[LINK] SMH: 'Megaupload closure hits legitimate users'

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

On 24/01/2012 8:47 AM, Roger Clarke wrote:
> However, regulation and consumer protection aren't easy, but they've 
> been abandoned as principles by governments like Howard's, and not 
> reinstated by successor governments like Rullard's. So 'dog eat dog' 
> and 'caveat emptor' rule right now, particularly in exciting new 
> markets like cloudsourcing. 

If you look at what AGIMO is doing wrt the government's use of "as a 
service" offerings, starting maybe at:
http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/2011/11/11/data-centre-as-a-service-industry-briefing-presentation/

... you will notice that the Australian government is very wary of 
"cloud", preferring the term "Data Centre as a Service". This is partly 
because the initiative is directly linked to the whole-of-government 
data centre strategy and partly because of the recognition that the 
meaning of the term "cloud" is not uniform across all involved - 
vendors, agencies etc. AGIMO is also going to great lengths to 
understand the strengths and weakness of such services.

There is a draft strategic direction paper on cloud
http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/2011/04/14/cloud-computing-strategic-direction-paper/
which could not be accused of blindly jumping in.

And PM&C is working on a cybersecurity paper, due out this year.

AGIMO is well across what other governments are doing and you'll 
probably see press reports of visitors from the UK and USA busy talking 
at various events and to lots of people here in Australia during February.
e.g. 
http://www.aiia.com.au/news/78278/AIIA-to-bring-cloud-expert-Vivek-Kundra-to-Australia.htm
and 
http://www.futuregov.asia/events/advanced-government-cloud-forum-australia-2012/speakers/

When it comes to promoting the creation and use of cloud services in 
Australia, DBCDE is doing its own thing.
e.g AIIA signs MoU with DBCDE to drive the development of the Digital 
Economy in Australia
http://www.aiia.com.au/news/70007/

Declaration of interest: I'm working at AGIMO on various aspects of the 
data centre strategy.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email:   brd at iimetro.com.au
website: www.drbrd.com



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