From cas at taz.net.au Tue Jan 1 09:59:45 2008 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Tue Jan 1 09:59:59 2008 Subject: Youth & Privacy [Was Re: [LINK] Trends and predictions 2008 In-Reply-To: References: <78585DD9-2BB7-46EA-B390-ABBF623A534D@itrundle.com> Message-ID: <20071231225945.GA593@taz.net.au> On Mon, Dec 31, 2007 at 12:07:11PM +1100, Roger Clarke wrote: > (4) the utterance is by an ad agency, whose interest lies in playing > down the privacy interest so that it doesn't get in the way of > their activities and if you repeatedly tell teenagers and twenty-somethings that only old farts like their parents care about privacy, that their generation doesn't care at all, then a very large percentage of them will believe it and adopt it because they want to be an outsider. a manufactured generation gap ready for political and corporate exploitation. memes, like anything else (especially including things like "fashion") can be created and manipulated....a task made much easier with billions of advertising dollars and a near-monopoly[1] on access to mass media. remember: all advertising is a deliberate viral attack on the integrity of your selfhood. some people are resistant or even immune to infection, most are not. [1] a shrinking near-monopoly. there are many more different and varied sources of information and propaganda now than there was just a few years ago. craig -- craig sanders BOFH excuse #285: Telecommunications is upgrading. From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 1 12:10:15 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 1 12:10:29 2008 Subject: [LINK] Onus on providers to clean up web content In-Reply-To: <47789A67.2070100@optusnet.com.au> References: <47788B44.3000301@iimetro.com.au> <47789A67.2070100@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: On 31/12/2007, at 6:29 PM, Brendan Scott wrote: >> A report by the Australia Institute in 2003 showed 84 per cent of >> boys >> and 60 per cent of girls using the internet had experienced unwanted >> exposure to sexual material. > > Why would this figure be gender dependent? I can imagine why looking back to my time as a young male but I would have expected the percentages to be in the reverse order with the male figure being more like 5% :-0 Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 | mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au mobile: 04 1242 0397 | mailto:tony.barry@alianet.alia.org.au http://tony-barry.emu.id.au From rene.lk at libertus.net Tue Jan 1 12:41:52 2008 From: rene.lk at libertus.net (Irene Graham) Date: Tue Jan 1 12:42:08 2008 Subject: [LINK] Onus on providers to clean up web content In-Reply-To: <4778DAE2.8090908@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <200811114152.023289@c990> On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 23:04:50 +1100, Brendan Scott wrote: > Irene Graham wrote: >> On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:35:18 +1100, Ivan Trundle wrote: >> >>> On 31/12/2007, at 6:29 PM, Brendan Scott wrote: >>>> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: >>>>> Onus on providers to clean up web content >>>> [] >>>>> A report by the Australia Institute in 2003 showed 84 per cent >>>>> of boys >>>>> and 60 per cent of girls using the internet had experienced >>>>> unwanted exposure to sexual material. >>>>> >>>> Why would this figure be gender dependent? >>>> >>> The key word here is 'unwanted' perhaps, which might explain it... >>> >> Probably given the 'boys' and 'girls' surveyed by Newspoll for the >> Australia Institute were aged 16-17 years and the question asked was >> "When using the Internet yourself, have you ever seen sex sites >> accidentally or when you didn't mean to?" > > Seems to go against stereotypes - ie girls more likely to want such > material. Maybe there is a gender difference in interacting w. the > internet? Girls are better at not chancing upon it? Boys are falsely > modest? No, but I can now see my brief comment sounded like that, sorry. What I meant was that imo 16-17 yo males ("boys") are more likely than "girls" to be intentionally searching for "sex sites" and are therefore more likely to see sites that they "didn't mean to" as distinct from entirely accidentally, e.g. intentionally seeking pictures of naked bodies and, without meaning to, finding pictures of e.g. extreme/disturbing sexual practices/whatever. Also, the AI report itself (p.18 of the paper version) states that a possible explanation for the higher figure re "boys" is that: "some boys may be willing to admit to accidental exposure but not deliberate searching for sex sites and boys' greater deliberate use of Internet sex sites may therefore feed into an over-reporting of accidental exposure". Other survey figures in the AI report appear to support the above... Another question asked was "Have you ever searched for or looked at sex sites on the Internet on purpose?". 38% of boys and 2% of girls said yes. So of the boys surveyed, 84% had seen sites accidentally and 38% had seen sites deliberately. Hence a proportion of those who saw sites accidentally apparently also admitted to deliberate exposure, and that number seems to me to be 22% (i.e. 100%-84%=16% without accidental exposure. 38% deliberate -16% without accidental exposure = 22%). Then, if one takes that 22% off the 84%, one is left with 62% of "boys" with accidental exposure who had not deliberately looked for "sex sites". Remarkably close to the figure of 60% of girls with accidental exposure. (If I appear to be overlooking some aspect in that analysis, please do point it out - I can't see any other way to interpret the figures). Whether a figure of even 60% accidental exposure has any resemblance to reality is an open question. It's in stark contrast to figures in an academic study report issued in Feb 2003 (AI report issued March 2003), which found that: "Twenty-five percent of youth had unwanted exposure to sexual pictures on the Internet in the past year". However, the difference may be due to the AI having Newspoll ask 200 16-17 year olds if they had *ever* seen *sex sites* accidentally or when they didn't mean to, while the US study asked 1507 10-17 year olds if they had had "one or more unwanted exposures to sexual pictures while online in the *past year*" (emphasis added). That report also presents the findings of a much broader range of survey questions than the AI survey, and it also details methodology etc (unlike the AI report). (The latter report was on the findings of a survey undertaken by the Crimes against Children Research Center ("CCRC"), University of New Hampshire, titled "The Exposure of Youth to Unwanted Sexual Material on the Internet" A National Survey of Risk, Impact, and Prevention" (Mitchell Finkelhor & Wolak, 2003). The funding for the CCRC study was provided by the (USA) National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/Exposure_risk.pdf ) Imo, the AI survey, with its very few but broadly phrased survey questions, can readily be perceived to have had the sole intention of obtaining sensational figures to support its campaign for mandatory ISP blocking. I also consider it pertinent that one of the co-authors of the AI report, Clive Hamilton, had been publicly saying for some 9 months before issue of the AI report that: "For all of the hype, the information superhighway is principally a conduit for pornography." [1] I don't find surveys/report issued by people with such an opinion in the least bit credible. Irene [1] Quoted from: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/13/1021002429844.html http://evatt.org.au/publications/papers/34.html http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=894 From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Tue Jan 1 14:03:35 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Jan 1 14:09:25 2008 Subject: [LINK] Onus on providers to clean up web content In-Reply-To: <200811114152.023289@c990> References: <4778DAE2.8090908@optusnet.com.au> <200811114152.023289@c990> Message-ID: <6hhft4$et5vq@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 12:41 PM 1/01/2008, Irene Graham wrote: > "For all of the hype, the information superhighway is principally a >conduit for pornography." [1] > >I don't find surveys/report issued by people with such an opinion in the >least bit credible. Hype it is. The minister, Conroy, put anyone who questioned the policy as supporting distribution of kiddie pron. When will the world start to think again, particularly those 'in charge' of the place? It is just as silly to attack those who question one's policies in such extreme manner on this issue as it is for the anti-war issue. I was going to email him pointing out his stupidity in doing so, but I figured he'd just call me a kiddie pron promoter. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 14:50:49 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 14:51:05 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters Message-ID: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> Minister warned on p*** filters Yuko Narushima January 1, 2008 SMH I tried to send this article to Link, but it would appear that someone's filters have censored it. The URL is http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/minister-warned-on-####-filters/2007/12/31/1198949746454.html but the original probably won't get through either. Just replace #### by that naughty word. Ironic, ain't it? -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Tue Jan 1 15:28:33 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Tue Jan 1 15:28:49 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <4779C171.6080107@canb.auug.org.au> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote on 1/1/08 2:50 PM: Testing the URL from 'exetel' > Minister warned on p*** filters > Yuko Narushima > January 1, 2008 > SMH > > I tried to send this article to Link, but it would appear that > someone's filters have censored it. > > The URL is > http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/minister-warned-on-####-filters/2007/12/31/1198949746454.html > > > but the original probably won't get through either. Just replace #### > by that naughty word. > > Ironic, ain't it? > -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 15:52:43 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 15:53:03 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: <4779C171.6080107@canb.auug.org.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <4779C171.6080107@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <4779C71B.7060503@iimetro.com.au> Testing the URL from iinet. Just to clarify, I originally sent the whole article to Link. steve jenkin wrote: > Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote on 1/1/08 2:50 PM: > > Testing the URL from 'exetel' > > >>Minister warned on p*** filters >>Yuko Narushima >>January 1, 2008 >>SMH >> >>I tried to send this article to Link, but it would appear that >>someone's filters have censored it. >> >>The URL is >>http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/minister-warned-on-####-filters/2007/12/31/1198949746454.html >> >> >>but the original probably won't get through either. Just replace #### >>by that naughty word. >> >>Ironic, ain't it? >> > > > -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Tue Jan 1 15:58:29 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Tue Jan 1 15:58:57 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: At 14:50 +1100 1/1/08, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: >I tried to send this article to Link, but it would appear that >someone's filters have censored it. > >Minister warned on p*** filters >The URL is >http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/minister-warned-on-####-filters/2007/12/31/1198949746454.html > >but the original probably won't get through either. Just replace >#### by that naughty word. > >Ironic, ain't it? Ironic, but also interesting, maybe even disturbing. Bernard, could you send to link the evidence that leads you to infer that "someone's filters have censored [your initial post to link]"? We don't know what dynamic spam filters are doing at any given time, whether operating at ISP-level and/or locally. But would sensible dynamic rules *really* block all emails containing that string, even that word?? I posted the same article-title and URL to the privacy list at 12:20 today. I received my own copy, and no bounce-message, so I assume it got through to all subscribers okay - although of course I don't *know* that. (Jan?). Aside: My local filters put your email in my 'Spam Maybe' mailbox. I *think* that was based on the filter that picks up . -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 16:15:28 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 16:15:45 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <4779CC70.7060708@iimetro.com.au> Roger, the only evidence I have is that the original posting never arrived, but the subsequent one with the modified URL did. As you have probably seen the second one I sent, which was a rely to Steve Jenkin's did arrive. I'll try resending the original to Link. Roger Clarke wrote: > At 14:50 +1100 1/1/08, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > >> I tried to send this article to Link, but it would appear that >> someone's filters have censored it. >> >> Minister warned on p*** filters >> The URL is >> http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/minister-warned-on-####-filters/2007/12/31/1198949746454.html >> >> >> but the original probably won't get through either. Just replace #### >> by that naughty word. >> >> Ironic, ain't it? > > > Ironic, but also interesting, maybe even disturbing. > > Bernard, could you send to link the evidence that leads you to infer > that "someone's filters have censored [your initial post to link]"? > > We don't know what dynamic spam filters are doing at any given time, > whether operating at ISP-level and/or locally. But would sensible > dynamic rules *really* block all emails containing that string, even > that word?? > > I posted the same article-title and URL to the privacy list at 12:20 > today. I received my own copy, and no bounce-message, so I assume it > got through to all subscribers okay - although of course I don't *know* > that. (Jan?). > > Aside: My local filters put your email in my 'Spam Maybe' mailbox. I > *think* that was based on the filter that picks up . > > -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Tue Jan 1 16:12:38 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Jan 1 16:20:04 2008 Subject: [LINK] Onus on providers to clean up web content Message-ID: <6hhft4$eu03o@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> reply from Internode. Seems reasonable to me. >Hi Jan, > >Thank you for your support request with Internode. > >The filtering system proposed by the Communications Minister Stephen >Conroy has yet to materialise in any real sense, and is still just a >proposal. As such, there is no filter in place that we can opt you >out of, however we will certainly keep your comments on file. > >Further, I would recommend that you direct your concerns directly to >Minister Conroy or your local member. The only problem with contacting my local member is that he's part of the Nanny brigade - ex-AFP. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Tue Jan 1 16:20:51 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Jan 1 16:25:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$eu17i@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 03:58 PM 1/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >I posted the same article-title and URL to the privacy list at 12:20 >today. I received my own copy, and no bounce-message, so I assume >it got through to all subscribers okay - although of course I don't >*know* that. (Jan?). Yep, the whole thing came through on the privacy list to me, once from you and once BRDs copy that did make it through to me via link as well. Must be some individuals that caused the bounce, not either list. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rene.lk at libertus.net Tue Jan 1 16:38:56 2008 From: rene.lk at libertus.net (Irene Graham) Date: Tue Jan 1 16:39:12 2008 Subject: [LINK] Onus on providers to clean up web content In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$eu03o@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <200811153856.703873@c990> On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 16:12:38 +1100, Jan Whitaker wrote: > reply from Internode. Seems reasonable to me. Internode certainly knew about this ridiculous proposal before, they're one of the ISPs that have been speaking out for some months about the impracticality/unworkability of ISP blocking. ISP-level filters 'unworkable', 10 August 10 http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/isplevel-filters-unworkable/2007/08/10/11865 30595566.html Critics slam net block plan, September 25, 2007 http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22475465-15306,00.html Irene From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 17:16:44 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 17:17:02 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters Message-ID: <4779DACC.5040605@iimetro.com.au> Test of subject line -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 17:17:42 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 17:17:59 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <4779DACC.5040605@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779DACC.5040605@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <4779DB06.4050108@iimetro.com.au> Test of subject line -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 17:18:15 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 17:18:37 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: <4779CC70.7060708@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <4779CC70.7060708@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <4779DB27.1020807@iimetro.com.au> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > > > Roger, the only evidence I have is that the original posting never > arrived, but the subsequent one with the modified URL did. > > As you have probably seen the second one I sent, which was a rely to > Steve Jenkin's did arrive. > > I'll try resending the original to Link. I resent the original and it (so far) hasn't arrived although the one I am replying to now did. My SMTP is actually , not iinet (or iimetro) so maybe it's getting caught up in bigpond filters. On the other hand, I've not seen any emails to Link with the original naughty word in the subject line. I'll try a test email just before I send this. D'oh, forgot to change the subject line, so two may or may not arrive. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Tue Jan 1 17:59:37 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Tue Jan 1 17:59:48 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <4779DB06.4050108@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779DACC.5040605@iimetro.com.au> <4779DB06.4050108@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <4779E4D9.3020501@canb.auug.org.au> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote on 1/1/08 5:17 PM: > Test of subject line > TEST reply - after full text sent. -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 18:18:57 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 18:19:17 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: <4779DEB1.7010300@canb.auug.org.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <4779C171.6080107@canb.auug.org.au> <4779C6CA.1020405@iimetro.com.au> <4779DEB1.7010300@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <4779E961.6060307@iimetro.com.au> Steve Jenkin has just sent four emails The original full text that I tried to send - to link and cc to me. Subject line with the naughty word - to link and cc to me. The only ones I got were the ccs. The finger is starting to point at ANU filters -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 18:22:31 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 18:22:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters Message-ID: <4779EA37.80600@iimetro.com.au> **** Steve Jenkin has just sent four emails The original full text that I tried to send - to link and cc to me. Subject line with the naughty word - to link and cc to me. The only ones I got were the ccs. The finger is starting to point at ANU filters **** Correct that. I just got the second one, the one with the Subject line only -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 1 18:28:52 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 1 18:29:12 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: <4779EA37.80600@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779EA37.80600@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <4779EBB4.2010101@iimetro.com.au> Just to remove a potential ambiguity, the one I did NOT get was the full text sent to Link. This is the same behaviour that I experienced, it seems to be the body of the email that is getting caught. Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > **** > Steve Jenkin has just sent four emails > > The original full text that I tried to send - to link and cc to me. > > Subject line with the naughty word - to link and cc to me. > > The only ones I got were the ccs. > > The finger is starting to point at ANU filters > **** > > Correct that. I just got the second one, the one with the Subject line only > -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Tue Jan 1 19:08:46 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Tue Jan 1 19:08:59 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on p*** filters In-Reply-To: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <4779F50E.6030308@canb.auug.org.au> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote on 1/1/08 2:50 PM: > Minister warned on p*** filters Yuko Narushima January 1, 2008 SMH > > http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/minister-warned-on-####-filters/2007/12/31/1198949746454.html > > > > > > [LONG] It never ceases to amaze me, the Pollie attitude to P**n and 'Spam' & it's friend, malware. P**n is "bad, bad, bad" and Pollies show very high interest - including policy & legislation. Lots of angst & trashing around about eradicating something that 2,000+ years of writing/publishing shows can't be controlled/legislated away. The physical publishing world & (cable) TV show that the *only* effective is means of control is to allow-but-license. Same as tobacco. Never going to eradicate, only control. Unless every page is 'classified' at source (meta-tags), an unforgeable internet 'proof-of-age' card is created, there are criminal penalties for subverting the system, forging identities or mis-classifying pages, there are no legal jurisdictions outside 'the system' [e.g. on the high-seas], *and* all browsers enforce 'the rules' - and browsers can't be built/written to ignore them: [I think that's a list of sufficient & necessary conditions], Only then will there be the *technical* means to control, not eradicate, 'restricted content'. i.e. It's *impossible* to eliminate 'restricted content', and provably so... Meanwhile, Spam & malware that rides on it, consumes vast amounts of resource and via malware, damage. Spam is a quadruple whammy: - uses capacity of links & servers - consumes PC resources in botnets - wastes admin & firewall time/resources - wastes recipients time/resources Nobody has ever made a public case that 'spam' is beneficial to anyone but the organised crime rings that enable it. I'm even unconvinced that the suckers who try to peddle their wares through spam make anything. I'd also guess many sales are with card-fraud... [no information on that] For me, this is a classic case of 'inversion' - the Pollies rail against that which can't be controlled and is of limited impact, and ignore a high-impact problem that could be controlled. In the late-80's, "junk fax" was a real and growing problem. It almost completely evaporated after a British case where the plaintiff sued for the cost of the paper used... [can't find the reference] There are now strong "junk fax" laws in the UK and USA. 'spam' *could* be eliminated via technical means, and in a reasonably short time despite the many previous attempts/progams.. Or perhaps, because of them - what won't work is getting more clear. Some reasons 'spam' continues to be a problem: - "Walled gardens" don't work. - No single approach is going to work. - Like 'art', there is no universal definition and not everyone considers all spam to be evil... - SMTP over port 25 can never be 'spam free', even with schemes like DomainKeys etc ... because: - the sender identity can be spoofed trivially. it can't be positively authenticated/certified. - any IP number can act as an MTA - message headers can be spoofed trivially - the original message content can't be verified. - but probably because it is not illegal everywhere and perpetrators are difficult to bring to book. 'spam' exists solely because of tassid assumptions made in 1980 (RFC 772) [X.400 1984/88 made the same assumptions.] They followed from years of uucp & Usenet experience: - 'hosts' are controlled, and by responsible administrators - Only trustworthy/certified UA & MTA programs are used. - Only MTA's assign message headers. Spoofed headers from a malicious UA will be discarded. - All MTA's can be trusted. [Hosts that are MTA's can be authenticated] - user identities cannot be forged. (breaking into an account is different) - rogue users cannot access privileged functions - like send/recv on port 25. These assumptions were all invalidated when the first DOS PC was connected to the Internet. The characteristics of any 'solution' to spam: - there will always be unverified port 25 traffic. It cannot be eliminated, but can be dropped by firewalls. - An End-to-End solution is required for verified/authenticated messages. - these two goals are incompatible. - verified messages can be sent out to the 'port 25' addressees - no perfect scheme exists to 'untaint' inbound 'port 25' messages - The following are needed: - positive user authentication - by UA and 1st-MTA - non-spoofable message headers & verifiable content. - only known/trusted MTA's allowed. eg. issued X.509 certs - 1st-MTA rejection of invalid messages - global identity revocation of rogue MTA's and users - selectable sender identities - user selectable network - trusted messaging or wild-wild-web If all the elements in "junk e-mail" - originating machine, user identify, 1st-MTA - can be definitively identified & owners traced, then existing "spam" laws could be enforceable in the same way that "junk fax" legislation has been highly successful. And the results will be the same, even in a 'trusted messaging' world: *Good*, but never perfect. In Real Life, people are devious and always testing ways to make a quick buck. Caveat: There are already many tightly controlled messaging environments. The rate of "junk messages" reduces with the tightness of control, the severity of penalties and the formality of usage rules. -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From rick at praxis.com.au Tue Jan 1 20:51:43 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Tue Jan 1 20:52:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] What is going on here? [was: Reprise: Minister warned on ZZZZ filters] In-Reply-To: <4779D6BB.6050002@praxis.com.au> References: <4779D6BB.6050002@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <477A0D2F.10302@praxis.com.au> Linekrs, Something strange is going on here. I posted the following to link about four hours ago. This time around I have changed p**n to ZZZZ ... It has not shown up on the list. Is there a ghost in the machine? Original below. I am CCing to BRD and SJ. cheers rickw Rick Welykochy wrote: > Here is the entire article as posted on the SMH website today. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Minister warned on ZZZZ filters > > Yuko Narushima > January 1, 2008 > Advertisement > > LABOR'S plan to introduce mandatory internet filters will send Australia > down a censorship path similar to China's and Singapore's, but will not > stop computer-savvy children looking at banned sites, according to the > NSW Council for Civil Liberties. > > The council's vice-president, David Bernie, said the Federal Government > plan was political grandstanding. It would force users to ask internet > service providers to lift a block on extremely violent and ZZZZographic > sites. > > "It is a gimmick," Mr Bernie said. "It's been sold to the public as > protecting children from ZZZZography but what is dangerous about these > filters is that parents will think their children can't access > ZZZZography on the internet when in fact they can. > > "Anybody who's computer-savvy can work their way around these filters in > about two minutes maximum," he said. > > Mr Bernie said the filters would lull parents into a false sense of > security and discourage them from monitoring their children's internet > activities. Only adults would be restricted by the filters, he said. > > "Will there be some database of people who want to access adult > ZZZZography, which is legal in most democratic countries?" > > "It has serious implications for freedom of expression. When you start > filtering material on political grounds - even if the material is > objectionable or quite awful - we're heading in the same direction as > China and Singapore." > > The Telecommunications Minister, Stephen Conroy, pointed to European > examples of successful restrictions to quell fears the move could slow > connection speeds. > > "Labor makes no apologies to those who argue that any regulation of the > internet is like going down the Chinese road," Mr Conroy said yesterday. > "If people equate freedom of speech with watching child ZZZZography, > then the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree." > > Britain and Scandinavia had successful internet restrictions, he said. > "The internet hasn't ground to a halt in the UK, it hasn't ground to a > halt in Scandinavian countries and it's not grinding the internet to a > halt in Europe." > > The measures would ensure only a "clean" feed of internet material was > reaching schools and households and a list of banned sites would be > prepared by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, he said. > > In March 2006, the then communications minister, Helen Coonan, said she > rejected filtering because it would slow speeds for all users without > effectively protecting children. A national system could cost $45 > million to set up and $33 million a year to maintain, she said. -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services You got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propoganda. -- George W Bush From kim at holburn.net Tue Jan 1 21:13:23 2008 From: kim at holburn.net (Kim Holburn) Date: Tue Jan 1 21:13:54 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> I would say it's ANU's spam filters cutting in. Tony would be able to tell unless the spam filters decide the email is so bad it's dropped without bothering to tell anyone. Believe me you all want the spam filters in place, you really really do. The false positives are a bitch though. On 2008/Jan/01, at 4:50 AM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > Minister warned on porn filters > Yuko Narushima > January 1, 2008 > SMH > > The URL is > http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/minister-warned-on-porn-filters/ > 2007/12/31/1198949746454.html -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant Ph: +39 06 855 4294 M: +39 3494957443 mailto:kim@holburn.net aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny. -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961 From ivan at itrundle.com Tue Jan 1 21:32:04 2008 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Tue Jan 1 21:32:19 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> Message-ID: On 01/01/2008, at 9:13 PM, Kim Holburn wrote: > I would say it's ANU's spam filters cutting in. Tony would be able > to tell unless the spam filters decide the email is so bad it's > dropped without bothering to tell anyone. That's bad enough. The word 'porn' should not exclude a mail message from distribution, unless the ANU is living in the 19th century. > Believe me you all want the spam filters in place, you really really > do. The false positives are a bitch though. I disagree. A poor spam filter is worse than none at all. I get over 1500 spam messages a day in one account, with no false positives (any rarely more than 2 or 3 a week that are really spam getting through), and certainly nothing as preposterous as cutting out any message with the string 'porn' embedded. The filter that I choose to use is intelligent enough to work this out. What irks me is that weak filters make bold assumptions about what is and what isn't spam, based on loose and poorly constructed rules and presumptions. I'll never forget the day that an ex-boss complained bitterly about her exclusion from various mailing lists and more, based purely on the fact that the first six letters of her e-mail address just happened to be 'virgin'. iT From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Tue Jan 1 21:39:28 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Jan 1 21:47:12 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> Message-ID: <6hhft4$f02vs@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 09:13 PM 1/01/2008, Kim Holburn wrote: >I would say it's ANU's spam filters cutting in. Tony would be able >to tell unless the spam filters decide the email is so bad it's >dropped without bothering to tell anyone. If it's ANU, how come I got all of the messages, including the first one BRD posted? Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rick at praxis.com.au Tue Jan 1 21:48:54 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Tue Jan 1 21:49:15 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> Message-ID: <477A1A96.4090507@praxis.com.au> Ivan Trundle wrote: > I'll never forget the day that an ex-boss complained bitterly about her > exclusion from various mailing lists and more, based purely on the fact > that the first six letters of her e-mail address just happened to be > 'virgin'. I see your virgin and up you by one pair of pants or panties. We were one day looking up pantone colours, but the sites kept getting blocked. The reason, we later found out, was that the prefix 'pant-' was on a very simplistic blacklist. GIGO anyone? cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services You got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. -- George W Bush From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Tue Jan 1 22:11:50 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Tue Jan 1 22:12:18 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> Message-ID: >On 01/01/2008, at 9:13 PM, Kim Holburn wrote: >> Believe me you all want the spam filters in place, you really >>really do. The false positives are a bitch though. At 21:32 +1100 1/1/08, Ivan Trundle wrote: >I disagree. A poor spam filter is worse than none at all. ... >The filter that I choose to use is intelligent enough to work this out. My local supplier, Apex, implemented a service a few years ago (at least as long ago as the beginning of 2006. I'd have to dig into archives to find out the actual start-date). I request that everything be passed through, but flagged in the Subject: header. I've yet to detect a false-positive. (I used to examine the headers assiduously, but after a long while with not a single instance detected, you can't keep the enthusiasm up). It doesn't seem to declare in the message which service it is. Rather unsporting, what? The most recent entry in the box is below: From: Brenda To: roger.clarke@xamax.com.au Subject: *** POSSIBLE SPAM *** Why you do not write? Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 11:41:55 +0200 Spam detection software, running on the system "arnold.apex.net.au", has identified this incoming email as possible spam. The original message has been attached to this so you can view it (if it isn't spam) or label similar future email. If you have any questions, see the administrator of that system for details. Content preview: You remember m?e Id o! Here my page jiapesrjj: http://du-iai.nm.ru [...] Content analysis details: (9.5 points, 6.0 required) pts rule name description ---- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 0.1 FORGED_RCVD_HELO Received: contains a forged HELO 3.5 BAYES_99 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 99 to 100% [score: 1.0000] 2.0 RCVD_IN_SORBS_DUL RBL: SORBS: sent directly from dynamic IP address [41.243.15.171 listed in dnsbl.sorbs.net] 0.0 RCVD_IN_PBL RBL: Received via a relay in Spamhaus PBL [41.243.15.171 listed in zen.spamhaus.org] 1.6 URIBL_SBL Contains an URL listed in the SBL blocklist [URIs: nm.ru] 2.2 INVALID_MSGID Message-Id is not valid, according to RFC 2822 Return-Path: X-Original-To: roger.clarke@xamax.com.au Delivered-To: rclarke@apex.net.au Received: from wg.com (dsl-243-15-171.telkomadsl.co.za [41.243.15.171]) by mail.apex.net.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9E73A3B00C4 for ; Tue, 1 Jan 2008 20:41:54 +1100 (EST) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 11:41:55 +0200 From: Brenda X-Mailer: pdef 7.61 Reply-To: sca1993@wg.com X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Message-ID: 1782695492.3776828078@wg.com To: roger.clarke@xamax.com.au Subject: Why you do not write? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit You remember m?e Id o! Here my page jiapesrjj: http://du-iai.nm.ru -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From grove at zeta.org.au Tue Jan 1 22:46:25 2008 From: grove at zeta.org.au (grove@zeta.org.au) Date: Tue Jan 1 22:46:48 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <477A1A96.4090507@praxis.com.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> <477A1A96.4090507@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: On Tue, 1 Jan 2008, Rick Welykochy wrote: > Ivan Trundle wrote: > >> I'll never forget the day that an ex-boss complained bitterly about her >> exclusion from various mailing lists and more, based purely on the fact >> that the first six letters of her e-mail address just happened to be >> 'virgin'. > > I see your virgin and up you by one pair of pants or panties. > > We were one day looking up pantone colours, but the sites kept getting > blocked. The reason, we later found out, was that the prefix 'pant-' was > on a very simplistic blacklist. > GIGO anyone? I lurk on a forum in the UK for electronic music. They have a word filter that turns "pakistan" into "****stan" because in the UK the altered part is a racist slur. But it makes it extremely difficult to discuss current global matters and it is also a kind of implied slur in being filtered. rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia grove@zeta.org.au http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html The price of greatness is responsibility. From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 1 23:11:00 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 1 23:11:17 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> Message-ID: On 01/01/2008, at 9:13 PM, Kim Holburn wrote: > Tony would be able to tell unless the spam filters decide the email > is so bad it's dropped without bothering to tell anyone. The mailman software which runs link is to automatically reject non member postings matching - ^.*@hanmail\.net ^.*\.kr ^.*@hananet\.net ^.*sina\.com ^.*jp ^.*ru ^.*cn ^.*ca ^.*anz\.com ^.*tw ^.*\.de Other non member postings get sent to me for consideration. There are few and spamsieve working with Apple Mail filters the spam. I don't think ANU's spam filtering comes into play but I could be wrong. Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Tue Jan 1 23:09:35 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Jan 1 23:14:15 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> Message-ID: <6hhft4$f0nfv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 09:32 PM 1/01/2008, Ivan Trundle wrote: >fact that the first six letters of her e-mail address just happened to >be 'virgin'. I'll bet Virgin airlines and anyone named Virginia or living in the state of Virginia are spitting chips over that one. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 1 23:14:06 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 1 23:14:26 2008 Subject: [LINK] Testing the word "porn" Message-ID: <09081C61-AA4F-43E7-BDC3-DDDE7204BBE1@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Let's see what happens Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Wed Jan 2 07:55:42 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Wed Jan 2 07:55:55 2008 Subject: [LINK] Testing the naughty word in the body Message-ID: <2F489B8F-6FC9-4D1D-ACD2-46D3133B61A7@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Porn and porn twice. From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Wed Jan 2 08:18:19 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Wed Jan 2 08:18:33 2008 Subject: [LINK] Test of porn in body or subject Message-ID: <0E2B1EF9-8D0D-4B4A-8B62-13A16BFCA031@tony-barry.emu.id.au> I posted two messages with porn in the body and another in the subject line. Both were delivered to me. It seems they are not being filtered by ANU. I suggest that a check of the archives will show what is getting to the list. For instance "porn" in the body is making it through ok . Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From brd at iimetro.com.au Wed Jan 2 08:44:58 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Wed Jan 2 08:45:21 2008 Subject: [LINK] Test of porn in body or subject In-Reply-To: <0E2B1EF9-8D0D-4B4A-8B62-13A16BFCA031@tony-barry.emu.id.au> References: <0E2B1EF9-8D0D-4B4A-8B62-13A16BFCA031@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Message-ID: <477AB45A.2000200@iimetro.com.au> I received all the test messages so the problem must be one or more other words, like adult pornography, Stephen Conroy or Helen Coonan. Antony Barry wrote: > I posted two messages with porn in the body and another in the subject > line. Both were delivered to me. It seems they are not being filtered > by ANU. I suggest that a check of the archives will show what is > getting to the list. For instance "porn" in the body is making it > through ok January/076808.html>. > > Tony > > > phone : 02 6241 7659 > mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| > mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ > or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% > http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ > Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore > > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Jan 2 09:00:16 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Jan 2 09:07:56 2008 Subject: [LINK] Email Fraud, Very Naive Financial Services Corporation Message-ID: Stewart Carter's eCommerce Report 14, 18 of 21 Dec 07 http://www.ecommercereport.com.au/ reports on an interesting case in the Vic Supreme Court. In McGiddy v. Collins House, NMMT and Axa, a bloke is having to sue to get $700,000 of his super fund back. (No sign of it on AustLII yet). Collins House received an email in 2005, requesting that the money be sent to an account in Indonesia. They sent it. The email was not from the account that McGiddy had given them. It was from a Yahoo account. And they took no steps to authenticate it by seeking confirmation from McGiddy through some other channel, such as, for example, the email-address he'd provided to them. Remarkable. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From brd at iimetro.com.au Wed Jan 2 10:02:03 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Wed Jan 2 10:02:19 2008 Subject: [LINK] Rudd online porn-free plan questioned Message-ID: <477AC66B.30402@iimetro.com.au> Rudd online porn-free plan questioned Sue Dunlevy January 02, 2008 Australian IT http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22997228-15306,00.html A Rudd Government plan to censor internet pornography and violence could undermine another of its election promises - to speed up our internet access. Kevin Rudd promised before the election to force internet service providers to supply a clean feed to households and schools free of "inappropriate" material The Internet Industry Association has warned the downside of censoring access could be a reduction in the speed of access to websites. Mr Rudd promised before the election to force internet service providers to supply a clean feed to households and schools free of "inappropriate" material. Australians who want uncensored access to the web will have to contact their provider and opt out of the service. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says the clean feed will be achieved by getting the Communications and Media Authority to prepare a blacklist of unsuitable sites. Internet Industry Association spokesman Peter Coroneos said the industry is working closely with the Government on the policy to be trialled later this year. But he warned it could never be completely successful in blocking access to all pornographic sites, just the ones on the blacklist. If new sites were launched that were not included on the blacklist the clean feed would not restrict access to them, he said. "You've got to be aware of the fallibility of the approach," he warned. There were millions of pornographic websites and if all of them were included in the blacklist "there is a potential for slow downs in access to occur", he said. "The more sites you attempt to block the greater the effect on the network performance and speed," he said. This is because every time you type a request into your search engine it will have to be checked against all the sites on the blacklist, he said. In Britain where a clean feed policy is being pursued, only between 200 and 1000 child pornography sites have been included on a blacklist. But if Australia insisted on including millions of general pornography sites and others that include violence it could undermine internet users' speed of access to websites, Mr Coroneos said. A 2005 pilot study carried out by the former Howard government found a clean feed approach could cut down speed of accessing the internet by between 18 to 78 per cent depending on what was being blocked. The Rudd Government campaigned on a platform promising to speed up Australians' access to the worlwide web by rolling out broadband around the country. Mr Coroneos said any clean feed policy would have to be carefully balanced. He said households that really wanted to block out pornographic material would be better off investing in a home based filter system. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From cas at taz.net.au Wed Jan 2 10:14:12 2008 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Wed Jan 2 10:14:25 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> <477A1A96.4090507@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <20080101231412.GA7132@taz.net.au> On Tue, Jan 01, 2008 at 10:46:25PM +1100, grove@zeta.org.au wrote: > I lurk on a forum in the UK for electronic music. They have a word > filter that turns "pakistan" into "****stan" because in the UK the > altered part is a racist slur. But it makes it extremely difficult > to discuss current global matters i remember having this argument with management when i worked at an ISP focussing on providing internet access to schools about 10 years ago. they wanted me to configure the proxy servers to block sites with the string 'sex' in any part of the URL. after several days i got them to (very reluctantly) give up on the idea by pointing out the existence of web sites for Essex, Sussex, Middlesex counties in the UK, and dozens of other non-porn sites (the only one of which i can remember now was businessexchange.com), and specific educational sites about sex-related topics. it was an idea they kept coming back to, though....at one point they wanted to still block 'sex' but have a whitelist of exceptions that would be allowed until i (finally) got them to understand that the potentially enormous size of the exception list would be a maintainence nightmare. and 'sex' wasn't the only string they wanted blocked. they couldn't (wouldn't!) understand that it was a fundamentally broken idea no matter how many times i came back with counter-examples for each different string they wanted blocked. single word filtering is stupid, especially when the word is so small that it is likely to be a substring in many other unrelated words. mind you, my own spam filters on my mail server at home have hundreds of rules for deliberately misspelt words used by spammers...i figure that they're either spammers or illiterate morons that i don't want to communicate with anyway. even then, most of the rules are only triggered when there are two or more of the misspelt words in close proximity. these are the rules i have to be most careful about and generally cause me the most problems - it's very easy to block more than you want to. > and it is also a kind of implied slur in being filtered. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ yes, definitely. the message there is that ALL use of the word "paki" and hence "pakistan" is an insult, therefore to be pakistani is a bad thing. in any case, it doesn't take kids long to figure out that "p@ki" and other mis-spellings get past the filter....or even invent a whole new slang based on innocuous words. craig -- craig sanders BOFH excuse #220: Someone thought The Big Red Button was a light switch. From rick at praxis.com.au Wed Jan 2 10:38:03 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Wed Jan 2 10:38:22 2008 Subject: [LINK] Rudd online porn-free plan questioned In-Reply-To: <477AC66B.30402@iimetro.com.au> References: <477AC66B.30402@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <477ACEDB.7090608@praxis.com.au> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > Rudd online porn-free plan questioned > Sue Dunlevy > January 02, 2008 > Australian IT > http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22997228-15306,00.html Hrmmm ... this one got past the spam filters? What is going on? > Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says the clean feed will be > achieved by getting the Communications and Media Authority to prepare a > blacklist of unsuitable sites. The devil is in the detail. If the blacklist is by IP address, it will definitely fail. IP addresses change all the time. That is one reason we have a DNS with lifetimes stamped onto the names. If the blacklist is by domain name, it will definitely be inadequate and also too broad, e.g. (*) unclean material is found on users.bigpond.com.au/badboy ... if the domain users.bigpond.com.au is blacklisted, hundreds of thousands of bigpond user sites will be blacklisted by mistake (*) similar applies to huge hosting services that store thousands of users under the one domain name (*) similar applies to blogging and social networking sites (*) similar applies to file hosting services such as rapidshare > This is because every time you type a request into your search engine it > will have to be checked against all the sites on the blacklist, he said. More devilish detail. NOTE: web links != content ... I doubt that the results of all search engines, let alone google, will be censored and "rewritten" on the fly. Google does self-censor in China ... is this what Labor wants? If so, why don't they say so? Regardless, there will always be search engines that do not self-censor. There are now and always will be 'clean' websites with links to objectionable material that contain links on the blacklist. So let's not get confused here: search engines aside, LINKS TO BLACKLISTED SITES cannot possibly be censored or cleaned. That would require analysing all content, including encrypted content. as it is sent to the clean feed. Note that an industrious user could re-assemble and publish the list of names on the blacklist simply by a process of elimination whilst using the clean feed. Would this be an offense? If so, why? I repeat: links != content > In Britain where a clean feed policy is being pursued, only between 200 > and 1000 child pornography sites have been included on a blacklist. No wonder Britain can claim that their safe feeds are not slowed down by blocking. Although, if you think about it, a list of, say, 1000000 domains can be searched with a max 21 lookups using binary search, or on average about 11 lookups. Think about that. Every web request, every domain, ftp, email, etc request, will require an extra step of on average 11 lookups in a table of 1 million names. > A 2005 pilot study carried out by the former Howard government found a > clean feed approach could cut down speed of accessing the internet by > between 18 to 78 per cent depending on what was being blocked. Eh? What does it mean to cut down the speed by 50%? By 100%? cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services You got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. -- George W Bush From lucychili at gmail.com Wed Jan 2 10:56:43 2008 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Wed Jan 2 10:56:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned ..Filters v language and cheating v economies online Message-ID: On Jan 2, 2008 9:44 AM, Craig Sanders wrote: > in any case, it doesn't take kids long to figure out that "p@ki" and > other mis-spellings get past the filter....or even invent a whole new > slang based on innocuous words. For an example in action visit an online MMORPG like Runescape which has a strong word based filter on in game chat. http://runescape.com/ (You can create a free account but expect to go through a tutorial before finding yourself in a space where people are speaking. Saturated name space is also an interesting culture shaping factor.) The language used to communicate in those kinds of spaces includes game item shorthand, sms shorthand and rewangled language designed for expression in the negative spaces between the filtered words. The filter in this space also ignores whitespace so normal sentences can be blocked because the combinations of 2 words makes something which gets *****. This does change how people speak/write in those spaces. People are also more adept at enterpreting ***. It is a game going through interesting times at the moment due to people trading game items or accounts for real money. The game company is responding by locking down the game economy which is having interesting impact on the community/play. Changing from a supply demand based economy to a defined value economy will be an interesting social and economic experience for the kids in the western countries where the game is hosted. Watching virtual spaces become more integrated with wider economics makes me want to ask questions about how societies would like to define their economies in online contexts and what these kinds of decisions contribute in shaping our wider cultural interactions. Watching what is effectively a stockmarket crash in a game is interesting, but thinking about how virtual spaces shape economic thinking into the future is the related wider set of questions. Those who create the rules of the game in online spaces do not participate in governance based on social or national interests except in as far as they want to retain good subscriptions. This game has previously banned large numbers of players for cheating by using auto accounts or breaking game rules. They are pretty strong on shaping the character of the space. Kids have grown up watching the rules change around the economies they participate in. The rules are perhaps more changeable and transient. Their civic role is more as a subscriber than a voter or particpant. Perhaps these experiences contribute to future/current adult ideas about what is economically interesting or possible and where control of economies happen. Economies which are contained within bubble of a single company's choices are an interesting phenomenon. Snow Crash was an exploration of these ideas some years before we could practice it. Games answering the challenge of free and open participation with restrictive social controls are an interesting phenomenon. Watching the same choices in play in our wider community makes me wonder what other strategies we are not trying (online, offline or in games) which might help us model free and responsible online communities. Interesting times Janet From gumby_lists at mooh.org Wed Jan 2 11:00:37 2008 From: gumby_lists at mooh.org (Yun Huang Yong) Date: Wed Jan 2 11:00:54 2008 Subject: [LINK] Email Fraud, Very Naive Financial Services Corporation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200801020000.m0200fhI014736@anumail7.anu.edu.au> At 09:00 AM 2/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >Stewart Carter's eCommerce Report 14, 18 of 21 Dec 07 >http://www.ecommercereport.com.au/ >reports on an interesting case in the Vic Supreme Court. > >In McGiddy v. Collins House, NMMT and Axa, a bloke is having to sue >to get $700,000 of his super fund back. (No sign of it on AustLII yet). > >Collins House received an email in 2005, requesting that the money >be sent to an account in Indonesia. They sent it. > >The email was not from the account that McGiddy had given them. It >was from a Yahoo account. And they took no steps to authenticate it >by seeking confirmation from McGiddy through some other channel, >such as, for example, the email-address he'd provided to them. This was published in the AFR on 12 November 2007. --- Client sues planners as super lost to web fraud | By Matthew Drummond A financial planning firm is being sued after it unwittingly transferred $700,000 from a client's superannuation account to fraudsters operating in the Republic of the Congo. Trevor McGiddy is also suing his superannuation trustee, AXA-owned NMMT, in a case that will test the obligations of superannuation trustees and financial planners to prevent their clients from falling victim to identity theft. Mr McGiddy, a South African businessman, deposited $1.5 million into NMMT's iAccess personal superannuation fund in 2005 after working in Australia. Three months later, financial planners Collins House Financial Services, who had set up the account, received an email from a Yahoo! account set up in Mr McGiddy's name. The email requested that $700,000 be transferred to Bank Negara Indonesia. In a writ filed in the Victoriam Supreme Court, Mr McGiddy alleges Collins House Financial Services had a policy of not accepting instructions by email and also knew his personal email was registered to a different account. In fact, the email was sent by fraudsters operating in Congo. Nonetheless, an employee allegedly replied with a standard withdrawal form, which was filled out and returned four days later. The Collins House employee then forwarded the form to the trustee and the money was transferred. Mr McGiddy wants it back and has alleged breaches of care, skill and diligence. His lawyer, Mark Walter of Slater & Gordon, said the fraud was remarkably simple. As Mr McGiddy was a former company executive, many of his personal details, including his signature, were available on the internet. "In the internet age, information is broadly available which can be used by fraudsters," Mr Walter said. "Are the internal processes adopted by financial institutions allowing for the transfer of funds adequate? This was an email from the Congo asking for money to be to sent to Indonesia. Doesn't that cause you to ask questions?" AXA declined to comment as the matter was before the courts. Collins House managing director Dominic Alafaci said the firm was concerned that money had apparently been withdrawn without a client's permission. "We can't make any further comment at this stage other tahn hoping the police catch those responsible for the fraud," he said. At a directions hearing on Friday, NMMT and Collins House were ordered to file their defence by November 30. The parties are expected to return to court after mediation in February next year. Four years ago, the Securitities Industry Research Centre of Asia-Pacific said identity fraud cost large Australian businesses $1.1 billion a year. --- yun -- (__) Share what you know. Yun Huang Yong `\------(oo) Learn what you don't. gumby@mooh.org || (__) --' goosmurf@yahoo.com \|/ ||w--|| \|/ -- From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 2 10:57:42 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 2 11:01:03 2008 Subject: [LINK] Rudd online porn-free plan questioned In-Reply-To: <477ACEDB.7090608@praxis.com.au> References: <477AC66B.30402@iimetro.com.au> <477ACEDB.7090608@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$f641f@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 10:38 AM 2/01/2008, Rick Welykochy wrote: >>A 2005 pilot study carried out by the former Howard government >>found a clean feed approach could cut down speed of accessing the >>internet by between 18 to 78 per cent depending on what was being blocked. > >Eh? What does it mean to cut down the speed by 50%? By 100%? Don't know what it means in physical terms, but the effect is something that I believe those with children in NSW have mentioned from time to time. Ironically, it's a little like pornography. You can't define it, but you know it when you see it. ;-) Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From ivan at itrundle.com Wed Jan 2 11:33:07 2008 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Wed Jan 2 11:33:24 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$f0nfv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> <6hhft4$f0nfv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: On 01/01/2008, at 11:09 PM, Jan Whitaker wrote: > At 09:32 PM 1/01/2008, Ivan Trundle wrote: >> fact that the first six letters of her e-mail address just happened >> to >> be 'virgin'. > > I'll bet Virgin airlines and anyone named Virginia or living in the > state of Virginia are spitting chips over that one. > The subject came up in a Senate Estimates hearing on internet filtering that I attended some years ago, and whilst it amused Brian Harradine at the time, it merely proved to highlight the problems that filtering had then, and still has now. What didn't amuse me was that the thrust of the argument during the hearing went like this: if you didn't use filtering, or advocate filtering, then you're a pornographer, or worse. Not much has changed. iT From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 2 11:38:24 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 2 11:47:50 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> <6hhft4$f0nfv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <6hhft4$f6lo7@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 11:33 AM 2/01/2008, Ivan Trundle wrote: >What didn't amuse me was that the thrust of the argument during the >hearing went like this: if you didn't use filtering, or advocate >filtering, then you're a pornographer, or worse. > >Not much has changed. ah, yes. Those were the days. I was interviewed for the one and only time on ABC radio Jon Faine's program. Didn't know a thing about his show then. He played devils advocate as he does and I was appalled. I thought I was only doing a public service announcement about a forum at the State Library about the censorship act and it ended up being a debate with Jon about why net filtering was bad. I ran the 'teachable moment' line, I remember, but the rest was pretty much a blur. Conroy is doing the same straw man bad logic thing. Back in the Howard days [that still feels good], it was Senator Dick we had to contend with. Now I guess it's Senator Con? It will be interesting if the meme of 'technology neutral' travels into the Rudd govt, too. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rick at praxis.com.au Wed Jan 2 12:28:33 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Wed Jan 2 12:28:49 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> <6hhft4$f0nfv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <477AE8C1.7080808@praxis.com.au> Ivan Trundle wrote: > What didn't amuse me was that the thrust of the argument during the > hearing went like this: if you didn't use filtering, or advocate > filtering, then you're a pornographer, or worse. The conditional is easily proven false by disproving its contrapositive. "If you are not a pornographer then you use internet filtering." This is demonstrably false, as is the original statement. cheers rickw p.s. I am reading Gore's "The Assault on Reason" which raises the question of why we so often blandly accept illogical and emotive "arguments" without challenge. -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services You got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. -- George W Bush From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Wed Jan 2 15:14:21 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Wed Jan 2 15:14:41 2008 Subject: [LINK] Found the offending phrase for ANU e-mail filter Message-ID: <477B0F9D.2070409@canb.auug.org.au> Using binary chop, I identified the para in the news article being dropped by the ANU email scanner. I mangled what I thought was the offending phrase and it passed through [below] (c***d pornography) What's interesting: I sent a message who's sole content [message body] was the phrase and it got through. Hmmm. >From the headers ANU is using: Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-8.04 Any thoughts or experience with problems like this?? I consider this both repeatable and definitive [i.e. it *is* the ANU mail system] Anyone show that I'm wrong? -------- Original Message -------- Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:02:16 +1100 From: steve jenkin Subject: Q3. 2nd para, substiton To: steve jenkin X-Perlmx-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='BODY_SIZE_200_299 0, __CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __USER_AGENT 0, __pbl.spamhaus.org_TIMEOUT , __sbl.spamhaus.org_TIMEOUT ' "Labor makes no apologies to those who argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road," Mr Conroy said yesterday. "If people equate freedom of speech with watching c***d pornography, then the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree." -- -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Jan 2 15:25:29 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Jan 2 15:27:08 2008 Subject: [LINK] Oz: 'Labor online strategy slammed' Message-ID: Labor online strategy slammed The Australian Galen English January 02, 2008 http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22997280-15306,00.html [27 comments by mid-afternoon] opinion IT SOUNDS entirely defensible, at first. The federal Government plans to protect unwary children by blocking violence and pornography on the internet. Yet this simple sounding initiative - barely discussed during the election - is riddled with technical, financial, moral and social complexities. The Government's plan, overseen by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, would require internet service providers (ISPs) to block undesirable sites on computers accessed by all Australians. A seething Dr Roger Clarke, chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation, bluntly described the proposal as "stupid and inappropriate". He said not only was it unworkable, but it was a sinister blow to an individual's rights to use the internet without censorship. "Not only will it not work, it is quite dangerous to let the Government censor the net and take control out of the hands of parents," Clarke said. "It is an inappropriate thing for them to be doing. Mr Conroy is like a schoolmaster playing god with the Australian population, all because of the dominance of a moral minority." Conroy's view is that the legislation - compared by critics to Chinese-style internet censorship - will only render unseen the most vile and extreme sites. "Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation on the internet is like going down the Chinese road," Conroy said. "If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree." One problem for the Government is that blocking child porn may unintentionally block acceptable sites. The history of the internet is full of such examples; one blogger found that, due to spamware set to block ads for sex drug Cialis, he was unable to publish the word "socialist". Another problem, according to civil libertarians, is that policing the net should be left to parents - not a big brother-style bureaucracy. And, if it is disingenuous to compare Labor's policy to China's malevolent control over web access to its citizens, it is equally disingenuous of Rudd's Government to claim the issue simply relates to child pornography. There are genuine concerns that the Government - backed by morals groups like Family First - will in time extend the powers outside of their intended target area. Also of concern is that, under the Government's plan, users would be permitted to "opt out" of the scheme - and might therefore find themselves listed as possible deviants. Service providers fear any legislation would be "the thin end of the wedge", heralding widespread censorship. Besides, what evidence is there that young children using the web are regularly stumbling across child pornography? Sites used by paedophiles are well hidden and frequently relocated to avoid detection. On a practical level, ISPs fear the mass blocking of sites could slow internet speeds and cost millions of dollars to implement. Crucially, the Government has not explained how such a system would be paid for or who would monitor it. The truth is, despite the policy having been part of Labor's manifesto since 2005, and following claims the Government is "engaged constructively with the sector", no one has the faintest idea how such a system would work. It is expected any future filtered feeds would be based on a current voluntary UK system operated by British Telecom. Sites identified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) would be "blacklisted" and then blocked by the servers. The ability for download speeds to be maintained would depend on the exact number of sites blocked - it is suspected around 2000 sites could cause problems. A user typing in the address would be sent to an error page or possibly - as in Scandinavia - redirected to a police page. However, ISPs fear a system based on key indicator words could rapidly clog the system. In the UK the Internet Watch Foundation has its encrypted list of 1200 paedophile and race-hate sites updated twice a day. Even still, it is unlikely to deter computer savvy paedophiles here from simply relocating their sites or from swapping pictures on message boards or in forums, thus rendering any filter impotent. So far the industry, although eager not to be seen to be dragging their feet on child pornography, has been noticeably reticent in their response to Labor's plans. Internet Industry Association spokesman Peter Coroneos was keen to emphasise the work already being done by service providers in supplying free filters. They are likely to clarify their position after ACMA runs simulated tests on a filtered network later this year. "We obviously want to know if this will have an impact on network performance," Coroneos said. "At the moment we don't know what the extent of it will be, what it will cost, and whether it will set a precedent for other changes. We just don't know if it is feasible." -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Jan 2 15:43:39 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Jan 2 15:44:03 2008 Subject: [LINK] Found the offending phrase for ANU e-mail filter In-Reply-To: <477B0F9D.2070409@canb.auug.org.au> References: <477B0F9D.2070409@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: At 15:14 +1100 2/1/08, steve jenkin wrote: >"Labor makes no apologies to those who argue that any regulation of the >internet is like going down the Chinese road," Mr Conroy said yesterday. >"If people equate freedom of speech with watching c***d pornography, >then the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree." Are we sure that the problem isn't "Chinese"? Maybe the traffic's going through a Google filter or a Cisco router with 'enhancements' dictated by the Chinese Government. (:-)} -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From rene.lk at libertus.net Wed Jan 2 15:50:04 2008 From: rene.lk at libertus.net (Irene Graham) Date: Wed Jan 2 15:50:20 2008 Subject: [LINK] Found the offending phrase for ANU e-mail filter In-Reply-To: <477B0F9D.2070409@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <20081214504.799475@c990> On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:14:21 +1100, steve jenkin wrote: >> From the headers ANU is using: Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2- >> 8.04 >> > Any thoughts or experience with problems like this?? > > I consider this both repeatable and definitive [i.e. it *is* the ANU > mail system] Anyone show that I'm wrong? This might shed further light: Spam filtering - Information Services@ANU http://information.anu.edu.au/daisy/infoservices/22/255.html It would seem they must have a rule that gives a very high score to that two word phrase and "...Messages with more than a 50% likelihood of being spam are rejected..." Irene From rene.lk at libertus.net Wed Jan 2 16:16:18 2008 From: rene.lk at libertus.net (Irene Graham) Date: Wed Jan 2 16:16:29 2008 Subject: [LINK] Rudd online porn-free plan questioned In-Reply-To: <477ACEDB.7090608@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <200812151618.796205@c990> On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:38:03 +1100, Rick Welykochy wrote: [...] >> In Britain where a clean feed policy is being pursued, only between >> 200 and 1000 child pornography sites have been included on a >> blacklist. > > No wonder Britain can claim that their safe feeds are not slowed down > by blocking. Although, if you think about it, a list of, say, 1000000 > domains can be searched with a max 21 lookups using binary search, or > on average about 11 lookups. Think about that. Every web request, every > domain, ftp, email, etc request, will require an extra step of on > average 11 lookups in a table of 1 million names. BT's 'cleanfeed' is a hybrid/two stage system. People with technical understanding/knowledge may find the following paper interesting: "Failures in a Hybrid Content Blocking System" Richard Clayton, University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rnc1/cleanfeed.pdf "Abstract. Three main methods of content blocking are used on the In- ternet: blocking routes to particular IP addresses, blocking specific URLs in a proxy cache or firewall, and providing invalid data for DNS lookups. The mechanisms have different accuracy/cost trade-offs. This paper ex- amines a hybrid, two-stage system that redirects traffic that might need to be blocked to a proxy cache, which then takes the final decision. This promises an accurate system at a relatively low cost. A British ISP has deployed such a system to prevent access to c***d pornography. However, circumvention techniques can now be employed at both system stages to reduce effectiveness; there are risks from relying on DNS data supplied by the blocked sites; and unhappily, the system can be used as an oracle to determine what is being blocked. Experimental results show that it is straightforward to use the system to compile a list of illegal websites." Richard also remarks: "Although legal and ethical issues prevent most experimentation at present, the attacks are extremely practical and would be straightforward to implement. If CleanFeed is used in the future to block other material, which may be distasteful but is legal to view, then there will be no bar to anyone assessing its effectiveness. It must be expected that knowledge of how to circumvent the system (for all material) will then become widely known and countermeasures will become essential." Irene From lealink at viking.org.au Wed Jan 2 16:32:10 2008 From: lealink at viking.org.au (Lea de Groot) Date: Wed Jan 2 16:32:30 2008 Subject: {Spam?} [LINK] Oz: 'Labor online strategy slammed' In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20080102153210013738.858b2fb4@viking.org.au> On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 15:25:29 +1100, Roger Clarke wrote: > Labor online strategy slammed > http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22997280-15306,00.html Hang on, wasn't this legislation about protecting the children against violence and porn? When did child p***ography come into it? I'm confused! (Idiotic pollies!) Lea -- Lea de Groot Brisbane From cas at taz.net.au Wed Jan 2 18:02:15 2008 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Wed Jan 2 18:02:31 2008 Subject: {Spam?} [LINK] Oz: 'Labor online strategy slammed' In-Reply-To: <20080102153210013738.858b2fb4@viking.org.au> References: <20080102153210013738.858b2fb4@viking.org.au> Message-ID: <20080102070215.GD7132@taz.net.au> On Wed, Jan 02, 2008 at 03:32:10PM +1000, Lea de Groot wrote: > On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 15:25:29 +1100, Roger Clarke wrote: > > Labor online strategy slammed > > http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22997280-15306,00.html > > Hang on, wasn't this legislation about protecting the children against > violence and porn? > When did child p***ography come into it? when they realised that the easiest way to dismiss any objections is to label objectors as being child pornographers or paedophiles. > I'm confused! no, just making the mistake of assuming honesty and integrity from politicians. > (Idiotic pollies!) cunning pollies. craig -- craig sanders Magic is always the best solution -- especially reliable magic. From ivan at itrundle.com Wed Jan 2 18:43:41 2008 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Wed Jan 2 18:43:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <477AE8C1.7080808@praxis.com.au> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> <6hhft4$f0nfv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> <477AE8C1.7080808@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <7AD3B360-3DD2-4AC0-A9C9-7F0B7B47B3E3@itrundle.com> On 02/01/2008, at 12:28 PM, Rick Welykochy wrote: > Ivan Trundle wrote: > >> What didn't amuse me was that the thrust of the argument during the >> hearing went like this: if you didn't use filtering, or advocate >> filtering, then you're a pornographer, or worse. > > The conditional is easily proven false by disproving its > contrapositive. 'Easily' is not a word that comes to mind in the hallowed halls of Parliament House. Nonetheless... > "If you are not a pornographer then you use internet filtering." > > This is demonstrably false, as is the original statement. Demonstrating an untruth is of little benefit to Senate Committee hearings, where logical argument rarely sees the light of day. It's no court of law, and without any of the benefits of an intelligent arbitrator, alas. iT From link at todd.inoz.com Wed Jan 2 19:06:45 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Wed Jan 2 19:08:25 2008 Subject: [LINK] Mobile for the Bush Message-ID: <200801020808.m02884pN002556@ah.net> Well interesting experience on our travels. No idea why people complain about Internet access in the Rural and Bush areas. 3G Mobile phone, bluetooth and laptop and you're free to 4WD the mountains and stay online chatting and webcaming as you go. Except - Don't try to make voice calls or receive them! NO CHANCE! We have high speed broadband Internet and no voice at all. There are of course the occasional blackspots in the highways one travels, but they aren't very exciting :) Nothing more than a brief dropout. But voice calls - nadda! From stephen at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 2 23:46:40 2008 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Wed Jan 2 23:46:50 2008 Subject: [LINK] legal deposit of websites Message-ID: <20080102124640.AEFB016EA2@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> On the OzTeacherLibrarian list and regarding legal deposit of webpages, Janice Todd writes > Only in Tasmania it seems: > http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/67.html#Aus > Janice Todd Teacher Education Librarian UTS Excellent professional skills, Janice .. "In Tasmania, electronic publications and web pages are included in the broad definition of 'records' that are required for deposit under Section 22 of the Libraries Act 1984. These are stored and made accessible through the State Library of Tasmania's Our Digital Island website." "The State Library of Tasmania is the legal deposit library for the State and has a legislative and moral responsibility to preserve material currently published on the World Wide Web. Our collection process is under constant review, and contributions and input from WWW publishers and content creators is welcomed." To suggest a site for archiving: Thus it seems clear that legal deposit does apply to Tasmanian .edu and org etc websites then. And, well and good i say. One would guess we all know some brilliant school/college/uni and .org etc Australian websites. Maybe a lawful as well as moral responsibility to deposit your website Australia wide may be a 'good thing' How long does it take to tell them? > -----Original Message----- > Sent: Wednesday, 2 January 2008 12:25 AM > To: oztl_net@listserv.csu.edu.au > Subject: [OZTL_NET] legal deposit > > Just a thought, our legal deposit laws may well be > raised with admins, areas and students now & again. > > One wonders if the law applies to webpages, as it's > a $200 fine for not depositing 'public publications' > with the State library. Anyone know about webpages? > > -- > Legal Deposit in Australia > > > What is Legal Deposit > > Legal deposit is a statutory provision which obliges > (any) publisher to deposit copies of their publication > in libraries in the country in which they are published. > > Under the Copyright Act 1968 and various state > Acts, a copy of *any* work published in Australia > must be deposited with the National Library of > Australia, and the appropriate State library. > > Legal deposit extends not only to commercial > publishers but also to private individuals, clubs, > churches, schools, societies and organisations. Legal > deposit of the material is the sole responsibility of > the publisher or author. > > What are the Requirements of Legal Deposit ? > > Definition of a work > > A work can be a book, a periodical such as a newsletter > or annual report, a newspaper, a piece of sheet music, > map, plan, chart, table, program, catalogue, brochure > or pamphlet. > > In some states it also includes material published in > electronic format such as CD's and computer disks. > > Definition of publication > > A work is deemed to have been published if reproductions > of the work or edition have been made available (whether > by sale or otherwise) to the public. > > Copyright > > Legal deposit should not be confused with copyright. > > Under the Copyright Act 1968 copyright protection is > granted automatically in Australia from the moment of > creating a work. There are no formalities to be > completed, such as registration or payment of fees. > > Publication is not necessary for copyright to subsist > in the work .. however, library records and the legal > deposit receipt issued to the publisher by some legal > deposit libraries may be used as evidence of date of > issue. > > The Australian Copyright Council does provide advice > to authors & publishers: http://www.copyright.org.au > -- > > Cheers people > Stephen Loosley > Member Victorian > Institute of Teaching -- Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From rick at praxis.com.au Thu Jan 3 07:07:48 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Thu Jan 3 07:33:02 2008 Subject: [LINK] Minister warned on porn filters In-Reply-To: <7AD3B360-3DD2-4AC0-A9C9-7F0B7B47B3E3@itrundle.com> References: <4779B899.3040900@iimetro.com.au> <581C89A2-302C-48C8-803E-0F31DE1EF47C@holburn.net> <6hhft4$f0nfv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> <477AE8C1.7080808@praxis.com.au> <7AD3B360-3DD2-4AC0-A9C9-7F0B7B47B3E3@itrundle.com> Message-ID: <477BEF14.5010304@praxis.com.au> Ivan Trundle wrote: > Demonstrating an untruth is of little benefit to Senate Committee > hearings, where logical argument rarely sees the light of day. It's no > court of law, and without any of the benefits of an intelligent > arbitrator, alas. This is exactly what Gore is discussing in "The Asault on Reason". Logical argument and reasoning are essential for the proper functioning in a democracy. The problems he highlights apply of course to the breaking and broken systems in the USA. But semblances of what he expounds have been seen occurring here during the regime of John Howard. It is apparent to me that Howard has taken on board and implemented some of Bush's worse offenses against democracy. This country must consider itself very lucky that Howard and Co was jettisoned at the last election before major damage was done. In the USA, the damage to their international reputation, and their relationships with their allies (and many enemies) will be a long time in the fixing. We must keep a close eye on Labor to ensure that they do not continue the abuses implemented by Howard. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Say what you will about the miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile. -- Howard W Campbell in Kurt Vonnegut Jr's "Mother Night" From drose at nla.gov.au Thu Jan 3 09:01:23 2008 From: drose at nla.gov.au (Daniel Rose) Date: Thu Jan 3 09:01:36 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: Being a Spy Technology Creator In-Reply-To: <477857FE.4000701@canb.auug.org.au> References: <6hhft4$ee47t@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> <477818B8.1050802@nla.gov.au> <477857FE.4000701@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <477C09B3.1090602@nla.gov.au> steve jenkin wrote: > > The line "If I told you, I'd have to kill you" isn't ironic in some > circles :=[ Of course, but those circles don't include anonymous blog posts on zdnet, IMO. > > As for large groups keeping secrets, it is not surprising. > There is a well-known and trivial example - the Cocoa-Cola recipe. > While not known explicitly to a large group, it's been held for a very > long time and against very strong probing. The fact that it exists is not a secret; this is saying that the very existence of the software is the secret! > > My Dad was part of the WWII operation "Central Bureau" - doing what's > now called "SigInt" (DSD is the descendant agency). I don't know how > many thousands of people were involved - Australian, American servicemen > and civies - but they *all* kept the secret for many decades. Mine was in UK Military Intelligence in Cyprus in the 50s. > > It was 1974 (30 yrs before "ULTRA" and the work at Bletchley Park > breaking Enigma codes was published. I'd be very surprised if all > secrets will ever be public. Sadly, I agree. > It wasn't until 1988 and the "Spy Catcher" case in Britian that we found > out what he did. [Around 45 years] > It took until 1995 before Jack Bleakley released a vetted history in > "The Eavesdroppers". > The Military had actively monitored & suppressed unit reunions (and > probably more). > I was told stories of guys cracking up in the field from the pressure > (just doing radio intercepts) and of exceptionally harsh punishment for > very minor 'breaches' (taking a pot-shot at a leaf). > > I'm sure I wasn't told the worst of it. Revealing any information, even > accidentally, of this super-secret operation was met quickly and > harshly. Anything deliberate would've been considered treason with the > usual military consequences. Therin lies the key; you are referring to a military operation, with military people. This guy's 10,000 programmers are civilians, as is he. > > My assessment is that it's plausible but a spoof. Someone like this > just wouldn't make such a post. > > Like Marcus Ranums' observation about visiting the Windows Kernel team: > "there's the Mosad agent, the Chinese, the Russian, MI5, ...". > > Unprovable and unlikely, but entirely plausible. Overall, why risk execution and still not reveal anything useful? Show us the code, man! -- Daniel Rose National Library of Australia From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Thu Jan 3 11:35:32 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Thu Jan 3 11:40:23 2008 Subject: [LINK] Who's Afraid of the Net article Message-ID: <6hhft4$fkcsm@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Written by Peter John Chen, formerly of Melbourne, currently of Alberta Canada, but soon to be of Sydney again: http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/peter-john-chen/2008/01/02/1198949896978.html Who's afraid of the net? Peter John Chen January 3, 2008 IT'S AN idea that just won't die: if the government makes your internet provider run special software, all the bad things (and people) of cyberspace won't bother you. This is the view being touted by the new Minister for Information Technology, Senator Stephen Conroy, who is proposing that internet service providers should be required to filter Australians' internet connections against a list maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. While users will have the ability to "opt out", it is being promoted because previous attempts to encourage the use of filtering software have been ineffective ? notwithstanding the Howard government's NetAlert advertising campaign last year. [snip] Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Thu Jan 3 12:28:00 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Thu Jan 3 12:35:26 2008 Subject: [LINK] porn filter defeated already in Britain Message-ID: <6hhft4$fl3bv@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23000324-5013404,00.html Net filter fails to block porn sites Karen Dearne and Fran Foo | January 03, 2008 THE "clean feed" filtering system Communications Minister Stephen Conroy hopes will halt internet porn has already been defeated by British researchers. Richard Clayton, of the University of Cambridge's Computer Laboratory, said the innovative blocking system CleanFeed, devised by British internet service provider BT, could be circumvented in a number of ways. "At first sight, it's an effective and precise method of blocking unacceptable content," Mr Clayton said. "But there are a number of issues to address as soon as one assumes that content providers or consumers might make serious attempts to get around it." The report is more bad news for those hoping to block violence and pornography from their internet. Although filter salesmen talk up their wares, the reality has never quite matched the industry hype. Same article, different sub head: Rudd porn filter fails: experts http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23001130-15306,00.html Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From arsptr at internode.on.net Thu Jan 3 22:08:57 2008 From: arsptr at internode.on.net (Alastair Rankine) Date: Thu Jan 3 22:08:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] As Go Document Formats, So Goes Video In-Reply-To: <476F4D65.8000900@canb.auug.org.au> References: <476EF3D0.8070206@iimetro.com.au> <476F4D65.8000900@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <477CC249.4090004@internode.on.net> steve jenkin wrote: > > I've never understood why archival documents aren't stored in "Lowest > Common Denominator" form. > I.e. ASCII lines until XML+Dublin Core (or whatever equiv) is generally > [snip] > Presentation/layout would almost always be purely ornamental. > > This whole area is obviously driven by Bureaucratic Politics and agendas > than technical or professional issues. > I quite agree, if they can't use our character set in all its 7-bit glory, all those foreigners can just bloody well learn English anyway. And yes, there is absolutely nothing of value in typography, graphic design, or the visual arts in general. It is all ornamental and can be easily discarded with no loss. Your proposal quite nicely solves the problem raised in the linked article. Instead of archiving all that video footage, just save the screenplays as ASCII and throw the footage away. I don't know why bureaucratic politics and agendas keep getting in the way of such simple solutions, either. From rick at praxis.com.au Fri Jan 4 00:52:29 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Fri Jan 4 00:52:48 2008 Subject: [LINK] As Go Document Formats, So Goes Video In-Reply-To: <477CC249.4090004@internode.on.net> References: <476EF3D0.8070206@iimetro.com.au> <476F4D65.8000900@canb.auug.org.au> <477CC249.4090004@internode.on.net> Message-ID: <477CE89D.8000302@praxis.com.au> Alastair Rankine wrote: > steve jenkin wrote: >> >> I've never understood why archival documents aren't stored in "Lowest >> Common Denominator" form. >> I.e. ASCII lines until XML+Dublin Core (or whatever equiv) is generally [SCHNIPPE] > > I quite agree, if they can't use our character set in all its 7-bit > glory, all those foreigners can just bloody well learn English anyway. [SCHNIPPE] > Sarcasm accepted. Good points raised. What comes to mind is the Voyager Golden Record. It was sent out into deep space on the Voyager 1 and 2 probes. The record is encoded in a format that should be decodable by any intelligent species. A feature of the Golden Record is that is starts from the simple and proceeds to the complex. (*) understand binary as found on the craft's plaque (*) Read some analogue raster lines from the disk. (*) Get a round circle to display from the data on the disk. (*) etc. etc. We are facing a similar but easier problem for digital archiving. All approaches to digital archiving that I have seen assume that a particular encoding is used in a specific language with a known format to archive content. Using the Voyager technique, with much credit to Carl Sagan, start from as basic a definition as possible, and develop the complexity as required. Such a technique allows the archiver to specify as comprehensive an encoding format (physical media) and as many and varied content types (logical data) as occur in the archive. The archiver can commit a proprietary RealMedia/12.5 format audio stream to the archive, provided that the encoding format and content type are defined in the DEFINITIONS for the archive for RealMedia/12.5. If the definition of the proprietary format cannot be obtained, convert it to a format that can be defined. The principle is simple. Use the DEFINITIONS section of the archive to define how the archive is specified, encoded, stored and formatted. The archive itself then becomes instances of content as simple or as complex as required. DEFINITIONS (*) Bootstrap the definitions with hard copy in English ... or French ... or in whatever language(s) you decide. (*) Define the binary encoding, i.e. 8-bit octets. (*) Define Unicode and its 7-bit ASCII subset. (*) List the languages represented in the texts. (*) Define the media formats: magnetic disc, optical ... (*) Define the content formats: plain text, markup, audio, video ... (*) Provide the definitions using Unicode in as many languages as required, the more the better. ARCHIVE (*) Archive the content per the DEFINITIONS If you are archiving a pile of ASCII RFC's written in English to a CD, the DEFINITIONS task is relatively simple. OTOH, archiving all of the ABC's text, audio and video requires meticulous care in the DEFINITIONS phase so that the archive itself is straighforward and comprehensible. Nothing precludes the archiving of any format or any presentation layer, provided that it is DEFINED. You have an encyclopedia written in XHTML + CSS? Fine. Archive it but first DEFINE HTML + CSS. May I be so bold as to say that one can also DEFINE an XHTML + CSS + Javascript document? THE CATCH Yes, there is always a catch. The one that comes to mind is archiving executable content. This has already been discussed on LINK and gives me a headache every time I think about it. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Say what you will about the miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile. -- Howard W Campbell in Kurt Vonnegut Jr's "Mother Night" From dassa at dhs.org Fri Jan 4 07:54:20 2008 From: dassa at dhs.org (Darryl (Dassa) Lynch) Date: Fri Jan 4 07:54:35 2008 Subject: [LINK] As Go Document Formats, So Goes Video In-Reply-To: <477CE89D.8000302@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> || THE CATCH || || Yes, there is always a catch. The one that comes to mind is || archiving executable content. This has already been || discussed on LINK and gives me a headache every time I think || about it. || || || cheers || rickw Executable content need not be that different. The definition would need to include a description of the hardware required for the executable to run on and any other dependencies. The key word being dependencies. Darryl (Dassa) Lynch From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Fri Jan 4 08:38:40 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Fri Jan 4 08:52:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] As Go Document Formats, So Goes Video In-Reply-To: <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> References: <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> Message-ID: At 0:52 +1100 4/1/08, Rick Welykochy wrote: >|| THE CATCH >|| Yes, there is always a catch. The one that comes to mind is >|| archiving executable content. This has already been >|| discussed on LINK and gives me a headache every time I think >|| about it. At 7:54 +1100 4/1/08, Darryl \(Dassa\) Lynch wrote: >Executable content need not be that different. The definition would need to >include a description of the hardware required for the executable to run on >and any other dependencies. > >The key word being dependencies. A related problem I tackled a few years back was the inspection of software escrow deposits. Basically, pretty much all desposits failed to fulfil their function, in that they did not ensure that management of the application could be performed by the user organisation following the demise or withdrawal from market of the supplier organisation. Somewhere in my consultancy archives I've got a nicely structured version of the lists of things that may be required. It was used on several occasions to chastise suppliers who couldn't understand why putting 'the source code' onto 'a disk' and sending it to an air-conditioned bunker didn't satisfy the contract terms. (Separately, I was astonished what a surprise it was to some people that escrow deposit isn't a once-off action but a cyclical or even a compounding activity, and that media-renewal mattered). This is a text version, which is less useful, but a bit more readable: http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/PaperEscrow.html Skimming it again for the first time in many years, I'm struck by the fact that I didn't address the issue of copyright licences for the operating system version, compiler, system libraries, application libraries, etc. I guess we were all more relaxed back then, and assumed that we had the right to take back-up copies. I can just imagine what Microsoft's licences say about such things these days ... -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Fri Jan 4 09:37:06 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Fri Jan 4 09:44:00 2008 Subject: [LINK] As Go Document Formats, So Goes Video In-Reply-To: <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> References: <477CE89D.8000302@praxis.com.au> <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$g1vt6@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 07:54 AM 4/01/2008, Darryl (Dassa) Lynch wrote: >Executable content need not be that different. The definition would need to >include a description of the hardware required for the executable to run on >and any other dependencies. how do you present the definitions? indelible ink on some indestructable physical medium like stone or what? Otherwise you run into the problem of instructions to read the manual on the CD to figure out how to use the CD. :-) Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Fri Jan 4 11:38:28 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Fri Jan 4 11:39:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] As Go Document Formats, So Goes Video In-Reply-To: <477CC249.4090004@internode.on.net> References: <476EF3D0.8070206@iimetro.com.au> <476F4D65.8000900@canb.auug.org.au> <477CC249.4090004@internode.on.net> Message-ID: <477D8004.30401@canb.auug.org.au> Alastair Rankine wrote on 3/1/08 10:08 PM: Alistair, You sir, are a Fool or a Knave, possibly both. I don't know you or your work and have never met you. You have added nothing positive to the discussion, so why be sarcastic? You launched a twisted, personal attack without provocation against someone you don't know. That doesn't seem either rational or productive to me. The thread is dead and cold - around 2 weeks ago. Starting your own new thread would've been a reasonable reaction to my post, at this point in time. The last election shows definitively that the "play the man not the ball" approach *fails*. Your decision to adopt this style leaves me baffled. The quote you've taken out of context was about archiving Government *files*. I was specifically addressing normal text documents as used in those files. >From at least the mid-80's, there have been many standards efforts to separate *content* from *representation* or layout. XML and related standards are the current incarnation in this area. I've never seen video or graphic/visual arts in the permanent files of the departments I've worked for. I'm not sure why you would make such a big play for this. As for ASCII and international character sets - there is UTF-8. It's a standard, it's widely used and satisfies my criteria for 'simple and effective'. It represents ASCII unchanged - so no format change for the bulk of our English language Government files. For those very special cases where the Content is also the Representation, care and thought needs to be exercised in selecting the format and medium for archive, as well as what is taken to archive. Beta won over VHS around 20 years ago, but as the best technical format of the time was often used when quality was important. It now proves to be a very poor archival format choice. If the magnetic media has survived (mag media of the 80's had a major binder fault) can the format still be read? See: Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling - guidelines for Libraries and Archives I was making a case laying down archival material, of whatever content-type, in a *future-proof* way. Large chunks of my working life have been dedicated to recovering important information from deceased formats. It's not pretty and sometimes impossible. Rekeying printed copies is often the only alternative. You could contribute to the discussion by enumerating the classes of non-text documents that might be archived and pointing the list to resources and standards for them. As for not understanding the problem, I worked in IP Australia for a time. I stumbled over a weakness in their archival storage system and researched options for them. My best advice was to make copies of all formal documents on archival-quality micro-fiche (250 year life expectancy). Hold at least two copies at each office, one in a sealed controlled atmosphere. It is future-proof exactly because it is Lowest Common Denominator. Both images and text can be stored, and text can be recovered automatically by scanning/OCR. BTW: Your post, minus sarcasm could've been: > You've neglected important classes of documents: video, visual & audio arts and graphic design. > Nor has handling international character sets been mentioned. > > How do you propose to handle these and those images & documents where the appearance & typography > are as important as the Content, such as ??????? [some really convincing example] > steve jenkin wrote: >> >> I've never understood why archival documents aren't stored in "Lowest >> Common Denominator" form. >> I.e. ASCII lines until XML+Dublin Core (or whatever equiv) is generally >> > [snip] >> Presentation/layout would almost always be purely ornamental. >> >> This whole area is obviously driven by Bureaucratic Politics and agendas >> than technical or professional issues. >> > > I quite agree, if they can't use our character set in all its 7-bit > glory, all those foreigners can just bloody well learn English anyway. > > And yes, there is absolutely nothing of value in typography, graphic > design, or the visual arts in general. It is all ornamental and can be > easily discarded with no loss. > > Your proposal quite nicely solves the problem raised in the linked > article. Instead of archiving all that video footage, just save the > screenplays as ASCII and throw the footage away. > > I don't know why bureaucratic politics and agendas keep getting in the > way of such simple solutions, either. > > > > -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From stil at stilgherrian.com Fri Jan 4 12:01:09 2008 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Fri Jan 4 12:01:41 2008 Subject: [LINK] As Go Document Formats, So Goes Video In-Reply-To: <477D8004.30401@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: On 4/1/08 11:38 AM, "steve jenkin" wrote: > [an enormous rant about Alastair Rankine's post that entirely missed > the point and took it all as a personal attack] Actually, Steve, I think you're completely wrong. "Government files" have been a lot more than just typed words for a very, very long time. There are maps, photographs, film footage, audio recordings -- all of the many and varied things which might have been used as documents or plans or "evidence" in the many governmental and judicial processes over the years. There's "government research", too, everything from film of rockets taking off from Woomera to the map showing exactly which land was bought from whom by the health department when the built a hospital. Or a photograph of the injuries sustained by a worker when a claim was made for compensation. As I re-read Alastair's post, I see no personal attack on *you*, Steve, only upon the idea that "government files" are nothing more than plain text. Yes, he used a little sarcasm. But nothing particularly nasty. Your response is, I believe, completely over the top. Stilgherrian -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From arsptr at internode.on.net Fri Jan 4 15:46:10 2008 From: arsptr at internode.on.net (Alastair Rankine) Date: Fri Jan 4 15:46:09 2008 Subject: [LINK] Software Escrow Deposits In-Reply-To: References: <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> Message-ID: <477DBA12.3070808@internode.on.net> Roger Clarke wrote: > This is a text version, which is less useful, but a bit more readable: > http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/PaperEscrow.html > > Skimming it again for the first time in many years, I'm struck by the > fact that I didn't address the issue of copyright licences for the > operating system version, compiler, system libraries, application > libraries, etc. I guess we were all more relaxed back then, and > assumed that we had the right to take back-up copies. I can just > imagine what Microsoft's licences say about such things these days ... Quite right Roger. In my experience it is all to easy to introduce environmental dependencies into the software build process which must be either kept under change control with the source code, or must be manually maintained. For example I've worked on a project where a specific version, NOT the current version, of the compiler was required to build the source code. Similar for the build system, the source control system, third-party libraries, etc etc. Sometimes these components are supplied by the operating system itself (eg most Linux distros) and so there is often a dependency here as well. Over the years I've come to see the value in creating a project-specific canonical build machine on which the release builds of the software are to be made. This is left untouched during day-to-day development and access to it is controlled closely. In more recent years I've experimented with making this a virtual machine, to reduce the dependence on physical hardware such that it can be backed up or archived off. I think this is pretty future-proof; in 20 years time you just have to boot the VM image and you get everything needed to build the software, which also makes it a good deliverable for software escrow deposits. But let's not forget the documentation either, this story should sound suspiciously familiar to anyone who has worked in the software business at one time or another: http://www.hacknot.info/hacknot/action/showEntry?eid=97 From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Fri Jan 4 16:54:31 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Fri Jan 4 16:59:23 2008 Subject: [LINK] Spam's poster boy indicted Message-ID: <6hhft4$g7bjd@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/01/03/us.spam/index.html?iref=mpstoryview Spam's 'poster boy' indicted WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man described as one of U.S.'s most prolific senders of spam e-mail was indicted by a federal grand jury over a fraud scheme that manipulated Chinese stock prices, the Justice Department said Thursday. Alan Ralsky, 52, has been indicted in a spam scheme that netted $3 million in 2005. Alan Ralsky, 52, was among 11 defendants named in the 41-count indictment, returned by a grand jury in Detroit. Authorities said he made millions of dollars by manipulating the stock prices through a massive global spamming operation. Dubbed the "the poster boy for spam," Ralsky, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, is widely known for high-profile legal battles involving spamming operations that tout everything from mortgages to stocks to diet pills, . Ralsky remained at large Thursday evening, but his son-in-law Scott Bradley was arrested Thursday along with another defendant, Judy Devenow, and both appeared in federal court for arraignment, the Justice Department said in a statement. A third defendant, How Wai John Hui of Vancouver, Canada, and Hong Kong, was arrested in New York on Wednesday. The remaining defendants, from Arizona, California and Russia, were being sought, authorities said. The defendants are accused of making $3 million during the summer of 2005 alone as a result of illegal spamming activities, authorities said. [snip] Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rick at praxis.com.au Fri Jan 4 17:00:07 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Fri Jan 4 17:00:29 2008 Subject: [LINK] Software Escrow Deposits In-Reply-To: <477DBA12.3070808@internode.on.net> References: <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> <477DBA12.3070808@internode.on.net> Message-ID: <477DCB67.7020405@praxis.com.au> Alastair Rankine wrote: > But let's not forget the documentation either, this story should sound > suspiciously familiar to anyone who has worked in the software business > at one time or another: > > http://www.hacknot.info/hacknot/action/showEntry?eid=97 Ahem. Yes, very entertaining. The people running that particular project obviously have not learnt the lessons you and I have. Part of testing is: recreate the build environment on a virgin machine. Ensure the entire project can be built from scratch, pass muster and be deployed. I keep telling people I work with: coding is only 10% of the project. The rest is the boring stuff: analyse, design, config, testing, deployment, testing, bug fixes, testing hot fixes, testing, etc.etc.etc. This might give the non techies on the list some insight into why there are so many failed and crap software projects coming in and out of existence all the time. To sit down and codeup some quick "solution" and then release is just plain wrong. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Say what you will about the miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile. -- Howard W Campbell in Kurt Vonnegut Jr's "Mother Night" From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Fri Jan 4 17:42:53 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Fri Jan 4 17:43:18 2008 Subject: [LINK] Software Escrow Deposits In-Reply-To: <477DBA12.3070808@internode.on.net> References: <200801032054.m03KsKvx032263@relay01.ispone.net.au> <477DBA12.3070808@internode.on.net> Message-ID: <477DD56D.4020501@canb.auug.org.au> Alastair Rankine wrote on 4/1/08 3:46 PM: > > Over the years I've come to see the value in creating a > project-specific canonical build machine on which the release builds > of the software are to be made. This is left untouched during > day-to-day development and access to it is controlled closely. In more > recent years I've experimented with making this a virtual machine, to > reduce the dependence on physical hardware such that it can be backed > up or archived off. I think this is pretty future-proof; in 20 years > time you just have to boot the VM image and you get everything needed > to build the software, which also makes it a good deliverable for > software escrow deposits. > > But let's not forget the documentation either, this story should sound > suspiciously familiar to anyone who has worked in the software > business at one time or another: You talk as if you know what you're saying, but you have your head up your arse. Your VM's aren't going to run in 5 years, let alone 20. Got Vista? bang, bang you're dead with licensing. Worse to come when TPM is enforced - can't fake it with your VM. That's not going to be the just the O/S either. For all licensed Apps - TPM gives real bite to DRM. DRM + TPM means enforced limited number of platform installs/moves for licensed software. bang, bang, game over. One of the known O/S & vendor responses to their detection of DRM 'violations' is deleting files they deem to be violations. With encrypted filesystems using hardware features becoming more popular in MS-land, the special backups needed probably won't let you get your data back either. Y2K proved that all production software, not just 'mission critical', has a very long life. 20 years is a minimum. Perhaps you are the person who some years back smugly publicly berated me as a fool for using a command-line email program to vet everything before it hit my home system. I was advised that all I needed was a virus scanner and personal firewall and I would be *perfectly* safe. Ha Ha Ha Ha. My systems are all still safe. Your current suggestion is just as plausible and just as wrong headed. Those who believe this inane proposal are living in a fools' paradise. Is IA32 the definitive instruction set? Not for all time, not for all purposes. Currently, it loses for low-power and highly portable devices. ARM and variants are king of that market segment. As the speed/capability of those processors improves, there will be pressure on low-end desktops, especially single-unit devices (iMac, Dell XPS One), to adopt the chip. The Everex gPC at US$200 set a new benchmark in *cheap*. Things like the ASUS Eee are taking the industry into new pricepoint territory. The only way to hit these new prices is to pick up existing cheap chipsets. Good O/S's are born portable: viz. Max OS/X, Solaris, Linux, *BSD, ... Mobile phones outsell PC's and laptops by 5-10:1. Their technologies are the ones to watch out for. Intel chips are just too expensive and power-hungry in that world. If MSFT doesn't adapt, it pretty much loses the whole game as Moores' Law relentlessly pushes these 'cheap and cheerful' CPU's further up the food-chain. So what happens when the CPU architecture of the desktop, server and build system changes - either in a single step or by a steady stream of small and subtle changes? Oops, you're lovely strategy turns to mush. You are back to needing a hopelessly old, unsupported pile of crap. "Chuck it all into a VM and you'll be fine" is B/S. None of these risks are fanciful nor already occurred multiple times. But none of this will matter to you - it'll be SEP with you long gone. It's not what you know that's true that's gonna get you, it's what you know is so, but ain't. Which for you would seem to be a particular problem. Right back at you :-) -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From stil at stilgherrian.com Fri Jan 4 18:44:37 2008 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Fri Jan 4 18:44:59 2008 Subject: [LINK] Software Escrow Deposits In-Reply-To: <477DD56D.4020501@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: On 4/1/08 5:42 PM, "steve jenkin" wrote: > You talk as if you know what you're saying, but you have your head up > your arse. I really think this sort of comment us unhelpful, to say the least. You need to know that you're starting to look like an arsehole in this discussion. Once that happens, no-one will be paying any attention to the substance of your comments. That's just how human nature works. I'd recommend reconsidering your strategy. Stilgherrian -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Fri Jan 4 19:47:07 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Fri Jan 4 19:47:33 2008 Subject: [LINK] Software Escrow Deposits In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <477DF28B.80400@canb.auug.org.au> Stilgherrian wrote on 4/1/08 6:44 PM: Stil, Pull your head in. By your actions you've made a *very* strong statement that in this forum that personal abuse is not only tolerated, it is preferred. You had the opportunity to say something about an uncalled for personal attack and you not only let it go, when I responded (yes it was long])you then described what I wrote as 'a rant'. Which again is demeaning and unnecessary. None too subtle personal attack. As is 'this advice' - you are calling me an arsehole and uttering threats. That's not subtle or 'helpful'. Get over yourself. Link is as Link does. Don't write B/S like this. You're a fool, you don't need to compound that into looking like hypocrite as well. Oh, sarcasm isn't an attack? Gee Golly I guess the dictionary is wrong: "A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound." But what would I know, I only rave and rant. Which apparently is the preferred LINK conversation style. > On 4/1/08 5:42 PM, "steve jenkin" wrote: > >> You talk as if you know what you're saying, but you have your head up >> your arse. >> > > I really think this sort of comment us unhelpful, to say the least. You need > to know that you're starting to look like an arsehole in this discussion. > Once that happens, no-one will be paying any attention to the substance of > your comments. That's just how human nature works. I'd recommend > reconsidering your strategy. > > Stilgherrian > > > -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Fri Jan 4 19:54:36 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Fri Jan 4 19:54:50 2008 Subject: [LINK] Software Escrow Deposits In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <9B05EA9A-B7FE-40BE-887B-7B6F8A091E9D@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Linkers Can we keep our cool on this one please. Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 | mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au mobile: 04 1242 0397 | mailto:tony.barry@alianet.alia.org.au http://tony-barry.emu.id.au From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Sat Jan 5 09:13:57 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Jan 5 09:21:06 2008 Subject: [LINK] ATM skimmers go wifi Message-ID: <6hhft4$ggpvr@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22989888-5006364,00.html ATM scams get hi-tech Article from: AAP December 31, 2007 09:30am CRIMINALS are using wireless technology to skim personal identification numbers from bank cards at ATMs while sitting up to 100m away. Police say wireless keypad overlays are being used on ATMs in the latest international scam expected to hit Australian shores soon. The keypads instantly transmit a person's secret PIN to a nearby laptop, replacing traditional skimming devices which were attached to ATMs. "Under the old technology if they lost the skimming machine because it was detected or they could not retrieve it, they lost all the data,'' Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of Queensland police said. "Now, they can retain the information collected between the time the device is put on the ATM and when it is collected or compromised.'' Supt Hay said the new technology also meant skimmers no longer needed to install spy cameras on ATMs to record PINs. "All the card data is transmitted to their laptops while they're having a cup of coffee up to 100m away,'' he said. "They design the keypad overlays for specific types of ATMs so it makes them very difficult to detect.'' Police found the technology could be bought on the internet from black market websites. "There is no evidence yet of the wireless technology being used in Australia but we know they are trading on the Internet,'' he said. "We know the technology is out there and crooks can buy it so it will be inevitable it will happen here.'' Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Sat Jan 5 13:17:06 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Jan 5 13:23:36 2008 Subject: [LINK] weird referral page Message-ID: <6hhft4$giu65@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Linkers, I have just looked at my webstats and found a very weird referring URL: -- freeliveporno.org Not only that, there were FOUR hits from it! Anyone else find that in their Links from an external page list? Believe me, I didn't put my link there and have nothing on my site that could qualify whatsoever! I'm not moonlighting.....in *any* definition of the term! Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au Sat Jan 5 13:32:04 2008 From: danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au (Danny Yee) Date: Sat Jan 5 13:32:19 2008 Subject: [LINK] weird referral page In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$giu65@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$giu65@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <20080105023204.GA21248@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > I have just looked at my webstats and found a very weird referring URL: > -- freeliveporno.org > Not only that, there were FOUR hits from it! This is referer spam. Connecting clients can pass anything they like in the referer field, and spammers know that people log referers -- and in some case put the logs online, complete with links back to the top referring pages. So spammers fake a whole pile of http requests with the domains they are trying to promote as referers, hoping to get either automated links or traffic from webmasters looking at their logs. These are not real requests, just automated spambots. Danny. --------------------------------------------------------- http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog --------------------------------------------------------- From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Sat Jan 5 13:39:26 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Jan 5 13:43:43 2008 Subject: [LINK] weird referral page In-Reply-To: <20080105023204.GA21248@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> References: <6hhft4$giu65@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> <20080105023204.GA21248@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$gj34j@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 01:32 PM 5/01/2008, Danny Yee wrote: >These are not real requests, just automated spambots. Thanks, Danny [and Kim]. Now do you have any way to stop spoofers from using my domain name? :-) jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From peter at ratbags.com Sat Jan 5 16:38:07 2008 From: peter at ratbags.com (Peter Bowditch) Date: Sat Jan 5 16:38:27 2008 Subject: [LINK] weird referral page In-Reply-To: <20080105023204.GA21248@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> References: <6hhft4$giu65@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net>, <20080105023204.GA21248@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: <477FB26F.29292.690E795@peter.ratbags.com> I haven't seen anything suspicious for a while, but for some time I used to get a lot of referrals each month from Texas holdem poker sites. Not as glamorous as porn sites, but just as annoying. > Jan Whitaker wrote: > > I have just looked at my webstats and found a very weird referring > URL: > > -- freeliveporno.org > > Not only that, there were FOUR hits from it! > > This is referer spam. Connecting clients can pass anything they like > in the referer field, and spammers know that people log referers -- > and in some case put the logs online, complete with links back to > the top referring pages. > > So spammers fake a whole pile of http requests with the domains they > are trying to promote as referers, hoping to get either automated > links or traffic from webmasters looking at their logs. > > These are not real requests, just automated spambots. > > Danny. > --------------------------------------------------------- > http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews > http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog > --------------------------------------------------------- > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > > -- Peter Bowditch The Millenium Project - http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles Australian Council Against Health Fraud - http://www.acahf.org.au Australian Skeptics - http://www.skeptics.com.au From gramadan at umd.com.au Sat Jan 5 22:44:58 2008 From: gramadan at umd.com.au (Geoffrey Ramadan) Date: Sat Jan 5 22:40:08 2008 Subject: [LINK] ATM skimmers go wifi In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$ggpvr@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$ggpvr@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <477F6DBA.8060003@umd.com.au> We were actually contacted by a local "crook" about mid last year, who wanted us to design what was in effect a keyboard and magnetic card reader skimmer. The captured data was to be sent via SMS. Though he tried to hide its purpose, it was not too hard to figure out what it was doing (i.e. skimming PIN and MCR data from ATMs) Between the Police and us, we were unable to "locate" this person. However, I was told not so long ago by the Police that they had caught him. He was a ATM technician! Reg Geoffrey Ramadan B.E.(Elec) Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Association (www.adca.com.au) and Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) Jan Whitaker wrote: > > http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22989888-5006364,00.html > ATM scams get hi-tech > Article from: AAP > December 31, 2007 09:30am > > CRIMINALS are using wireless technology to skim personal > identification numbers from bank cards at ATMs while sitting up to > 100m away. > > Police say wireless keypad overlays are being used on ATMs in the > latest international scam expected to hit Australian shores soon. > > The keypads instantly transmit a person's secret PIN to a nearby > laptop, replacing traditional skimming devices which were attached to > ATMs. > > "Under the old technology if they lost the skimming machine because it > was detected or they could not retrieve it, they lost all the data,'' > Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of Queensland police said. > > "Now, they can retain the information collected between the time the > device is put on the ATM and when it is collected or compromised.'' > > Supt Hay said the new technology also meant skimmers no longer needed > to install spy cameras on ATMs to record PINs. > > "All the card data is transmitted to their laptops while they're > having a cup of coffee up to 100m away,'' he said. > > "They design the keypad overlays for specific types of ATMs so it > makes them very difficult to detect.'' > > Police found the technology could be bought on the internet from black > market websites. > > "There is no evidence yet of the wireless technology being used in > Australia but we know they are trading on the Internet,'' he said. > > "We know the technology is out there and crooks can buy it so it will > be inevitable it will happen here.'' > > > > Jan Whitaker > JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria > jwhit@janwhitaker.com > business: http://www.janwhitaker.com > personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ > commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ > > Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim > Sollisch, Sept, 2007 > 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, > there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 > _ __________________ _ > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sat Jan 5 23:35:59 2008 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sat Jan 5 23:36:09 2008 Subject: [LINK] searchable video Message-ID: <20080105123559.13E1415A0C@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> > From: Carolyn Kotlas > Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:44:32 -0500 > Subject: TL Infobits -- December 2007 SEARCHABLE VIDEO LECTURES This fall researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released the MIT Lecture Browser, a web interface to video recordings of lectures and seminars that have been indexed using automatic speech recognition technology. Users can search on terms or phrases and then play the video at the point(s) in the recording where their search terms appear. While the transcript's accuracy can be affected by speakers' verbal pauses or by nonnative English speakers' accents, the texts can be very close to the audio originals. The transcripts' accuracy is sufficient for searches .. You can search and try out the Lecture Browser at: See also: "Searching Video Lectures: A Tool from MIT Finds Keywords So That Students Can Efficiently Review Lectures" By Kate Greene TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, Nov 26, 2007 http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ -- Cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria Australia From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sun Jan 6 02:45:08 2008 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sun Jan 6 02:45:19 2008 Subject: [LINK] Re: searchable video Message-ID: <20080105154508.5E3F917360@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> > > SEARCHABLE VIDEO LECTURES .. video indexing > using automatic speech recognition technology. > > Searching videos will be essential in future. MIT's working on speech recognition .. Google's the other way, text recognition. WebProNews. January 5, 2008 Patent For Google. by David A. Utter | Staff Writer "Recognizing Text In Images" served as the main idea for a Google patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization. The search engine could have another avenue for gathering information from the world it sees. A pair of Google's engineers have applied for a patent that would enable machines to read text included in pictures. An InformationWeek report said the patent would allow tasks like searching videos by keywords appearing in the content as one example. Pulling off a technology that could do this would be quite a feat. In a real world full of myriad typefaces and languages, it seems Google will have a challenge in implementing the patent, should they have plans to do so." -- Cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria Australia From liddy at sunriseresearch.org Sun Jan 6 06:56:49 2008 From: liddy at sunriseresearch.org (Liddy Nevile) Date: Sun Jan 6 06:56:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] Re: searchable video In-Reply-To: <20080105154508.5E3F917360@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20080105154508.5E3F917360@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: And the Indians I met last year are searching images of archival texts in many languages by matching images of words rather than transcribing everything to do that. Liddy On 05/01/2008, at 3:45 PM, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > >> >> SEARCHABLE VIDEO LECTURES .. video indexing >> using automatic speech recognition technology. >> >> > > > Searching videos will be essential in future. MIT's working on > speech recognition .. Google's the other way, text recognition. > > > WebProNews. January 5, 2008 > > Patent For Google. by David A. Utter | Staff Writer > > "Recognizing Text In Images" served as the main idea for a Google > patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization. > > The search engine could have another avenue for gathering > information from the world it sees. A pair of Google's engineers > have applied for a patent that would enable machines to read text > included in pictures. > > An InformationWeek report said the patent would allow tasks like > searching videos by keywords appearing in the content as one example. > > Pulling off a technology that could do this would be quite a feat. > In a real world full of myriad typefaces and languages, it seems > Google will have a challenge in implementing the patent, should > they have plans to do so." > -- > > Cheers people > Stephen Loosley > Victoria Australia > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link From gramadan at umd.com.au Sun Jan 6 12:03:30 2008 From: gramadan at umd.com.au (Geoffrey Ramadan) Date: Sun Jan 6 11:57:50 2008 Subject: [LINK] external power supplies In-Reply-To: <6ggmgn$7c716@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6ggmgn$7c716@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <478028E2.5080204@umd.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > Interesting article about the potential worldwide ban of external > power supplies and why that would be a bad idea. Relates to recent > discussion about how efficient they are. The answers may be in here. > I'm not an electrical engineer so it will take more knowledgeable > linkers than me to figure it out. > http://sound.westhost.com/articles/external-psu.htm > Done some research on this (noting that we use a lot of external power supplies in our business). 1) The regulatory aspect of this can be found at: http://www.energyrating.gov.au/library/details200702-ris-eps.html "This is the regulatory impact statement for the introduction of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for external power supplies (EPS) as typically imported and sold in Australia and New Zealand. This includes importation of external power supplies by themselves and importation as part of a product package. It is important to note that this document applies to external power supplies only, not the myriad of appliances and products with which they are used. In 2004 the Australian Greenhouse Office entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the US EPA Energy Star Program, California Electricity Commission and China Certification Center for Energy Conservation Products (CECP) to agree upon harmonized test methods and energy performance marking of external power supplies. This document is based upon the agreed harmonized test methods and energy performance marking." 2) The original concern expressed in Jan's email relate to the transformer based power supplies. In particular that they need to meet minimum no-load conditions as well as efficiency MEPS (Minimum Energy Performance Standards). This standard will make it impossible for transformers to be used as External Power Supplies, and hence the need to migrate to Switch Mode Power Supplies. The original article above puts a strong arguments against this. 3) Fortunately, are revised impact statement has been recently released. http://www.energyrating.gov.au/library/details200707-revised-ris-eps.html Where the Regulators have agreed NOT to include this requirement of meeting no-load minimums, thus the issue is diffused. i.e. transformer based External Powers Supplies will be able to meet the standard. 4) The commencement date for this new scheme will be 1st Oct 2008. I don't expect the public will notice anything. The onus is on the manufacturers and importers to ensure compliance. Though I expect the COST of these will go up to cover the cost of compliance and design changes. Given that External Power Suppliers and in particular plug packs are low cost anyway, this should not be significant. Reg Geoffrey Ramadan B.E.(Elec) Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Association (www.adca.com.au) and Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) From gdt at gdt.id.au Sun Jan 6 12:33:08 2008 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Sun Jan 6 12:34:08 2008 Subject: [LINK] external power supplies In-Reply-To: <478028E2.5080204@umd.com.au> References: <6ggmgn$7c716@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> <478028E2.5080204@umd.com.au> Message-ID: <1199583188.5858.10.camel@andromache> On Sun, 2008-01-06 at 12:03 +1100, Geoffrey Ramadan wrote: > 4) The commencement date for this new scheme will be 1st Oct 2008. I > don't expect the public will notice anything. The onus is on the > manufacturers and importers to ensure compliance. Though I expect the > COST of these will go up to cover the cost of compliance and design > changes. Given that External Power Suppliers and in particular plug > packs are low cost anyway, this should not be significant. Hi Geoff, I had a quick look and I don't think the cost is an issue, since the documents required by Australia are a subset of those required for the US Energy Star programme. Like a lot of compliance/certification documentation (Electromagnetic Compatibility, Modems, Material Safety Data Sheets) you obtain the documents from the manufacturer rather than pay to have the testing done. As long as the various jurisdictions have similar requirements (and today that's usually the case) then the cost to the manufacturer is low. Best wishes, Glen From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sun Jan 6 12:39:10 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sun Jan 6 12:39:26 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clth IPv6 Strategy: Probably, Some Day, Not Soon Message-ID: [A couple of contrasting presentations from the IPv6 'Summit' (conference?) on 19 - 21 November 2007] The Australian Government's IPv6 Transition Strategy http://www.ipv6.org.au/summit/talks/Peter_Dale_IPv6.pdf Preparation stage - January 2008 to around December 2009. Major activities: - Stocktake of current ICT infrastructure - Training Needs Analysis - Threat and Risk Assessment - Procurement Policy review - Building IPv6 awareness - Whole-of-government IPv6 address space discussion. Reporting - Proposed that AGIMO report to CIOC annually, or as required [Am I alone in finding it remarkable that the above involves 24 elapsed months? And that the project reports to its Steering C'tee only twice in that time? There appears to be no intention to provide support to the pioneer agencies. So will the pioneer agencies put much effort into passing on their hard-won expertise? [But who *are* the pioneer agencies? Defence started planning in 2004, had a policy in place 3 years ago, in Feb 2005, and it mandates transition by ... 2013: Status of IPv6 in Department of Defence Planning http://www.ipv6.org.au/summit/talks/Paul_Pappas_IPv6.pdf To be fair, Defence as a whole is monstrous; but is there no pilot planned?? There's a small lab test called TIPSTEEL [Geoff Huston's estimate of IPv4 address pool exhaustion has moved out a few months recently, to May 2011. Maybe the Aust Govt has its own pool? http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html See also: http://xkcd.com/195/ Paper: AARNet's Experience with IPv6 http://www.ipv6.org.au/summit/talks/Glen_Turner_Handout_IPv6.pdf Slides: AARNet's Experience with IPv6 http://www.ipv6.org.au/summit/talks/Glen_Turner_IPv6.pdf Glen Turner Australia's Academic and Research Network runs a native IPv6 internet service provider network. It offers native IPv6 connections to Australia's universities, research institutions and other organisations. This session examines: motivations for full IPv6 support; evaluating vendor claims of "IPv6 support", "full support" and value-added services; accounting and monitoring; blockers to customer take-up. [Notes: AARNet has had IPv6 fully operational for some time (in limited form, as early as 2002). Traffic is still relatively small compared with IPv4. Few ISPs currently run IPv6. Vendor support is only now beginning to mature, and firewall and VPN support is still poor. ["Time is running out if you wish to use IPv6 as a potential remediation against the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses held by the Internet address registries. "In particular, equipment purchased today will need to run IPv6 within a few years. Add IPv6 support to the mandatory criteria for network equipment purchases. "For some product categories the claims of vendors cannot be relied upon. You will need to validate claims of support by testing of your particular network design. "Decide in advance how to handle non-compliance ... -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sun Jan 6 15:44:06 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sun Jan 6 15:44:55 2008 Subject: [LINK] Radiohead: Artists often screwed by digital downloads Message-ID: [Comments at end] Radiohead: Artists often screwed by digital downloads By Nate Anderson | Published: January 02, 2008 - 03:35PM CT http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080102-radiohead-artists-often-screwed-by-digital-downloads.html You might think, if you didn't work in the music business, that famous artists stand to make mad cash from popular albums on iTunes and other digital storefronts. Sadly, that's not the case, and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has spent the last week calling out the labels for it. He recently told BBC Radio 4 that "the big infrastructure of the music business has not addressed the way artists communicate directly with their fans. In fact, they seem to basically get in the way. Not only do they get in the way, but they take all the cash." Yorke said the same thing in a widely-quoted recent interview with David Byrne. His advice to young artists in that piece was, "Don't sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority." He went on to say that selling the new album, In Rainbows, directly to fans made the band more money from digital distribution than "all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever." It's a common complaint from artists. "Weird Al" Yankovic noted on his web site last year that "I actually do get significantly more money from CD sales, as opposed to downloads," though he seemed a bit puzzled about why this was the case. "This is the one thing about my renegotiated record contract that never made much sense to me. It costs the label NOTHING for somebody to download an album (no manufacturing costs, shipping, or really any overhead of any kind) and yet the artist (me) winds up making less from it. Go figure." The labels do "go figure," of course, and they've spent decades coming up with figures that lower artists' royalty percentages. (If you want to get a general sense of how this works with physical distribution, the Future of Music Coalition has a nice explanation of many standard contract features and how they affect artists.) Digital downloads should make many of the standard industry deductions irrelevant (such as breakage and production costs), but the whole issue is complicated by the fact that many contracts didn't included any provisions for digital download sales when they were signed. Radiohead's Yorke complained in the Wired article that "EMI wasn't giving us any money for digital sales. All the contracts signed in a certain era have none of that stuff." Artists today are savvier about the need to protect their download royalties, but the rate of return is still quite low. [See WIRED MAGAZINE: 16.01 18 Dec 2007 'David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music' http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_yorke?currentPage=all ] Such contractual agreements have taken on a special importance this holiday season as major-label CD sales tanked by 20 percent from the same time period in 2006. Such a sudden collapse may be indicative of a real tipping point to digital, and it means that artists who sign with record labels need to pay special attention to their downloadable royalties. Services like TuneCore and CD Baby now make it possible to get music up on iTunes and other services for low fees, and artists can maintain all their rights. The deals don't cover marketing or recording costs, of course, but with computer equipment and home studios driving the cost of recording into the ground, more bands could find that it makes little sense these days to aspire to a major-label contract. Of course, if you're Radiohead, the built-in publicity makes a direct-to-fans model much easier than if you're, say, the "Free As In Beer" out of Dayton, Ohio. So how many copies did Yorke & Co. move with their experiment? Yorke isn't telling, though he does dismiss as absurd the 1.2 million album guesstimate that has been floating around. And the band knows that it can't stay all-digital yet; a CD release of In Rainbows is planned as well. (Update: the disc came out on January 1 in the US.) [Slowly, music artists are noticing that the mega-corps that control the music industry, even though they're extracting revenues from digital distribution way in excess of that needed to cover costs, are not passing on very much of the revenue to the artists. [If even established groups are getting very little, imagine what share of revenues from digital distribution is going to *new* artists. [Lots of us have warned for years that public payment morality was being seriously undermined, and hence that an increasing proportion of consumers would appropriate content. Now the alienation of artists is going to extremes, at the same time as alternative channels to market are maturing. Business historians may come to write case studies of the collapse of a vast industry 1980-2020.] -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sun Jan 6 16:06:50 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sun Jan 6 16:14:19 2008 Subject: [LINK] Radiohead: Artists often screwed by digital downloads In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6hhft4$gvf2g@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 03:44 PM 6/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >[Lots of us have warned for years that public payment morality was >being seriously undermined, and hence that an increasing proportion >of consumers would appropriate content. Now the alienation of >artists is going to extremes, at the same time as alternative >channels to market are maturing. Business historians may come to >write case studies of the collapse of a vast industry 1980-2020.] Keep an eye on publishing, too. It's a mess of uninformed 'middle' 'men' interns screening works or having to go through layer upon layer to get a decision to sign an author/work after the author has found an agent willing to take on the author/work to begin with. Here in Australia, it's pretty bad in that way. There aren't enough agents. There is an emergence of print on demand that comes in a range of flavours, from bring your own cover to editorial services for a fee. As far as I know, there isn't one for direct production in Australia, but there are a few in the US now, such as lulu.com and iuniverse. As they get more use, people are being more adventurous. The downside is that there is no screening, so you pays your money and you takes your chances. The author gets a much higher return, but they have to handle all their own promotion and they are unlikely to get any bookstores to carry. But nowadays, many publishers (most) want their writers to do their own publicity. I've even been told they expect their authors to use their advance for it! It's a strange old world, isn't it? Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From mikal at stillhq.com Sun Jan 6 16:55:00 2008 From: mikal at stillhq.com (Michael Still) Date: Sun Jan 6 16:53:31 2008 Subject: [LINK] Radiohead: Artists often screwed by digital downloads In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$gvf2g@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$gvf2g@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <47806D34.5000205@stillhq.com> Jan Whitaker wrote: > At 03:44 PM 6/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >> [Lots of us have warned for years that public payment morality was >> being seriously undermined, and hence that an increasing proportion of >> consumers would appropriate content. Now the alienation of artists is >> going to extremes, at the same time as alternative channels to market >> are maturing. Business historians may come to write case studies of >> the collapse of a vast industry 1980-2020.] > > Keep an eye on publishing, too. It's a mess of uninformed 'middle' 'men' > interns screening works or having to go through layer upon layer to get > a decision to sign an author/work after the author has found an agent > willing to take on the author/work to begin with. > > Here in Australia, it's pretty bad in that way. There aren't enough agents. That might be true for literature, but for technical publishing its quite common to have a relationship directly with a publisher and not use an agent at all. Then again, its rare for technical books to pay out their (very small) royalty advances. Mikal From link at todd.inoz.com Sun Jan 6 21:28:12 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Sun Jan 6 21:31:04 2008 Subject: [LINK] Radiohead: Artists often screwed by digital downloads In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$gvf2g@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$gvf2g@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <200801061030.m06AUQ4m006667@ah.net> At 04:06 PM 6/01/2008, Jan Whitaker wrote: >At 03:44 PM 6/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >>[Lots of us have warned for years that public payment morality was >>being seriously undermined, and hence that an increasing proportion >>of consumers would appropriate content. Now the alienation of >>artists is going to extremes, at the same time as alternative >>channels to market are maturing. Business historians may come to >>write case studies of the collapse of a vast industry 1980-2020.] > >Keep an eye on publishing, too. It's a mess of uninformed 'middle' >'men' interns screening works or having to go through layer upon >layer to get a decision to sign an author/work after the author has >found an agent willing to take on the author/work to begin with. > >Here in Australia, it's pretty bad in that way. There aren't enough agents. Same with films. Unless you are a mate of someone at the FFC and AFC and look like heading for the dole queue, forget any marketing support (not that the industry should need it really, it should stand on it's own, but Australia doesn't have a marketing industry like the USA where $80 million is spend on advertising a film.) There are alot of indies working to make their dreams come true and the big end of town does everything possible to prevent it. You can't get an on indie screen without the indie screen looking that hollywood block buster screening right. Yep, if the indie exhibitor wants to screen Hollywood BlockBuster 345, then they must screen the 2 hour film three times between 10 AM and 6 PM and twice between 6:30 PM and 10:30 PM. You to the sums. >There is an emergence of print on demand that comes in a range of >flavours, from bring your own cover to editorial services for a fee. >As far as I know, there isn't one for direct production in >Australia, but there are a few in the US now, such as lulu.com and >iuniverse. As they get more use, people are being more adventurous. >The downside is that there is no screening, so you pays your money >and you takes your chances. The author gets a much higher return, >but they have to handle all their own promotion and they are >unlikely to get any bookstores to carry. But nowadays, many >publishers (most) want their writers to do their own publicity. I've >even been told they expect their authors to use their advance for it! Nothing different to film in most of the world, unless you are Sony, Paramount, Columbia or Paramount. >It's a strange old world, isn't it? Yep. From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Sun Jan 6 22:21:49 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sun Jan 6 22:29:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] ISBN links from wikipedia Message-ID: <6hhft4$h27i9@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Just discovered a feature in wikipedia that I hadn't noticed before. If you look up an author and there is a listing of his/her works, there may be ISBN links for each that brings up an ISBN search function. A map of the world lets you click on your region and then provides a list of libraries that lets you search their catalogs. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au Mon Jan 7 20:36:13 2008 From: david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au (David Boxall) Date: Mon Jan 7 20:36:33 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen Message-ID: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> This bears on issues raised on Link in the past. Is it any more accurate than previous efforts? >From . . . The washing machine of the future may not only wash garments according to the instructions on the clothes but secretly collect information for telemarketers, political parties and anybody else with an interest in people's dirty linen. The Australian Law Reform Commission says washing machines could be fitted with radio frequency identification equipment, known as RFID, which stores information and transmits it to a data-processing system. A discussion paper by the commission on a review of Australian privacy law lists the "bugged" washing machine as one of the myriad controversial technologies that are stealthily shaping the way we live. "Some uses of RFID technology raise privacy concerns," the discussion paper says. "In particular, concerns arise about the ability of agencies, organisations or individuals to surreptitiously collect a variety of data related to the same person; track individuals as they walk in public places (airports, train stations, stores); enhance profiles through the monitoring of consumer behaviour in stores; and read the details of clothes and accessories worn and medicines carried by customers. "These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that individuals may not be given notice that the products they purchase or the objects they use contain RFID tags and may not be given the choice to remove or disable RFID tags." This technology is already widely used: examples include keyless car entry; security tags on clothing, CDs and other items in department stores that activate readers at exits; animal tagging; timing marathon runners; and access control for secure premises. Increasingly Australians are being bar-coded and scoped. Their whereabouts are checked, along with the company they keep. How they make money, how they spend it - all is monitored in the name of progress, profit and private and national security. Marcus Einfeld's court case last month provided irrefutable proof that nobody is ever alone in a big city any more. Charged with 13 offences relating to traffic infringements, the former Federal Court judge was committed to trial after leaving a spoor of credit card, mobile phone and bridge toll transactions and closed-circuit television appearances that a bloodhound with a head cold would have had no difficulty following. But the tracking of Einfeld only reveals the tip of the iceberg of security and surveillance technology piggybacking on living in modern society. . . . Data-matching and data-mining allow information generated by people doing ordinary things - such as using automatic teller machines, paying with credit cards, using shopping loyalty cards or smartcards, writing cheques, renting cars or videos, sending or receiving emails or surfing the internet - to be collected and collated, often without the subject's consent or knowledge. . . . For the hundreds of thousands who came to Australia as immigrants, the absence of ID checks symbolised the new freedoms they had embraced. . . . "CCTV has become so commonplace now that people just don't notice them anymore," he said. "When the public becomes aware that a security technology can or is being abused or is ineffective, then that is the strongest safeguard against governments or organisations abusing the technology." . . . From gdt at gdt.id.au Mon Jan 7 20:41:33 2008 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Mon Jan 7 20:44:18 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clth IPv6 Strategy: Probably, Some Day, Not Soon In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1199698893.6011.13.camel@andromache> Hi Roger, My main point at the IPv6 Forum is that it is the equipment purchased today that is going to be in your network when IPv4 address space is exhausted. This implies that the IPv6 and NAT implementations and road maps for that equipment should be examined. My warning was that my experience has been that vendors in some markets claiming "IPv6 support" are currently more interested in box ticking than in shipping functioning and inter-working components. This unnecessarily complicates the examination of equipment for use in a IPv6 network. Note that AARNet, an early adopter of IPv6, is actually less threatened by IPv4 exhaustion than other ISPs: our customers traditionally have a great deal of address space, whereas most ISPs need to provide their customers with address space. AARNet's main reason for supporting IPv6 is simply that our customers demand it. In the past this demand has mainly come from academics in Computer Science doing reseach in data networks. In the recent few months demand has appeared from the IT areas of universities which realise that support for IPv6 is going to be required and wish to implement that in some planned fashion, well before any panic around IPv4 address space exhaustion. Best wishes, Glen -- Glen Turner Tel: 0416 295 857 or +61 416 295 857 From david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au Mon Jan 7 21:00:20 2008 From: david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au (David Boxall) Date: Mon Jan 7 21:00:46 2008 Subject: [LINK] Bush tests Telstra over Next G Message-ID: <4781F834.4070707@hunterlink.net.au> This strikes close to home: I live in a rural (though not very remote) area and own an LG 550. The 550 was pushed quite heavily in rural areas in the early months of NextG. I've found that, sometimes - in places where CDMA worked fine, voice quality is useless though the display indicates a usable signal. If there's now a phone available that meets Telstra's promise, then anyone who was sold one that doesn't (like the 550) should be offered an exchange. >From . . . ON HIS property near Walgett, Angus Church used to get decent reception from his hand-held CDMA phone. But Telstra is determined to switch off the CDMA network on January 28 and to replace it with Next G. For Mr Church, the transition has not been happy. The LG 550 phone Telstra sold the farmer when he switched to Next G works only when plugged into a cumbersome and expensive car kit with large vehicle-mounted antenna. And as soon as he steps away from his truck, it's useless. "Unless you have got a car kit you don't get anything with Next G," Mr Church said. "They say it's the same, if not better [than CDMA]. That's a complete lie." Telstra advertised that the Next G network was "everywhere you need it", but in the bush - where farmers rely on mobiles for safety and commerce - a host of customers say nothing could be further from the truth. . . . At Peak Hill, the farmer and bushfire brigade group captain Peter Cannon switched to Next G and got an LG 550. He was out in the paddock recently when there was a haystack fire and could not be reached on his mobile, as he previously could with CDMA. "If we can't make phone calls, how is Telstra going to make any money?" Mr Cannon said. "[Next G] is just not equivalent to CDMA." Near Wentworth, Ian Murdoch believes the G in Next G stands for "generally doesn't work". The farmer was also sold an LG 550 because "that was supposedly the best one for here". Despite flat terrain and being close to Mildura and several phone towers, Mr Murdoch said his mobile coverage had fallen from 90 per cent with CDMA to less than 50 per cent with Next G. Telstra says Next G covers 25 per cent more area and boasts 75 per cent more transmission sites. It started Next G in October 2006 and encouraged country people on CDMA to swap. In July it introduced the "blue tick" system that identified phones suitable for marginal reception areas, such as the LG 550. But in August, the farm research body Kondinin Group said its testing showed that it was only with the addition of an external antenna that the Next G handsets then available could match the reception of CDMA handsets. It was only in November that Telstra introduced the top-line Country Phone, the first Next G mobile to boast the same small pull-out antenna some CDMA phones have to greatly improve reception in marginal areas. . . . The National Farmers Federation told Telstra last month the switch-off should be delayed because the equipment needed by farmers to properly use Next G, such as the Country Phone, had only just become available. Jock Laurie, the president of the NSW Farmers Association, has been travelling with a CDMA phone and Next G handsets monitoring service and "it's really a mixed bag" - some areas had better Next G reception, some better CDMA. He stressed Telstra was working hard to get things right and "there's a lot of examples where they have fixed problems". But Alan Brown, the vice-president of the association, wrote in this week's edition of the rural newspaper The Land that "Telstra has lost the confidence of customers who believed the blue tick campaign and have since been greatly disappointed". Tony Windsor, the independent MP for New England, spent time with Telstra testing CDMA and Next G phones. "The signal from the towers was roughly equivalent, but the capacity of the handsets to pick up the signal was far from equivalent," he said. "Telstra has sold equipment that's not fit for purpose." . . . From ivan at itrundle.com Tue Jan 8 08:47:15 2008 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Tue Jan 8 08:47:28 2008 Subject: [LINK] Online data security and bank accounts Message-ID: I've been trying to tell people this for years, but nonetheless, it takes Jeremy Clarkson (of Top Gear fame) to discover that bank account security is not a trivial matter: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm ...though ?500 is a trivial amount for Mr Clarkson, I'm sure that Diabetes UK is very happy (for now*), and I gather that forged direct debits can be reversed, though not easily traced in the UK (contrary to the report, it IS possible to obtain evidence, since a crime was committed). The fraudster would have made a bigger point by transferring money into Greenpeace, or Friends of the Earth. However, some believe that it was a Direct Debit form on the Diabetes UK website that was used to make the transaction. If nothing else, this highlights the fact that security of banking details IS important, and that direct debits can be a problem. As for security with signatures needed etc, it only takes a few minutes of Googling to get Clarkson's signature... and if you need his mother's maiden name, it's on Wikipedia... * ...but possibly not when it is discovered that their online forms allow transactions of this nature to take place unauthorised. -- Ivan Trundle http://itrundle.com ivan@itrundle.com ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742 skype: callto://ivanovitchk From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Tue Jan 8 08:47:46 2008 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Tue Jan 8 08:49:18 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank Message-ID: <47829E02.3080706@optusnet.com.au> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people's personal details on two computer discs. He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing. ... Clarkson now says of the case: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy." From dassa at dhs.org Tue Jan 8 09:11:56 2008 From: dassa at dhs.org (Darryl (Dassa) Lynch) Date: Tue Jan 8 09:12:12 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank In-Reply-To: <47829E02.3080706@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <200801072212.m07MC1ht020015@relay01.ispone.net.au> link-bounces@anumail0.anu.edu.au wrote: || http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm || || The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after || rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people's || personal details on two computer discs. || || He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing. As someone who has had to publish account details so clients could make payments, my take on this is to only put up details of accounts that require additional signitures to withdraw and not to publish the details of those who are associated with the accounts. Darryl (Dassa) Lynch From link at todd.inoz.com Tue Jan 8 08:44:02 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Tue Jan 8 09:13:07 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> Message-ID: <200801072212.m07MCom3009909@ah.net> At 08:36 PM 7/01/2008, David Boxall wrote: >The washing machine of the future may not only wash garments >according to the instructions on the clothes but secretly collect >information for telemarketers, political parties and anybody else >with an interest in people's dirty linen. I guess my dirty laundry will confuse them (giggle) We hand down the oldest boys clothes to #2 child (boy) and #3 child (Girl) often wears them too, and so does #4 (girl) Kittenor will have a giggle about the rest of the laundry! (giggle) From link at todd.inoz.com Tue Jan 8 08:56:27 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Tue Jan 8 09:13:17 2008 Subject: [LINK] Bush tests Telstra over Next G In-Reply-To: <4781F834.4070707@hunterlink.net.au> References: <4781F834.4070707@hunterlink.net.au> Message-ID: <200801072212.m07MCom5009909@ah.net> At 09:00 PM 7/01/2008, David Boxall wrote: >This strikes close to home: I live in a rural (though not very >remote) area and own an LG 550. The 550 was pushed quite heavily in >rural areas in the early months of NextG. I've found that, >sometimes - in places where CDMA worked fine, voice quality is >useless though the display indicates a usable signal. David, in traveling all over the place the last few months, I've found that NextG has it's moments. Although we can retain a perm online Broadband Internet connection nearly EVERYWHERE we go (a few 45 sec black sports in the Mitchell Highway and a few long ones on the Bruxner) we oten have ZERO voice call capability at all. It's a very weird feeling being trapped at the bottom of a gully with flood waters all around you, being able to broadband you way around the world sitting on the bonnet of a 4WD, but not being able to call anyone cause yuo can't get a voice service. >If there's now a phone available that meets Telstra's promise, then >anyone who was sold one that doesn't (like the 550) should be >offered an exchange. > > From >. . . >ON HIS property near Walgett, Angus Church used to get decent >reception from his hand-held CDMA phone. > >But Telstra is determined to switch off the CDMA network on January >28 and to replace it with Next G. For Mr Church, the transition has >not been happy. > >The LG 550 phone Telstra sold the farmer when he switched to Next G >works only when plugged into a cumbersome and expensive car kit with >large vehicle-mounted antenna. And as soon as he steps away from his >truck, it's useless. > >"Unless you have got a car kit you don't get anything with Next G," >Mr Church said. "They say it's the same, if not better [than CDMA]. >That's a complete lie." I guess I can't comment on Farmers use on properties. I guess there will be black spots where no one lives and there is no known residential coverage. But one experience on the Bruxner Highway was interesting. We pulled into a tiny town of about 40 people. Asked about mobile coverage - they said there is none unless you have CDMA. SO they are about to really suffer. However, 10 km's up the road, take a left onto a fire trail and drive for 1 km and you have Next G in the middle of nowhere at full strength. Driving around mapping signal strength for a bit of fun (and 4WD time!) was interesting. Google Earth showed me that there was NO ONE residential or business in the area, in fact most of the coverage was pure bushland uninhabited and near impossible to get to even with a 4WD. >Telstra advertised that the Next G network was "everywhere you need >it", but in the bush - where farmers rely on mobiles for safety and >commerce - a host of customers say nothing could be further from the truth. Maybe the Bush needs to go back to FREE communications - UHF and HF 2 way radio. I just fail to see how milliwatt mobiles are useful as a safety tool in places as large as some of these rural properties. They'd need their own CELL tower to even start to provide a cover. >At Peak Hill, the farmer and bushfire brigade group captain Peter >Cannon switched to Next G and got an LG 550. He was out in the >paddock recently when there was a haystack fire and could not be >reached on his mobile, as he previously could with CDMA. > >"If we can't make phone calls, how is Telstra going to make any >money?" Mr Cannon said. "[Next G] is just not equivalent to CDMA." Hehehe, I like that opening line! But Telstra makes it money from handset service packs, the phone calls are just a cash flow. >Near Wentworth, Ian Murdoch believes the G in Next G stands for >"generally doesn't work". The farmer was also sold an LG 550 because >"that was supposedly the best one for here". TO be honest, every mobile phone sellers I've spoken to honestly said avoid the LG mobiles. Telstra shops seem to push them because they have a huge buy/sell margin for the retailer, but any of the independent phone ships seem to really steer you away form the LG phones. Maybe this is a Telstra Quasi-Monopoly deal with LG to push a product in massive volumes of manufacture. Wouldn't surprise me if Telstra did a "LG you make 250,000 of these at a good price cause we've got 250,000 people about to loose their service" kinda deal. >Despite flat terrain and being close to Mildura and several phone >towers, Mr Murdoch said his mobile coverage had fallen from 90 per >cent with CDMA to less than 50 per cent with Next G. Ahhh, the antenna sig strength doesn't define the quality of service with 3G networks. Only "no signal" will define the service. I've had 1Mbps connections to the Intenet on 1 Bar signal, and yet in places where I have full signal only get around 300 kbps. >Telstra says Next G covers 25 per cent more area and boasts 75 per >cent more transmission sites. It started Next G in October 2006 and >encouraged country people on CDMA to swap. In July it introduced the >"blue tick" system that identified phones suitable for marginal >reception areas, such as the LG 550. But in August, the farm >research body Kondinin Group said its testing showed that it was >only with the addition of an external antenna that the Next G >handsets then available could match the reception of CDMA handsets. >It was only in November that Telstra introduced the top-line Country >Phone, the first Next G mobile to boast the same small pull-out >antenna some CDMA phones have to greatly improve reception in marginal areas. I've got these stick on antennas that you stick to the phone. They are passive of course, but they make a dramatic difference to reception. Sometimes. From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 8 09:25:44 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 8 09:26:14 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank In-Reply-To: <47829E02.3080706@optusnet.com.au> References: <47829E02.3080706@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <4782A6E8.3030004@iimetro.com.au> Two questions: 1. Why is this article entitled a "prank" 2. Why does the BBC URL put it in their entertainment section? The article itself says this is a serious issue. Brendan Scott wrote: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm > > The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people's personal details on two computer discs. > > He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing. > > ... > > Clarkson now says of the case: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy." > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Tue Jan 8 09:45:10 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Tue Jan 8 09:45:52 2008 Subject: Reverse Gear [Was [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank] Message-ID: [This report appeared in the BBC's Entertainment section. It's very much to be hoped that more thoughtful ones will appear under Business and under Technology. Comments at end.] Clarkson stung after bank prank BBC News Monday, 7 January 2008, 11:56 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has lost money after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column. The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people's personal details on two computer discs. He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing. But Clarkson admitted he was "wrong" after he discovered a reader had used the details to create a ?500 direct debit to the charity Diabetes UK. Clarkson published details of his Barclays account in the Sun newspaper, including his account number and sort code. He even told people how to find out his address. "All you'll be able to do with them is put money into my account. Not take it out. Honestly, I've never known such a palaver about nothing," he told readers. But he was proved wrong, as the 47-year-old wrote in his Sunday Times column. "I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes ?500 from my account," he said. "The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again. "I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake." Police were called in to search for the two discs, which contained the entire database of child benefit claimants and apparently got lost in the post in October 2007. They were posted from HM Revenue and Customs offices in Tyne and Wear, but never turned up at their destination - the National Audit Office. The loss, which led to an apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, created fears of identity fraud. Clarkson now says of the case: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy." [COMMENTS: 1. "The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act ..." That's one of the grossest BOTPAs of all time: http://www.privacy.org.au/Resources/BOTPA.html It's entirely false of course. Does a statute have standing to sue for defamation? 2. "The bank ... cannot stop it from happening again" 2A. Implied: "The bank couldn't have stopped it from happening" Unmitigated rubbish. Before exercising a payment instruction that it receives, a bank requires provision of some kind of authenticator. Clarkson should ask his bank on what basis it determined that the direct debit instruction was requested or authorised by the customer (or by an approved agent for the customer). There are then several possibilities, including: - masquerade (e.g. forged signature) - inadequate care by the customer (e.g. allowing capture of a PIN or password to be observed, or writing it down, or giving it to someone else, or giving it to someone else for one transaction and forgetting that it would enable more than one) - error by the bank - inadequate procedures by the bank Clarkson has demonstrated himself many times to be an entertaining idiot, so customer culpability can't be ruled out. But the facts as reported don't support it, because there are many circumstances in which bank account details need to be published (e.g. they're on every invoice my company ever sends out). So publication of them in a column doesn't even come close to being contributory negligence. In short, the bank needs to be named, and pursued with vigour. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From stil at stilgherrian.com Tue Jan 8 09:47:44 2008 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Tue Jan 8 09:48:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank In-Reply-To: <200801072212.m07MC1ht020015@relay01.ispone.net.au> Message-ID: On 8/1/08 9:11 AM, "Darryl (Dassa) Lynch" wrote: > As someone who has had to publish account details so clients could make > payments, my take on this is to only put up details of accounts that require > additional signitures to withdraw and not to publish the details of those > who are associated with the accounts. Mayhaps. But if you have a business bank account and business banking online, you can withdraw money from anyone's account without a signature. You just upload a spreadsheet with account numbers and amounts, and bingo! This is how it works if a business is authorised to make direct debits from your accounts, e.g. your ISP each month, or rent to your landlord. Of course in theory you're meant to have the account-holder's permission and they're meant to have signed something, but we *are* talking about fraudulent usage, are we not? Sure, the trail soon leads back to the culprit, but that's what The Big Bad Guys use gullible cut-outs who've responded to too-good-to-be-true offers in spam. Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Tue Jan 8 10:07:37 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Tue Jan 8 10:07:54 2008 Subject: [LINK] Ars-End Message-ID: [While I'm in grizzle mode, here's one for the other RC's collection] >http://66.225.202.210/news.ars/post/20080106-despite-problems-consumers-choosing-vista-over-xp.html > ... consumers apparently choose Vista over XP by a 7:1 margin. ... That's the kind of reporting that causes me to abandon an information-source. The reporter uses an all-purpose qualifier ("apparently") to qualify a strong verb ("choose"), in order to convey what now seems like information. Rubbish. Few people "choose" an OS. They buy a computer. They put up with whatever OS comes with it. Which OS comes with it is determined by forces that they see as being outside their control. (At the individual level, 'they' are right. If consumers had as much intelligence as a swarm of insects, 'they' would be wrong). The subbie let the article through, including that and other inadequacies. The editor condones a form of reporting that belongs in Murdoch trash. And people like me hereafter treat Ars Technica as a lost cause. Please feel free to re-post. By all means cc. Ars; but wide distribution is what a media organisation listens to, not directly-addressed feedback. Feel free to include my .sig. But make sure that it's clear that I used to regard Ars as a substantial cut above what they've come down to. And that I couldn't actually care all that much what the relative sale-rates of old and new versions of MS OS are; I'm much more concerned about focusing my limited attention span on sources that don't resort to devices like that. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Tue Jan 8 12:16:35 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Tue Jan 8 13:16:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Broadcaster Bailout Boosts Bush Broadband Message-ID: <20080108021637.BC5EDBC6A@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Yesterday AUSTAR announced it would sell 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum to the Optus/ Elders OPEL venture for their WiMAX network in regional Australia . As I mentioned in a series of talks on broadband in regional Australia last September, the lack of dedicated spectrum was a flaw in the original Opel plan, which the Austar deal now largely solves . AUSTAR originally purchased the spectrum for Pay TV. Opel's WiMax network would be technically capable of carrying Pay TV, but there is no mention of it in the announcement and Optus provide a rival Pay TV service. There may be a need for the government to legislate to require open access for Pay TV on the WiMax system. The ALP's broadband policy did not specifically mention WiMax and during the election campaign they criticized its coverage. However, it is likely the new ALP government will include it in the plans and it would provide a lower cost way to provide services outside the range of ADSL. Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU From matthew at sorbs.net Tue Jan 8 13:36:33 2008 From: matthew at sorbs.net (matthew@sorbs.net) Date: Tue Jan 8 13:37:12 2008 Subject: Reverse Gear [Was [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank] Message-ID: <308f496a.496a308f@sorbs.net> ----- Original Message ----- From: Roger Clarke Date: Tuesday, January 8, 2008 9:45 am Subject: Reverse Gear [Was [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank] > Before exercising a payment instruction that it receives, a bank > requires provision of some kind of authenticator. > > Clarkson should ask his bank on what basis it determined that the > direct debit instruction was requested or authorised by the > customer (or by an approved agent for the customer). I've used my wifes credit card (without her present in the shop) on more than one occasion and signed 'Mick E Mouse' and never been stopped. > There are then several possibilities, including: > - masquerade (e.g. forged signature) > - inadequate care by the customer (e.g. allowing capture of a PIN > or password to be > observed, or writing it down, or giving it to someone else, or > giving it to someone > else for one transaction and forgetting that it would enable > more than one) > - error by the bank > - inadequate procedures by the bank > > Clarkson has demonstrated himself many times to be an entertaining > idiot, so customer culpability can't be ruled out. But the facts > as > reported don't support it, because there are many circumstances in > which bank account details need to be published (e.g. they're on > every invoice my company ever sends out). So publication of them > in > a column doesn't even come close to being contributory negligence. Having grown up in the UK I do know a bit about this. The UK Direct Debit system is very good for paying bills, but does have a number of issues. For example, I had a telephone service, and to get it paid by direct debit all I needed to do was to sign a form with my name and bank details on it and that was all that was needed to 'authorise' the transaction. Theoretically the form should have been forwarded to the bank for signature check, but it's obvious in some cases it isn't. He will have recourse against the bank just by asking for the authorising signature as the bank is supposed to keep the details. Regards, Mat From link at todd.inoz.com Tue Jan 8 13:34:30 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Tue Jan 8 13:38:50 2008 Subject: Reverse Gear [Was [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank] In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200801080238.m082cYlJ016719@ah.net> Roger, the bank is Barclays :) 5th Paragraph :) At 09:45 AM 8/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >[This report appeared in the BBC's Entertainment >section. It's very much to be hoped that more >thoughtful ones will appear under Business and >under Technology. Comments at end.] > >Clarkson stung after bank prank >BBC News >Monday, 7 January 2008, 11:56 GMT >http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm > >TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has lost money >after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column. > >The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers >after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 >million people's personal details on two computer discs. > >He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing. > >But Clarkson admitted he was "wrong" after he >discovered a reader had used the details to >create a ?500 direct debit to the charity Diabetes UK. > >Clarkson published details of his Barclays >account in the Sun newspaper, including his >account number and sort code. He even told people how to find out his address. > >"All you'll be able to do with them is put money >into my account. Not take it out. Honestly, I've >never known such a palaver about nothing," he told readers. > >But he was proved wrong, as the 47-year-old wrote in his Sunday Times column. >"I opened my bank statement this morning to find >out that someone has set up a direct debit which >automatically takes ?500 from my account," he said. > >"The bank cannot find out who did this because >of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again. > >"I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake." > >Police were called in to search for the two >discs, which contained the entire database of >child benefit claimants and apparently got lost in the post in October 2007. > >They were posted from HM Revenue and Customs >offices in Tyne and Wear, but never turned up at >their destination - the National Audit Office. > >The loss, which led to an apology from Prime >Minister Gordon Brown, created fears of identity fraud. > >Clarkson now says of the case: "Contrary to what >I said at the time, we must go after the idiots >who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in >their eyes until they beg for mercy." > > >[COMMENTS: > >1. "The bank cannot find out who did this >because of the Data Protection Act ..." > >That's one of the grossest BOTPAs of all time: >http://www.privacy.org.au/Resources/BOTPA.html > >It's entirely false of course. Does a statute >have standing to sue for defamation? > >2. "The bank ... cannot stop it from happening again" > >2A. Implied: "The bank couldn't have stopped it from happening" > >Unmitigated rubbish. > >Before exercising a payment instruction that it >receives, a bank requires provision of some kind of authenticator. > >Clarkson should ask his bank on what basis it >determined that the direct debit instruction was >requested or authorised by the customer (or by >an approved agent for the customer). > >There are then several possibilities, including: >- masquerade (e.g. forged signature) >- inadequate care by the customer (e.g. >allowing capture of a PIN or password to be > observed, or writing it down, or giving it > to someone else, or giving it to someone > else for one transaction and forgetting > that it would enable more than one) >- error by the bank >- inadequate procedures by the bank > >Clarkson has demonstrated himself many times to >be an entertaining idiot, so customer >culpability can't be ruled out. But the facts >as reported don't support it, because there are >many circumstances in which bank account details >need to be published (e.g. they're on every >invoice my company ever sends out). So >publication of them in a column doesn't even >come close to being contributory negligence. > >In short, the bank needs to be named, and pursued with vigour. > > >-- >Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ > >Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA > Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 >mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ > >Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University >Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong >Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW >_______________________________________________ >Link mailing list >Link@mailman.anu.edu.au >http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link From link at todd.inoz.com Tue Jan 8 13:36:56 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Tue Jan 8 13:38:56 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank In-Reply-To: References: <200801072212.m07MC1ht020015@relay01.ispone.net.au> Message-ID: <200801080238.m082cYlL016719@ah.net> And when people ring you and say "Were from the national australia bank we want your date of birth for security reasons as stated in the Law" and yuo ask what law and they say they can't tell me because of the privacy act and you ask to speak to a supervisor who is about as useful so you ask to speak to a manager and "no one else works here" its about time to hang up :) So watch out for the new scam where they RING you and ask you personal questions, including your bank account number and other details. It would be effortless to record these responses, edit them into a suitable sequence and use them as a "voice proof" or authority to do transactions. Nup, not falling for it! At 09:47 AM 8/01/2008, Stilgherrian wrote: >On 8/1/08 9:11 AM, "Darryl (Dassa) Lynch" wrote: > > As someone who has had to publish account details so clients could make > > payments, my take on this is to only put up details of accounts > that require > > additional signitures to withdraw and not to publish the details of those > > who are associated with the accounts. > >Mayhaps. But if you have a business bank account and business banking >online, you can withdraw money from anyone's account without a signature. >You just upload a spreadsheet with account numbers and amounts, and bingo! > >This is how it works if a business is authorised to make direct debits from >your accounts, e.g. your ISP each month, or rent to your landlord. > >Of course in theory you're meant to have the account-holder's permission and >they're meant to have signed something, but we *are* talking about >fraudulent usage, are we not? Sure, the trail soon leads back to the >culprit, but that's what The Big Bad Guys use gullible cut-outs who've >responded to too-good-to-be-true offers in spam. > >Stil > > >-- >Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ >Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia >mobile +61 407 623 600 >fax +61 2 9516 5630 >ABN 25 231 641 421 > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Link mailing list >Link@mailman.anu.edu.au >http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Tue Jan 8 13:41:45 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Tue Jan 8 13:42:11 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Aust to Require Mandatory ISP Filtering ... Message-ID: [It's valuable to get a reaction from outside our own domain. *Especially* when it's prettymuch what we've all been saying (:-)} ] Australia to Require Mandatory ISP Filtering of "Inappropriate" Content http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000352.html Greetings. Can excessive ultraviolet light exposure cause brain damage to politicians? One might think so after reviewing the Australian government's plan to require ISPs to perform Chinese-style blocking of Internet sites that the government considers to be "inappropriate" for children -- based on a government blacklist http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22989956-15306,00.html Down in the merry old land of Oz, this mandatory blocking would apply by default to all home and school Internet subscribers. ISPs would have to be contacted individually by users who wished to obtain an unblocked feed by being added to an opt-out list (which I suspect would rapidly become known as the "pervert list" by the Australian overlords of Internet decency). I won't insult your intelligence by listing here the myriad reasons -- you know them as well as I do -- why such a plan is doomed to failure (but I will note that even the so-called "Great Firewall of China" Internet blocking infrastructure leaks like a sieve -- and that's in an environment where penalties can be very harsh indeed). Obviously, what we're actually looking at in the Australian case is political grandstanding of the most base sort. To make censored feeds available upon request is one thing, but to make censorship the default and then require persons to specifically identify themselves to opt-out is turning the concept of freedom of communications on its head. Speaking of heads, it wouldn't hurt the politicians down under to stay out of the summer sun, or at least wear hats more often. Fried brains are not conducive to the creation of sensible Internet (or any other) policies. And since the inane COPA and similar Internet censorship laws are still bouncing around the courts here in the U.S., the same prescription might well apply to our own politicians as well. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com _______________________________________________ privacy mailing list http://lists.vortex.com/mailman/listinfo/privacy -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Tue Jan 8 13:49:09 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Tue Jan 8 13:53:29 2008 Subject: Reverse Gear [Was [LINK] Clarkson stung after bank prank] In-Reply-To: <200801080238.m082cYlJ016719@ah.net> References: <200801080238.m082cYlJ016719@ah.net> Message-ID: At 13:34 +1100 8/1/08, Adam Todd wrote: >Roger, the bank is Barclays :) >5th Paragraph :) Old advocate (and consultant) trick. Be vague, in order to ... Avoid being seen to skewer a specific organisation. Succeed in skewering a class of organisations. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From link at todd.inoz.com Tue Jan 8 17:58:12 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Tue Jan 8 18:00:17 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Aust to Require Mandatory ISP Filtering ... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200801080659.m086xgIM022052@ah.net> At 01:41 PM 8/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >[It's valuable to get a reaction from outside our own domain. >*Especially* when it's prettymuch what we've all been saying (:-)} ] > >Australia to Require Mandatory ISP Filtering of "Inappropriate" Content > > http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000352.html > > >Greetings. Can excessive ultraviolet light exposure cause brain >damage to politicians? One might think so after reviewing the >Australian government's plan to require ISPs to perform >Chinese-style blocking of Internet sites that the government >considers to be "inappropriate" for children -- based on a >government blacklist Isn't the blacklist like Top Secret For the PM's eyes only? Cause EFA has been trying to get it for years and failed endlessly cause it's "too pornographic" for EFA to have! From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 8 22:48:33 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 8 22:48:53 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? Message-ID: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> As technology based systems become more complex, CS students seem to becoming less widely educated, are focussed on the internet and less able to understand the complexity of modern systems. And I bet very few of them can even spell OLTP, let alone know what it means - and I am not referring to what the letters stand for. And just think, Bill Gates was raised on BASIC, and look at what he has left the world. Computer Science Education: Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? Crosstalk, the Journal of Defense Software Engineering http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/2008/01/0801DewarSchonberg.html Dr. Robert B.K. Dewar, AdaCore Inc. Dr. Edmond Schonberg, AdaCore Inc. It is our view that Computer Science (CS) education is neglecting basic skills, in particular in the areas of programming and formal methods. We consider that the general adoption of Java as a first programming language is in part responsible for this decline. We examine briefly the set of programming skills that should be part of every software professional?s repertoire. .... -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Jan 9 08:37:29 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Jan 9 08:37:59 2008 Subject: [LINK] SMH: 'Singapore libel case a test of Murdoch's bona fides' Message-ID: Singapore libel case a test of Murdoch's bona fides The Sydney Morning Herald January 7, 2008 http://business.smh.com.au/singapore-libel-case-a-test-of-murdochs-bona-fides/20080106-1kg3.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2 Dow Jones brought some unwanted baggage with it, Eric Ellis reports. THE TIMES asked readers recently "Is libel dead?" The number of defamation writs issued in British courts last year was about an eighth of the 457 writs 10 years earlier. The downward trends are similar in other Western jurisdictions such as Australia and North America, suggesting those who willingly stand in the public eye are becoming thicker-skinned in withstanding the decade's avalanche of media forms. Or perhaps the media are more careful about who they traduce, and how. But one place where libel remains a legal growth industry is in a tiny country desperate to become part of the developed world: among the sensitive political and business petals of Singapore. As Rupert Murdoch is himself finding out. That is because of a long-running case concerning Singapore's premier political family, the Lees; a case Murdoch's News Corporation inherited via its recently completed $US6 billion ($6.8 billion) purchase of Dow Jones. Lee family members include, of course, Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew and his son, the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong. The Lees have a long history of libel stoushes with foreign media, battles they have never lost when heard in Singapore's own courts, which grants them damages payouts that set world records. The (pre-Murdoch) Asian Wall Street Journal, Time, The International Herald Tribune, Businessweek, Bloomberg and the Financial Times are among other international names respected for their accuracy and authority that have been hit with the Lees' libel broadsides. And lost. The Lees have used similar tactics in seeking to silence political opponents. Remarks that might be regarded as just part of the rough-and-tumble of competitive political or business culture in Australia often head to the libel courts when aired in Singapore. However, it is one-way traffic. Opponents have never won an action against the Lees. Singapore is in effect a one-party state, and that party is the Lee party. Such is the presumption of a libel loss that most media companies now do not even take the fight to trial, instead promptly settling. They know that history says they will not win, and management usually decides that a quick settlement limits expensive legal bills - and possible even higher damages when Lee lawyers insist mid-trial that publicly heard evidence has further harmed sensitive reputations, which prevents airing of issues that may be germane to the case. It is not just the media. In 2001 what seemed to many bankers to be a normal tactical paper was prepared by Goldman Sachs on behalf of its local client DBS Bank. Goldman-DBS criticised the merits of a rival bid for a bank DBS was seeking to take over. Target and rival were miffed, complaining to the central bank, and each board soon pocketed $US1 million in damages from DBS, which did not get the deal. But the case Murdoch has inherited is different. It stems from a profile of the Singapore opposition figure Chee Soon Juan published in the Dow Jones-owned monthly The Far Eastern Economic Review in July 2006. In it Chee criticises the Government's handling of a local charity scandal. But Lees's lawyers saw a reputational attack and sued the Review on behalf of Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong. But on this occasion the magazine refused to roll over and settle. Much to Singaporean annoyance, the offending article remains posted on the Review website (alongside a link to human rights press awards). There are front-page pointers to all legal exchanges on the matter and an editor's letter explaining why the Review is taking the battle to the Lees. The Review's arguments are mostly about transparency and the rule of law, the very principles on which Singapore prides itself but many say does not practise with quite the gusto it claims. It is a case that poses particular issues for all protagonists. It will be the first time News and the Lees have crossed swords in a libel matter, which has become a perverse kind of rite of passage for other international media proprietors. The Lees have been the dominant political family in Singapore since the 1950s, about the same time Murdoch has been in charge of News Corp. Both have helped build institutions about the same size; News Corp's market worth approaches $US100 billion, Singapore's GDP a bit bigger. Both are expert at projecting power, and neither brook any challenge to their authority. The Review had argued, pre-Murdoch, that since it did not have an office or staff in Singapore, it should not be subject to Singapore law. It wanted the matter heard in Hong Kong, where it is based, and where it feels it would get a fairer hearing. The Lees have never won a case outside Singapore. In a letter to Singapore's Information Ministry, which has sought a bond from the Review in lieu of presumed damages and Singaporean jurisdiction over the Review, Dow Jones's lawyers argue "its imposition on the Review, merely for the sake of making it easier for senior ministers of the Singapore Government to recover personal damages in a libel action, would be deeply regretted by all who care for the rule of law in your country. "It is an exorbitant and unlawful demand that even totalitarian states have never sought to impose on media." And that is the way the matter has largely stayed since mid-2006, largely an exchange of testy lawyers' letters as Singapore throws out the Review's effort to end the action in Singapore. But then came Murdoch's successful bid for Dow Jones last year. The management that previously backed the Review's feistier approach to Singapore no longer runs the company, after Murdoch put in a new team. The status of the case is unclear. Outwardly, it seems as if nothing has changed, and a Murdoch-owned the Review is still taking on the Singaporeans. The articles and letters remain posted at the Review.com and the Review editors say it is still live, referring the matter to Dow Jones lawyers, who do not respond. The matter is pregnant with the notion of what constitutes credibility - Singapore's own sense of it and News's in the court of public opinion after the reputational shellacking it received en route to the Dow Jones win. Singapore's legal system is also under scrutiny. The US embassy in Singapore has frequently expressed concern about "the ruling party's use of the court system to intimidate political opponents". The Australian lawyer Stuart Littlemore, who has observed Singapore libel cases for the International Commission of Jurists, says "the Singapore leadership has a long-standing record of using the High Court as a mechanism for silencing its opponents - by suing them for statements that, in any comparable jurisdiction, would be seen as part of a robust political debate inseparable from democratic freedoms, and by being awarded such unconscionably high damages and costs as to bankrupt the defendants, forcing them out of parliament". Credibility was at the heart of the Murdoch bid for Dow Jones. There were numerous critics of his Dow Jones tilt - notably in its own newsrooms, and including some members of the publisher's controlling Bancroft family (which quickly put aside its gripes in accepting News's generous offer). The critics said Murdoch and News had insufficient credibility to be custodians of venerable media assets like The Wall Street Journal and The Far Eastern Economic Review. News Corporation prevailed after a searing battle in which Murdoch's personal and corporate reputation was assailed, almost to the point of him pulling out. Murdoch himself said bitterly that he was treated like a "genocidal tyrant". A significant aspect of the appeal of Dow Jones to Murdoch is its under-played assets in booming Asia, a region where Singapore interests are hugely influential, both politically and commercially, and where Murdoch thinks he can add much value absorbing Dow Jones into the rest of the News empire. But just as Murdoch has been cited as providing the type of media Asia does not want, notably by China, wealthy Singapore is often cited as a regional development model, particularly in effective one-party states like China and through Central Asia. It is an important, if sometimes self-serving, voice in the so-called Asian Values debate. Unlike many of his competitors, Murdoch's titles have never experienced a Singapore libel action. The city-state has rather been seen by News as a place to raise money and do business - notably in 2001 when Murdoch briefly entered a joint venture with Singapore's state-owned telecom (then run by a son of Lee Kuan Yew) in an unsuccessful bid for Hong Kong's leading telecom. But with this libel headache now on Murdoch's desk, Singapore faces a media company run by a dominant individual who is an archly pragmatic dealmaker when it suits him. That could mean wiggle room for legal negotiation except that, with libel, the Lees famously are not much for turning. Absolute victory is their goal. It will be fascinating to see how the battle plays out, mindful of the messages it could send around a democratising region where state control of media is evolving and where libel clearly is not yet dead. Eric Ellis is South-East Asian Correspondent for Fortune Magazine. [Declaration: I was an expert witness called by the solicitors for Dow Jones in the Gutnick defamation case, and the spectre of Singapore was part of the argument: http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/II/Gutnick.html -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Jan 9 08:51:59 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Jan 9 08:52:20 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas Message-ID: Woody Allen, Google, and Internet Censorship http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000353.html Greetings. Yesterday I briefly discussed the government's inane plan in Australia for mandatory ISP blocking of material considered "inappropriate" for children ( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000352.html ), to be enforced on all home and school customers unless they opt-out with their ISP ("raise your hand if you want the filthy, disgusting porn feed!"). As I've previously suggested, if customers wish to voluntarily sign-up to use blocking software (which typically allows for some degree of customization), or subscribe to an Internet feed supposedly "sanitized" via a government purity list (doomed to be unsuccessful, but more on that later) that's a valid choice, but forcing subscribers to opt-out is a reversal of a basic freedom of speech principle and cannot be condoned. I'm reminded of a scene in Woody Allen's 1971 film "Bananas" -- where he's subjected to a very loud and embarrassing price check while attempting to nonchalantly buy an "adult" magazine (praise be to YouTube, here's the scene itself -- at least for now ...): http://youtube.com/watch?v=JgOxqwVd5Z8 But beyond this aspect, the practical ramifications of such blocking are staggering, even apart from the fact that kids will be the very first to find the virtually infinite ways around such attempts at prohibition. What would the government block? Photos? Movies? Texts? Hardcore porn? "Suggestive" material? And speaking of YouTube, will Australia attempt to block that entire site? There's plenty of "naughty" stuff on YouTube, with more pouring in all the time, much of it uncategorized in any way that would simplify the blocking process. Or perhaps Australia will simply choose to place the entire operations of Google on their default block list. After all, search engines are a veritable cornucopia of "inappropriate" material that can be located with great ease. Google's cache will usually give access to the text portions of sites even if those sites are directly blocked to customers. And what of Google Images? Without even changing any settings from their defaults, Google Images can provide virtually endless photos and drawings (albeit somewhat small) that the Australian government would no doubt consider to be "inappropriate" or worse. And this brings us to the crux of the matter. Google and other search engines cannot be reasonably expected to be the arbiters of such materials in furtherance of censorship, and even when they're pressured into bed with government censors as the cost of access, the associated blocking will be pitifully ineffective, while still managing to do significant collateral damage to personal freedoms and privacy principles of the most fundamental order. In the long run, attempts to "effectively" forbid access to a set of Internet sites and/or to censor the contents of search engines, are likely to lead toward defining not those sites that are blocked, but rather a relatively small set of constrained sites that are the only ones *permitted*. In essence, all that is not explicitly authorized becomes forbidden. This is not a recent phenomenon of course. Such control has been the dream of totalitarian regimes and rulers since the invention of the printing press, and earlier. In the modern age, even when veneered with privacy-invasive "opt-out" provisions, we're seeing the same old dark specter of government control combined with shameless pandering to the most emotional fears of the populace, with the technical realities of the situation purposely marginalized or completely ignored. Luckily for us all, the Internet is a much more powerful tool for freedom of speech than the would-be dictators of decency can possibly realize. But the damage that can be done simply through attempts to choke the Net is still very real, and the risks of these efforts disrupting the delicate balance that keeps many societies free are omnipresent. The resulting negative impacts for everyone could be far worse than embarrassment from buying a magazine, of that much we can be sure. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com _______________________________________________ privacy mailing list http://lists.vortex.com/mailman/listinfo/privacy -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 9 08:56:08 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 9 09:02:29 2008 Subject: [LINK] SMH: 'Singapore libel case a test of Murdoch's bona fides' In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6hhft4$ib5pp@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 08:37 AM 9/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >The status of the case is unclear. Outwardly, it seems as if nothing >has changed, and a Murdoch-owned the Review is still taking on the >Singaporeans. The articles and letters remain posted at the >Review.com and the Review editors say it is still live, referring >the matter to Dow Jones lawyers, who do not respond. Could be they are looking for the wrong magazine. I tried that link and got a Princeton University publication. The editor at Princeton is probably scratching his head an wondering why he's being approached. The REAL URL is: http://www.feer.com/ Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Wed Jan 9 09:01:24 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 9 09:07:28 2008 Subject: [LINK] Chinese 'control' of the internet Message-ID: <6hhft4$ib7og@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> An article in the Far Eastern Economic Review caught my attention. It's about internet censorship in China: http://www.feer.com/articles1/2007/0712/free/p018.html?Pulling_the_Strings_of_China%E2%80%99s_Internet Pulling the Strings of China's Internet December 2007 by David Bandurski When some of the world's top technology companies, including Yahoo!, Intel, Nokia and Ericsson, formed the Beijing Association of Online Media three years ago, the group seemed to be a typical trade association, sponsoring social activities and facilitating networking. Even when its activities widened last year to include "self-policing" the Internet, it seemed to be benign, targeting content that "contradicts social morality and Chinese traditional virtues," i.e. pornography. The message was that the companies were providing a public service in spaces used by Chinese teens, not helping the government maintain political control. Yet today it is clear that BAOM has become an active agent of the Chinese government's initiatives to stifle discussion of political issues. The group's slide into censorship shows how easily Beijing can co-opt Western firms into this effort. And BAOM is becoming a model in a new push to tighten control over Internet speech. [snip] Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 9 10:49:07 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 9 10:52:32 2008 Subject: [LINK] electronic voting machines story Message-ID: <6hhft4$icr67@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> > >Can You Count on Voting Machines? > > > >By CLIVE THOMPSON, The New York Times Magazine, January 6, 2008 > >Jane Platten gestured, bleary-eyed, into the >secure room filled with voting machines. It was >3 a.m. on Nov. 7, and she had been working for >22 hours straight. "I guess we've seen how >technology can affect an election," she said. >The electronic voting machines in Cleveland were causing trouble again. > >For a while, it had looked as if things would go >smoothly for the Board of Elections office in >Cuyahoga County, Ohio. About 200,000 voters had >trooped out on the first Tuesday in November for >the lightly attended local elections, tapping >their choices onto the county's 5,729 >touch-screen voting machines. The elections >staff had collected electronic copies of the >votes on memory cards and taken them to the main >office, where dozens of workers inside a secure, >glass-encased room fed them into the "GEMS >server," a gleaming silver Dell desktop computer that tallies the votes. > >Then at 10 p.m., the server suddenly froze up >and stopped counting votes. Cuyahoga County >technicians clustered around the computer, >debating what to do. A young, business-suited >employee from Diebold?the company that makes the >voting machines used in Cuyahoga?peered into the >screen and pecked at the keyboard. No one could >figure out what was wrong. So, like anyone faced >with a misbehaving computer, they simply turned >it off and on again. Voil?: It started >working?until an hour later, when it crashed a >second time. Again, they rebooted. By the wee >hours, the server mystery still hadn't been solved. > >Worse was yet to come. When the votes were >finally tallied the next day, 10 races were so >close that they needed to be recounted. But when >Platten went to retrieve paper copies of each >vote?generated by the Diebold machines as they >worked?she discovered that so many printers had >jammed that 20 percent of the machines involved >in the recounted races lacked paper copies of >some of the votes. They weren't lost, >technically speaking; Platten could hit "print" >and a machine would generate a replacement copy. >But she had no way of proving that these >replacements were, indeed, what the voters had >voted. She could only hope the machines had worked correctly. > >Click here to keep reading: > >http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazine/06Vote-t.html >Then sign our urgent petition for paper ballots >before the November election. Just click here to add your name: > >http://pol.moveon.org/paper2008/o.pl?id=11874-6195608-Bjsowx&t=5 > >Sources: >1. "Can You Count on Voting Machines?," The New >York Times Magazine, January 6, 2008 >http://www.nytimes.com/magazine/ > >2. "Rep. Holt To Offer New Election Reform >Proposal," National Journal Tech Daily, December 10, 2007 >http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3310&id=&id=11874-6195608-Bjsowx&t=6 > >3. "Can You Count on Voting Machines?," The New >York Times Magazine, January 6, 2008 >http://www.nytimes.com/magazine/ > >4. "Rep. Rush Holt to Push for Paper Ballots and >Vote Count Audits for 2008," AlterNet, December 27, 2007 >http://www.alternet.org/democracy/71608/ Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From georgebray at gmail.com Wed Jan 9 11:12:41 2008 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Wed Jan 9 11:13:20 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> "If you don't want internet filtering for any reason then you're a pornographer." George Filters needed to battle child porn Bernadette McMenamin | January 08, 2008 IT is beyond belief that some representatives of the Australian internet service provider industry are reluctant to install filters that would prevent access to child pornography. Bernadette McMenamin is the CEO of Child Wise, an Australian-based organisation working to prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. From grove at zeta.org.au Wed Jan 9 11:29:40 2008 From: grove at zeta.org.au (grove@zeta.org.au) Date: Wed Jan 9 11:29:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] electronic voting machines story In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$icr67@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$icr67@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: On Wed, 9 Jan 2008, Jan Whitaker wrote: >> Can You Count on Voting Machines? Voting, like sex, is best without machines involved. rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia grove@zeta.org.au http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html The price of greatness is responsibility. From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Wed Jan 9 11:39:04 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Wed Jan 9 11:40:14 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> Message-ID: <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 08:36 PM 7/01/2008, David Boxall wrote: >This bears on issues raised on Link in the past. Is it any more >accurate than previous efforts? > From >. . . >... "These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that individuals may >not be given notice that the products they purchase or the objects >they use contain RFID tags and may not be given the choice to remove >or disable RFID tags." ... You could pop the clothes in a microwave oven for a few seconds to destroy the RFID tags. Just make sure you do not have any metal buttons or zips . Perhaps this is a service dry cleaners could offer. ;-) >... Data-matching and data-mining allow information generated by >people doing ordinary things - such as using automatic teller >machines, paying with credit cards, using shopping loyalty cards or >smartcards, writing cheques ... Perhaps it has reached the point where the surveillance is so widespread that there is not point trying to regulate it at source, and it is the use to which the data is put which we need to concentrate on. Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Wed Jan 9 13:51:01 2008 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Wed Jan 9 13:51:39 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> References: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <47843695.1040104@optusnet.com.au> George Bray wrote: > "If you don't want internet filtering for any reason then you're a > pornographer." > > George > > Filters needed to battle child porn > Bernadette McMenamin | January 08, 2008 > > IT is beyond belief that some representatives of the Australian > internet service provider industry are reluctant to install filters > that would prevent access to child pornography. > > > > Bernadette McMenamin is the CEO of Child Wise, an Australian-based > organisation working to prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of > children in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. I'm not following, I thought that the proposal was that anyone could elect to opt out of the filters? If so, this argument doesn't make much sense to me. Brendan From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Wed Jan 9 13:52:14 2008 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Wed Jan 9 13:52:51 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <478436DE.9040809@optusnet.com.au> Tom Worthington wrote: > At 08:36 PM 7/01/2008, David Boxall wrote: >> This bears on issues raised on Link in the past. Is it any more >> accurate than previous efforts? >> From >> . . . >> ... "These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that individuals may >> not be given notice that the products they purchase or the objects >> they use contain RFID tags and may not be given the choice to remove >> or disable RFID tags." ... > > You could pop the clothes in a microwave oven for a few seconds to > destroy the RFID tags. Just make sure you do not have any metal buttons > or zips > . > Perhaps this is a service dry cleaners could offer. ;-) > >> ... Data-matching and data-mining allow information generated by >> people doing ordinary things - such as using automatic teller >> machines, paying with credit cards, using shopping loyalty cards or >> smartcards, writing cheques ... > > Perhaps it has reached the point where the surveillance is so widespread > that there is not point trying to regulate it at source, and it is the > use to which the data is put which we need to concentrate on. Wouldn't it be likely that consumer RFID detectors/destroyers would be manufactured over time? B From peter at ratbags.com Wed Jan 9 14:00:04 2008 From: peter at ratbags.com (Peter Bowditch) Date: Wed Jan 9 14:00:38 2008 Subject: [LINK] Not India for a change Message-ID: <4784D364.5147.57BDEA0@peter.ratbags.com> I just received a telemarketing call on my mobile from some accented person in "North Sydney" trying to sell me cheap telephone calls. There was the usual satellite delay that we all expect when people in North Sydney ring Parramatta. What the idiots forgot to do was block caller ID, and before I answered I wondered who would be calling me from country code +20. (I get the occasional call from the USA, but almost never from anywhere else.) Egypt. At least it wasn't India. Maybe the Indians have started outsourcing, or perhaps they are hiding until the cricket brouhaha is over. -- Peter Bowditch The Millenium Project - http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles Australian Council Against Health Fraud - http://www.acahf.org.au Australian Skeptics - http://www.skeptics.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Jan 9 14:23:59 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Jan 9 14:27:27 2008 Subject: OT!! Re: [LINK] Not India for a change In-Reply-To: <4784D364.5147.57BDEA0@peter.ratbags.com> References: <4784D364.5147.57BDEA0@peter.ratbags.com> Message-ID: At 14:00 +1100 9/1/08, Peter Bowditch wrote: >At least it wasn't India. Maybe the Indians have started outsourcing, or >perhaps they are hiding until the cricket brouhaha is over. Hiding?? That's what they'd like to give *us* right now. Apart from which, they'd have a good chance of finding a lot of respondents would be upset about firstly the performance of the umpires, secondly the behaviour of Australian players, thirdly the arrogance of the Australian captain, and only fourthly the behaviour of one Indian player. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 9 14:23:39 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 9 14:27:37 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <478436DE.9040809@optusnet.com.au> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <478436DE.9040809@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$ifsai@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 01:52 PM 9/01/2008, Brendan Scott wrote: > > Perhaps it has reached the point where the surveillance is so widespread > > that there is not point trying to regulate it at source, and it is the > > use to which the data is put which we need to concentrate on. > >Wouldn't it be likely that consumer RFID detectors/destroyers would >be manufactured over time? I served on the privacy code for retail RFID use last year and before. I've been waiting for nearly 12 MONTHS for the president of the Australian Retailers Association, Michael Lonie, to send me the documentation that requires that data collected at point of purchase may not be data mined. He has yet to provide that information. I've refrained from making this public until now, but this point about extended uses and how the consumer might protect themselves provides a relevancy to share that information. I've copied him and other key members of the panel on this message, perhaps to shame him into meeting his on-going, yet unfulfilled, commitment to show me, in writing, as was said my him multiple times exists. I've been told there is a law, a rule, and the last a 'guideline'. I am yet to see any of that, even the unenforceable guideline. Time to put up or strengthen the code, Michael. The cat is out of the bag. The recently approved code that is under the management of that same Australian Retailers Association can be found at: http://www.ara.com.au/765.html Jan consumer volunteer representing CHOICE on the panel Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From peter at ratbags.com Wed Jan 9 16:04:03 2008 From: peter at ratbags.com (Peter Bowditch) Date: Wed Jan 9 16:04:26 2008 Subject: OT!! Re: [LINK] Not India for a change In-Reply-To: References: <4784D364.5147.57BDEA0@peter.ratbags.com>, Message-ID: <4784F073.32766.5ED62BE@peter.ratbags.com> Roger said: > At 14:00 +1100 9/1/08, Peter Bowditch wrote: > >At least it wasn't India. Maybe the Indians have started outsourcing, > or > >perhaps they are hiding until the cricket brouhaha is over. > > Hiding?? Perhaps I should have said "low profile". > > That's what they'd like to give *us* right now. > > Apart from which, they'd have a good chance of finding a lot of > respondents would be upset about firstly the performance of the > umpires, secondly the behaviour of Australian players, thirdly the > arrogance of the Australian captain, and only fourthly the behaviour > of one Indian player. When it got close to the end of the last test I was hoping for a draw because I could foresee the gloating and the arrogance coming. The only thing worse than a poor loser is a poor winner, and when you get that combined with "I got away with it" it is even harder to like. In the final of the Hopman Cup last week Mardy Fish lost a point when a shot from his opponent was called good even though it landed about 15cm past the baseline. Fish just looked at the spot on the ground where the ball had landed, said nothing and went on to win the match. He would never get a spot in an Australian cricket team. -- Peter Bowditch The Millenium Project - http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles Australian Council Against Health Fraud - http://www.acahf.org.au Australian Skeptics - http://www.skeptics.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Jan 9 16:08:18 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Jan 9 16:17:42 2008 Subject: [LINK] New Google patent may improve image search, AdSense, maps Message-ID: [Here we go again: another rubbish patent, whose purpose is primarily to slow down the company's competitors and force up their costs and risks, and secondarily to contribute to the company's war-chest of counter-patents. [Are there any Kiwis around who are familiar with the history of OCR technology and have the energy to attack the big G? Wikipedia's entry starts with "In 1929, Gustav Tauschek obtained a patent on OCR in Germany ...". [To be clear - good on Google for applying technology in fairly-new ways (they're almost always a second-mover, not an originator), and on a largish scale, and with plenty of money to put into it. It's the anti-competitive aspect, glossed by the pretence of a halo, that's so very annoying. New Google patent may improve image search, AdSense, maps By David Chartier | Published: January 08, 2008 - 11:45AM CT http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080108-for-a-new-google-patent-a-picture-truly-is-worth-1000-words.html The days of manually adding things like keywords and location information to images could soon be behind us, thanks to a new Google patent published this week detailing the company's move into extracting text from images and creating keywords from it (e.g., reading a street or business sign in a curbside shot and adding that text to the image's metadata). Considering the gold mine of products and services Google has on the table and in the pipeline, this technology could open new doors for both consumers and Google's profits. Detailed in the patent, called Recognizing Text in Images, are various methods for accomplishing exactly what the title says. Google details processes for analyzing a digital image, enhancing regions, extracting text, and using or comparing that text against other information or keywords included with the image. Naturally, this technology seems to lend itself to basic services like Google Image Search, which could benefit greatly from having more searchable data about the images it catalogs. Portions of Google's patent hint at more intriguing applications, however, such as tying into location-based services: "Additionally, the extracted image text can be combined with location data and indexed to improve and enhance location-based searching. The extracted text can provide keywords for identifying particular locations and presenting images of the identified locations to a user." Being able to automatically, and reliably, generate location data for images has applications across nearly any field one can think of, from consumer services to advertising to law enforcement. This patent may also represent one of the first forays into the next generation of search technologies by a major search player. For a few years now, various organizations have been working on boosting the power of existing OCR systems to work with context-sensitive search. Startups like Riya have been working on facial and object recognition technologies, with one of Riya's first product being a "visual search engine" that allows users to shop for items based on color, shape, and pattern. Google's industry-dominating array of products and services, however, will allow it to implement this text in image technology on a far larger and more profitable scale. It isn't hard to see products like AdWords, AdSense, and even Gmail benefiting greatly from being able to peer inside images for contextual advertising; even Google Book Search could benefit. Google Maps and Google Earth gain new functionality for users and advertisers if the company is able to automatically extract streets, business names, and other pertinent info from the mounds of mapping data it collects for these products. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From ivan at itrundle.com Wed Jan 9 16:24:54 2008 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Wed Jan 9 16:25:05 2008 Subject: [LINK] New Google patent may improve image search, AdSense, maps In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <21B8DE89-7E00-4201-8D16-E47E46AA7559@itrundle.com> On 09/01/2008, at 4:08 PM, Roger Clarke wrote: > [Here we go again: another rubbish patent, whose purpose is > primarily to slow down the company's competitors and force up their > costs and risks, and secondarily to contribute to the company's war- > chest of counter-patents. > > [Are there any Kiwis around who are familiar with the history of OCR > technology and have the energy to attack the big G? Wikipedia's > entry starts with "In 1929, Gustav Tauschek obtained a patent on OCR > in Germany ...". > > [To be clear - good on Google for applying technology in fairly-new > ways (they're almost always a second-mover, not an originator), and > on a largish scale, and with plenty of money to put into it. It's > the anti-competitive aspect, glossed by the pretence of a halo, > that's so very annoying. > > > New Google patent may improve image search, AdSense, maps > By David Chartier | Published: January 08, 2008 - 11:45AM CT > http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080108-for-a-new-google-patent-a-picture-truly-is-worth-1000-words.html > > The days of manually adding things like keywords and location > information to images could soon be behind us, thanks to a new > Google patent published this week detailing the company's move into > extracting text from images and creating keywords from it... I doubt very much that we will ever be *thankful* for any patent. But I live in hope. iT From stil at stilgherrian.com Wed Jan 9 17:55:31 2008 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Wed Jan 9 17:56:04 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: > Filters needed to battle child porn > Bernadette McMenamin | January 08, 2008 > > IT is beyond belief that some representatives of the Australian > internet service provider industry are reluctant to install filters > that would prevent access to child pornography. > > My response here: http://stilgherrian.com/politics/magick_child_porn_filters/ I've also forwarded the link to Ms McMenamin for a comment. Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From rick at praxis.com.au Wed Jan 9 18:32:34 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Wed Jan 9 18:32:49 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: <47843695.1040104@optusnet.com.au> References: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> <47843695.1040104@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <47847892.1070003@praxis.com.au> Brendan Scott wrote: > George Bray wrote: >> Filters needed to battle child porn >> Bernadette McMenamin | January 08, 2008 >> >> IT is beyond belief that some representatives of the Australian >> internet service provider industry are reluctant to install filters >> that would prevent access to child pornography. > > I'm not following, I thought that the proposal was that anyone could elect to opt out of the filters? > If so, this argument doesn't make much sense to me. What I am not following is what is intended to be filtered. Is it just child pron? Is it any "unclean" material, whatever that means? I wonder if Ms McMenamin would be happy with an opt-in system for filtering? She is blissfully and concernedly unaware that an opt-out filter is an infringement on freedom of speech, censorship of mass media and will not attain its intended goal. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better. -- George W Bush From georgebray at gmail.com Wed Jan 9 18:33:36 2008 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Wed Jan 9 18:33:50 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: <47843695.1040104@optusnet.com.au> References: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> <47843695.1040104@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <635bd2180801082333x908fc7cje515ea19c1e8fd9a@mail.gmail.com> On Jan 9, 2008 1:51 PM, Brendan Scott wrote: > I'm not following, I thought that the proposal was that anyone could elect to opt out of the filters? > If so, this argument doesn't make much sense to me. I just don't feel that anyone (Govt, carriers, ISPs) has the ability to achieve their censorship goal, and in the meantime everyone by default gets poorer internet performance. Leave alone the question of who decides what gets filtered and the prospect of some future authority extending the scope of censorship into other realms deemed "inappropriate". Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. More comments are now under the original article. Right on Stil. -- George Bray, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. From rick at praxis.com.au Wed Jan 9 18:39:52 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Wed Jan 9 18:40:09 2008 Subject: [LINK] Not India for a change In-Reply-To: <4784D364.5147.57BDEA0@peter.ratbags.com> References: <4784D364.5147.57BDEA0@peter.ratbags.com> Message-ID: <47847A48.3040006@praxis.com.au> Peter Bowditch wrote: > What the idiots forgot to do was block caller ID, and before I answered I > wondered who would be calling me from country code +20. (I get the > occasional call from the USA, but almost never from anywhere else.) > > Egypt. Haven't you heard? The latest rendering technique is to banish a suspected terrorist to a call centre in Egypt and have them chained to their work station 24/7. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better. -- George W Bush From ivan at itrundle.com Wed Jan 9 19:03:06 2008 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Wed Jan 9 19:03:46 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: <635bd2180801082333x908fc7cje515ea19c1e8fd9a@mail.gmail.com> References: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> <47843695.1040104@optusnet.com.au> <635bd2180801082333x908fc7cje515ea19c1e8fd9a@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <014B9553-F27B-4D9A-9C83-757273774110@itrundle.com> On 09/01/2008, at 6:33 PM, George Bray wrote: > On Jan 9, 2008 1:51 PM, Brendan Scott > wrote: > >> I'm not following, I thought that the proposal was that anyone >> could elect to opt out of the filters? >> If so, this argument doesn't make much sense to me. > > I just don't feel that anyone (Govt, carriers, ISPs) has the ability > to achieve their censorship goal, and in the meantime everyone by > default gets poorer internet performance. Leave alone the question of > who decides what gets filtered and the prospect of some future > authority extending the scope of censorship into other realms deemed > "inappropriate". It appears that governments and less-than-clueful people assume that filters work because it is so easy to apply a regime AGAINST child porn (or whatever). However, this also assumes that detecting and tracing child porn (or other evil material) is a trivial task, and that maintaining a filter table is easily managed by a combination of computing power and human intelligence. Why is it that political leaders and others in levels of society believe that this is so? I would have thought that it was very easily demonstrable that finding *all* of the evil stuff is not that easy, and that filtering only part of it using a range of guesses a sub-optimal solution. The collateral damage caused by weak/ineffective/incomplete/inaccurate filters will have an immediate effect on the community, as as been discussed at length on Link and elsewhere. iT From stephen at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 9 19:11:05 2008 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Wed Jan 9 19:11:18 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas Message-ID: <20080109081105.0B421174B5@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Roger forwards: > Woody Allen, Google, and Internet Censorship > http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000353.html > > Greetings. Yesterday I briefly discussed the government's inane > plan in Australia for mandatory ISP blocking of material considered > "inappropriate" for children .. > > Or perhaps Australia will simply choose to place the entire > operations of Google on their default block list .. Google is already blocked in all Victorian state schools, because porn sites are available in their archives, bypassing individual url filters, and hence Google has been blocked in Vic schools for six years or so. No one says the gov must give access to porn to state-school children. As for the wider community, personally I'd prefer that kiddie-porn websites were at least given an equilivant of a 'shrink wrap' protection, because that's the sort of society I would prefer to live in. And I believe that many Australians agree. If this is so, the question is, how to do this? > Lauren Weinstein > lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org > Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 > http://www.pfir.org/lauren > Co-Founder, PFIR > - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org > Co-Founder, NNSquad > - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org > Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com > Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy > Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com > _______________________________________________ > privacy mailing list > http://lists.vortex.com/mailman/listinfo/privacy Cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria Australia From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 9 19:06:55 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 9 19:12:46 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: References: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6hhft4$ik1f9@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 05:55 PM 9/01/2008, Stilgherrian wrote: >My response here: > > http://stilgherrian.com/politics/magick_child_porn_filters/ Your approach made me think to do the same on my blog with my comment to the Australian. They edited mine, too. commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au Thu Jan 10 07:34:19 2008 From: rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au (Richard Chirgwin) Date: Thu Jan 10 07:34:50 2008 Subject: [LINK] Weinstein: Conroy Bananas In-Reply-To: <014B9553-F27B-4D9A-9C83-757273774110@itrundle.com> References: <635bd2180801081612y7bfbe3d9v448d6221f9d2c470@mail.gmail.com> <47843695.1040104@optusnet.com.au> <635bd2180801082333x908fc7cje515ea19c1e8fd9a@mail.gmail.com> <014B9553-F27B-4D9A-9C83-757273774110@itrundle.com> Message-ID: <47852FCB.2080806@ozemail.com.au> Ivan Trundle wrote: > > On 09/01/2008, at 6:33 PM, George Bray wrote: > >> On Jan 9, 2008 1:51 PM, Brendan Scott >> wrote: >> >>> I'm not following, I thought that the proposal was that anyone could >>> elect to opt out of the filters? >>> If so, this argument doesn't make much sense to me. >> >> I just don't feel that anyone (Govt, carriers, ISPs) has the ability >> to achieve their censorship goal, and in the meantime everyone by >> default gets poorer internet performance. Leave alone the question of >> who decides what gets filtered and the prospect of some future >> authority extending the scope of censorship into other realms deemed >> "inappropriate". > > It appears that governments and less-than-clueful people assume that > filters work because it is so easy to apply a regime AGAINST child > porn (or whatever). However, this also assumes that detecting and > tracing child porn (or other evil material) is a trivial task, and > that maintaining a filter table is easily managed by a combination of > computing power and human intelligence. > > Why is it that political leaders and others in levels of society > believe that this is so? Because they've all seen demonstrations from vendors "proving" that the filters work, and heard long dissertations on how the blacklists are continuously updated; and because it doesn't really matter if the filter does / does not work, as long as you can stand up with a media statement about protecting Strayan families online. RC > > I would have thought that it was very easily demonstrable that finding > *all* of the evil stuff is not that easy, and that filtering only part > of it using a range of guesses a sub-optimal solution. > > The collateral damage caused by weak/ineffective/incomplete/inaccurate > filters will have an immediate effect on the community, as as been > discussed at length on Link and elsewhere. > > iT > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Thu Jan 10 10:07:29 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Thu Jan 10 10:11:26 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: RE: Access Card site Message-ID: <6hhft4$iu9rg@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Do any linkers have advice on this situation? Is there a protocol for requesting that archived material be made available without self-identification through a gatekeeper? Jan > >Have you seen what http://www.accesscard.gov.au/ looks like now? > > > >It mentions archived content but doesn't say where it is. > > > >Any ideas where it might be? > >ME: From the site: > A new Government led by the Leader of the Australian Labor >Party, The Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, was sworn in by the Governor-General >on 3 December 2007. > > Content on this website is currently being reviewed. Any >questions relating to archived content can be directed to the Web >Content Manager through the >Feedback facility >on this site. > >==== >Looks like the only way you can get to the previous info is to ask >and identify yourself. Is this kosher? Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Thu Jan 10 10:20:26 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Thu Jan 10 10:27:19 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <20080109232704.220C9272DE@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 10:48 PM 8/01/2008, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: >... As technology based systems become more complex, CS students >seem to becoming less widely educated, are focussed on the internet >and less able to understand the complexity of modern systems. ... Keep in mind that software engineering and computer science are not the same: like the difference between theoretical physics and engineering. A knowledge of how particles interact will only help so much when building things in the real world for real people. The software engineers at ANU are frighteningly well educated in both the basics of computer science, project management and testing . There is a constant debate amongst the staff (and students) about using commercially popular computer languages versus theoretically sound teaching ones and on the technicalities versus soft skills (like how to write a report and give a presentation). The students end up being able to do a bit of each. The best of them are quite able to, and have built, very complex systems quickly and reliably, such as electronic voting systems (some worked on the ACT system), analysis of the radar on warships and data mining for the intelligence services. However, the soft skills about human to human commutation still flummox undergraduate students, who have great difficulty with team work and report writing. Some staff argue there is no substitute for experience and that only mature age students with work experience should do software engineering. But the undergraduates can manage to use quite complex software engineering standards and use software tools to help structure their interactions. What I find startling is the way the Internet and web software can increase the productivity of a good software engineer. The students can produce systems in days which would previously have taken teams experienced qualified professionals months or years to do. But this is only after a clear specification as to what the system is to do has been worked out. Shane Flint at ANU has come up with a technique called "Aspect-Oriented Thinking" which he claims can solve some of the specification problems . Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Thu Jan 10 12:06:32 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Thu Jan 10 12:09:14 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: At 11:39 +1100 9/1/08, Tom Worthington wrote: >Perhaps it has reached the point where the surveillance is so >widespread that there is not point trying to regulate it at source, >and it is the use to which the data is put which we need to >concentrate on. I don't in the least accept the defeatism inherent in that. But it reminded me of this proposal for data self-destruction: Escaping the data panopticon: Prof says computers must learn to "forget" By Nate Anderson | Published: May 09, 2007 - 08:52AM CT http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070509-escaping-the-data-panopticon-teaching-computers-to-forget.html The rise of fast processors and cheap storage means that remembering, once incredibly difficult for humans, has become simple. Viktor Mayer-Sch?nberger, a professor in Harvard's JFK School of Government, argues that this shift has been bad for society, and he calls instead for a new era of "forgetfulness." Mayer-Sch?nberger lays out his idea in a faculty research working paper called "Useful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing," where he describes his plan as reinstating "the default of forgetting our societies have experienced for millennia." Why would we want our machines to "forget"? Mayer-Sch?nberger suggests that we are creating a Benthamist panopticon by archiving so many bits of knowledge for so long. The accumulated weight of stored Google searches, thousands of family photographs, millions of books, credit bureau information, air travel reservations, massive government databases, archived e-mail, etc., can actually be a detriment to speech and action, he argues. "If whatever we do can be held against us years later, if all our impulsive comments are preserved, they can easily be combined into a composite picture of ourselves," he writes in the paper. "Afraid how our words and actions may be perceived years later and taken out of context, the lack of forgetting may prompt us to speak less freely and openly." In other words, it threatens to make us all politicians. In contrast to omnibus data protection legislation, Mayer-Sch?nberger proposes a combination of law and software to ensure that most data is "forgotten" by default. A law would decree that "those who create software that collects and stores data build into their code not only the ability to forget with time, but make such forgetting the default." Essentially, this means that all collected data is tagged with a new piece of metadata that defines when the information should expire. In practice, this would mean that iTunes could only store buying data for a limited time, a time defined by law. Should customers explicitly want this time extended, that would be fine, but people must be given a choice. Even data created by users-digital pictures, for example-would be tagged by the cameras that create them to expire in a year or two; pictures that people want to keep could simply be given a date 10,000 years in the future. Mayer-Sch?nberger wants to help us avoid becoming digital pack rats, and he wants to curtail the amount of time that companies and governments can collate data about users and citizens "just because they can." Whenever there's a real need to do so, data can be retained, but setting the default expiration date forces organizations to decide if they truly do need to retain that much data forever. It's a "modest" proposal, according to Mayer-Sch?nberger, but he recognizes that others may see it as "simplistic" or "radical." To those who feel like they are living in a panopticon, it might feel more like a chink in the wall through which fresh air blows. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From rene.lk at libertus.net Thu Jan 10 16:26:53 2008 From: rene.lk at libertus.net (Irene Graham) Date: Thu Jan 10 16:27:05 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: RE: Access Card site In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$iu9rg@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <2008110152653.605066@c990> On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:07:29 +1100, Jan Whitaker wrote: > Do any linkers have advice on this situation? Is there a protocol for > requesting that archived material be made available without self- > identification through a gatekeeper? No, but if you're looking for anything pre 7 Feb 2007, it's likely findable from here: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/65938/20070207-0000/www.accesscard.gov.au/ind ex.html (7 Feb 2007 was when pandora/NLA last archived it, according to: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/65938 Irene From graham at austlii.edu.au Thu Jan 10 16:41:10 2008 From: graham at austlii.edu.au (Graham Greenleaf) Date: Thu Jan 10 16:39:54 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: RE: Access Card site In-Reply-To: <2008110152653.605066@c990> References: <2008110152653.605066@c990> Message-ID: Hi Irene, That's the problem isn't it: Pandora, though very valuable, falls well short of what any mandatory deposit scheme for electronic materials would require by way of currency of major site replication. Regards, Graham At 3:26 PM +1000 10/1/08, Irene Graham wrote: >On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:07:29 +1100, Jan Whitaker wrote: > >> Do any linkers have advice on this situation? Is there a protocol for >> requesting that archived material be made available without self- >> identification through a gatekeeper? > >No, but if you're looking for anything pre 7 Feb 2007, it's likely findable >from here: > >http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/65938/20070207-0000/www.accesscard.gov.au/ind >ex.html > >(7 Feb 2007 was when pandora/NLA last archived it, according to: >http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/65938 > >Irene >_______________________________________________ >Link mailing list >Link@mailman.anu.edu.au >http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link -- -- Graham Greenleaf Professor of Law Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052 Australia (UNSW CRICOS Provider No: 00098G) Co-Director, Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) Co-Director, Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre Asia-Pacific Editor, Privacy Laws & Business International E-mail: g.greenleaf@unsw.edu.au or graham@austlii.edu.au Web Pages - http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~graham/ Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) pages - http://ssrn.com/author=57970 Tel: +61 2 9385 2233 (UNSW) +61 2 9569 5310 (Home) Fax: +61 2 9385 1175 (UNSW) Office: Room 224, Law Faculty Building, UNSW ************************************************************************* From grove at zeta.org.au Thu Jan 10 21:05:46 2008 From: grove at zeta.org.au (grove@zeta.org.au) Date: Thu Jan 10 21:06:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] Reply from Premier, re power poll Message-ID: Hi, recently there was an online petition regarding the sale of Electricity assets in NSW. The petition was hosted by union groups and we were encouraged to sign up and provide an email address, as a means of identifying a unique poll. Anyway, the petition was submitted, and I've actually received an email reply from "the premier". I do not recall this happening when petitioning similar polls against Howard Govt policies. I never expected this - very interesting and I do not know whether to be alarmed or praising the effort! See below... rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia grove@zeta.org.au http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html The price of greatness is responsibility. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:15:31 +1100 From: thepremier To: grove@zeta.org.au Subject: AA07/29679 - Electricity supply in NSW Dear Ms Polanskis The Premier has received your correspondence about the recently announced changes to the NSW electricity sector, and has asked me to reply to you on his behalf. The NSW electricity supply needs to keep up with the energy requirements of families and businesses across the State. NSW needs new baseload electricity generation built by about 2014. To secure NSW’s future energy needs at no cost to taxpayers, the NSW Government has accepted the key recommendation of the Owen Inquiry into Electricity Supply in NSW to restructure ownership arrangements for its electricity generation and retail businesses. The restructure will involve the transfer of the Government’s retail electricity functions to the private sector, and the lease of NSW power stations, with the exception of Snowy Hydro. All current electricity infrastructure assets will remain in public ownership. That includes the power stations and the transmission and distribution ‘poles and wires’ of the State-owned companies EnergyAustralia, Integral Energy and Country Energy, as well as TransGrid. The reforms will create the right conditions and incentives for the private sector to invest in baseload generation in New South Wales, saving taxpayers up to $15 billion and unlocking funds for investment in roads, trains, hospitals, schools and other essential infrastructure. The changes will also mean that people working in the electricity sector have a strong and secure employment future. All current public sector retail and generation workers are guaranteed jobs in their current locations across the State. You may be assured that electricity customers (households and small businesses) will continue to be protected by regulated retail prices set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, to at least 2013 or until the Government is satisfied there is sufficient competition in the retail energy market. The Government will also maintain its strong customer protection regulations and its social programs, including pensioner concessions. The Government has also announced an environmental protection package including a new Energy Efficiency Strategy and additional funds for a $100 million Renewable Energy Development Fund, to ensure the State remains in a strong position to tackle the ongoing challenges of climate change. The Energy Efficiency Strategy was developed following consultation with environmental groups. The Strategy will deliver a range of measures to assist families and businesses to reduce their energy consumption and save money on electricity bills. The Government will now develop detailed plans for the use of proceeds from the transfer of assets. While it will take time to finalise these plans, the Premier has indicated that priority areas for new investment will include: â— urban transport initiatives, such as Euro-style metro technology and the extension of the M4; â— upgrades to rural water and sewerage infrastructure; â— rural and regional road transport infrastructure; â— the new Energy Efficiency Strategy; and â— supporting the development of clean energy, including clean coal and renewables. Thank you for taking the time to write to the Premier on this issue. Yours sincerely J.L Schmidt for Robyn Kruk Director General Department of Premier and Cabinet From arsptr at internode.on.net Thu Jan 10 22:56:57 2008 From: arsptr at internode.on.net (Alastair Rankine) Date: Thu Jan 10 22:56:48 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > > As technology based systems become more complex, CS students seem to > becoming less widely educated, are focussed on the internet and less > able to understand the complexity of modern systems. Bernard, just out of interest, how did you come upon this view? The three criticisms you mention are quite subjective and difficult to quantify. If you are observing this as a trend for applications to your organisation, perhaps this can be explained as a sampling bias? In other words the more widely educated, perhaps more capable students are applying to positions elsewhere? (I'm not attempting to denigrate your organisation, just observing that Google, for example, is a pretty tough competitor for talented CS graduates these days...) > And I bet very few of them can even spell OLTP, let alone know what it > means - and I am not referring to what the letters stand for. Another possible sampling bias. I'm sure OLTP is important in your occupation but can I just say that it has absolutely no relevance in my current position. In fact I've managed to completely avoid CICS and similar technologies for my entire career - but let me assure you that my educational background is by no means focused on the internet, nor on any other specific vocational area. However I'm sympathetic to your underlying point: with minimal discussion I'm sure we could agree on a few indispensable technologies and skills that the CS Youth Of Today don't have a clue about. > And just think, Bill Gates was raised on BASIC, and look at what he > has left the world. I doubt this very much (assembler was almost certainly Bill's first language of choice) but in any case what relevance does this fact have to CS students of today? Do you think we could produce more Bill Gates' if we structured our CS courses differently? (Do we even want to do this?) > > > Computer Science Education: > Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? > Crosstalk, the Journal of Defense Software Engineering > http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/2008/01/0801DewarSchonberg.html > Dr. Robert B.K. Dewar, AdaCore Inc. > Dr. Edmond Schonberg, AdaCore Inc. OK I'll admit upfront I didn't quite make it to the end of this paper. I gave up at the sentence "Ada is the language of software engineering par excellence." THE language? Really? Frankly the paper makes some good points but many of them are irrelevant to the stated "trends" for which no real evidence is supplied. They seem to be partially relying on the fact that they can't seem to recruit Ada-literate developers anymore. The authors also succumb to the trendy practice of Java-bashing, but this time attacking it for its rich standard library, of all things. Lastly, the authors, who are admittedly "founders of a company that specializes in Ada programming tools", miss no opportunity to promote Ada as a teaching language. As such, this paper comes across as a marketing document, and a pretty unconvincing one at that. From danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au Thu Jan 10 23:27:17 2008 From: danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au (Danny Yee) Date: Thu Jan 10 23:27:32 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <20080110122717.GB21950@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> > http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/2008/01/0801DewarSchonberg.html This is just some Ada people pushing Ada. I consider the choice of programming language to be pretty much irrelevant at a fundamental level. That is, there are many reasons why one or another language might make more sense in teaching, but they're more peripheral. (For example, given that many students in introductory CS courses are biologists or physicists who will do no further programming courses, it makes sense to choose a language that's easy for them to write simple programs in later.) The issues with computer science courses that I see are: 1) a focus on specific technologies rather than underlying ideas, for example teaching TCP/IP specific material rather than more general ideas about networking (or, worse, teaching specific applications, resulting in "web design" graduates who know how to use Dreamweaver but nothing else). 2) avoiding anything that has any mathematics - resulting in students who don't understand even the idea of a formal algorithm, let alone proofs of correctness or complexity analyses But I don't think "computer science" is actually a coherent discipline in any real sense. Danny. --------------------------------------------------------- http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog --------------------------------------------------------- From stephen at melbpc.org.au Fri Jan 11 01:32:47 2008 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Fri Jan 11 01:33:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] ACEC Annual Conference Message-ID: <20080110143247.2FDD517504@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Australian Council for Computers in Education Annual Conference Canberra: 29th September - 2nd October * Extension of Time for Refereed Paper Abstracts * Abstracts for Refereed Papers are now due by January 14, 2008. Final papers are then due by February 29, 2008. Don't miss out! Be part of the Digital Education Revolution at ACEC'08. -- Dr Marg Lloyd forwards .. > From: Ian Webb [ian.webb@ozemail.com.au] > Sent: Wednesday, 9 January 2008 12:00 PM > Subject: ACEC'08 Update Dear Colleague Welcome to the new year. I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season. The conference committee is working hard to make ACEC'08 the most exciting and professionally rewarding conference yet. Apologies for any cross postings of this email. Keynote Speakers The conference organising committee are pleased to announce the following as keynote speakers. The third keynote will be notified in the near future. Keith Krueger Keith is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) , a national nonprofit organisation based in Washington DC that serves as the voice of K-12 technology leaders .. Liz Murphy Liz is an Australian based reporter, editor, producer and researcher http://researchandmedia.ning.com/profile/lmurphy. She works as a private consultant with a focus on global web-based communications producing live online global events, streaming real time audio, video and presentation material with presenters discussing topics/issues and interacting with audiences across the globe. As well Liz designs and produces media rich websites, sets up online radio stations and develops online exhibitions. Dates for Submission of Presentation Abstracts/Proposals Many thanks for those who have already submitted abstracts/proposals for presentations. A reminder of the submission timetable: January 14 - due date for the submission of refereed paper abstracts February 29 - due date for full papers (both refereed and non-refereed), - due date for proposals for workshops, panels and symposia March 31 - due date for poster session proposals Conference Registration Brochure The conference registration brochure will be available from the end of January. It will be posted on the website for downloading and emailed out to all who have registered interest in ACEC'08. For further information about ACEC'08 visit the conference website at or email: enquiries@acec2008.info Ian Webb On behalf of the ACEC'08 Organising Committee -- Cheers, ACEC Stephen Loosley Member, Victorian Institute of Teaching From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Fri Jan 11 09:43:39 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Fri Jan 11 09:47:31 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: RE: Access Card site In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$iu9rg@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$iu9rg@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <20080110224719.B41F9CA27@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> At 10:07 AM 10/01/2008, Jan Whitaker wrote: >Do any linkers have advice on this situation? The Internet Archive offers copies of the access card web site from Nov 14, 2006 to Jul 04, 2007 . Unfortunately it does not seem to be responding at present. This issue of old government content being taken off-line came up on Link with the FTA web site and in the media . At present all you can do is hope there is a copy of the page in some third party archive, as you have to wait 30 years to get it from the official government one. >Is there a protocol for requesting that archived material be made >available without self-identification through a gatekeeper? There is an anomaly, as web sites fall down a crack between the procedures for archiving internal government documents and external publications. Under current policy, agencies are required to archive their web sites and pass them to the Archives office, who will make them available. But Archives do not make government documents available for 30 years. If you want a copy of an old page in the interim, you can ask the agency, but they may require a formal FOI request and charge you money. The National Library has copies of government paper publications, but they do not keep all web sites. The obvious solution would be for Archives, or the National Library (or both in collaboration), to provide an online archive of all public government web pages, but they are not funded to do that. The UK government did a deal with Archive.org to get around the problem. Of course NAA and/or NLA could put up the old pages with paid advertising to cover the cost. ;-) Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU From brd at iimetro.com.au Fri Jan 11 10:37:38 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Fri Jan 11 10:37:57 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> Message-ID: <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> Alastair Rankine wrote: > Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > >> >> As technology based systems become more complex, CS students seem to >> becoming less widely educated, are focussed on the internet and less >> able to understand the complexity of modern systems. > > > Bernard, just out of interest, how did you come upon this view? The > three criticisms you mention are quite subjective and difficult to > quantify. I work in a world of large scale, complex, enterprise systems used by organisations such as government departments, airlines, banks, insurance companies etc. Such environments are often divided up, somewhat arbitrarily, into a number of "disciplines". These include: Business System Analysis and Design Application Development Application Maintenance and Support Networks Operations Security Back-up Disaster Recovery Management Usually people who work full time in an enterprise that has all its own IT have quite a good idea of the overlap between, and requirements of, the different areas. Where problems arise is when "specialists" get involved. This happens when the technology and/or applications are outsourced, when external "consultants" are employed, when vendors propose "solutions" or when people within the enterprise but well outside the IT environment make "strategic" IT decisions. In this context CS and SE graduates are specialists who know a bit about the application development domain but not much about any of the others. I doubt that any new graduate of any discipline is capable of being responsible for the acquisition and implementation of a new system within this sort of environment and I would not expect them to. When I did my bachelor's degree in electronic engineering many years ago, it was exactly the same, however there seems to be a major difference in the coverage of subjects I studied. I was taught very little about "real" engineering as found in a large engineering enterprise. However I knew a lot about the fundamentals and the theory of engineering, physics and mathematics. When I learned about "real" engineering it was in the context of this understanding, most of which is still relevant today. I get the impression that graduates in the software industry (and I'm not picking on CS and or SE students here) know a lot about products, a few operating systems and languages but not much about the fundamentals and theory of computing and systems. Nor do they learn much about the realities of IT operations and production systems. The impact of this is that new graduates need a lot of training but, more importantly, do not understand the fundamentals. And those graduates who do not enter the IT profession and therefore go through the extra training but who become "consultants", sales people or managers do not realise just how ill trained they are. And they end up making bad decisions and, more importantly not knowing why they have made bad decisions. And of course I need to explicitly state that this is only my opinion, based upon my experience and only applies to the environment in which I work. However, In my defence I would point to the many large IT projects that end up as failures and suggest that there is more than a grain of truth in all this. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From stil at stilgherrian.com Fri Jan 11 14:14:33 2008 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Fri Jan 11 14:16:41 2008 Subject: [LINK] Why government internet filtering won =?iso-8859-1?q?=B9?= t work Message-ID: Crikey has just published my composite piece on the Internet filtering malarkey. Free to read even for non-subscribers. http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20080111-Why-government-internet-filtering -wont-work.html Enjoy! Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Fri Jan 11 14:43:22 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Fri Jan 11 14:43:47 2008 Subject: [LINK] Ten things that will change the world? Message-ID: <7C2E50FF-E4CF-4AA9-B25D-5503A6B26690@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Fri Jan 11 15:25:09 2008 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Fri Jan 11 15:25:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Ten things that will change the world? In-Reply-To: <7C2E50FF-E4CF-4AA9-B25D-5503A6B26690@tony-barry.emu.id.au> References: <7C2E50FF-E4CF-4AA9-B25D-5503A6B26690@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Message-ID: <4786EFA5.7000709@optusnet.com.au> Antony Barry wrote: > Why is it that everything nowadays will change the world? From cas at taz.net.au Fri Jan 11 18:13:01 2008 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Fri Jan 11 18:13:13 2008 Subject: [LINK] Ten things that will change the world? In-Reply-To: <7C2E50FF-E4CF-4AA9-B25D-5503A6B26690@tony-barry.emu.id.au> References: <7C2E50FF-E4CF-4AA9-B25D-5503A6B26690@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Message-ID: <20080111071301.GA6828@taz.net.au> On Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 02:43:22PM +1100, Antony Barry wrote: > the rest of the article's title is "(or at least the bank balance of those flogging these gimmicks)" craig -- craig sanders When arguments fail, use a blackjack. -- Edward "Spike" O'Donnell, Al Capone associate. From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Sat Jan 12 08:44:36 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Sat Jan 12 08:44:46 2008 Subject: [LINK] How NetAlert accentuated the negative Message-ID: How NetAlert accentuated the negative -------------- next part -------------- Research obtained under freedom of information laws raises questions about the accuracy of the Howard government?s pre-election advertising campaign on internet safety, writes PETER MARES on our partner website, Creative Economy More at phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au Sat Jan 12 10:02:27 2008 From: rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au (rchirgwin@ozemail.com.au) Date: Sat Jan 12 10:02:34 2008 Subject: [LINK] Ten things that will change the world? In-Reply-To: <20080111071301.GA6828@taz.net.au> References: <7C2E50FF-E4CF-4AA9-B25D-5503A6B26690@tony-barry.emu.id.au> <20080111071301.GA6828@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <4787F583.1000505@ozemail.com.au> It seems that you're too cynical to fully appreciate the magical interface between the credulous and the crapulous! Ahh but what a list this was: unlaunched products, crap services, recycling of urban myth and "mob mind" pseudo-science (Quote: According to Pesce, the mob is "faster, smarter and stronger than you are" - which explains I suppose why the Cronulla rioters were right and I'm wrong. Not.), old technology dressed as new, and the relentless promotion of privacy invasion as a good thing. Oh, and OLPC: a guilt ointment for the rich, so that starving people can look for recipes on the Internet. Such lists always bring out the worst in me! RC Craig Sanders wrote: > On Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 02:43:22PM +1100, Antony Barry wrote: > >> >> > > the rest of the article's title is "(or at least the bank balance of > those flogging these gimmicks)" > > craig > > From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sat Jan 12 10:14:50 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Jan 12 10:19:16 2008 Subject: [LINK] How NetAlert accentuated the negative In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6hhft4$k6qbe@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 08:44 AM 12/01/2008, Antony Barry wrote: >Research obtained under freedom of information laws raises questions >about the accuracy of the Howard government's pre-election >advertising campaign on internet safety, writes PETER MARES on our >partner website, Creative Economy [cc'd to Senator Conroy to support my earlier messages about the wrong-headedness of this latest filtering attempt] Lesson to new govt: use quotes from the research, preferably including the exact data as well, and do NOT spin the data to fit your agenda. You will be found out. from the full article: http://www.creative.org.au/webboard/results.chtml?filename_num=187479 [for some reason I couldn't get the link Tony posted to come up, even after allowing js to run on the apo page} [snip] The survey data provides only partial support for the NetAlert campaign warning that "playing online can lead to straying online" and the accompanying statistic that "almost half of 11 to 14 year old children said they had viewed websites their parents would find alarming." Again the survey questions were posed using a different form of words. Children and adolescents were asked whether they had accidentally viewed websites that "mum or dad (or a guardian) wouldn't want you to see?" While 43 per cent of respondents answered "yes" to this question there is no evidence how long they stayed on the site or whether they immediately closed out of it. Only 12 per cent said of survey respondents said that they had "deliberately" visited a site that "mum or dad wouldn't want you to go to." Burns says the overall picture that emerges from the Wallis Group research is far more positive than the messages of "danger, risk and fear" that characterised the NetAlert campaign. When asked what sort of things they do on the internet, for example, children and teenagers cited looking "for information for homework or study" ahead of all other activities, including playing games, chatting and messaging. The survey also revealed that well before the NetAlert campaign almost three quarters of parents had already talked to their children about "keeping safe online," which Dr Burns describes as "an amazingly positive finding." == I don't know if the previous govt release was being mischievous necessarily. Some people reword text in releases and reports for some reason of 'making it in their own words', not realising the meaning can change as a result. Wow, listen to me giving the benefit of the doubt! anyway, misleading they were. Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rick at praxis.com.au Sat Jan 12 10:48:44 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Sat Jan 12 10:49:05 2008 Subject: [LINK] How NetAlert accentuated the negative In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$k6qbe@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$k6qbe@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <4788005C.3060506@praxis.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > I don't know if the previous govt release was being mischievous > necessarily. Some people reword text in releases and reports for some > reason of 'making it in their own words', not realising the meaning can > change as a result. Wow, listen to me giving the benefit of the doubt! > anyway, misleading they were. You are giving the Howard regime way too much leeway here. They have a well documented history of buying into the politics of fear in an attempt to gain more and more power. NetAlert is but another example. A plea to Labor: ditch fear-based politics and get real. Otherwise, you will be found out. A plea to Conroy: ditch vote grabbing based on overblown threats and unrealisable solutions and use logic and reason to get your point to the people. What exactly is your point regarding net censorhsip? I use the Internet daily for work, education, communication and information. I do not want my online activities censored or monitored. And I vote. cheers rick -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services You got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. -- George W Bush From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sat Jan 12 13:52:09 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sat Jan 12 13:52:33 2008 Subject: [LINK] FTC Allows Google-DoubleClick Merger Without Conditions Message-ID: From EPIC Alert 15.01, 11 Jan 2008 http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_15.01.html ======================================================================== [4] Commission Allows Google-DoubleClick Merger Without Conditions ======================================================================== The Federal Trade Commission approved the proposed merger between Google and DoubleClick without conditions in a 4-1 opinion released on December 20. According to the FTC, the $3.1 billion proposed merger between the Internet's largest search profiling company and the Internet's largest targeted advertising company is "Unlikely to lessen competition." The decision granting the merger without conditions is surprising following the Second Request, which the Chairman previously said, is done in cases where the FTC believes "there is a strong possibility that some aspect of a transaction would violate the antitrust laws." In a detailed statement issued the same day, EPIC said that the unique circumstances of the online advertising industry required the FTC to impose privacy safeguards as a condition of the Google-DoubleClick merger. On April 20, 2007, EPIC, CDD, and US PIRG filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, requesting that the Commission open an investigation into the proposed acquisition, specifically with regard to the ability of Google to record, analyze, track, and profile the activities of Internet users with data that is both personally identifiable and data that is not personally identifiable. The groups also urged the FTC to require Google to publicly present a plan to comply with well-established government and industry privacy standards, such as the OECD Privacy Guidelines. Pending the resolution of these and other issues, EPIC encouraged the FTC to halt the acquisition. The three groups filed a supplement to the complaint with the Commission in June and a second supplement in September. EPIC said that the Commission "had reason to act and authority to act, and failed to do so." EPIC pointed out that the Commission ignored similar assessments from leaders in Congress and consumer protection agencies. Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour stated, "If the Commission closes its investigation at this time, without imposing any conditions on the merger, neither the competition nor the privacy interests of consumers will have been adequately addressed." Commissioner Jonathan Leibowitz, in a concurring opinion, warned that "industry participants must stop being coy and start being more forthcoming about their practices, the consumer information they collect, and how they use it" and recommended the adoption of opt-in for online services. EPIC said the FTC's decision "does not end the discussion about competition and privacy protection in the context of merger review. Consumers around the world will be impacted by the business practices of the combined entity, and the consequences will have to be addressed." Attention turns next to a hearing before the European Parliament on January 21. EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg has been invited to testify. Federal Trade Commission, 4-1 Opinion Approving the Google-DoubleClick Proposed Merger (December 21, 2007) (pdf): http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0710170/071220statement.pdf Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour, Dissent from FTC Opinion Approving the Google-DoubleClick Proposed Merger (December 21, 2007) (pdf): http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0710170/071220harbour.pdf Marc Rotenberg, EPIC, Statement in Response to FTC Opinion Approving the Google-DoubleClick Proposed Merger (December 21, 2007) (pdf): http://epic.org/privacy/ftc/google/EPIC_statement122007.pdf Senators Herb Kohl and Orrin Hatch, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Letter urging FTC to give "serious scrutiny" to privacy and antitrust aspects of proposed Google-DoubleClick merger (November 19, 2007) (pdf): http://www.epic.org/privacy/ftc/google/sen_anti_111907.pdf European Commission Directorate on Competition, Press Release, Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into Google's proposed take over of DoubleClick (November 13, 2007): http://www.epic.org/redirect/ec_release2.html EPIC's page on Privacy? Proposed Google/DoubleClick Deal: http://www.epic.org/privacy/ftc/google/ ======================================================================== -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Sat Jan 12 13:58:40 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Sat Jan 12 13:58:49 2008 Subject: [LINK] Strange auto response from Tony Abbott Message-ID: Linkers I've just received an emil which purports to be an auto response from an email I sent to Tony Abbott. I've never sent him an email. My first thought was that somebody was faking my address but now I wonder if it's something else. The email source looks unexceptional - > Return-Path: > X-Original-To: tony@tony-barry.emu.id.au > Delivered-To: tony@tony-barry.emu.id.au > Received: from roll.feedback3.com (mailserver.datasearch.com.au > [202.174.107.70]) > by tony-barry.emu.id.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id BBE4A213C02 > for ; Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:48:02 +1100 > (EST) > To: > Precedence: bulk > Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:47:59 +1000 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > From: tony@tonyabbott.com.au > Subject: [AUTORESPONSE] - Automatic Mailbox Response > Reply-To: > Message-Id: <20080112004802.BBE4A213C02@tony-barry.emu.id.au> > Status: > > Thank you for contacting Tony Abbott MHR. > > Please be aware that emails received without full contact details > may not receive further acknowledgement. If you have omitted to > include your name, residential address and telephone number, please > resend your email with these details. > > The Federal seat of Warringah (which Tony Abbott represents) > extends from Mosman Bay in the south to Dee Why in the north and > Garigal National Park in the west. > > You are invited to visit www.tonyabbott.com.au This site provides > general information, media releases, articles and speeches. More > detailed information on health and ageing can be obtained from > www.health.gov.au Additionally the Parliament of Australia website > provides information on processes of government www.aph.gov.au > > Again, thank you for contacting Tony Abbott. Parts of the site however seems to be frozen in time from before the elections containing the contact details - > > The Hon Tony Abbott MHR > Federal Member for Warringah > Minister for Health and Ageing > Leader of the House of Representatives > > If you live outside Warringah contact details can be obtained from > the following website: www.health.gov.au His APH page links to the site so I guess it's his site. Anybody shed any light on this? At a first guess I think the site hasn't been updated and stick to my original guess relating to the email. Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sat Jan 12 14:11:57 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sat Jan 12 14:12:12 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? Message-ID: A report in The Canberra Times on Sat 12 Jan 08 says: There will be 17 House of Reps Committees in the new federal Parliament. Whether private members' business is permitted to be discussed by a Committee will be decided by the two chief whips. [Ah, the byways of parliamentary democracy.] "The new Petitions Committee, consisting of 10 members of Parliament (six Government and four Opposition members [so much for the Senate cross-benches]), will receive and consider petitions lodged and report on appropriate action", [Leader of the House] Mr Albanese said. [Boy, what a sinecure the chairmanship of *that* Committee will be! Now, who in the Reps missed out on position in the Ministry?] Of some interest to link, however: "The committee will also consider moving to electronic petitions, as the [British] Government has done", he said. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/terms http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page11051.asp http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6354735.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6353353.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/mar/08/epublic.egovernment http://itc.napier.ac.uk/ITC/researchThemes.asp?Theme=14&#ID14 -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From brd at iimetro.com.au Sat Jan 12 14:57:44 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Sat Jan 12 14:58:10 2008 Subject: [LINK] Strange auto response from Tony Abbott In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <47883AB8.5090107@iimetro.com.au> When he stopped being the minister for health and ageing, he probably lost the MoP(S) staffer who managed his web site. Maybe there's nobody left who knows how to maintain it. The site looks genuine enough, I live about 800 metres outside his electorate. I'm in Mackellor - I have Bronwyn Bishop to represent me. My guess is that a combination of Christmas and a change in government has left much of the Australian political internet out of whack with reality. Antony Barry wrote: > Linkers > > I've just received an emil which purports to be an auto response from > an email I sent to Tony Abbott. I've never sent him an email. My first > thought was that somebody was faking my address but now I wonder if > it's something else. > > The email source looks unexceptional - > >> Return-Path: >> X-Original-To: tony@tony-barry.emu.id.au >> Delivered-To: tony@tony-barry.emu.id.au >> Received: from roll.feedback3.com (mailserver.datasearch.com.au >> [202.174.107.70]) >> by tony-barry.emu.id.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id BBE4A213C02 >> for ; Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:48:02 +1100 >> (EST) >> To: >> Precedence: bulk >> Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:47:59 +1000 >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 >> From: tony@tonyabbott.com.au >> Subject: [AUTORESPONSE] - Automatic Mailbox Response >> Reply-To: >> Message-Id: <20080112004802.BBE4A213C02@tony-barry.emu.id.au> >> Status: >> >> Thank you for contacting Tony Abbott MHR. >> >> Please be aware that emails received without full contact details may >> not receive further acknowledgement. If you have omitted to include >> your name, residential address and telephone number, please resend >> your email with these details. >> >> The Federal seat of Warringah (which Tony Abbott represents) extends >> from Mosman Bay in the south to Dee Why in the north and Garigal >> National Park in the west. >> >> You are invited to visit www.tonyabbott.com.au This site provides >> general information, media releases, articles and speeches. More >> detailed information on health and ageing can be obtained from >> www.health.gov.au Additionally the Parliament of Australia website >> provides information on processes of government www.aph.gov.au >> >> Again, thank you for contacting Tony Abbott. > > > > > Parts of the site however seems to be frozen in > time from before the elections containing the contact details - > >> >> The Hon Tony Abbott MHR >> Federal Member for Warringah >> Minister for Health and Ageing >> Leader of the House of Representatives >> >> If you live outside Warringah contact details can be obtained from >> the following website: www.health.gov.au > > > > His APH page > links to the site so I guess it's his site. > > Anybody shed any light on this? At a first guess I think the site > hasn't been updated and stick to my original guess relating to the email. > > Tony > > phone : 02 6241 7659 > mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| > mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ > or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% > http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ > Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore > > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Sat Jan 12 16:26:51 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Jan 12 16:34:24 2008 Subject: [LINK] Digital TV, live in the clouds, you may not see it Message-ID: <6hhft4$kahbi@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/digital-tv-could-see-viewers-left-in-the-dark/2008/01/11/1199988590074.html Digital TV could see viewers left in the dark Daniel Ziffer January 12, 2008 TELEVISIONS across Australia could go dead in two years as analog signals are switched off, with thousands of homes unable to pick up the new digital system. A study has found that many apartment buildings that dominate the inner suburbs are unable to receive digital signals as the December 2009 date looms when the Government wants to switch off the old analog system in cities. The world's tallest residential tower, the Q1 building on the Gold Coast, is just one complex where residents cannot receive digital television. The chief executive of commercial television industry body Free TV, Julie Flynn, said the problem was extensive, but not insurmountable. "Switch-over is going to be a complex task," she said. "There will be some places ? like the Gold Coast and the inner-city regions ? where it will be a significant issue." A pilot study on the Gold Coast for the government body Digital Broadcast Australia found a third of apartment buildings required an upgrade costing $10,000 to $20,000 to pick up the signal. The lengthy approval process with bodies corporate and a lack of appropriate technicians were also looming issues, the report said. "There is always the risk of additional demand not being met by the installation industry as the switch-over date draws closer," it said. Last month, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the switch-over would be completed by the end of 2013. "Until now, industry has had no declared end date and has been unable to plan effectively for digital television," he said in a statement. The Government also extended the starting date for digital-only transmission in metropolitan markets by a year. The planned December 2008 date "is clearly an impossible date for both viewers and industry", he said. "(We have) inherited a digital take-up rate of approximately 30% and will now work with industry to ensure that all Australians are prepared for digital television." Yesterday, Mr Conroy said the ability of people in multi-unit dwellings to pick up digital signals was a critical issue to be examined by a taskforce reporting to him. He said the December 2009 date for ending the metropolitan analog signal could be affected by the taskforce's report. The managing director of Loewe TV Australasia, Alex Encel, said the minister's words were "just another vague statement, just like the previous government". Mr Encel, who sells high-end digital TV sets, said broadcasters lacked the commercial benefit to justify the investment in digital. [JW: now that the stations are using the HD channels for more programming, the uptake may increase. The cost of HD boxes is also dropping. Aldi had a unit a couple weeks ago for $90] Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From brd at iimetro.com.au Sat Jan 12 16:35:29 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Sat Jan 12 16:35:51 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system Message-ID: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> Contract signed for national health ID system ABC News http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/12/2137148.htm The Federal Government says a new national healthcare identifier service is one step closer, after a contract was signed to develop and test the scheme. The service is designed to improve the transfer of patient information between health providers. It will identify a person's name, date of birth, address and the names of their practitioners, and is the first step towards establishing a shared electronic health records system. The $51 billion contract between Medicare and the National E-Health Transition Authority will take around two years to implement. Federal Minister for Human Services, Joe Ludwig, says it is not an access card and people can decide whether or not they want to be part of the service. "Privacy is a great concern to Australians, particularly in relation to the collection and handling of personal health information. A new regulatory framework would be required," he said. "This system would be built over approximately two years or thereabouts and it has been developed in consultation with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner." Senator Ludwig says the program will potentially save lives. "One of the challenges out there is actually health care providers transferring information confidently to another health care provider so that they can provide services," he said. "At the moment, there is a range of electronic paper based systems and there is the potential for those things to get confused, or in fact lost in the system." -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From swilson at lockstep.com.au Sat Jan 12 17:24:49 2008 From: swilson at lockstep.com.au (Stephen Wilson) Date: Sat Jan 12 17:25:06 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system In-Reply-To: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> References: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> Holy innumeracy! A "$51 billion contract" would match the annual expenditure of the entire Australian health sector. Reminds me of a story told by an astronomy lecturer. After telling the fate of our solar system, a student asked for clarification: "Excuse me, how long did you say till the Sun expires?". The lecturer repeated the figure, something like four billion years. To which the student responded, "Oh Phew! I thought you said MILLION years!". Cheers, Steve. Stephen Wilson Managing Director Lockstep Phone +61 (0)414 488 851 www.lockstep.com.au ------------------- * Lockstep Technologies: ICT Secrets of Innovation Finalist 2007 * Lockstep Technologies: Anthill / PwC Cool Company Finalist 2007 ------------------- Lockstep Consulting provides independent specialist advice and analysis on authentication, PKI and smartcards. Lockstep Technologies develops unique new smart ID solutions that safeguard identity and privacy. Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > Contract signed for national health ID system > ABC News > http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/12/2137148.htm > > The Federal Government says a new national healthcare identifier service > is one step closer, after a contract was signed to develop and test the > scheme. > > The service is designed to improve the transfer of patient information > between health providers. > > It will identify a person's name, date of birth, address and the names > of their practitioners, and is the first step towards establishing a > shared electronic health records system. > > The $51 billion contract between Medicare and the National E-Health > Transition Authority will take around two years to implement. > > Federal Minister for Human Services, Joe Ludwig, says it is not an > access card and people can decide whether or not they want to be part of > the service. > > "Privacy is a great concern to Australians, particularly in relation to > the collection and handling of personal health information. A new > regulatory framework would be required," he said. > > "This system would be built over approximately two years or thereabouts > and it has been developed in consultation with the Office of the Privacy > Commissioner." > > Senator Ludwig says the program will potentially save lives. > > "One of the challenges out there is actually health care providers > transferring information confidently to another health care provider so > that they can provide services," he said. > > "At the moment, there is a range of electronic paper based systems and > there is the potential for those things to get confused, or in fact lost > in the system." From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sat Jan 12 17:25:01 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Jan 12 17:29:23 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <47885B4B.6070005@umd.com.au> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <478436DE.9040809@optusnet.com.au> <6hhft4$ifsai@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> <47885B4B.6070005@umd.com.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$kb04v@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 05:16 PM 12/01/2008, Geoffrey Ramadan wrote: >Jan > >I don't understand the concern. > >The ARA privacy code states that Retailers must "provide details of >retention, use and security of the specific data", so if they do >Data Mine then they must advise the consumer. > >Also products are already barcode scanned, so the product is already >identified. This "issue" of "data mining" is not "enhanced" in >anyway because of RFID. > >Reg >Geoffrey Ramadan B.E.(Elec) >Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Association (www.adca.com.au) >and >Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) The concern is what is stored and that it not be used for data mining. I was told in meetings during the deliberations that there was first a law, then it was described as a rule, then as a "guideline" that is between the retailers and the credit card companies to not go snooping and profiling. The level of compliance seemed to be more and more watered down the harder I pushed for substantiation of the claim. I am asking that the evidence be presented if it exists at all, even as a guideline. Providing details about how the [Oh, boy, I'm tempted to put a really seedy example here, but I'll refrain] thief is going to pick your pocket before he does it is not exactly comforting. Just because something is already barcode scanned, doesn't mean that privacy protection should not be extended, does it? Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sat Jan 12 18:55:29 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Jan 12 18:59:32 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system In-Reply-To: <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> References: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$kbj4t@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Looks like someone else saw that problem. As of now, the text on the link is: It will identify a person's name, date of birth, address and the names of their practitioners, and is the first step towards establishing a shared electronic health records system. The contract between Medicare and the National E-Health Transition Authority will take around two years to implement. [note the missing numbers] At 05:24 PM 12/01/2008, Stephen Wilson wrote: >Holy innumeracy! > >A "$51 billion contract" would match the annual expenditure of the >entire Australian health sector. > >Reminds me of a story told by an astronomy lecturer. After telling >the fate of our solar system, a student asked for clarification: >"Excuse me, how long did you say till the Sun expires?". The >lecturer repeated the figure, something like four billion years. To >which the student responded, "Oh Phew! I thought you said MILLION years!". > >Cheers, > >Steve. > > >Stephen Wilson >Managing Director >Lockstep > >Phone +61 (0)414 488 851 > >www.lockstep.com.au >------------------- > * Lockstep Technologies: ICT Secrets of Innovation Finalist 2007 > * Lockstep Technologies: Anthill / PwC Cool Company Finalist 2007 >------------------- >Lockstep Consulting provides independent specialist advice and analysis >on authentication, PKI and smartcards. Lockstep Technologies develops >unique new smart ID solutions that safeguard identity and privacy. > > >Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: >>Contract signed for national health ID system >>ABC News >>http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/12/2137148.htm >>The Federal Government says a new national healthcare identifier >>service is one step closer, after a contract was signed to develop >>and test the scheme. >>The service is designed to improve the transfer of patient >>information between health providers. >>It will identify a person's name, date of birth, address and the >>names of their practitioners, and is the first step towards >>establishing a shared electronic health records system. >>The $51 billion contract between Medicare and the National E-Health >>Transition Authority will take around two years to implement. >>Federal Minister for Human Services, Joe Ludwig, says it is not an >>access card and people can decide whether or not they want to be >>part of the service. >>"Privacy is a great concern to Australians, particularly in >>relation to the collection and handling of personal health >>information. A new regulatory framework would be required," he said. >>"This system would be built over approximately two years or >>thereabouts and it has been developed in consultation with the >>Office of the Privacy Commissioner." >>Senator Ludwig says the program will potentially save lives. >>"One of the challenges out there is actually health care providers >>transferring information confidently to another health care >>provider so that they can provide services," he said. >>"At the moment, there is a range of electronic paper based systems >>and there is the potential for those things to get confused, or in >>fact lost in the system." > > >_______________________________________________ >Link mailing list >Link@mailman.anu.edu.au >http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From gramadan at umd.com.au Sat Jan 12 17:16:43 2008 From: gramadan at umd.com.au (Geoffrey Ramadan) Date: Sat Jan 12 20:33:30 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$ifsai@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <478436DE.9040809@optusnet.com.au> <6hhft4$ifsai@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <47885B4B.6070005@umd.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > At 01:52 PM 9/01/2008, Brendan Scott wrote: >> > Perhaps it has reached the point where the surveillance is so >> widespread >> > that there is not point trying to regulate it at source, and it is the >> > use to which the data is put which we need to concentrate on. >> >> Wouldn't it be likely that consumer RFID detectors/destroyers would >> be manufactured over time? > > I served on the privacy code for retail RFID use last year and before. > I've been waiting for nearly 12 MONTHS for the president of the > Australian Retailers Association, Michael Lonie, to send me the > documentation that requires that data collected at point of purchase > may not be data mined. He has yet to provide that information. I've > refrained from making this public until now, but this point about > extended uses and how the consumer might protect themselves provides a > relevancy to share that information. > > I've copied him and other key members of the panel on this message, > perhaps to shame him into meeting his on-going, yet unfulfilled, > commitment to show me, in writing, as was said my him multiple times > exists. I've been told there is a law, a rule, and the last a > 'guideline'. I am yet to see any of that, even the unenforceable > guideline. > > Time to put up or strengthen the code, Michael. The cat is out of the > bag. > > The recently approved code that is under the management of that same > Australian Retailers Association can be found at: > http://www.ara.com.au/765.html > > > Jan > consumer volunteer representing CHOICE on the panel Jan I don't understand the concern. The ARA privacy code states that Retailers must "provide details of retention, use and security of the specific data", so if they do Data Mine then they must advise the consumer. Also products are already barcode scanned, so the product is already identified. This "issue" of "data mining" is not "enhanced" in anyway because of RFID. Reg Geoffrey Ramadan B.E.(Elec) Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Association (www.adca.com.au) and Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) From stephen at melbpc.org.au Thu Jan 10 18:50:01 2008 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sat Jan 12 20:34:25 2008 Subject: [LINK] ACEC Annual Conference Message-ID: <20080110075001.313EB17507@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Australian Council for Computers in Education Annual Conference (ACEC08) Canberra: 29th September - 2nd October * Extension of Time for Refereed Paper Abstracts * Abstracts for Refereed Papers are now due by January 14, 2008. Final papers are then due by February 29, 2008. Don't miss out! Be part of the Digital Education Revolution at ACEC'08. -- Marg forwards .. > From: Ian Webb [ian.webb@ozemail.com.au] > Sent: Wednesday, 9 January 2008 12:00 PM > Subject: ACEC'08 Update Dear Colleague Welcome to the new year. I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season. The conference committee is working hard to make ACEC'08 the most exciting and professionally rewarding conference yet. Apologies for any cross postings of this email. Keynote Speakers The conference organising committee are pleased to announce the following as keynote speakers. The third keynote will be notified in the near future. Keith Krueger Keith is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN-www.cosn.org), a national nonprofit organisation based in Washington DC that serves as the voice of K-12 technology leaders .. Liz Murphy Liz is an Australian based reporter, editor, producer and researcher http://researchandmedia.ning.com/profile/lmurphy. She works as a private consultant with a focus on global web-based communications producing live online global events, streaming real time audio, video and presentation material with presenters discussing topics/issues and interacting with audiences across the globe. As well Liz designs and produces media rich websites, sets up online radio stations and develops online exhibitions. Dates for Submission of Presentation Abstracts/Proposals Many thanks for those who have already submitted abstracts/proposals for presentations. A reminder of the submission timetable: January 14 - due date for the submission of refereed paper abstracts February 29 - due date for full papers (both refereed and non-refereed), due date for proposals for workshops, panels and symposia March 31 - due date for poster session proposals Conference Registration Brochure The conference registration brochure will be available from the end of January. It will be posted on the website for downloading and emailed out to all who have registered interest in ACEC'08. For further information about ACEC'08 visit the conference website at or email: enquiries@acec2008.info Ian Webb On behalf of the ACEC'08 Organising Committee -- Cheers ACEC 08 Stephen Loosley Member, Victorian Institute of Teaching From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Sun Jan 13 09:08:41 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Sun Jan 13 09:09:33 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote on 11/1/08 10:37 AM: > > I work in a world of large scale, complex, enterprise systems used by > organisations such as government departments, airlines, banks, > insurance companies etc. > > Such environments are often divided up, somewhat arbitrarily, into a > number of "disciplines". These include: > > Business System Analysis and Design > Application Development > Application Maintenance and Support > Networks > Operations > Security > Back-up > Disaster Recovery > Management This discussion is a vignette of what's missing in I.T. The professional basics are missing and they aren't being addressed. After 50-60 years of commercial computing I.T. lacks: - a taxonomy of disciplines, roles and job. - any way to rate the on-going competence of practitioners - any way to rate the 'degree of difficulty' of tasks - ways to describe complexity, scale, entropy of systems - ways to assess & track practitioner output & work quality - global reporting of projects statistics Most importantly, I.T. fails this part of a definition of a Profession: Known errors can't be repeated without consequence. We, as a profession, can't answer the most important and basic questions for our customers: - can this person *do* this piece of work - what is a reasonable amount of time to finish the task - what are the quality measures for the task and are the achievable Illustrations: - How good are Danny, Roger, Tom, Bernard & Alastair at their jobs? - Just *what* are their roles and areas of expertise? - How do their professional competencies differ? - How would you choose between them for a role? In Aviation, these questions are all answered. Pilots choose who can be pilots. Pilots are uniformly tested and rated, frequently. There are professional consequences for poor performance. Choosing who gets to fly in what role & be responsible for lives is taken very seriously. And errors, incidents & failures are reported & carefully examined - even when not life threatening. People who hire in Aviation have confidence the system will deliver them competent, safe professionals. Recent graduates don't get to drive $200M aircraft. Practice, training and testing are a given and constant. > > > However, In my defence I would point to the many large IT projects > that end up as failures and suggest that there is more than a grain of > truth in all this. > Even what you'd think was trivial - reporting minimal outcome data on hundreds of $-billions spent on IT projects - is not only completely missing, its necessity & importance seems to escape the regulators, educators and professional bodies. While entertaining, this thread is most interesting from what is missing in the discussion. There is no basis for objective discussion, only "he said, she said" back and forth. There aren't any reliable history or records [Gates *did* learn BASIC as a first language at the school terminal] There isn't even an good understanding of the broadest of terms: Software Engineering and Computer Science. As for Java/ADA vs anything: Show us the numbers/proof if you dispute the claims in the article. Don't make more assertions. -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au Sun Jan 13 09:46:30 2008 From: danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au (Danny Yee) Date: Sun Jan 13 09:46:41 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> steve jenkin wrote: > As for Java/ADA vs anything: > Show us the numbers/proof if you dispute the claims in the > article. > Don't make more assertions. About which I wrote: | This is just some Ada people pushing Ada. The fact that the authors are "Ada people" seems uncontrovertible, since their affiliation is given as a company called "AdaCore". It's hard to argue with their claims that there's something special about Ada, since they provide no evidence for them at all. They simply assert | "Ada is the language of software engineering par excellence. | Even when it is not the language of instruction in programming | courses, it is the language chosen to teach courses in | software engineering." The second sentence here is manifestly false, since there are many, many software engineering courses which use languages other than Ada. As for the complaints about Java, they seem to me to be complaints about how it is taught rather than anything language specific. You can overemphasize graphical interfaces and the use of toolkit libraries with any language. Danny. --------------------------------------------------------- http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog --------------------------------------------------------- From stil at stilgherrian.com Sun Jan 13 10:14:27 2008 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Sun Jan 13 10:14:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] FTC Allows Google-DoubleClick Merger Without Conditions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 12/1/08 1:52 PM, "Roger Clarke" wrote: > The Federal Trade Commission approved the proposed merger between Google > and DoubleClick without conditions [snip] Not quite the creation of the Googlezon as predicted in the short film "Epic 2014" (no relation), but hey there's still time. The original "Epic 2014" and the updated "Epic 2015" are available at http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/ ... enjoy! Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sun Jan 13 10:36:40 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sun Jan 13 12:16:15 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clth Dept Archival Message-ID: We hand out the brickbats often enough. Here's a bouquet. DCITA is now DBCDE (or BCDE, or BroCaDE, or something). The new Government's approach will differ significantly from the previous Government's, some of it spin, but some of it definitely substance. I went looking for a particular document published under the old regime, and found it (quickly) here: http://archive.dcita.gov.au/2007/12/broadband_blueprint The home-page explains: http://archive.dcita.gov.au/ I wonder if there's an AGIMO or NAA or NLA guidance note that the DCITA archival approach is compliant with. If not, maybe we should write one! [Aside: This further implies that government domain-name management principles need to include recognition of the importance of defunct names. In some cases that's tricky, e.g. DEWR was not that long ago Employment and Workplace Relations, but is now Environment and Water Resources.] [Declaration (because this posting could easily sound like buttering-up): I've had quite a few dealings with this part of DCITA/BCDE over the years; but they haven't been a client for quite some time, and I'm not currently making any plays for work there.] -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From lucychili at gmail.com Sun Jan 13 12:33:29 2008 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Sun Jan 13 12:33:39 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: It might be that the engineers of tomorrow are living in: - houses which are less likely to have a backyard and a shed for applied inquisitiveness - an education system which uses insurance/risk as a scoping metric for what is possible - an education system which is optimised for measurable en masse results - an education system which has little time, resources, funding, support staff for non standard teachers or students - an education system which is sorted by age - a society/economy which frequently purchases technology solutions which have restrictions on inspection or modification - a society/economy which values control of existing inventions over access to participation for new inventors - a society/economy which retail space would be far more extensive and accessible than public community spaces workshops - a society/economy/education where technology is described in terms of being a choice of (suites of) products rather than as an underlying question of people, information, power, substance. It feels like we are optimised as a culture of consumers. This configuration ensures that there is a maximum opportunity for us to spend into the global economy, but there are spatial, legal, logistical, social, assumptions built in which increase barriers to participation. What kinds of space, time, constructive risk, legal opportunity to participate, cross generational collaboration, mess, mistakes and questions would provide a stronger habitat for Australian invention and make culture? Where are the software engineers of tomorrow? Perhaps shopping for clues? What other ways to find/make clues are there? Janet From avi.miller at squiz.net Sun Jan 13 12:34:47 2008 From: avi.miller at squiz.net (Avi Miller) Date: Sun Jan 13 12:34:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] Clth Dept Archival In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 13/01/2008, at 10:36 AM, Roger Clarke wrote: > I wonder if there's an AGIMO or NAA or NLA guidance note that the > DCITA archival approach is compliant with. If not, maybe we should > write one! While you're handing things out, another reminder that DCITA were one of the first federal agencies to shift to an Open Source web presence. They've been running MySource Matrix on Apache/PHP/PostgreSQL for at least two years now. cYa, Avi -- MySource Matrix Product Evangelist < Sydney / Melbourne / Canberra / Hobart / London /> 2/340 Gore Street T: +61 (0) 3 9235 5400 Fitzroy, VIC F: +61 (0) 3 9235 5444 3202 W: http://www.squiz.net/ .....>> Open Source - Own it - Squiz.net ...../> From danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au Sun Jan 13 13:02:56 2008 From: danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au (Danny Yee) Date: Sun Jan 13 13:03:09 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <20080113020256.GA31047@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Steve Jenkin writes: > After 50-60 years of commercial computing I.T. lacks: > - a taxonomy of disciplines, roles and job. > - any way to rate the on-going competence of practitioners > - any way to rate the 'degree of difficulty' of tasks > - ways to describe complexity, scale, entropy of systems > - ways to assess & track practitioner output & work quality > - global reporting of projects statistics All of this is true about plumbing and plumbers, or about teaching and teachers, and probably about most professions. I suspect that airline pilots are an extreme case here here. Danny. --------------------------------------------------------- http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog --------------------------------------------------------- From grove at zeta.org.au Sun Jan 13 14:05:21 2008 From: grove at zeta.org.au (grove@zeta.org.au) Date: Sun Jan 13 14:05:33 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: On Sun, 13 Jan 2008, Janet Hawtin wrote: > It feels like we are optimised as a culture of consumers. I think you're right. And things like DMCA do not help. The "hacker mentality" is now readily equated with terrorism. Chemistry sets are now sold so as to be practically inoccuous as possible. Hacking a modern car engine is not the same due to use of sealed electronic modules and most of it being "on a chip". Why bother building it when you can get a ready made Shenzen special from Bunnings or whereever? Everything is slowly being reduced to a commodity. And if it doesn't support some sort of "standard" then it is not allowed to be marketed or is strictly regulated. I see Dick Smith shops as a good example of this. They used to be full of electronic bits and you put most of your things together as a hobby, which might later lead to a skill set that took you into a trade or career. Now it's a shop full of USB coffee warmers with the electronic bits a stub of it's former glory. The skills are now only out there in a few die hard 20 year olds who are sill enough to have a crazy hobby and the rest resides in people who are now over 40 and gradually retiring. Let's look at a 17 minute movie that sort of sums it up for me - who can honestly say they know someone who has at least 2 of the skills shown, let alone the whole set: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/01/make_your_own_vaccum_tube.html rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia grove@zeta.org.au http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html The price of greatness is responsibility. From swilson at lockstep.com.au Sun Jan 13 14:19:15 2008 From: swilson at lockstep.com.au (Stephen Wilson) Date: Sun Jan 13 14:19:47 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> Message-ID: <47898333.1070106@lockstep.com.au> I'm an ex software guy.* The software-engineering-as-a-profession debate is decades old. I find it fascinating that the debate continues almost completely untouched by each generation's innovations in production: high level languages, object orientation etc. Most of us in the 90s thought that re-use and enforced modularity would introduce to software some of the hallmarks of real engineering -- predictability, repeatability, measurability etc. Yet it seems that many of the human traits of software-as-a-craft remain with us. Moreover, I suspect that a deep problem is that the stuff of software is so very different from the stuff of other professions (soil, metals, electronics, flesh and blood, people, planes ...) that we might underestimate the challenge of forging a software profession. Two years ago I wrote a letter to Computer World about these matters, in response to a consultants' report at the time that IT projects (hence software development) needed a more corporate governance. Yup, like a hole in the head. The original letter follows (it was published with a light edit). ------------------------------ Yes indeed, IT is made the scapegoat for a great many project disasters (ComputerWorld 28 September 2005, page 1). But it may prove fruitless to force orthodox project management and corporate governance methodologies onto big IT projects. And at the same time, IT "professionals" are not entirely free of blame. So the KPMG Global IT Project Management Survey found that the vast majority of technology projects run over budget. In the main, "technology" means software, whether we build or buy. The "software crisis" ? the systemic inability to estimate software projects accurately and to deliver what's promised ? is about 40 years old. And it's more subtle than KPMG suggests in blaming corporate governance. It is fashionable at the moment to look to governance to rectify business problems but in this case, it really is a technology issue. Software project management truly is different from all other technical fields, for software does not obey the laws of nature. Building skyscrapers, tunnels, dams and bridges is relatively predictable. You start with site surveys and foundations, erect a sturdy framework, fill in the services, fit it out, and take away the scaffolding. Specifications don?t change much over a several year project, and the tools don't change at all. But with software, you can start a big project anywhere you like, and before the spec is signed off. Metaphorically speaking, the plumbing can go in before the framework. Hell, you don't even need a framework! Nothing physical holds a software system up. And software coding is fast and furious. In a single day, a programmer can create a system more complex than an airport that might take 10,000 person-years to build. So software development is fun. Let's be honest: it's why the majority of programmers chose their craft in the first place. Ironically it's the rapidity of programming that contributes the most to project overruns. We only use software in information systems because it's fast to write and easy to modify. So the temptation is irresistible to keep specs fluid and to change requirements at any time. Famously, the differences between prototype, "beta release" and product are marginal and arbitrary. Management and marketing take advantage of this fact, and unfortunately software engineers themselves yield too readily to the attraction of the last minute tweak. The same dynamics of course afflict third party software components. They tend to change too often and fail to meet expectations, making life hell for IT systems integrators. It won't be until software engineering develops the tools, standards and culture of a true profession that any of this will change. Then corporate governance will have something to govern in big technology projects. Meanwhile, programmers will remain more like playwrights than engineers, and just as manageable. ------------------------------ Cheers, Steve Wilson. * FOOTNOTE Before getting into PKI, I spent seven years developing and managing real time control software for implantable defibrillators -- technically very demanding, and obviously mission critical. We wrote our own multi-tasking operating system (easier to validate), wrote our own C compiler (so we could test it too), used a formal specification language (Z), formal design reviews and independent test teams, and undertook a line-by-line code inspection of the entire system (40,000 lines; the code inspection took six people two months). It was interesting and effective blend of modern tools, quality processes, individual skills, and brute force. Our demonstrated bug rate was less than one per 10,000 lines, by far the best in the world of real time software circa 1990. Lockstep www.lockstep.com.au ------------------- * Lockstep Technologies: ICT Secrets of Innovation Finalist 2007 * Lockstep Technologies: Anthill / PwC Cool Company Finalist 2007 ------------------- Lockstep Consulting provides independent specialist advice and analysis on authentication, PKI and smartcards. Lockstep Technologies develops unique new smart ID solutions that safeguard identity and privacy. From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sun Jan 13 14:15:58 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sun Jan 13 14:22:51 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$klpmf@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 12:33 PM 13/01/2008, Janet Hawtin wrote: >What kinds of space, time, constructive risk, legal opportunity to >participate, cross generational collaboration, mess, mistakes and >questions would provide a stronger habitat for Australian invention >and make culture? > >Where are the software engineers of tomorrow? Perhaps shopping for clues? >What other ways to find/make clues are there? I think you've hit on something here, Janet. Risk aversion [cotton wool upbringing, stranger danger, anti-septic everything], focus on near-perfect quality as the only acceptable outcome, and probably a few other 'value' changes, don't exactly make for experimentation. We live in a time of 'make a buck' pragmatism, at least it has been. People aren't expected to play, with ideas or tools or much of anything any more [your point about lack of sheds]. Australia, and at one time America as well, was a frontier country. Necessity was the mother of invention. Risk wasn't a choice. You risked or you died trying. Nowadays, there is this attitude that you go buy your solutions off the shelf at Bunnings or from your friendly outsourcer, throw away and buy a new widget if it doesn't work any more [cheaper solution that repair], and keep up to date with the Joneses even more quickly than in the past. Keeps the economy ticking over doncha know. Must keep buying. The productivity line we got in the last election was much about capacity building. But I'm not sure we have the pervasive value in the culture any more to do that. Where is the necessity bit again? How is that identified or created? how does the spark get lit? I know that's a long way from the issue of software engineers, but I think that specific area may just be a symptom of a much larger problem. Of course, I may be saying the same things others did 30 or 40 years ago. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Sun Jan 13 14:37:04 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Sun Jan 13 14:37:59 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <4789871B.6030308@canb.auug.org.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> <4789871B.6030308@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <47898760.6030009@canb.auug.org.au> > Danny Yee wrote on 13/1/08 9:46 AM: > > Danny, thanks for a good, insightful response. Don't not agree with > anything you've written. > >> It's hard to argue with their claims that there's something special >> about Ada, since they provide no evidence for them at all. They simply >> assert .... >> >> >> As for the complaints about Java, ... >> >> Danny. >> --------------------------------------------------------- >> http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews >> http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog >> --------------------------------------------------------- >> >> > But this is exactly my point, there is *no* proof! > > After 50-60 years of commercial computing, "IT" is still nowhere near a > 'Profession' because it doesn't collect even the simplest of information > about its paid, professional activities. > > Which is better - a diesel or a petrol engine? > > It all depends on the scale, the application, the context and the > application design. > But if there is no objective data, it all comes down to assertion. > > What I do know, but can only prove by anecdote, is that some, not all, > experienced practitioners have conducted their own experiments over > years and can accurately predict what works and what won't. > > Applying the CMM model to the IT 'Profession' as a whole, it comes out > as a 'Level 0' - doesn't even know the organisation is involved in the work. > > -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Sun Jan 13 14:53:31 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Sun Jan 13 14:53:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: <7188CC68-FD63-4CA1-A3E8-530B82E1AC07@tony-barry.emu.id.au> On 13/01/2008, at 2:05 PM, grove@zeta.org.au wrote: > Let's look at a 17 minute movie that sort of sums it up for me - > who can honestly say they know someone who has at least 2 of the > skills > shown, let alone the whole set: > > http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/01/ > make_your_own_vaccum_tube.html C'mon, As a kid I used to fix vacuum tube radios and later I used to work in a physics lab and design and build some of my own gear but even in the fifties nobody made their own triodes! There was too much cheap exWWII stuff on the market ;^) I think it's a skill you might need now though... Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Sun Jan 13 15:26:28 2008 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Sun Jan 13 15:27:26 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <20080113020256.GA31047@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080113020256.GA31047@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: <478992F4.5020004@canb.auug.org.au> Danny Yee wrote on 13/1/08 1:02 PM: > All of this is true about plumbing and plumbers, or about teaching > and teachers, and probably about most professions. I suspect that > airline pilots are an extreme case here here. > > Danny. > --------------------------------------------------------- > http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews > http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog > --------------------------------------------------------- > There are very few industries, plumbers included, that can actually give you any information on "the State of Practice". Even surgery, the branch of medicine where all activity & their outcomes are recorded, doesn't consolidate and mine the information available. It doesn't systematically assess practitioners nor report on its "State of Practice". See todays' "Background Briefing" by the author of "Complications - A Surgeon's notes on an imperfect science", Atul Gawande. His research has identified 3 factors necessary in providing great outcomes: - Diligence, Surveillance (metrics) and Ingenuity. Aviation appears to be an extreme (thanks - well spotted). Since WWII it has evolved systems to track and improve all its important metrics. The large bomber/fighter/transport fleets of WWII created the need for comprehensive Change & Release Management, as well as Reliability Engineering. Aviation is by far and away the best example about what can be achieved within an entire industry across multiple Professions. Since WWII Safety has improved, as has Flight Performance and Financial Performance. Catching a commercial flight is now routine and boring - but only because of an industry-wide culture of learning and improvement. This is provable by demonstration: - The safety of General Aviation has barely improved over the last 30-40 years. Private pilots don't embrace the culture. - Not all countries have the same high standards, but buy the same equipment. Viz: Indonesia Yes, Aviation is an *extreme* example. But shouldn't it be a example we, the IT industry, should aspire to? Isn't IT just as, or more, important to the global economy than Aviation? -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin From brd at iimetro.com.au Sun Jan 13 16:49:40 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Sun Jan 13 16:50:08 2008 Subject: [LINK] The 2007 Darwin Awards Message-ID: <4789A674.5030104@iimetro.com.au> http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007.html -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From swilson at lockstep.com.au Sun Jan 13 17:06:59 2008 From: swilson at lockstep.com.au (Stephen Wilson) Date: Sun Jan 13 17:07:37 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <478992F4.5020004@canb.auug.org.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080113020256.GA31047@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> <478992F4.5020004@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <4789AA83.80707@lockstep.com.au> steve jenkin wrote: > shouldn't [aviation] be a example we, the IT industry, should aspire to? > Isn't IT just as, or more, important to the global economy than Aviation? Aviation is also one of the most heavily regulated industries on earth. I remember a year or two when the ACS proposed enhancing the professionalism of the IT sector. The suggestions floated included an continuing education and a code of conduct. Pretty innocuous stuff, and way, way short of regulation. But the outcry from the grassroots IT community was virulent. There were many voices raised in opposition, and I don't recall if there was a dominant theme, but many people simply resented any imposition on the way they do their jobs [read, practise their craft]. So I don't like the chances of the IT sector at large embracing all that goes with industries like aviation. Cheers, Steve Wilson. Lockstep www.lockstep.com.au ------------------- * Lockstep Technologies: ICT Secrets of Innovation Finalist 2007 * Lockstep Technologies: Anthill / PwC Cool Company Finalist 2007 ------------------- Lockstep Consulting provides independent specialist advice and analysis on authentication, PKI and smartcards. Lockstep Technologies develops unique new smart ID solutions that safeguard identity and privacy. From dassa at dhs.org Sun Jan 13 17:26:40 2008 From: dassa at dhs.org (Darryl (Dassa) Lynch) Date: Sun Jan 13 17:26:54 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <4789AA83.80707@lockstep.com.au> Message-ID: <200801130626.m0D6QgDc032727@relay01.ispone.net.au> link-bounces@anumail0.anu.edu.au wrote: || steve jenkin wrote: || ||| shouldn't [aviation] be a example we, the IT industry, should ||| aspire to? Isn't IT just as, or more, important to the global ||| economy than Aviation? || || Aviation is also one of the most heavily regulated || industries on earth. || || I remember a year or two when the ACS proposed enhancing the || professionalism of the IT sector. The suggestions floated || included an continuing education and a code of conduct. || Pretty innocuous stuff, and way, way short of regulation. || But the outcry from the grassroots IT community was || virulent. There were many voices raised in opposition, and || I don't recall if there was a dominant theme, but many || people simply resented any imposition on the way they do || their jobs [read, practise their craft]. || || So I don't like the chances of the IT sector at large || embracing all that goes with industries like aviation. Some sectors of the IT industry have moved to a more professional stance. The System Administrators Guild of Australia has joined Professions Australia, http://www.professions.com.au/. Sage-Au abides by a code of conduct. SAGE-AU joins Professions Australia We're pleased to announce that SAGE-AU has been accepted for membership of Professions Australia. Professions Australia is a national organisation of professional associations. It advances and promotes professionalism for the benefit of the community. It does this by: * Complimenting and supporting its member associations * Communicating the benefits of professionalism and ethical practices * Providing the means for sharing information, ideas and experience among the professions * Developing and promoting policies on issues of interest to the professions * Providing government with reliable and objective advice on relevant issues * Supporting member associations in the promotion of professionalism. Darryl (Dassa) Lynch From gramadan at umd.com.au Sun Jan 13 18:16:47 2008 From: gramadan at umd.com.au (Geoffrey Ramadan) Date: Sun Jan 13 18:11:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$kb04v@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <478436DE.9040809@optusnet.com.au> <6hhft4$ifsai@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> <47885B4B.6070005@umd.com.au> <6hhft4$kb04v@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <4789BADF.3030003@umd.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > At 05:16 PM 12/01/2008, Geoffrey Ramadan wrote: >> Jan >> >> I don't understand the concern. >> >> The ARA privacy code states that Retailers must "provide details of >> retention, use and security of the specific data", so if they do Data >> Mine then they must advise the consumer. >> >> Also products are already barcode scanned, so the product is already >> identified. This "issue" of "data mining" is not "enhanced" in anyway >> because of RFID. >> >> Reg >> Geoffrey Ramadan B.E.(Elec) >> Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Association (www.adca.com.au) >> and >> Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) > > The concern is what is stored and that it not be used for data mining. > I was told in meetings during the deliberations that there was first a > law, then it was described as a rule, then as a "guideline" that is > between the retailers and the credit card companies to not go snooping > and profiling. The level of compliance seemed to be more and more > watered down the harder I pushed for substantiation of the claim. > > I am asking that the evidence be presented if it exists at all, even > as a guideline. > > Providing details about how the [Oh, boy, I'm tempted to put a really > seedy example here, but I'll refrain] thief is going to pick your > pocket before he does it is not exactly comforting. > > Just because something is already barcode scanned, doesn't mean that > privacy protection should not be extended, does it? My understanding is that the privacy laws are technology agnostic, so it equally applies to RFID, barcodes or any other technology. I have already assumed that privacy laws already apply to RFID application. I appreciate you may have concerns about data-mining, but this has nothing to do with RFID. The ARA guidelines ensure that Consumers are aware that products have embedded RFID tags, and that they can either remove or disable the RFID tag before the leave the shop which addresses you concern above. The EPC standard will be adopted for retail RFID item tagging. This only includes a unique product identification number and an optional serial number. (simply consider it as a serialised barcoded). There is no "other" information on the tag other than identifying the product. So I don't understand what they are going to data-mine? Retailers have the potential to data-mine now based on Loyalty Cards.. they don't need RFID. Reg Geoffrey Ramadan B.E.(Elec) Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Association (www.adca.com.au) and Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) From rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au Sun Jan 13 18:23:52 2008 From: rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au (Richard Chirgwin) Date: Sun Jan 13 18:24:07 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: <4789BC88.3000207@ozemail.com.au> grove@zeta.org.au wrote: > On Sun, 13 Jan 2008, Janet Hawtin wrote: > >> It feels like we are optimised as a culture of consumers. > > I think you're right. And things like DMCA do not help. The "hacker > mentality" is now readily equated with terrorism. > > Chemistry sets are now sold so as to be practically inoccuous as > possible. > Hacking a modern car engine is not the same due to use of sealed > electronic > modules and most of it being "on a chip". Rachel, ... hacking the car contravenes the DMCA in America ... and yes, the death of the chemistry set is saddening, And I've been hassled by council rangers for launching bottle rockets once. ("No, it's not going to damage the grass, it's powered by water." - this was before restrictions BTW). Nobody wants anybody to do anything that isn't sold pre-purchased. > > Why bother building it when you can get a ready made Shenzen special > from Bunnings or whereever? As someone who builds when I can, I will also observe that the Shenzen special discourages building stuff in two ways: 1) Good timber - my personal preference is reclaimed Spotted Gum - is more expensive than crap ^h^h^h^h chipboard kits. 2) You can either buy crap tools or you can't afford the tools. Try planing hardwood with anything currently sold in Bunnings ... the last plane let its handle go rather than actually cut the wood. > Everything is slowly being reduced to a commodity. And if it doesn't > support some sort of "standard" then it is not allowed to be marketed > or is strictly regulated. I like standards of some kind. I don't like standards that exists solely as job-protection schemes. But I have two steel rulers that don't agree with each other; and it took many purchases to get a woodworker's square that actually had 90 degree angles. > I see Dick Smith shops as a good example of this. They used to be full > of electronic bits and you put most of your things together as a hobby, > which might later lead to a skill set that took you into a trade or > career. Mercy for the survival of Jaycar! The York Street store, at least, still has a riot of components ... RC > > Now it's a shop full of USB coffee warmers with the electronic bits > a stub of it's former glory. > > The skills are now only out there in a few die hard 20 year olds who > are sill enough to have a crazy hobby and the rest resides in people > who are now over 40 and gradually retiring. > > Let's look at a 17 minute movie that sort of sums it up for me - who > can honestly say they know someone who has at least 2 of the skills > shown, let alone the whole set: > > http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/01/make_your_own_vaccum_tube.html > > rachel > From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Sun Jan 13 18:29:09 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Sun Jan 13 18:29:24 2008 Subject: [LINK] PHP, Perl and Python pass Homeland Security test Message-ID: <4DEF7ABD-F53D-4918-ABE5-200882D0EE7D@tony-barry.emu.id.au> PHP, Perl and Python pass Homeland Security test Coverity, which creates automated source-code analysis tools, announced late Monday its first list of open-source projects that have been certified as free of security defects. phone : 02 6241 7659 | mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au mobile: 04 1242 0397 | mailto:tony.barry@alianet.alia.org.au http://tony-barry.emu.id.au From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Sun Jan 13 18:32:47 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Sun Jan 13 18:32:57 2008 Subject: [LINK] Google, Facebook share data with Plaxo, LinkedIn Message-ID: <2BE8B5C2-C3A0-45ED-B991-26DA91D7A1B1@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Google, Facebook share data with Plaxo, LinkedIn Google and Facebook have signed up to an alliance, DataPortability, which aims to unify identity and data management across various social-networking platforms. phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From gdt at gdt.id.au Mon Jan 14 03:07:43 2008 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Mon Jan 14 03:09:37 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <1200240463.6171.144.camel@andromache> On Tue, 2008-01-08 at 22:48 +1100, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > As technology based systems become more complex, CS students seem to > becoming less widely educated, are focussed on the internet and less > able to understand the complexity of modern systems. Hi Bernard, Not sure I buy that. There's a lot of database-backed websites around and I'd contend that many of those are OLTP systems at heart. "You say CICS, I say Ruby on Rails." I do have my own doubts about the CompSci curriculum, but mine are focused on "new" subjects which should be taught rather than old subjects which have been de-emphasised. Topping that list would be security. Followed by real-time systems, computer networking and software development and operations practicalities (configuration control, system testing, release, etc). If I had my way, then students would take an industry placing and then, eyes opened, come back to learn project management, development methodologies, writing and some people skills. I'm not too worried about the CompSci degree. There is a lot of emphasis at the universities which have traditionally offered CS to retain its rigour. What does concern me is the lack of rigour in a lot of the "information technology" degrees. I'd contend that some of these were established as money makers for universities when IT was "hot". Having written that, I do despair of many of the graduates I encounter. Maybe networking is a bit of a niche, but it's a big niche. I seem to spend most of my time teaching stuff that people should already know and repairing design errors which should not have occurred. In common with most ISPs, we get the blame for any "network outage" no matter how shoddy a site's network. ------------------ ADDRESSING THE ARTICLE As to the use of Ada in teaching, been there, done that and it hurt badly. For a first language in a CompSci degree you want a ALGOL-heritage language with object oriented extensions. The choice from that long list comes down to instructional clarity versus commercial applicability; at the extremes Lua versus C++. Ada is simply a poor compromise. It's instructionally insanely verbose and unnecessarily complex and has no commercial applicability. No commercial applicability means that recruiting teaching staff is difficult, let alone those that know the language well. It is also unfair on students that are using the subject in another degree, since they don't end up learning a skill which can be put to use in their course. Ada's verbosity just gets in the way of teaching -- you simply can't have a small example in Ada -- and it's a killer for learning -- student's need to be obsessive about the requirements of the language leaving them no capacity to think on the skill we are trying to teach. Teaching Ada did make The University of Adelaide inclined to move to another language that could be used to express large and embedded systems. Which is why it chose another language with those design goals -- Java. The danger of Java is that students know the price of nothing. That's easily fixed the next semester by teaching the C language and Computer Architecture. Formal Methods. Hmmm. It has never lived up to its promise but it is expensive to teach, taking about 8 weeks. Although I'd like to see it stay, I think a CS course would still be acceptable without it. Numerical Analysis. I spent the first three years of my working life practising this. It was my job to make sure the cents part of the ABS's figures was correct. What a Computer Scientist needs to know about N.A you can teach in about four classes. If they need any more than that then you don't want a CompSci degree you want a Math degree. There is more math that a CompSci student should know and a "Math for CS" subject following Computer Architecture is a fine plan. N.A is important for some CS research. I tend to view the over-teaching of N.A at some institutions as lecturers teaching what they know rather than what their students need. At the risk of sounding like doing something similar, I'd drop a fair whack of statistics into the "Math for CS" subject, since as soon as you measure something knowing some stats is useful. Anyway, I've been a teaching casual in CompSci classes for two decades now whilst working and the above is the little I've learned :-( -- Glen Turner Tel: 0416 295 857 or +61 416 295 857 From mikal at stillhq.com Sun Jan 13 17:11:05 2008 From: mikal at stillhq.com (Michael Still) Date: Mon Jan 14 04:09:13 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080112224630.GA3001@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> Message-ID: <4789AB79.10400@stillhq.com> grove@zeta.org.au wrote: > On Sun, 13 Jan 2008, Janet Hawtin wrote: > >> It feels like we are optimised as a culture of consumers. I feel that way especially when governments talk about me that way. For example, why would reducing my mortgage bill cause me to go and immediately spend more at some retail chain? I feel sometimes like the government would rather I was a cow or something. > I think you're right. And things like DMCA do not help. The "hacker > mentality" is now readily equated with terrorism. > > Chemistry sets are now sold so as to be practically inoccuous as possible. > Hacking a modern car engine is not the same due to use of sealed electronic > modules and most of it being "on a chip". You're confusing two issues here me thinks. Chemistry set changes == war on terror gone wrong. Car complexity == understandable progress. The car manufacturers didn't change the implementation of engine management to annoy you -- they did it to make a better engine. Oh, and you can buy debug cables for most of them online that let you plug in like a service person would. Mikal From cas at taz.net.au Mon Jan 14 10:06:20 2008 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Mon Jan 14 10:06:28 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system In-Reply-To: <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> References: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> Message-ID: <20080113230620.GB6828@taz.net.au> On Sat, Jan 12, 2008 at 05:24:49PM +1100, Stephen Wilson wrote: > Holy innumeracy! > > A "$51 billion contract" would match the annual expenditure of the entire > Australian health sector. yes, well, stuff like that shouldn't surprise anyone. e.g the vic govt is replacing the current public transport ticketing system with a new smart card system, at a cost of $500M - half a billion dollars! and the only "advantage" it has over the existing tickets is that it allows them to track who travelled where, and when and how often (and, by inference, who with). in theory, it will eventually allow travellers to also purchase other items with the card. YASIC - Yet Another Stealth Identity Card. and, of course, it's another opportunity for corporate welfare. which is why we pay taxes, after all. obviously, it has never occurred to anyone in govt that there are much better things to spend half a billion dollars on, even without looking outside the public transport system. craig -- craig sanders BOFH excuse #270: Someone has messed up the kernel pointers From linda at databasics.com.au Mon Jan 14 11:09:48 2008 From: linda at databasics.com.au (Linda Rouse) Date: Mon Jan 14 11:09:53 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? Message-ID: Interesting article from Butler Group's TechWatch today. on decline of ICT in the UK. . . especially 3rd para that discusses the lack of business skills rather than the lack of software science and technology... hmm http://www.butlergroup.com/research/KCInterPages/%7B4C486CA4-F7AF-4D50-802F-C77CCDAF5D5E%7D.asp 'The Council of Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC) represents and promotes the teaching of computing science and ICT at university level in the UK. Earlier this year, it released a briefing note on the diminishing pipeline of UK graduates in these areas and the consequences for UK industry, which highlights what I believe to be a deeply worrying picture. Firstly, between 2001 and 2006 there was a 42% decrease in students beginning ICT courses, despite the fact that the number of ICT job vacancies indicates a strong level of demand. There are also few signs of an imminent improvement, with numbers of pupils studying ICT at GCSE and A-level also decreasing. One of CPHC's own studies indicated that of those who do graduate with an ICT degree, only 27% are in work in IT-professional roles, evenly split between supply-side roles in the IT industry and demand-side roles in user organisations, whilst 41% of all ICT graduates are in some form of IT-related work. Apart from the skills shortage itself, one of the background concerns raised by CPHC is that many of the places available, particularly when one reaches postgraduate level, are being taken up by overseas students, so that whilst we are helping to improve the expertise of competitors, the UK itself is starting to suffer badly. I am also concerned, however, about the focus of both undergraduate and postgraduate ICT courses: the majority of these still have an overwhelming computer science and technology focus. Don't get me wrong,I think it is vital to put the strong theoretical foundations in place, but as the emphasis within both supply-side and demand-side roles shifts towards technology management and exploitation, there needs to be much greater prominence given to the application of these skills in practical business scenarios. There are some encouraging signs here, with more institutions starting to offer courses in Computing for Business or similar titles.' regards Linda -- ================= Linda Rouse, Information Manager DataBasics Pty Limited Phone 1300 886 238 (bus.) Email linda@databasics.com.au Web http://www.databasics.com.au From gramadan at umd.com.au Mon Jan 14 11:24:10 2008 From: gramadan at umd.com.au (Geoffrey Ramadan) Date: Mon Jan 14 11:24:44 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system In-Reply-To: <20080113230620.GB6828@taz.net.au> References: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> <20080113230620.GB6828@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <478AABAA.5010308@umd.com.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Sat, Jan 12, 2008 at 05:24:49PM +1100, Stephen Wilson wrote: >> Holy innumeracy! >> >> A "$51 billion contract" would match the annual expenditure of the entire >> Australian health sector. > > yes, well, stuff like that shouldn't surprise anyone. > > e.g the vic govt is replacing the current public transport ticketing > system with a new smart card system, at a cost of $500M - half a billion > dollars! and the only "advantage" it has over the existing tickets is > that it allows them to track who travelled where, and when and how often > (and, by inference, who with). in theory, it will eventually allow > travellers to also purchase other items with the card. > > YASIC - Yet Another Stealth Identity Card. The new Victorian ticketing system is based on a MIFARE payment technology. It will use both paper based tickets and reloadable cards. It is an anonymous electronic payment system. There is no user identification and therefore nothing to link the card to the purchaser. However, I do understand you can optionally register the "Card ID" number, so in the case you loose your card, instead of loosing your "cash", you can transfer to the funds to a new card. Note that a number of banks will be introducing MIFARE based systems this year. Regards Geoffrey Ramadan, B.E.(Elec) Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Australia (www.adca.com.au) and Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) > > and, of course, it's another opportunity for corporate welfare. which > is why we pay taxes, after all. > > obviously, it has never occurred to anyone in govt that there are much > better things to spend half a billion dollars on, even without looking > outside the public transport system. > > craig > From rick at praxis.com.au Mon Jan 14 11:26:49 2008 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Mon Jan 14 11:27:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] PHP, Perl and Python pass Homeland Security test In-Reply-To: <4DEF7ABD-F53D-4918-ABE5-200882D0EE7D@tony-barry.emu.id.au> References: <4DEF7ABD-F53D-4918-ABE5-200882D0EE7D@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Message-ID: <478AAC49.80200@praxis.com.au> Antony Barry wrote: > PHP, Perl and Python pass Homeland Security test > Coverity, which creates automated source-code analysis tools, announced > late Monday its first list of open-source projects that have been > certified as free of security defects. > > Therein lies a grand sense of false security: "The certification was created so that companies can "select these open- source applications with even greater confidence," Coverity said." Erm .... yeah. So, no obvious buffer overflows were detected in PHP, for example, by an automated software scanner. Big deal. That does not make the software applications secure by any means. PHP, continuing the example, is one of the Internet's most commonly used languages for (often quick and dirty) websites. And it is one of the Internet's most insecure languages. Not because of what some automated scanner can find in its language processor. That is the least of our worries. It is insecure because it is difficult to write secure applications in the language. The same can be said for Perl and Python. Yup, great scripting tools when you keep them away from direct access by web monkeys. Once you start writing network-exposed applications that provide SQL services, URL parsing and passing and/or access to web app frameworks, bingo! A clever script kiddie can exploit SQL injection, cross-site scripting and more to exploit your application to do anything from send spam and distribute porn to actually shutdown the service. A google for " vulnerability" (both words required consecutively) turned up these results: PHP 11000 hits Perl 5170 hits Python 2070 hits And some examples of what can happen with PHP: "PHP contains code for intelligently parsing the headers of HTTP POST requests. The code is used to differentiate between variables and files sent by the user agent in a "multipart/form-data" request. This parser has insufficient input checking, leading to the vulnerability. ... This vulnerability may be exploited to compromise the web server and, under certain conditions, to gain privileged access." e.g. roll your HTTP request and get access to the server "Anyone with access to websites hosted on a web server which employs the CGI module may exploit this vulnerability to gain access to any file readable by the user under which the webserver runs." e.g. read any (confidential) file on the server. nasty. "s.masugata has reported a vulnerability in PHP, which potentially can be exploited by malicious people to use it as an open mail relay." e.g. use the server to send spam. really nasty. esp. if undetected. It would be gratifying indeed if automated software scanners could find vulnerabilities like the above real-world examples, but I am not holding breath. Sadly, an article like this will be read by the PHB who can then report to his superiors that, yup, he has hired PFY to write the amazing web app they need, and he is confident the application will be secure, since a ZDnet article says so. The article implies that applications written in these certified languages are secure, which is of course balderdash. The language parser and dispatcher themselves itself may be written in a secure manner, but the same cannot be said for applications you or I or anyone writes. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Say what you will about the miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile. -- Howard W Campbell in Kurt Vonnegut Jr's "Mother Night" From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Mon Jan 14 11:26:13 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Mon Jan 14 11:28:07 2008 Subject: [LINK] Technology that exposes your dirty linen In-Reply-To: References: <4781F28D.5080803@hunterlink.net.au> <20080109004003.96B1829901@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <20080114002734.7026C2BD62@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 12:06 PM 10/01/2008, Roger Clarke wrote: >... reminded me of this proposal for data self-destruction: > >Escaping the data panopticon: Prof says computers must learn to "forget" >By Nate Anderson | Published: May 09, 2007 - 08:52AM CT >http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070509-escaping-the-data-panopticon-teaching-computers-to-forget.html >... > >... Essentially, this means that all collected data is tagged with a >new piece of metadata that defines when the information should expire. ... Yes, the old ways of cleaning out data, such as fire, flood or earthquake, will not work as well in the online distributed environment. Perhaps rather than a fixed disposal date, as this article proposes, the data could have its own "social network" to work out when it should be deleted. The system would work out how many degrees of separation there are between different data elements. When an element of data becomes very remote from everything else it is a candidate for deletion. The same approach could be used for automatically granting access to data: data near your data is likely to be something you need to know. Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU From adrian at creative.net.au Mon Jan 14 11:39:24 2008 From: adrian at creative.net.au (Adrian Chadd) Date: Mon Jan 14 11:30:02 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system In-Reply-To: <478AABAA.5010308@umd.com.au> References: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> <20080113230620.GB6828@taz.net.au> <478AABAA.5010308@umd.com.au> Message-ID: <20080114003924.GO15773@skywalker.creative.net.au> On Mon, Jan 14, 2008, Geoffrey Ramadan wrote: > The new Victorian ticketing system is based on a MIFARE payment technology. Wasn't MIFARE just cracked wide open recently? Adrian From cas at taz.net.au Mon Jan 14 12:05:29 2008 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Mon Jan 14 12:05:41 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system In-Reply-To: <478AABAA.5010308@umd.com.au> References: <478851A1.2060000@iimetro.com.au> <47885D31.5010302@lockstep.com.au> <20080113230620.GB6828@taz.net.au> <478AABAA.5010308@umd.com.au> Message-ID: <20080114010529.GD6828@taz.net.au> On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 11:24:10AM +1100, Geoffrey Ramadan wrote: > The new Victorian ticketing system is based on a MIFARE payment technology. > > It will use both paper based tickets and reloadable cards. > > It is an anonymous electronic payment system. There is no user > identification and therefore nothing to link the card to the purchaser. > > However, I do understand you can optionally register the "Card ID" number, > so in the case you loose your card, instead of loosing your "cash", you can > transfer to the funds to a new card. i bet that it will end up being the other way around - registration is by default and you can, in theory, after a lot of bureacratic stuffing around and delays and hassle, get an anonymous card if you really insist. and the majority of the public will just accept it without thinking about it, the same way that they enthusiastically accept other stealth id cards like flybuys. give, or just promise, some trivial benefit and they'll leap at the chance. all that misses the central point of my post, though - even if it were perfect, and does everything it's supposed to, and has no bugs, and wassn't a stealth ID card, there's STILL no way it can possibly be worth anything like half a billion dollars. that is just absurd. craig -- craig sanders "The universe is not hostile, nor yet is it friendly. It is simply indifferent." [John H. Holmes, A Sensible Man's View of Religion, 1933] From eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au Mon Jan 14 12:23:03 2008 From: eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au (Eric Scheid) Date: Mon Jan 14 12:23:12 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 12/1/08 2:11 PM, "Roger Clarke" wrote: > "The new Petitions Committee, consisting of 10 members of Parliament > (six Government and four Opposition members [so much for the Senate > cross-benches]), will receive and consider petitions lodged and > report on appropriate action", [Leader of the House] Mr Albanese said. > > Of some interest to link, however: "The committee will also consider > moving to electronic petitions, as the [British] Government has > done", he said. more on this ... Petitions to receive greater attention Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent | January 12, 2008 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23040476-5013871,00.html KEVIN Rudd is to require parliament to formally consider and report on petitions lodged by citizens, ending more than a century in which petitions simply gathered dust on parliamentary shelves. Labor will appoint a 10-person House of Representatives committee to review petitions and propose government action to address the issues they raise. More than one million Australians signed more than 900 petitions to parliament during the Howard government's final three-year term. But in almost all cases, the petitions were simply tabled and seldom raised again. Labor's Leader of the House of Representatives Anthony Albanese conceded yesterday that since Federation in 1901, petitions had simply "gathered dust in the bowels of parliament". "The creation of the petitions committee is an important reform which strengthens the democratic rights of citizens and ensures that parliament is listening and responding appropriately," Mr Albanese said. Yesterday's announcement is expected to be the first of a range of changes to parliamentary practice under the Rudd Government. ... Mr Albanese said the petitions committee, which will include six government members and four non-government members, would give millions of Australians who organised or signed petitions confidence their voices would be heard. Although the Howard government received 900 petitions between 2004 and last year, it had responded to only two, Mr Albanese said. "The Rudd Labor Government is committed to boosting parliamentary democracy and scrutiny," he said. "Almost 15,000 Australians petitioned the previous government in 2007 for a commonwealth dental scheme -- which the Rudd Labor Government pledged to introduce during the election." In another change, petitions will no longer need to be formally sponsored by an MP, as Mr Albanese insisted citizens had a basic right to petition parliament. And he said the new committee would also investigate whether parliament should accept electronic submissions, which are allowed in the British parliament. ... From gdt at gdt.id.au Mon Jan 14 12:32:23 2008 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Mon Jan 14 12:34:43 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <4789AA83.80707@lockstep.com.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080113020256.GA31047@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> <478992F4.5020004@canb.auug.org.au> <4789AA83.80707@lockstep.com.au> Message-ID: <1200274343.6209.30.camel@andromache> On Sun, 2008-01-13 at 17:06 +1100, Stephen Wilson wrote: > I remember a year or two when the ACS proposed enhancing the > professionalism of the IT sector. The suggestions floated included an > continuing education and a code of conduct. Pretty innocuous stuff, and > way, way short of regulation. But the outcry from the grassroots IT > community was virulent. The ACS has a very peculiar and narrow view of "professional" -- basically meaning "Information Technology Professional". This doesn't matter if ACS membership is a matter of choice; the ACS are free to narrow their membership how they please. But the proposal was that this membership be deemed "professional", obviously deeming all others as unprofessional. Many professional people in the broader industry of computing objected to that distinction. Many people saw it as providing the ACS with an income for no benefit. And not just the ACS, but a whole industry of "ACS accredited professional development courses". In my own circumstance I am fortunate enough to attend seminars at the cutting edge of computer networking. If I am taught the mathematics of TCP dynamics by the leader in the field, that counts for nought if the seminar is not "accredited". Actually developing a component of a new technology counts less towards my professionalism than sitting in an ACS-approved course where someone else tells me about the technology I invented. Cheers, Glen From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Mon Jan 14 12:48:46 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Mon Jan 14 12:49:16 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: At 12:22 +1100 14/1/08, a linker wrote: >Petitions to receive greater attention >Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent | January 12, 2008 >http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23040476-5013871,00.html > >KEVIN Rudd is to require parliament to formally consider and report on >petitions lodged by citizens, ending more than a century in which petitions >simply gathered dust on parliamentary shelves. ... Back in 1996 I did a Keynote at VALA on 'Virtual Chewing Gum on Virtual Library Seats? Human Behaviour in Electronic Communities'. I feel a sequel coming on, called 'Virtual Dust on Citizen Petitions? Parliamentarian Behaviour under Electronic Duress'. But actually there are some genuinely positive signs in this report. > ... Labor will appoint a >10-person House of Representatives committee to review petitions and propose >government action to address the issues they raise. > >More than one million Australians signed more than 900 petitions to >parliament during the Howard government's final three-year term. But in >almost all cases, the petitions were simply tabled and seldom raised again. > >Labor's Leader of the House of Representatives Anthony Albanese conceded >yesterday that since Federation in 1901, petitions had simply "gathered dust >in the bowels of parliament". > >"The creation of the petitions committee is an important reform which >strengthens the democratic rights of citizens and ensures that parliament is >listening and responding appropriately," Mr Albanese said. Yesterday's >announcement is expected to be the first of a range of changes to >parliamentary practice under the Rudd Government. > >... > >Mr Albanese said the petitions committee, which will include six government >members and four non-government members, would give millions of Australians >who organised or signed petitions confidence their voices would be heard. > >Although the Howard government received 900 petitions between 2004 and last >year, it had responded to only two, Mr Albanese said. "The Rudd Labor >Government is committed to boosting parliamentary democracy and scrutiny," >he said. "Almost 15,000 Australians petitioned the previous government in >2007 for a commonwealth dental scheme -- which the Rudd Labor Government >pledged to introduce during the election." > >In another change, petitions will no longer need to be formally sponsored by >an MP, as Mr Albanese insisted citizens had a basic right to petition >parliament. And he said the new committee would also investigate whether >parliament should accept electronic submissions, which are allowed in the >British parliament. > >... -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From brd at iimetro.com.au Mon Jan 14 13:07:26 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Mon Jan 14 13:07:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? Message-ID: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> What does not seem to be appreciated by many in the ICT and/or education worlds is that today's complex systems are more than technology and/or software. What I do not see is an education system that promotes "system" development and thinking (I use quotes to differentiate from System Engineering that has a very strong engineering, technical and mathematical focus). The Access Card project failed because the system that was the project was a failure, not the system itself. Mind you, the fact that nobody could define the system itself didn't help. And the most serious problem that I see today is this: How does someone with no knowledge or expertise in a particular area select people to deliver in that area? Examples: How do you pick a plumber, electrician or other tradesman? How does a Departmental Secretary select someone to deliver an IT project? How does a business manager know that her IT department has the right skill set? How does a business know that a vendor can deliver a) what is promised and b) what is needed? How can an electorate select a politician or political party to run its government? -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Mon Jan 14 13:14:22 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Mon Jan 14 13:14:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <478AC57E.6080002@iimetro.com.au> Do I detect the hand of Senator the Hon. John Faulkner behind this? IMHO with Senator Faulkner as Special Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary, there is hope for democracy in this country yet. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From linda at databasics.com.au Mon Jan 14 13:35:37 2008 From: linda at databasics.com.au (Linda Rouse) Date: Mon Jan 14 13:35:38 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> References: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: Whilst on the topic (sort of) of IT failures... I guess most Linkers are familiar with 'Pessimism as an Information System Management Tool in the Public Sector: Lessons from the INCIS Fiasco in the New Zealand Police Force' by Tony Dale et al.. http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/research/reports/TechReps/2002/tr_0202.pdf Bernard wrote: >What does not seem to be appreciated by many in the ICT and/or >education worlds is that today's complex systems are more than >technology and/or software. > >What I do not see is an education system that promotes "system" >development and thinking (I use quotes to differentiate from System >Engineering that has a very strong engineering, technical and >mathematical focus). > >The Access Card project failed because the system that was the >project was a failure, not the system itself. Mind you, the fact >that nobody could define the system itself didn't help. Essential reading for Knowledge managers lessons learned...! regards Linda -- ================= Linda Rouse, Information Manager DataBasics Pty Limited Phone 1300 886 238 (bus.) Email linda@databasics.com.au Web http://www.databasics.com.au From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Mon Jan 14 13:50:59 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Mon Jan 14 13:51:13 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: <478AC57E.6080002@iimetro.com.au> References: <478AC57E.6080002@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: On 14/01/2008, at 1:14 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > Do I detect the hand of Senator the Hon. John Faulkner behind this? > > IMHO with Senator Faulkner as Special Minister of State and Cabinet > Secretary, there is hope for democracy in this country yet. And perhaps Harry Evans, the Clerk of the Senate. Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Mon Jan 14 13:58:26 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Mon Jan 14 13:58:53 2008 Subject: [LINK] Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers Message-ID: Gawd! What next.... Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers Posted Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:12pm AEDT The American aviation giant Boeing says it is doing everything necessary to ensure that its newest passenger plane - the 787 Dreamliner - is safe from computer hackers. Passengers on board the airliner will be offered in-flight access to the internet, prompting fears that critical information in the plane's data systems could be inadvertently or deliberately corrupted. The US Federal Aviation Administration says it is working closely with Boeing to ensure the plane's electronic controls are not vulnerable. Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From linda at databasics.com.au Mon Jan 14 14:05:39 2008 From: linda at databasics.com.au (Linda Rouse) Date: Mon Jan 14 14:05:40 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <478ACA87.9090503@canb.auug.org.au> References: <478ACA87.9090503@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: Sorry about the TechWatch Registration..! Most of the info was included in my posting - it continues 'Against this background, it is interesting to note a recent initiative within the retailer Marks & Spencer to move its ICT staff closer to thebusiness by placing smaller teams within individual business functions, and to recruit technology graduates with business acumen rather than simply technology qualifications. I believe that this will be a trend repeated throughout organisations over the next few years, but the underlying picture painted by CPHC suggests that the pipeline is unprepared to meet this demand. At a time when industry is bemoaning the lack of appropriate ICT and business skills, and struggling to attract the right calibre of person, there is an unfortunate disconnect between the investment made in training and professional development in the workplace, and that carried out in conjunction with the Higher Education sector (the Lambert review on business-university collaboration across all sectors indicated only a 1% feed-through). I believe it is essential therefore, that private- and public-sector organisations engage more closely with both higher education and with schools, to communicate the future requirements for ICT skills and their application within business, and to become actively involved in their funding and development. One of the conclusions of CPHC's report was that the government should provide incentives for industry to sponsor courses and students, and I feel that such an initiative would be very beneficial in helping to close this gap.' Linda >Linda Rouse wrote on 14/1/08 11:09 AM: >> Interesting article from Butler Group's TechWatch today. on decline of >> ICT in the UK. . . especially 3rd para that discusses the lack of >> business skills rather than the lack of software science and >> technology... hmm >> >> >>http://www.butlergroup.com/research/KCInterPages/%7B4C486CA4-F7AF-4D50-802F-C77CCDAF5D5E%7D.asp >> >> >Ahem, "Registration Required" :-( > >thanks for a great contribution. > >s -- ================= Linda Rouse, Information Manager DataBasics Pty Limited Phone 1300 886 238 (bus.) Email linda@databasics.com.au Web http://www.databasics.com.au From adam.pointon at sentinelsecurity.com.au Mon Jan 14 14:27:46 2008 From: adam.pointon at sentinelsecurity.com.au (Adam Pointon) Date: Mon Jan 14 14:28:00 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system References: Message-ID: >> The new Victorian ticketing system is based on a MIFARE payment >> technology. From: Jan Krissler Organization: Chaos Computer Club Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:20:45 +0100 Hi. Maybe some of you are using Mifare based RFID systems for payment or access controll. you should start to migrate soon. As shown on the 24th chaos communication congress http://berlin.ccc.de/~24c3_torrents/24c3-2378-en- mifare_security.mkv.torrent the proprietary crypto algorithm used in mifare is not a secret anymore. We havnt disclosed it yet but we will as soon as a practical implemetation is done. From brd at iimetro.com.au Mon Jan 14 14:27:27 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Mon Jan 14 14:28:10 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <478AD69F.3010307@iimetro.com.au> Linda Rouse wrote: > Whilst on the topic (sort of) of IT failures... I guess most Linkers are > familiar with > 'Pessimism as an Information System Management Tool in the Public > Sector: Lessons from the INCIS Fiasco in the New Zealand Police Force' > by Tony Dale et al.. > http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/research/reports/TechReps/2002/tr_0202.pdf Thanks for the pointer Linda, I'll add that to my collection of failed projects. I worked at IBM in Canberra when NCIS was coming to an end. A very senior IBMer came over from the USA and did an informal review of the project. The root cause of the problem was that a couple of software gurus from a USA lab flew in, proposed that the police replace their highly optimised, mainframe based, green screen applications with a three tier client server system and flew out, never to be seen again. And that was the source of the whole problem - everything else flowed from that decision. The fact that it had never been done before, that nobody knew if it could be built or would work were not even identified let alone understood by those in charge. Which gets back to my point about people making decisions outside their area of competency. Nobody was able to make a value judgement about a project that was, in effect, R&D. The problem with governments is that they want certainty, therefore the budget and timeframe are set first. You can't do that with projects that are first offs, which is what happens with most large scale IT developments. BTW, the statement in that paper "The majority of information system (IS) developments are unsuccessful" is probably wrong. Most large enterprises have big Information Systems that support their business. So how did they get developed? I suspect that the statement might be a bit more valid if the context is "first off systems developed by external parties such as consultants and/or vendors." -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au Mon Jan 14 14:28:32 2008 From: eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au (Eric Scheid) Date: Mon Jan 14 14:28:50 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: >> KEVIN Rudd is to require parliament to formally consider and report on >> petitions lodged by citizens, ending more than a century in which petitions >> simply gathered dust on parliamentary shelves. ... ... >> And he said the new committee would also investigate whether >> parliament should accept electronic submissions, which are allowed in the >> British parliament. Another thought occurred to me .. do they really, non-rhetorically, have a century's worth of petitions shelved away somewhere .. because there would probably be a historian or two interested in that. Which then also raises the usual question of will we be able to access today's e-petitions in 100 years time? e. From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Mon Jan 14 14:54:33 2008 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Mon Jan 14 14:55:20 2008 Subject: [LINK] Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <478ADCF9.50502@optusnet.com.au> Antony Barry wrote: > Gawd! What next.... > > Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers > > Posted Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:12pm AEDT > > The American aviation giant Boeing says it is doing everything necessary > to ensure that its newest passenger plane - the 787 Dreamliner - is safe > from computer hackers. > > Passengers on board the airliner will be offered in-flight access to the > internet, prompting fears that critical information in the plane's data > systems could be inadvertently or deliberately corrupted. > > The US Federal Aviation Administration says it is working closely with > Boeing to ensure the plane's electronic controls are not vulnerable. > > air gap? so to speak... From danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au Mon Jan 14 15:05:51 2008 From: danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au (Danny Yee) Date: Mon Jan 14 15:07:01 2008 Subject: [LINK] Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers In-Reply-To: <478ADCF9.50502@optusnet.com.au> References: <478ADCF9.50502@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <20080114040551.GA20207@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> > > > > air gap? Between the ears of whoever thought there was a news story in this. Danny. --------------------------------------------------------- http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog --------------------------------------------------------- From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Mon Jan 14 17:39:42 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Mon Jan 14 17:40:05 2008 Subject: [LINK] OT: The Frank Lowy Touch Message-ID: This coming weekend is the final round of the A-League. The Top 4 are: F A D Last Game Queensland Roar FC 25 19 6 A Adel 4 Sydney FC 26 22 4 H Melb 3 Central Coast Mariners FC 28 25 3 H Well 2 Newcastle Jets FC 23 20 3 H Prth 1 By total fluke, each team starts its game knowing what it has to do in order to finish in front of the team(s) below it If all Draw, it stays as-is If all win or lose by the same goal-difference, it stays as-is If Qld wins by N goals and scores S goals, Qld can still miss out on the Championship if any of these occur: Sydney wins by N+2 goals and scores S+2 goals (e.g. 3-0 or 4-1 beats 1-0) Mariners win by N+3 goals and score S+3 (e.g. 4-0 beats 1-0) Newcstle wins by N+3 goals and scores S+3 (e.g. 4-0 beats 1-0) If Qld draw or lose, then every win beats them If Qld lose, then every win and every draw beats them And a similar table to the above is needed for Sydney and then Mariners Roger, get back to work -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From lucychili at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 20:17:03 2008 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Mon Jan 14 20:17:14 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <478AD69F.3010307@iimetro.com.au> References: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> <478AD69F.3010307@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: On Jan 14, 2008 1:57 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > I worked at IBM in Canberra when NCIS was coming to an end. A very > senior IBMer came over from the USA and did an informal review of the > project. The root cause of the problem was that a couple of software > gurus from a USA lab flew in, proposed that the police replace their > highly optimised, mainframe based, green screen applications with a > three tier client server system and flew out, never to be seen again. > And that was the source of the whole problem - everything else flowed > from that decision. The fact that it had never been done before, that > nobody knew if it could be built or would work were not even identified > let alone understood by those in charge. How common is that kind of flyby consultancy? What does it mean for local innovation, leadership and systems thinking? Which projects are done in ways which value/build local leadership and innovation? Janet From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Mon Jan 14 20:31:46 2008 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Mon Jan 14 20:33:15 2008 Subject: [LINK] Oscar Pistorius Message-ID: The evening news carried reports about Oscar Pistorius - the double-amputee who is about to be banned from athletics competition because his prostheses have become orthoses and hence an unfair advantage. Only 2-1/4 years ago this was less well-known, and I featured Oscar in the slides that accompanied an invited presentation at Ars Electronica in Linz: Human-Artefact Hybridisation: Forms and Consequences http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/HAH0505.html http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/ArsEl050822.ppt -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Mon Jan 14 20:44:13 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Mon Jan 14 20:44:35 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <8CCF85A8-AE59-46A7-8088-6750F1CDB83C@tony-barry.emu.id.au> On 14/01/2008, at 2:28 PM, Eric Scheid wrote: > Another thought occurred to me .. do they really, non-rhetorically, > have a > century's worth of petitions shelved away somewhere Having worked nine years at the Parliament I would be amazed if they were not preserved. Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From brd at iimetro.com.au Mon Jan 14 21:00:11 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Mon Jan 14 21:00:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> <478AD69F.3010307@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <478B32AB.7030707@iimetro.com.au> Janet Hawtin wrote: > On Jan 14, 2008 1:57 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > > >>I worked at IBM in Canberra when NCIS was coming to an end. A very >>senior IBMer came over from the USA and did an informal review of the >>project. The root cause of the problem was that a couple of software >>gurus from a USA lab flew in, proposed that the police replace their >>highly optimised, mainframe based, green screen applications with a >>three tier client server system and flew out, never to be seen again. > > >>And that was the source of the whole problem - everything else flowed >>from that decision. The fact that it had never been done before, that >>nobody knew if it could be built or would work were not even identified >>let alone understood by those in charge. > > > How common is that kind of flyby consultancy? In my experience, quite common. > What does it mean for local innovation, leadership and systems thinking? And the overseas contribution is not the issue. In the case of the Access Card the source of the problem (a couple of really bad decisions, which nobody who mattered, understood or challenged) was all done in Australia, by Australians. > Which projects are done in ways which value/build local leadership and > innovation? Projects where the goals are properly understood by people who have done it or something similar before and where the imperatives of time, cost and function/performance are balanced. Notice I used the term "goals", not system. The system may not have been built before but the type of project has been done before. You can build a "first off" system very successfully as long as you recognise that it is a "first off" and if the time and cost constraints are flexible. Unfortunately, in the early stages of the project, the really experienced system person who can recognise the "first off" nature of the system is usually not part of the team. That's when we get back to the "how do you pick a plumber?" problem. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From lucychili at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 21:10:38 2008 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Mon Jan 14 21:11:14 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <478B32AB.7030707@iimetro.com.au> References: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> <478AD69F.3010307@iimetro.com.au> <478B32AB.7030707@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: On Jan 14, 2008 8:30 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > Unfortunately, in the early stages of the project, the really > experienced system person who can recognise the "first off" nature of > the system is usually not part of the team. That's when we get back to > the "how do you pick a plumber?" problem. Could this not be resolved by making the process of defining the question open so that the kinds of people who would give you interesting responses in that situation would become apparent. That way you do not get a plumber you get someone with excellent specific knowledge on integrated grey water systems in an on topic context? Janet From grove at zeta.org.au Mon Jan 14 21:55:56 2008 From: grove at zeta.org.au (grove@zeta.org.au) Date: Mon Jan 14 21:56:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> <478AD69F.3010307@iimetro.com.au> <478B32AB.7030707@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: On Mon, 14 Jan 2008, Janet Hawtin wrote: > On Jan 14, 2008 8:30 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > >> Unfortunately, in the early stages of the project, the really >> experienced system person who can recognise the "first off" nature of >> the system is usually not part of the team. That's when we get back to >> the "how do you pick a plumber?" problem. > > Could this not be resolved by making the process of defining the > question open so that the kinds of people who would give you > interesting responses in that situation would become apparent. That > way you do not get a plumber you get someone with excellent specific > knowledge on integrated grey water systems in an on topic context? Where I work at , projects are launched all the time, with very large meetings of "stakeholders" and "business owners". The technical side is often glossed over. The people least likely to be able identify early problems or technical issues are often given the leads or commitment to the project. The people most able to adapt their skills to the projects are often ignored or told "that's a technical issue we'll come to later" and the ideas or recommendations are rarely taken on board. Most of the projects are eventually successful, but only after overrunning stupid deadlines. Most of these projects are in fact small in nature, in that a reasonably skilled admin or programmer could do them in a few afternoons and then do a handover. But instead things like a set of php web forms, a Remedy installation or the deployment of a CMS become major tasks, with up to 6 or 7 people involved at various levels. Then there the projects which are mostly outsourced. These seem to take much longer than they should and signoff often means ignoring sysadmins who want peer review of installations and so on. Also there are situations where competing products are installed and deployed, Moodle where a small fortune has already been spent on WebCT, Sharepoint (which eats about 6 staff) vs Wiki and CMS and an endless stream of vendors finger pointing that the Cisco switch we were sold yesterday, doesn't comply with EMC's SAN and Sun's Solaris although a product matrix says it should. Somehow, all these things are overcome and a project emerges to completion, running on a hugely overspecced computer with the OS dumbed down to meet user's expectations and please don't blame IE6 if SSL doesn't work - it must be apache's fault.... rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia grove@zeta.org.au http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html The price of greatness is responsibility. From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Mon Jan 14 22:10:41 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Mon Jan 14 22:14:32 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: References: <478AC3DE.1020008@iimetro.com.au> <478AD69F.3010307@iimetro.com.au> <478B32AB.7030707@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <6hhft4$lasm7@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 09:10 PM 14/01/2008, Janet Hawtin wrote: > > the "how do you pick a plumber?" problem. > >Could this not be resolved by making the process of defining the >question open so that the kinds of people who would give you >interesting responses in that situation would become apparent. That >way you do not get a plumber you get someone with excellent specific >knowledge on integrated grey water systems in an on topic context? I was involved in a project with just that approach back a few years now with a major uni. They got money from ARC to build something that hadn't been built before, brought me in from outside and trusted me to get it done. Did a bit of talking to a few folks, got a rough spec together, put out an RFI, interviewed a couple of vendors who thought they had solutions that migth do the job, or at least platforms that were flexible enough to do it, the uni hired them, we did a coordinated design and development, including thinking about sustainability and involvement of people located in four different states, and built a rough version, and tested it for a year. Then we did a thorough evaluation of those who were working with it and using it, took the feedback, revised and tweaked, then set it to run for six years with only minor monthly maintenance of the content and a few responses for when an error email arrived in my inbox. That system was used by people all over the world. Quite amazing for the little amount of money that was spent on it. The point of all that reminiscing is that the idea was about all that existed. We were given the freedom to experiment for a reasonable period of time, let the system run its cycles for a while, then fixed the things that were problems and added enhancements based on what early users thought would be beneficial. We had a team of plumbers, not just one, and I was probably the Sergeant Major operating the switchboard to keep all the important folks talking to one another. BTW, I am not a software engineer, but I did have some pretty good instructional systems training that helped me think of complex interactions and keep the parts working toward a common goal. The people part often gets left out in IT projects, particularly the folks who are actually supposed to benefit from them. There is a certain project going on right now that shall remain nameless that has said to me they won't involve end users until the design is done. What the????? And they say they're use 'user centered design'!! oh, yeah?? Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rene.lk at libertus.net Mon Jan 14 22:59:19 2008 From: rene.lk at libertus.net (rene) Date: Mon Jan 14 22:59:35 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: <478AC57E.6080002@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <2008114215919.240338@c990> On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:14:22 +1100, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > Do I detect the hand of Senator the Hon. John Faulkner behind this? Equally as likely, Senator Conroy, imo. Conroy is of the opinion that a petition signed by 20,000 people "clearly shows that [the view expressed in the petition] is widely shared in the Australian community". and had been using petitions in his efforts to push the Coalition into mandating ISP level filtering. Conroy Media Statement - 19th October 2006 http://www.alp.org.au/media/1006/mscomit190.php ====== " In March, Kim Beazley announced that a Labor Government would require all Internet Service Providers to offer a 'clean feed ' internet service to all households, schools and public libraries that would block access to websites identified as containing c***d pornography, acts of extreme violence and x-rated material. In the Senate today, I tabled a petition signed by more than 20,000 Australians endorsing Labor's policy. .... The petition that I tabled today clearly shows that this view is widely shared in the Australian community. .... John Howard and Helen Coonan need to explain to Australian parents why they refuse to require ISPs to block access to these disturbing sites." ======== However, the 20,646 signatures were gathered through churches, as reported in The Australian on 23 Oct 2006 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20626257-7583,00.html 'Last week, Kim Beazley conducted a meeting with the Australian Christian Lobby. An official note of the meeting recorded: "Approximately 50 delegates attended, including delegates from Catholic bishops, Coptic churches, Assemblies of God, Salvation Army, Hillsong. Fifteen Labor shadow ministers attended. Beazley was very well received. He also has an existing relationship with Jim Wallace (managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby and former senior SAS soldier). There was a lot of common ground between Labor and the Christian lobby. Labor shadow ministers discussed the work it has done, particularly in the areas of: schools funding, our internet clean-feed petition -- 20,000 petitions gathered through churches (via Stephen Conroy's office), ...' Since Nov 2004, there have been at least 35 petitions tabled calling for mandatory ISP-level filtering (APH parlinfo site seach) 24 of them are a petition form published by the Australian Family Association (which is actually a religious right organisation), a copy of which can be seen here: http://web.archive.org/web/20041018230827/http://www.family.org.au/Events/P etiition.htm Those petitions also want ISPs to be subject to "liability for harm caused to children by inadequate efforts to protect minors from exposure." The other 11 are copies of the 'clean feed' petition, as tabled by Conroy. While Conroy's had 20K signatures, the others about 'clean feed' had from 18 to 145. If Labor believes 20K signatures collected through churches justifies their policy, I'd be very worried about them paying even more attention to petitions than they already do. Irene From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Mon Jan 14 23:18:58 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Mon Jan 14 23:22:38 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: <2008114215919.240338@c990> References: <478AC57E.6080002@iimetro.com.au> <2008114215919.240338@c990> Message-ID: <6hhft4$lbji6@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> At 10:59 PM 14/01/2008, rene wrote: >Internet Service Providers to offer a 'clean feed ' internet service to all >households, schools and public libraries that would block access to >websites identified as containing c***d pornography, acts of extreme >violence and x-rated material. Note: the fifth word: OFFER. That is 'opt IN', not opt out. If the government wants to do that withOUT increasing costs to those who choose NOT to opt in, then fine. Let those who want it, PAY for it. But I'm with you, Rene. Petitions are not referenda. Everyone should have the ability to indicate their views, not just special interests. Special interest politics and governance of any shade/colour is very dangerous. Surveying churches is no different from push polling. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From stil at stilgherrian.com Tue Jan 15 06:35:03 2008 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Tue Jan 15 06:38:28 2008 Subject: [LINK] ePetitions, Oz Style? In-Reply-To: <2008114215919.240338@c990> Message-ID: On 14/1/08 10:59 PM, "rene" wrote: > Conroy is of the opinion that a petition signed by 20,000 people "clearly > shows that [the view expressed in the petition] is widely shared in the > Australian community". > and had been using petitions in his efforts to push the Coalition into > mandating ISP level filtering. [snip] ... and ... > If Labor believes 20K signatures collected through churches justifies their > policy, I'd be very worried about them paying even more attention to > petitions than they already do. The Australian article talks about petitions being overseen by a parliamentary committee. Mr Albanese said the petitions committee... will include six government members and four non-government members, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23040476-5013871,00.html I for one hope that committee, in deciding whether or not to treat a petition with Great Seriousness, will apply some sort of analysis of the source of the petition so that petitions which obviously represent a narrow slice of the Australian demographic are given less weight than those which have garnered signatures from a broad cross-section. However how do you do that, if you don't have a demographic database of voters to look up? And how do you interpret the actual content of the petition in the context of how it might have been sold to the signers? I can imagine a petition being written in a dozen paragraphs of parliamentary legal jargon. The signature-collectors are gathered with a cry of "Fight crime on our streets, sign the petition!" And yet buried in the text is a proposal which, when translated out of that jargon, is about rounding up immigrants and jailing them without charge. Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Mon Jan 14 12:40:05 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Tue Jan 15 09:01:21 2008 Subject: [LINK] Head of Microsoft Research India in Canberra, 16 January Message-ID: <20080114220019.A79E92A132@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Recommended: >INFOENG SEMINAR SERIES > >Building Computer Science Lab In India ? The Microsoft Research >India Experience >P. Anandan (Microsoft Research India) > >DATE: 2008-01-16 >TIME: 11:00:00 - 12:00:00 >LOCATION: RSISE Seminar Room, ground floor, building 115, cnr. North >and Daley Roads, ANU There is not a lot of details in the announcement , so I looked up some more: "Microsoft Research India currently focuses on these research areas. Cryptography, Security, and Algorithms Digital Geographics Mobility, Networks, and Systems Multilingual Systems Rigorous Software Engineering Technology for Emerging Markets Microsoft Research India's Advanced Development and Prototyping group works across research areas, focusing on technology transfer. ..." From: Microsoft Research India, Microsoft, 2008 "P. Anandan is the managing director of Microsoft Research India. Microsoft Research India, which set up its operations in January 2005, conducts basic research in computing and engineering sciences relevant to Microsoft Corp.'s business and the global IT community, with a special focus on technology for emerging markets and underserved communities, multilanguage computing systems, software productivity, sensor networks, cryptography, and geographical-information systems. Since June 1997, before being named managing director of Microsoft Research India, Anandan was a senior researcher at Microsoft Research headquarters in Redmond, Wash., where he built one of the world's strongest research teams in computer vision and video processing. During that time, he also served as an ambassador for the Microsoft Research University Relations program in India. Through repeat visits to India's leading institutions of higher learning, Anandan helped develop strong relationships between Indian universities and Microsoft Research. He has also represented Microsoft in meetings with the government of India to emphasize the company's commitment to research and development. Anandan continues Microsoft Research's ongoing relationships with the government and academic communities in his new role. ..." From: P. Anandan, Press Kit, Microsoft, 2008 For my own impressions of IT in India, see: India: the EU of Asia. . I had the pleasure of being able to visit Microsoft's Cambridge Research Lab in the UK in 2004. At that time some of the lab staff were worried about competition from Asia. It will be interesting to hear of the Indian equivalent . Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Mon Jan 14 15:45:20 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Tue Jan 15 09:02:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? In-Reply-To: <4789AA83.80707@lockstep.com.au> References: <47836311.20709@iimetro.com.au> <47860809.3010703@internode.on.net> <4786AC42.2030208@iimetro.com.au> <47893A69.2050208@canb.auug.org.au> <20080113020256.GA31047@mail.medsci.usyd.edu.au> <478992F4.5020004@canb.auug.org.au> <4789AA83.80707@lockstep.com.au> Message-ID: <20080114220237.DBBFC2A12A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 05:06 PM 13/01/2008, Stephen Wilson wrote: >... I remember a year or two when the ACS proposed enhancing the >professionalism of the IT sector. The suggestions floated included >an continuing education and a code of conduct. Pretty innocuous >stuff, and way, way short of regulation. ... The ACS is pushing along that path. However, "IT" is a very broad discipline. It can be very difficult to find what the common things everyone needs to know are. The ACS is aiming to have a revised Core Body of Knowledge (CBOK) by June 2008: . There is ACS and government sponsored research being done on what a code of conduct should be and how to get people to do it . Surprisingly there is little research in this area; most professional bodies just impose a code on members and then try and enforce it: they do not check to see if the code is something the members can or will do. There is a readable series of articles about this in Information Ages magazine, which I tell the ANU IT students about: . With the continuing education, ACS uses much the same approach as other bodies. Members are encouraged to do training to get their "points". This doesn't have to be ACS provided training, just something relevant. There is also the Computer Professional Education Program, which is a post graduate online training program run by ACS (using the Australian developed Moodle software): . The ACS is also working with other similar bodies around the world to do common standards for IT professionals: . Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU From darrell.burkey at anu.edu.au Tue Jan 15 09:35:56 2008 From: darrell.burkey at anu.edu.au (Darrell Burkey) Date: Tue Jan 15 09:35:59 2008 Subject: [LINK] Non-profit group seeking management assistance Message-ID: <1200350156.870.34.camel@bippo> Based on my long-time lurking here at the Link Institute, I think some of you might be interested in helping out a non-profit group that I work with. Computing Assistance Support & Education (http://www.case.org.au) is looking for a few mover and shakers to help us grow the organisation so that we may address increasing interest in the services we provide to the community sector. If you have experience in this area and are interested in being involved with a unique and very effective non-profit community organisation, please have a look at our web site for an overview of our goals and activities. If that information interests you to the point where you would consider becoming involved as a member of our Management Committee (or would like to provide other assistance), let me know by return email - president@case.org.au. I'll send you more specific information regarding what we are looking for and what our plans are. Then it gets really interesting. :-) Cheers. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darrell Burkey, President - 0408 622 647 Computing Assistance Support & Edcuation Inc http://www.case.org.au - info@case.org.au From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Tue Jan 15 09:38:17 2008 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Jan 15 09:45:58 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: 'UK considers implanting RFID tags into prisoners' Message-ID: <6hhft4$lim8r@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> spotted by Roger: >UK considers RFID tags for prisoners >Porridge with chips >Iain Thomson, vnunet.com >14 Jan 2008 >http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/2207145/government-considers-rfid-tags > >The UK government is considering implanting prisoners with RFID tags >containing data on identity, address and criminal record. > >The RFID tags, about the size of two grains of rice, would be >injected under the skin and could be scanned by a reader. > >There are also proposals to link the RFID tags to a larger GPS >device to monitor the location of high risk prisoners. > >"We have wanted to take advantage of this technology for several >years because it seems a sensible solution to the problems we are >facing in this area, " a senior minister told the Independent on Sunday. > >"We have looked at it and gone back to it and worried about the >practicalities and the ethics. But, when you look at the challenges >facing the criminal justice system, its time has come." > >The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that it is considering the >proposal as part of plans to modernise the prison system. > >Human rights groups have pounced on the proposal, however, >describing it as "degrading". > >Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "If the Home Office >does not understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than >an ankle bracelet, they do not need a human-rights lawyer they need >a common-sense bypass. > >"Degrading offenders in this way will do nothing for their >rehabilitation and nothing for our safety, as some will inevitably >find a way round this new technology." > >The RFID proposals are designed to address problems with the >existing tagging system which uses a transmitter strapped to the ankle. > >Over 2,000 of the 17,000 offenders fitted with the ankle tags have >escaped by tampering with, or simply cutting off, the device. > >Curfew breaches for the past two years are up 283 per cent, and >further development of the system has been halted until these >problems can be sorted out. > >Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National >Association of Probation Officers, stated that the RFID proposal >would be unhelpful. > >"This is the sort of daft idea that comes up from the department >every now and then, but tagging people in the same way we tag our >pets cannot be the way ahead," he said. > >"Treating people like pieces of meat does not seem to represent an >improvement in the system, which works well enough as it is. > >"Knowing where offenders like paedophiles are does not mean you know >what they are doing." > >The UK has been moving faster than most in the use of RFID, >including plans to tag exam papers. > >Similar schemes in the US have been banned, and there are fears >about the health risks and security of RFID implants. Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From gramadan at umd.com.au Tue Jan 15 10:39:16 2008 From: gramadan at umd.com.au (Geoffrey Ramadan) Date: Tue Jan 15 10:39:36 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: 'UK considers implanting RFID tags into prisoners' In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$lim8r@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$lim8r@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <478BF2A4.6030003@umd.com.au> Excluding the ethics of this, I don't see a lot of value in this idea. The RFID tag is very short range. You will need another device to read this tag and connect to a GPS system or another transponder (and battery). i.e. a bracelet. .... just stick to the bracelet. I also suspect the tag could easily be removed. Regards Geoffrey Ramadan, B.E.(Elec) Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Australia (www.adca.com.au) and Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au) Jan Whitaker wrote: > spotted by Roger: > >> UK considers RFID tags for prisoners >> Porridge with chips >> Iain Thomson, vnunet.com >> 14 Jan 2008 >> http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/2207145/government-considers-rfid-tags >> >> >> The UK government is considering implanting prisoners with RFID tags >> containing data on identity, address and criminal record. >> >> The RFID tags, about the size of two grains of rice, would be injected >> under the skin and could be scanned by a reader. >> >> There are also proposals to link the RFID tags to a larger GPS device >> to monitor the location of high risk prisoners. >> >> "We have wanted to take advantage of this technology for several years >> because it seems a sensible solution to the problems we are facing in >> this area, " a senior minister told the Independent on Sunday. >> >> "We have looked at it and gone back to it and worried about the >> practicalities and the ethics. But, when you look at the challenges >> facing the criminal justice system, its time has come." >> >> The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that it is considering the >> proposal as part of plans to modernise the prison system. >> >> Human rights groups have pounced on the proposal, however, describing >> it as "degrading". >> >> Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "If the Home Office does >> not understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle >> bracelet, they do not need a human-rights lawyer they need a >> common-sense bypass. >> >> "Degrading offenders in this way will do nothing for their >> rehabilitation and nothing for our safety, as some will inevitably >> find a way round this new technology." >> >> The RFID proposals are designed to address problems with the existing >> tagging system which uses a transmitter strapped to the ankle. >> >> Over 2,000 of the 17,000 offenders fitted with the ankle tags have >> escaped by tampering with, or simply cutting off, the device. >> >> Curfew breaches for the past two years are up 283 per cent, and >> further development of the system has been halted until these problems >> can be sorted out. >> >> Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National >> Association of Probation Officers, stated that the RFID proposal would >> be unhelpful. >> >> "This is the sort of daft idea that comes up from the department every >> now and then, but tagging people in the same way we tag our pets >> cannot be the way ahead," he said. >> >> "Treating people like pieces of meat does not seem to represent an >> improvement in the system, which works well enough as it is. >> >> "Knowing where offenders like paedophiles are does not mean you know >> what they are doing." >> >> The UK has been moving faster than most in the use of RFID, including >> plans to tag exam papers. >> >> Similar schemes in the US have been banned, and there are fears about >> the health risks and security of RFID implants. > > Jan Whitaker > JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria > jwhit@janwhitaker.com > business: http://www.janwhitaker.com > personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ > commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ > > Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim > Sollisch, Sept, 2007 > 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there > is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 > _ __________________ _ > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link From darrell.burkey at anu.edu.au Tue Jan 15 10:46:27 2008 From: darrell.burkey at anu.edu.au (Darrell Burkey) Date: Tue Jan 15 10:46:30 2008 Subject: [LINK] Non-profit group seeking management assistance In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$ljg6o@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <1200350156.870.34.camel@bippo> <6hhft4$ljg6o@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <1200354387.870.49.camel@bippo> Good points, thanks. CASE was formed to assist Australian non-profit groups nationally. We have a few members outside the ACT but have kept low key for ten years as to not over-commit and to ensure the services are best-practice. But even low key has been flat out for us. Hence our call to take the organisation to the next level by looking for people who have 'the right stuff'. The organisation was founded here in Canberra therefore that's where the majority of our members are and where our office is. Which consists of a small office located within Volunteering ACT premises in the Labor Club Community Chambers, Belconnen. I'll give some more thought on how we can make this clearer on the home page. On Tue, 2008-01-15 at 10:17, Jan Whitaker wrote: > Hi, Darrell. Good luck with the venture. One thing that I had to > search for was your location. I take it from what I discovered in the > 'about' section that you're all in Canberra. And if that is your > coverage area for your work, it would be helpful to put that > somewhere on the homepage, no? At first I thought you were in Sydney > because orgs there always forget to identify their location because > it is of course the centre of the world! LOL > > Take care, > Jan -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darrell Burkey From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 15 11:44:21 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 15 11:44:38 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: The Netscape Story: From Mosaic to Mozilla References: <871B1597F6E4F04B85465F9C7E706C5002B08D5B@CASEVS03.cas.anu.edu.au> Message-ID: <0660A997-F79E-4471-BA2D-2037020F0D5C@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Linkers Sent to me by Colin Steele. Sic transit gloria mundi and it's only Tuesday... Tony Begin forwarded message: > ! > > The Netscape Story: From Mosaic to Mozilla > December 31, 2007 > > Looking back and looking forward. > Posted by: Glyn Moody > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > -------- > > It seems appropriate that on the last day of the year I should be > writing about the end of an era. The news that AOL is ceasing to > support > its Netscape browsers is not only that, it is the end of a story that > encompassed just about every major trend in the rise of the > Internet as > a mass medium, and that was crucially important for free software. > > Netscape Navigator was originally called Mosaic Netscape, a > reference to > the first popular browser, Mosaic, which came from National Center for > Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, > Urbana-Champaign. That had been written by a group of coders led by > Marc > Andreessen, who later teamed up with one of the founders of Silicon > Graphics, Jim Barksdale, to set up Mosaic Communications. Not > surprisingly, this name didn't go down to well with the University of > Illinois, who threatened the company with legal action. The latter > backed down, and changed its name, as well as that of its browser. > > To give an idea of the state of Web technology when Netscape released > the first beta of its browser in October 1994, here's some of the > things > that I noted in a piece I wrote at the time: > > as well as enabling you to read a document while several graphical > images are loaded simultaneously, the program lets you break off the > download of a page cleanly to follow a link elsewhere. You can also > save > viewed documents straight to disc (before you often had to reload), > and > the Bookmarks feature allows favourite places to be saved to be edited > far more easily. > > But even more significant than what were important technical > advances at > the time, there were a couple of other aspects whose revolutionary > nature are probably hard for us to appreciate today. > > First, the browser proclaimed itself as "performance optimized for > 14.4 > modems", referring to the typical download speeds of 14.4 kbit/s at > that > time. This was truly a breakthrough, because the earlier Mosaic had > been > designed with relatively high-speed university connections in mind, > since browsers were almost exclusively found and used in an academic > setting. Netscape Navigator, by contrast, was aimed squarely at > ordinary > users with PCs and a dial-up Internet connection. It was Netscape > Navigator, then, that turned the Internet from an research tool into a > mass medium. > > Secondly, even though Netscape was a company, Netscape Navigator was > freely available. It was therefore one of the first examples of viral > distribution, whereby people were encouraged to download a program and > pass it on to their friends and colleagues. Netscape was able to do > this > because it hoped thereby to establish its browser as the de facto > standard for both ordinary and business users, and then to sell > support > to the latter. > > In other words, Netscape was one of the first to adopt on a massive > scale the business model used today by most open source companies: > give > away the code, and make money on services. Equally presciently, > Netscape > released a beta, and invited anyone to submit bug reports - again, a > technique straight out of the free software world, but almost unheard > for commercial software houses. > > Netscape also hoped that by establishing standards with its > browser, it > could make a lot of money by selling its Netsite Web server, initially > for a cool $5000 each. And for a while, it did. It became the first > major Internet company, whose August 1995 IPO - the most successful in > history - saw the 18-month old startup valued at $3 billion, and > fuelled > much of the dotcom madness that followed. Moreover, the company's > homepage, at Netscape.com, became the centre of the Internet: every > day, > millions of people went there not just to find out about Netscape and > its latest moves, but to follow what was happening online. Netscape > not > only created the Internet as a mass medium, for a year or two it > was the > undisputed master of that new universe. > > But then the company began to stumble. The rise of of the free Apache > Web server, and the fact that Microsoft was giving away its own > Internet > Information Server (IIS) with Windows NT, severely stunted sales of > Netscape's overpriced servers. Things went from bad to worse when > Microsoft finally woke up to the importance of the Internet (not least > because of Netscape's IPO) and began aggressively pushing its Internet > Explorer browser (ironically also based on the original NCSA Mosaic > code, as the About box informs us to this day), which was free for > everyone, not just end-users, until Netscape began to lose its > critically-important market dominance. > > Desperate situations call for desperate measures, and in this case it > was decided to release most of the Netscape Navigator code as open > source (not all, since some was licensed from other parties). One > of the > people who made that happen at Netscape, Eric Hahn, explained to me > when > I was writing my history of free software, Rebel Code, how he used to > tell a story to explain to others within the company why he was > advocating this move: > > Two guys go out camping, and they're barefoot, and they run into a > bear. > And one guy stops and puts on his sneakers. And the other guy looks at > him and goes: What are you doing? You can't possibly outrun a bear. > And > the first person says: I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to > outrun you. > > Open sourcing the Navigator code didn't need to be the absolute best > solution for Netscape, just better than its current failing strategy. > > Netscape's announcement on 22 January 1998 that it was making the > source > code for its next-generation browser freely available stunned the > computing world: until then, free software had been something that was > strictly for hackers; the idea that an iconic company like Netscape > could make the move was inconceivable until then. Netscape's > high-profile decision to bet on free software probably did more to > legitimise the use of this hitherto exotic beast within corporates > more > than anything else before. > > Although Netscape released the code on 31 March 1998, the new Mozilla, > as it was called, soon proved an object lesson in how not to open > source > proprietary code. Jamie Zawinski, another of the key figures in > opening > up Netscape Navigator, and the person who had come up with the Mozilla > name back in 1994 - a combination of the original "Mosaic" and > Godzilla > - wrote in his resignation letter when he left AOL, which had recently > bought Netscape in November 1998: > > Open source does work, but it is most definitely not a panacea. If > there's a cautionary tale here, it is that you can't take a dying > project, sprinkle it with the magic pixie dust of "open source," and > have everything magically work out. Software is hard. The issues > aren't > that simple. > > The "hard" nature of software meant that the impact of Mozilla was > limited in its first few years of existence. Its most immediate > influence was probably thanks to the licence it adopted. The obvious > candidate, the GNU GPL, was not an option because of the nature of the > code, with some of it licensed from third parties. Instead, Mozilla's > Chief Lizard Wrangler, Mitchell Baker, created a new free software > licence, the Mozilla Public Licence, which was employed along with the > proprietary Netscape Public Licence, in an novel dual-licensing > approach > that soon became very popular with other projects, especially the > later > generation of open source enterprise companies. > > But once again, there was an important lesson to be learned in the > further evolution of Netscape and its offshoot, Mozilla. While the > Mozilla browser itself made slow but steady progress, it became > increasingly bloated. Thanks to one of the key properties of open > source, a group of young hackers were able to fork some of the code to > create a sleeker version that eventually turned into the Firefox > project > (originally called Phoenix, with obvious symbolism, and then Firebird, > both names proved difficult because of clashes with other products and > projects). With two competing codebases, Darwinian selection took over > as more and more users switched to Firefox. > > Interestingly, Netscape's browser still existed during this period, > basing itself on Mozilla's code. But it was even less satisfactory > than > Mozilla's, an important factor in the decision more or less to start > again with Firefox, as one of the latter's founders, Asa Dotzler, has > explained: > > One of the primary reasons that Firefox exists is because a few > Netscape > employees working on the Mozilla project realized back in 2001 and > 2002 > that Netscape was incapable of, or more precisely, unwilling to, > make a > really great browser. The reason was pretty simple -- their > motivation. > > Netscape's only real revenue back then was from advertising at > their web > properties (netscape.com, Netscape webmail, etc.) and the big reason > they were allowed by AOL to continue building a browser was to drive > traffic to those web properties. As a matter of fact, the team making > the browser at Netscape reported into the AOL-TW group that owned > those > web properties. > > What this makes plain is that a software company must create a program > that serves its users' needs, not its own - a lesson that Netscape > started forgetting almost as soon as it had learned it back in 1994. > Firefox, by contrast, has focussed on what users want - and don't > want. > It began by throwing away as much of Mozilla's unnecessary elements as > possible, and stripping it down to essentials. It mobilised users not > just for testing the code, but for a new kind of open source > marketing, > notably through the SpreadFirefox site and its high-profile campaigns, > like the double-page advertisement in The New York Times. > > The steady rise of Firefox's market share - first, a few percent, then > 10%, and now touching 40% in some parts of the world - had a major > knock-on effect. Through an agreement with Google that makes the > latter's search engine the default home page when the program is > installed, and the first option for the search engine box in Firefox, > the parent organisation, Mozilla Foundation, is receiving tens of > millions of dollars each year in fees. As a result, Mozilla has turned > from a struggling project into an incredibly powerful force within > open > source. > > Thanks to this new-found wealth, largely a by-product of Google's > hugely-successful ad-based business model, Mozilla has the luxury of > being able to widen of its ambitions far beyond simply creating a cool > browser. For example, two recent announcements from Mozilla labs are > explicitly about blurring the line between traditional desktop and the > new, browser-based Web applications. The first is Prism: > > Personal computing is currently in a state of transition. While > traditionally users have interacted mostly with desktop applications, > more and more of them are using web applications. But the latter often > fit awkwardly into the document-centric interface of web browsers. And > they are surrounded with controls-like back and forward buttons and a > location bar-that have nothing to do with interacting with the > application itself. > > Mozilla Labs is launching a series of experiments to bridge the divide > in the user experience between web applications and desktop apps > and to > explore new usability models as the line between traditional > desktop and > new web applications continues to blur. > > The second is Weave: > > As the Web continues to evolve and more of our lives move online, we > believe that Web browsers like Firefox can and should do more to > broker > rich experiences while increasing user control over their data and > personal information. > > One important area for exploration is the blending of the desktop and > the Web through deeper integration of the browser with online > services. > > We're now launching a new project within Mozilla Labs to formally > explore this integration. This project will be known as Weave and it > will focus on finding ways to enhance the Firefox user experience, > increase user control over personal information, and provide new > opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences. > > These are both about replacing the current desktop environment with a > Web-based approach - or, more bluntly, to make underlying operating > systems (like Windows) irrelevant, and turning Firefox itself into the > platform. > > Interestingly, it was Netscape's attempt to create something it called > the "Webtop" - a Net-based layer above the desktop - that helped rouse > Microsoft from its Internet slumbers, and led, ultimately, to > Netscape's > destruction. Now, though, things are rather different. Mozilla is > not a > company, and it sells no products. As such, it is not possible for > Microsoft to undermine it by giving away its own products, nor can it > make the problem go away by simply buying its rival and closing it > down. > > > This, then, the biggest difference between Netscape's Mosaic, and > today's Mozilla Firefox. The former was proprietary and vulnerable, > while the latter is free and immune to the forces that led to > Netscape's > sale in 1998, its rapidly dwindling importance in the online world > thereafter, and ultimately to the recent coup de grace administered to > the once great Netscape Navigator. Mosaic may be well and truly dead, > but Netscape's dinosaur-like mascot and the code that bears its name > live on. > > phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 15 11:53:25 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 15 11:53:43 2008 Subject: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system References: Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: > > From: Adam Pointon > Date: 14 January 2008 2:25:18 PM > To: link > Subject: Re: [LINK] Contract signed for national health ID system > > >>> The new Victorian ticketing system is based on a MIFARE payment >>> technology. > > > From: Jan Krissler > Organization: Chaos Computer Club > Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:20:45 +0100 > > Hi. > > Maybe some of you are using Mifare based RFID systems for payment > or access > controll. you should start to migrate soon. As shown on the 24th chaos > communication congress > > http://berlin.ccc.de/~24c3_torrents/24c3-2378-en- > mifare_security.mkv.torrent > > the proprietary crypto algorithm used in mifare is not a secret > anymore. > We havnt disclosed it yet but we will as soon as a practical > implemetation > is done. > > > > > From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 15 11:54:24 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 15 11:54:33 2008 Subject: [LINK] Seeking management assistance for non-profit organisation References: Message-ID: <19B3832E-04DD-448F-BC1B-3D94ADB5EE51@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Begin forwarded message: > > The attached message has been automatically discarded. > From: "Darrell Burkey" > Date: 14 January 2008 3:16:49 PM > To: link@anu.edu.au > Subject: Seeking management assistance for non-profit organisation > Reply-To: president@case.org.au > > > Based on my long-time lurking here at the Link Institute, I think > some of > you might be interested in helping out a non-profit group that I work > with. So pardon the ad but it's for a good cause. Gee, this almost > sounds > like spam. I may have to work on my approach a bit. Should I offer > free > steak knives if you order now? Of course, operators are standing by. > > Computing Assistance Support & Education (http://www.case.org.au) is > looking for a few mover and shakers to help us grow the > organisation. And > yes, that does mean people to help us obtain the resources we need > to make > our services available to a much larger membership than we > currently have. > > If you have experience in this area and are interested in being > involved > with a unique and very effective non-profit community organisation, > please > have a look at our web site for an overview of our goals and > activities. > If that information interests you to the point where you would > consider > becoming involved as a member of our management committee (or would > like > to provide other assistance/advice), let me know by return email. > I'll > send you more specific information regarding what we are looking > for and > what our plans are. > > Then it gets really interesting. :-) > > Cheers. > > -- > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Darrell D. Burkey, President - 0408 622 647 > Computing Assistance Support & Education Inc > http://www.case.org.au > > > From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 15 11:55:03 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 15 11:55:17 2008 Subject: [LINK] Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers References: Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: > > From: Scott Howard > Date: 14 January 2008 10:24:37 PM > To: Brendan Scott > Cc: Link list > Subject: Re: [LINK] Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers > > > Brendan Scott wrote: >>> Boeing works to protect Dreamliner from hackers >>> >> air gap? >> > > Boeing has confirmed that this is exactly what they have. There is > no connection between the passenger networks and the light computers. > > Of course there's a number of existing planes that have these types > of systems - it's because it's a new type of plane, an thus needs > to go through full approval, that the FAA can even make Boeing > answer such questions. > > Scott > > phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Tue Jan 15 11:59:46 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Tue Jan 15 11:59:56 2008 Subject: [LINK] Use the right email address when posting to link Message-ID: Linkers A reminder - if you post to link using a different email address that the one with which you are subscribed under your email will bounce to me and not go to the list unless I forward it. Very occasionally, depending on content, my spam trap, SpamSieve, might try and discard it. A lot of spam gets sent to link, bounces to me, and gets filtered out this way so I don't need to look at it. Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From cas at taz.net.au Tue Jan 15 12:50:56 2008 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Tue Jan 15 12:51:05 2008 Subject: [LINK] Use the right email address when posting to link In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20080115015056.GE6828@taz.net.au> On Tue, Jan 15, 2008 at 11:59:46AM +1100, Antony Barry wrote: > Linkers > > A reminder - if you post to link using a different email address that the > one with which you are subscribed under your email will bounce to me and > not go to the list unless I forward it. also, if you often need to post to link from a different address, mailman lets you subscribe with the other address and turn mail delivery off for that address. see: http://wiki.list.org/display/DOC/Mailman+2.1+Members+Manual#Mailman2.1MembersManual-7.1HowdoIturnmaildeliveryonoroff%3F%28deliveryoption%29 craig -- craig sanders Pilots should avoid using illegal drugs. -- AOPA's Pilot's Handbook, 1988 From link at todd.inoz.com Tue Jan 15 12:04:36 2008 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Tue Jan 15 13:44:18 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: 'UK considers implanting RFID tags into prisoners' In-Reply-To: <6hhft4$lim8r@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> References: <6hhft4$lim8r@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <200801150244.m0F2i3gR004958@ah.net> At 09:38 15/01/2008, Jan Whitaker wrote: >>There are also proposals to link the RFID tags to a larger GPS >>device to monitor the location of high risk prisoners. Didn't know there were GPS RX's that small! >>Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "If the Home Office >>does not understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than >>an ankle bracelet, they do not need a human-rights lawyer they need >>a common-sense bypass. Common Sense? >>"Degrading offenders in this way will do nothing for their >>rehabilitation and nothing for our safety, as some will inevitably >>find a way round this new technology." Swap chips with a lesser prisoner? >>The RFID proposals are designed to address problems with the >>existing tagging system which uses a transmitter strapped to the ankle. Which is bigger, and more visible and actually transmits over a fair distance. >>Over 2,000 of the 17,000 offenders fitted with the ankle tags have >>escaped by tampering with, or simply cutting off, the device. And these prisoners won't have any desire to rip two grains of rice from their bodies with a blunt instrument? Haven't we seen in Hollywood that where fingers prints and retinas are used as a means of security ID, criminals have no fear of chopping off the fingers or ripping out the eyes. I guess the innocent victims of false conviction will be the ones that don't play hacker - literally. >>Curfew breaches for the past two years are up 283 per cent, and >>further development of the system has been halted until these >>problems can be sorted out. Sounds like a human administrative issue rather than an electronic tagging issue. >>Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National >>Association of Probation Officers, stated that the RFID proposal >>would be unhelpful. Cause they are too short range? >>"This is the sort of daft idea that comes up from the department >>every now and then, but tagging people in the same way we tag our >>pets cannot be the way ahead," he said. Yes I can see it now. Black Van drives down the road - TV Detector Anther Black Van drives down the road - Pet RFID Detector Another Black Van drives down the road - Fashion RFID detector Another black van drives down the road - Criminal Detector Another Black Van Drives down the road - Negligent Parent Detector Another Black Van drives down the road - Porn Detector >>"Knowing where offenders like paedophiles are does not mean you >>know what they are doing." Errr, if they area paedophile, you can be pretty sure you know what they are doing, especially if they are an OFFENDER. From brd at iimetro.com.au Tue Jan 15 17:34:24 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Tue Jan 15 17:35:10 2008 Subject: [LINK] US drafting plan to allow government access to any email or Web search Message-ID: <478C53F0.3080401@iimetro.com.au> US drafting plan to allow government access to any email or Web search Monday January 14, 2008 http://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_drafting_plan_to_allow_government_0114.html National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today. Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ?will be a walk in the park compared to this,? McConnell said. ?this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we?re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.? The article, which profiles the 65-year-old former admiral appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2007 to oversee all of America's intelligence agencies, was not published on the New Yorker's Web site. McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity. "Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the autority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search," author Lawrence Wright pens. ?Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation, he said," Wright adds. "Giorgio warned me, 'We have a saying in this business: ?Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.'" A zero-sum game is one in which gains by one side come at the expense of the other. In other words -- McConnell's aide believes greater security can only come at privacy's expense. McConnell has been an advocate for computer-network defense, which has previously not been the province of any intelligence agency. According to a 2007 conversation in the Oval Office, McConnell told President Bush, ?If the 9/11 perpetrators had focused on a single US bank through cyber-attack and it had been successful, it would have an order of magnitude greater impact on the US economy.? Bush turned to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, asking him if it was true; Paulson said that it was. Bush then asked to McConnell to come up with a network security strategy. "One proposal of McConnell?s Cyber-Security Policy, which is still in the draft stage, is to reduce the access points between government computers and the Internet from two thousand to fifty," Wright notes. "He claimed that cyber-theft account for as much as a hundred billion dollars in annual losses to the American economy. 'The real problem is the perpetrator who doesn?t care about stealing?he just wants to destroy.'" The infrastructure to tap into Americans' email and web search history may already be in place. In November, a former technician at AT&T alleged that the telecom forwarded virtually all of its Internet traffic into a "secret room" to facilitate government spying. Whistleblower Mark Klein said that a copy of all Internet traffic passing over AT&T lines was copied into a locked room at the company's San Francisco office -- to which only employees with National Security Agency clearance had access -- via a cable splitting device. "My job was to connect circuits into the splitter device which was hard-wired to the secret room," Klein. said "And effectively, the splitter copied the entire data stream of those Internet cables into the secret room -- and we're talking about phone conversations, email web browsing, everything that goes across the Internet." "As a technician, I had the engineering wiring documents, which told me how the splitter was wired to the secret room," Klein continued. "And so I know that whatever went across those cables was copied and the entire data stream was copied." According to Klein, that information included Internet activity about Americans. "We're talking about domestic traffic as well as international traffic," Klein said. Previous Bush administration claims that only international communications were being intercepted aren't accurate, he added. "I know the physical equipment, and I know that statement is not true," he added. "It involves millions of communications, a lot of it domestic communications that they're copying wholesale." -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From stephen at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 16 00:03:39 2008 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Wed Jan 16 00:04:52 2008 Subject: [LINK] CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model Message-ID: <20080115130339.29BE869A7@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> > Subject: DCC Tutorial: The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model > - A New Standard for Knowledge Sharing > Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:08:46 +0000 > From: Joy Davidson > To:Interoperability issues across domains INTEROPERABILITY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK DCC Tutorial: The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model - A New Standard for Knowledge Sharing 29/01/2008 University of Glasgow The DCC and FORTH are delighted to announce that they will be delivering a joint one-day tutorial on the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model. This tutorial will introduce the audience to the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, a core ontology and ISO standard (ISO 21127) for the semantic integration of cultural information with library, archive and other information. The CIDOC CRM concentrates on the definition of relationships, rather than terminology, in order to mediate between heterogeneous database schemata and metadata structures. This led to a compact model of 80 classes and 130 relationships, easy to comprehend and suitable to serve as a basis for mediation of cultural and library information and thereby provide the semantic 'glue' needed to transform today's disparate, localised information sources into a coherent and valuable global resource. It comprises the concepts characteristic for data structures employed by most museum, archive and library documentation. Its central idea is the explicit modelling of events, both for the representation of metadata, such as creation, publication, and use, as well as for content summarization and the creation of integrated knowledge bases. It is not prescriptive, but provides a framework to describe common high-level semantics that allow for information integration at the schema level for a wide area of domains. The CIDOC CRM, as an effort of the museums community, is paralleled by the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) by IFLA for the librarians community. Both Working Groups have come together since 2003 and started to develop a common harmonized model. The first draft version is now available as a compatible extension of the CRM, the ooFRBR, covering equally libraries and museums. The tutorial aims at rendering the necessary knowledge to understand the potential of applying the CRM - where it can be useful and what the major technical issues of an application are. It will present an overview of the concepts and relationships covered by the CRM. As an example of a simple application, it will present the CRM Core Metadata Element Set, a minimal metadata schema of about 20 elements, still compatible with the CRM, and demonstrate how even this simple schema can be used to create large networks of integrated knowledge about physical and digital objects, persons, places and events. As an example of a simple compatible extension, it will present the core model of digitization processes used in the CASPAR project to describe digital provenance. In part two, the tutorial will present in detail the draft ooFRBR Model. This model describes in detail the intellectual creation process from the first conception to the publishing in industrial form such as books or electronically. It should be considered equally interesting for the digital libraries community, and it is a fine example of the extensibility of the CRM for dedicated domains. There will be enough time for questions and discussion. Presenter: Martin Doerr, Information Systems Lab, Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Vassilika Vouton. Target audience: Ontology experts, digital library designers, data warehouse designers, system integrators, portal designers that work in the wider area of cultural and library information, but also IT-Staff of libraries, museums and archives, vendors of cultural and other information systems. Basic knowledge of object-oriented data models is required. Duration: Part one: 3 hours Part two: 1.5 hours Cost: £50 for DCC Associate Network members and £75 for non members. If you are interested in taking part, please email british.editor@erpanet.org. Please feel free to forward this message on to any interested parties. Best regards, Joy Davidson DCC Training Coordinator and ERPANET British Editor Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII) George Service House, 11 University Gardens, University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QJ Scotland Tel: +44(0)141 330 8592 Fax: +44(0)141 330 3788 http://www.dcc.ac.uk http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu british.editor@erpanet.org -- Cheers CIDOC Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia From brd at iimetro.com.au Wed Jan 16 08:06:21 2008 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Wed Jan 16 08:07:09 2008 Subject: [LINK] [UK] Parliament ponders the weight of e-petitions Message-ID: <478D204D.4040403@iimetro.com.au> Parliament ponders the weight of e-petitions Westminster goes all Web 2.0 By John Oates The Register Tuesday 15th January 2008 15:48 GMT http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/15/econsultation_epetitions_parliament/ A House of Commons committee meets tomorrow to gather evidence on the wisdom of giving electronic petitions the same status as paper petitions. The House of Commons Procedure Committee will gather to hear evidence tomorrow afternoon from Tom Steinberg, founder of mySociety and the man behind the Prime Minister's e-petitions site, and digital media adviser Tom Loosemore. A further evidence session will take place on 30 January. In line with the spirit of the inquiry, the committee has set up an e-consultation on the issue of e-petitions, though to date the public doesn't seem to have leapt into this brave new world. At the time of writing there are a paltry nine posts on three subjects. One poster complains about their experience of the e-petitions run by the Prime Minister's office. Poster "Perspective Vortex" said that at the end of the consultation period the government emailed everyone who had signed up opposing replacement of Trident nuclear missiles with a message in support of government policy. The poster explained: "In essence, my petition was used to create a mailing list to assist the government in lobbying the public; I consider myself to have been duped into assisting interest groups opposed to my petition... I consider the e-petitioning system to be a mendacious gimmick with the overall effect of generating political disengagement and cynicism." 10 Downing Street's e-petitions site launched in November 2006 and is still in beta, but has at least gained public support - 41,000 people signed up recently to make Jeremy Clarkson Prime Minister. The Scottish Parliament and several local authorities have also experimented with e-petitions. To put your views across you can go to the committee forum here . Paper petitions can be presented formally by a Member of Parliament during an adjournment debate. Petitions can also be presented informally by dropping them in a green bag behind the Speaker's Chair. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Jan 16 08:50:38 2008 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Jan 16 08:57:18 2008 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: [Dlib-subscribers] The January/February 2008 issue of D-Lib Magazine is now available. Message-ID: <6hhft4$m69vc@ipmail01.adl6.internode.on.net> May be of interest to some linkers involved in archiving and repositories. I'll post this one, but if you want more, suggest follow the link to dlib and subscribe. Jan >The January/February 2008 issue of D-Lib Magazine >(http://www.dlib.org/) is now available. > >This issue contains five articles, a workshop report, the 'In Brief' >column, excerpts from recent press releases, and news of upcoming >conferences and other items of interest in 'Clips and >Pointers'. This month, D-Lib features the "Library of the >University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign" contributed by Betsy Kruger. > > >The articles include: > >Interoperability for Searching Learning Object Repositories: The >ProLearn Query Language >Stefaan Ternier and Erik Duval, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven >(K.U.Leuven) / ARIADNE Foundation, Belgium; David Massart, European >Schoolnet (EUN); and Alessandro Campi, Sam Guinea, and Stefano Ceri, >Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), Italy > >Creating Preservation-Ready Web Resources >Joan A. Smith and Michael L. Nelson, Old Dominion University > >Carrots and Sticks: Some Ideas on How to Create a Successful >Institutional Repository >Miguel Ferreira, Eloy Rodrigues, Ana Alice Baptista, and Ricardo >Saraiva, University of Minho, Portugal > >Necessary but Not Sufficient: Modelling Online Archive Development in the UK >Ian G. Anderson, HATII, University of Glasgow >doi:10.1045/january2008-anderson > >The Current State-of-art in Newspaper Digitization: A Market Perspective >Edwin Klijn, Koninklijke Bibliotheek > >The workshop report is: > >Next Steps for E-Science, the Textual Humanities and VREs: A Report >on Text and Grid: Research Questions for the Humanities, Sciences >and Industry, UK e-Science All Hands Meeting 2007 >Stuart Dunn and Tobias Blanke, King's College London > > >D-Lib Magazine has mirror sites at the following locations: > >UKOLN, University of Bath, Bath, England >http://mirrored.ukoln.ac.uk/lis-journals/dlib/ > >The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia >http://dlib.anu.edu.au/ Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim Sollisch, Sept, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Wed Jan 16 08:09:03 2008 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Wed Jan 16 09:00:25 2008 Subject: [LINK] Beijing 2008 Olympic Online only for Windows users? Message-ID: <20080115215954.1833AE081@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> A blog entry by Tim Bray, speculates that the 2008 Beijing Olympics will only be available online to Microsoft Windows users and those with newer Apple Macs. This seems unlikely, as if for no other reason it would make the Olympics less accessible to the disabled, exposing NBC and Microsoft to lawsuits for unlawful discrimination. --- "Not all is sweetness and light around the Olympics. The 2008 version in Beijing will be made available online; but only via Silverlight. Which means that if you use a Linux or Solaris box, or one of the few million pre-Intel Macs that are still out there, the Olympic Community doesn?t want peons like you on board. This seems scandalous to me, but nobody else seems to care. ..." From: Tab Sweep ? World, Tim Bray, 2008/01/13 --- Just to unravel what is being said: Silverlight is a Microsoft developed web browser plugin to provide similar features to Adobe Flash . Tim refers to a blog entry by a Microsoft staff member who makes claims about exclusive coverage of the Olympics: --- "On 8-8-08 the 2008 Summer Olympic Games will officially kick off in Beijing, China. ... We have signed an agreement to partner with NBC Universal to build a Silverlight 2.0 based web broadcast of the 2008 Summer Olympic games. This agreement also sets MSN as the official home of the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a part of this, we will provide users with exclusive access to over 3000 hours of live and on-demand video content via Silverlight streaming. This means that viewers can access every minute of every event. Additionally, the amount of meta-data attached to each of the streams will be extensive and include links to player bios, medal counts, shortcuts to particular events (i.e. athlete x?s third long-jump attempt), maps of the Olympic facilities, pop-up overlays with real-time event alerts, headlines, video search capabilities, etc. ..." From: 2008 Olympics brought to you by Silverlight, January 07, 2008 2:54 AM, Somasegar --- This in turn refers to an agreement with NBC, which was reported earlier by news sources: "... NBC Universal, owner of the exclusive U.S. media rights to this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, China (August 8-24, 2008), announced today that it was teaming up with MSN and Microsoft in an unprecedented strategic alliance to create "NBCOlympics.com on MSN", a next-generation online experience for Olympic fans across the United States. With thousands of ho