[LINK] Parliamentary Library on R18+ games classification, cyber-security

[Marghanita da Cruz]

The parliamentary library seems to have fixed or aggregated their RSS Feed. 
Two items caught my attention.

R18+ games classification
>  In response to lobbying by gamers and the games industry and extensive public consultation, on 25 May 2011, the Minister for Justice, Brendan O'Connor, announced the release of new draft guidelines for the classification of computer games.
> 
> If adopted, these guidelines will for the first time introduce an adults R18+ rating for computer games. 
...
> It may be that if the R18+ category is not agreed to at a meeting of Attorneys---General in July, some jurisdictions may decide to introduce it at individual state or territory level. This is possible under the co-operative classification agreement, and in some instances, the states have already opted to introduce specific clauses in legislation to allow them to override Commonwealth classifications. Ironically, given its previous opposition, South Australia would most likely act to introduce its own adult games category if the classification ministers are unable to reach agreement in July. The present State Attorney-General, John Rau, is already on record saying he would be prepared to go it alone if the category is not introduced nationally.
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Fprspub%2F844451%22

And this one, on cyber-security with a somewhat subjective opening.
>  MARCH 31, 2011
> 
> Meeting the challenges of cyber-security
> 
> Just weeks after the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, announced the establishment within the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) of a 'specialist cyber investigations unit to investigate and provide advice on state-sponsored cyber attack against, or involving, Australian interests', News Limited media reports have claimed that the parliamentary computers of the Prime Minister and several key Cabinet ministers were infiltrated recently in a sustained "hacking" attack.
> 
> The reports claim that 'several thousand emails' may have been accessed and that in addition to the Prime Minister, the Defence and Foreign Ministers were among those targetted. 
...
>  Digitisation means that massive amounts of information can be extracted, transferred and shuffled with ease. A single well-placed human agent becomes the potential source of archives worth of intelligence. Hostile intelligence agencies now also have a 'beyond-the-horizon' capability; they need not leave their own shores to target information held on our government, business and even personal computers.
> 
> The Attorney-General has also recently echoed these observations in an address on 10 March:
> 
> While traditional threats like espionage and foreign interference remain significant, the explosion of the cyber world has expanded infinitely the opportunities for the covert acquisition of information by both state and non-state actors ... these attacks can be staged from anywhere in the world...
> 
> Coincidently, on 23 March, the Australian National Audit Office released a Performance Audit Report into The Protection and Security of Electronic Information Held by Australian Government Agencies, in which the effectiveness of the management and implementation of measures by four government agencies to protect and secure their electronic information was investigated. The agencies selected for the audit, which included The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, were chosen because they 'represent a general cross-section of agencies and their associated ICT systems'.
> 
> The audit examined the following four aspects of electronic information security within each agency---information security framework; network security management; access management; and equipment security---and the report notes the importance of maintaining good electronic information security:
> 
> Vulnerabilities within ICT systems may allow an attacker to gain access to sensitive information, including information about Government decision making, significant financial transactions, and aggregate personal and financial information.
> 
> The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet made similar comments in the audit report, noting, somewhat prophetically: 
..
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Fprspub%2F844482%22

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://ramin.com.au
Tel: 0414-869202