote from customs official Alana Sullivan, who said, "Persons who buy or sell through online market places, on so-called 'anonymous' networks should understand that they are not guaranteed anonymity."

Ms. Sullivan's words may be a splash of cold water in the faces of  TOR users and Silk Road consumers around the world, or at least in the United States and Europe. If Aussie cops know where your Bitcoins go, who is to say American or European authorities are in the dark?