Stilgherrian

Talking major sports’ future on ABC 702 Sydney

Stilgherrian — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:26:11 +0000

If you’d asked me last week what I thought I’d be doing this week, the answer would not have included “writing and talking about the future of the major sporting codes as televisions events”. But I wrote this thing in the newspaper…

Last week federal court judge Justice Steven Rares ruled that Optus’ TV Now service, which allows customers to record free-to-air TV and have it streamed back to their smartphone, tablet or computer at a more convenient time, was a legal form of time-shifting under section 111 of the Copyright Act 1968.

Even if competing telco Telstra had a supposedly-exclusive deal with the Australian Football League (AFL) to stream live video coverage of matches to smartphones. Even if the delay between an Optus customer starting to record a game and playing it back was just two minutes.

Telstra is paying the AFL $153 million over five years for this now-not-so-exclusive streaming right. Optus pays the AFL nothing, because they’re just providing a technical service through which individual customers make their own “solely for private and domestic use” recordings.

Josh Taylor covered it for ZDNet Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald commissioned me to write an opinion piece that was published this morning, Sport has to think outside the box. Do please read it. It seem to have struck a chord, because I’ve received a lot of compliments.

Then the ABC’s Linda Mottram asked me to chat about the issues on 702 Sydney. And here’s the audio, along with her subsequent chat with a talkback caller on the same topic.

The audio is of course ©2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. But these program items usually aren’t archived on their website so here it is. And I will of course suggest that you listen to Linda Mottram’s morning program regularly.

I’m thinking of writing up some of my thoughts on how future sporting coverage could be done technically. Meanwhile, do you feel as I do that the days of cashed-up major sporting codes are about to end?

The 9pm Edict #17A

Stilgherrian — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:03:34 +0000

Residents of the depressingly tight-sphinctered Melbourne suburb of Prahran torture their dogs. True. And it’s ugly.

Also this week, Australia gets a new masthead for quality journalism, and everyone goes all wet and judgemental. Something something football on the internet. And I finish all the things that I meant to do on New Year’s Eve but didn’t.

Despite being recorded more than five weeks after the previous episode, this is really just a continuation. More or less. Shut up I’m telling this story don’t question me.

Look, I’m going to be writing some more words for a bit, so feel free to scroll down or click through or whatever and just play the podcast, OK?

Apart from the dogs (which I cover in a little too much detail), Nick Hodge explains why New Year’s Eve in Sydney is so dreadful (five weeks after the event I know shut up), I look briefly at The Global Mail (while most of what I wanted to say has already been said on Radio 2SER, I do add some extra points here), and I become concerned about apples being compared with oranges. So to speak.

Simon (pictured) even tells us The Truth about Facebook! Whoever the fuck Simon is.

En passant I mention La Camera Italian Restaurant in South Yarra and The Tennis Shop.

And the football thing? Oh, I’ve got an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

You can listen to the podcast below. But if you want all of the episodes, now and in the future, subscribe to the podcast feed, or even subscribe automatically in iTunes.

If you’d like to comment on this episode, please add your comment below, or Skype to stilgherrian or phone Sydney +61 2 8011 3733. Not that anyone ever does.

[Credits: Audio grabs from 10 O'Clock Live, EON's The Spice Must Flow, Stilgherrian Live episode 53, The Larry Sanders Show, ambient sound from Bunjaree Cottages, 40 Years of PM. The little beep sound is by junggle via Freesound.org, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license. The 9pm Edict theme by mansardian, Edict fanfare by neonaeon, all from The Freesound Project. Photograph of Stilgherrian taken 29 March 2009 by misswired, used by permission.]

Talking “The Global Mail” on Radio 2SER

Stilgherrian — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:42:07 +0000

I thought I’d be too busy today to pay much attention to the new quality Australian news outlet The Global Mail. But then around 2pm I got a call from Radio 2SER in Sydney asking for a comment.

And so it was that at 2.30pm I was interviewed for the station’s current affairs program The Wire by Calliste Weitenberg, along with The Global Mail’s managing editor Monica Attard.

If you haven’t caught up with this yet, The Global Mail has no advertising and no subscription fees. It’s funded entirely by philanthropy — in this case $15 million over five years from Wotif founder Graeme Wood, a man I previously called an arsehat over another matter.

The radio story includes my approval of the new masthead’s long-form journalism and the experience of the editorial team, and notes that it’s easy to differentiate between Wood’s open philanthropy or the similar position held by Al Jazeera and the more power-hungry approach of Rupert Murdoch or would-be media magnate Gina Rinehart.

What it omits is my observation that despite Attard’s claim that everyone is their audience the staff seem almost entirely white middle-aged middle-class types, that you can’t possibly be everything to all people, and that I’m hanging out for things like database journalism and innovative storytelling techniques.

And don’t get me started on the custom sideways scrolling that simple doesn’t respond to trackpad gestures on my MacBook Pro.

But all that said, it’s only Day One for The Global Mail. I wish them well.

Weekly Wrap 87: Rain, unseasonable risk and videos

Stilgherrian — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:30:53 +0000

My usual weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 30 January to Sunday 5 February 2012.

It was an odd week. It rained. A lot. And the continual greyness felt like it was threatening to trigger seasonal affective disorder unseasonably. I figured it was best to generally ignore the world. I’m amused that this seemed to cause some distress in certain quarters. Thank you for taking an interest.

Well that, and fucking around in the rain caused me to catch a cold. Sort of. I conquered the cold with massive doses of Vitamin C. I am a hero.

I was less of a hero when it came to tackling certain technical problems with my computer. I’ll whinge about that another time.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 123, “Skipping security is human nature”. Chris Wood, regional director for Australia and New Zealand at security vendor Sourcefire, explains how V = EC² explains everything. Or something. I don’t know. Listen to the podcast.

Articles

The tweets must flow, except when they risk revenue, Crikey, 31 January 2012.
Why security comes last, ZDNet Australia, 31 January 2012. This story includes the companion video to this week’s Patch Monday podcast, in which Chris Wood draws a diagram.

Media Appearances

On Monday night I spoke about Twitter and censorship with Dom Knight on ABC Local Radio in NSW.
On Friday I was interviewed by Radio 2SER for their Saturday current affairs program Razor’s Edge. The conversation was about this week’s Federal Court decision on Optus’ TV Now service and live sports broadcasts. (And in case that podcast site disappears, I’ll mirror the audio file.)

Corporate Largesse

None.

Elsewhere

Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: Rain clears, momentarily. As I said, I was raining almost the entire week, making Bunjaree Cottages a slightly a dreary place. But when the rain did clear, this was the view from Rosella Cottage.]

Gold Coast again, for Kickstart again

Stilgherrian — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:13:48 +0000

Oh dear. It’s that time of year again. The annual Kickstart Forum on the Gold Coast is coming up at the end of February.

This is a start-of-year get-together for IT journalists and the vendors who wish to spruik to them. There is also drinking. Allegedly. I’ll be there along with the usual suspects from Sunday 26 February.

Freedom of Information panel, orderly and disorderly

Stilgherrian — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:10:11 +0000

On Tuesday 21 February 2012 I’m on the panel for “Freedom of information?”, presented by the Recordkeeping Roundtable.

The promo sayeth:

In a connected world where information sharing is easier and has more impact than ever before, is the current framework of FOI, information security, privacy and archives laws and practices delivering the information society needs in a timely and appropriate way? This panel discussion will be about:

assessing the effectiveness of current information access and security laws and methods — are they hopelessly broken?

the culture of secrecy and withholding by government agencies

how technology and activism offer those with the skills and motivation some alternative and very powerful ways to access and reveal information, and

what can be done to address the current state of things and move to better ways of making information available when and where it’s needed.

I think I’ll be rabbiting on about the internet and stuff. Information security, digital distribution, authentication of records, WikiLeaks, Anonymous. That sort of thing.

My fellow panelists are former diplomat Dr Philip Dorling, who now leads the journalistic pack in FOI stuff; and Tim Robinson, Manager, Archives and Records Management Services at the University of Sydney. The moderator is Cassie Findlay, Recordkeeping Roundtable co-founder and digital archivist.

It’s at the Australian Technology Park, Redfern, Sydney, and doors open at 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start. It wraps at 7.30pm for dinner. Admission is $5 and you should probably register.

Talking Twitter and censorship on ABC Local Radio

Stilgherrian — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:05:22 +0000

Twitter has announced that it now has the capability to censor tweets on a country-by-country basis, and naturally there’s been a global outcry about the threat to free speech.

I wrote a piece for Crikey today, explaining the positive spin the company was putting on it all, and pointing out that Twitter does still need to justify its valuation of $8.4 billion when its revenues are a mere $100 million.

~~But Crikey is suffering “technical issues” right now, and I can’t point to that article just yet.~~

Until then, here’s an interview I just did on ABC 702 Sydney and ABC Regional Radio around NSW with Dom Knight.

Weekly Wrap 86: Linux, paranoia and a few rants

Stilgherrian — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:50:28 +0000

My usual weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 23 to Sunday 29 January 2012.

This week included the last of my output from Linux.conf.au. I’ve just gathered all of my Linux.conf.au coverage plus selected other people’s in one place for your convenience.

Add this week’s media output to last week’s and you can see why I’ve been kind of exhausted. Thank the gods, we’re having a pseudo-long weekend.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 122, “War on the internet: it’s all about power”. The podcast covers the previous weekend’s War on the Internet forum Electronic Frontiers Australia and The Greens, and featured Suelette Dreyfus, co-author with Assange of Underground; Greens’ Senator Scott Ludlam; Crikey’s Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane; and headline speaker Jacob Appelbaum, internet security researcher, software hacker and activist.

Articles

Collateral damage in the copyright wars, ABC Drum Opinion, 23 January 2012.
Beware the piracy clones, Technology Spectator, 23 January 2012.
Untested buggy UEFI heads for prime-time, ZDNet Australia, 23 January 2012. Also published at TechRepublic.
Ah, the tech-soap that is Apple will run and run, Crikey, 25 January 2012. Warning: This article offends pompous Randroids. Apparently. Fuck ‘em.
Linux.conf.au 2012 photos, ZDNet Australia, 25 January 2012. Also published at TechRepublic.
Hacked or not, Ludlam’s a target of spies, ZDNet Australia, 25 January 2012.

Media Appearances

On Saturday I spoke with Sydney radio 2UE about cyberbullying and Rose Smith’s suggestion that children should be made to surrender their mobile phones at night.

Corporate Largesse

D-Link gave me a DCS-930L Wireless N Network Camera, which they sometimes describe as a “cloud camera”, the arsehats. I’ll be writing about that separately.
On Wednesday Chris Wood, regional director for Australia and New Zealand at security vendor Sourcefire, bought me a coffee.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Three sprigs at Threefold. Three sprigs of mint in three brown bottles grace the windowsill in the toilet at Melbourne's Threefold Foodstore and Eatery. I think that's just a wanked-up word for "cafe". I had the spatchcock, thank you very much.]

My complete Linux.conf.au 2012 coverage

Stilgherrian — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:48:39 +0000

Here’s everything from the Linux.conf.au 2012 conference on one place. All of my coverage, plus that of Angus Kidman for Lifehacker and Sam Gentle.

This will be a boring post for anyone not interested in Linux, so I’ll put the content after the jump.

Stilgherrian’s coverage

Written articles:

Open source needed to save democracy, ZDNet Australia, 18 January 2012. Also published at TechRepublic.
Aus becoming surveillance state: Ludlam, ZDNet Australia, 20 January 2012.
No SOPA for Australia: AG (contributor only), ZDNet Australia, 20 January 2012.
Untested buggy UEFI heads for prime-time, ZDNet Australia, 23 January 2012. Also published at TechRepublic.
Ah, the tech-soap that is Apple will run and run, Crikey, 25 January 2012. Warning: This article offends pompous Randroids. Apparently. Fuck ‘em.
Linux.conf.au 2012 photos, ZDNet Australia, 25 January 2012. Also published at TechRepublic.

Podcasts:

TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 1, “Three threats and a balloon”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia as Linux should copy Apple on user rapport, which isn’t trolling at all. Includes open source luminary Bruce Perens’ comments on a certain attitude problem in some sections of the community, LWN.com’s Jonathan Corbet about the challenges facing Linux kernel development in 2012, and a brief introduction to Project Horus, which has used balloons to send Linux computers to the edge of space.
TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 2, “FreedomBox’s privacy”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia. FreedomBox Foundation board member and developer Bdale Garbee provides a progress report on their privacy-enhancing personal servers, Red Hat’s experimental platform as a service (PaaS) product OpenShift is explained by its evangelist and open-source advocate Mark Atwood, and we report exactly what happened to that Linux-equipped balloon launched by Project Horus that we mentioned in episode 1.
TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 3, “Cyborg lawyer demands source”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia as Cyborg lawyer demands software source. Lawyer Karen Sandler explains the links between her potentially fatal heart condition and software freedom, there’s part two of our look at FreedomBox, and a conversation with Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora about the Ada Initiative, a project to increase the participation of women in open technology and culture.
TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 4, “Planes, sounds and freedom”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia as Linux.conf.au 2012: planes and freedom. Security researcher, software hacker and activist Jacob Appelbaum explains the problem with the surveillance state and what individuals can do about it, David Rowe explains the Codec 2 audio compression software that can transmit intelligible speech in as little as 1400 bits per second, and Andrew Tridgell, best-known for his role in developing the Samba networking technology, introduces us to his recent work with semi-autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Angus Kidman’s coverage

It’s also worth reading Angus’ Linux.conf.au presentation, Cheap Tabloid Tricks: The Truth About Linux, Open Source And The Media. Or watch the video, because that includes the bonus audience questions. It’s a fine reality-check.

Sam Gentle’s coverage

Talking digital downtime on Sydney radio 2UE

Stilgherrian — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:07:33 +0000

So Radio 2UE must’ve been happy with the spot I did a fortnight ago, because they asked me back again today to talk about cyberbullying and trolling.

Well, that was the plan. But time constraints limited our conversation to just one topic: Rose Smith’s suggestion that children should be made to surrender their mobile phones at night in a bid to stop the “devastating effects” of bullying.

Smith has run a free anti-bullying camp on Sydney’s northern beaches for the past 15 years, and reckons children needed to learn to “disconnect”. She believes that parents should take their children’s phones when they went to bed and return them in the morning in order to give them some time off.

So presenter Tim Webster and regular guest Trevor Long got to hear my well-informed opinion.

Weekly Wrap 85: Trains, planes, Linux and podcasts

Stilgherrian — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:25:10 +0000

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 16 to Sunday 22 January 2012, i.e. last week. Yes, just like last week’s Weekly Wrap it’s being posted way late because I’ve been incredibly busy.

The main cause of that was covering Linux.conf.au 2012 (LCA) conference. Indeed, some of the conference coverage wasn’t posted until well into the following week — which is this week as I’m posting this post, except it shouldn’t be because this post is about last week. Confused? You should’ve been there!

Now there’s so much stuff here that I’m posting the main body of text over the fold. If you’re only seeing the preview, do click through ‘cos there’s a very important question about the photo.

Podcasts

This week was Podcast Hell. Or Podcast Heaven, depending on how you look at it. Apart from the regular Patch Monday, I did a serious of four daily podcasts from the Linux.conf.au 2012 conference. Ermph.

Patch Monday episode 122, “Cyber extortion: a victim’s story”, in which Suleiman Revell explains what it’s like when a distributed denial of service attack takes your business offline.
TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 1, “Three threats and a balloon”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia as Linux should copy Apple on user rapport, which isn’t trolling at all. Includes open source luminary Bruce Perens’ comments on a certain attitude problem in some sections of the community, LWN.com’s Jonathan Corbet about the challenges facing Linux kernel development in 2012, and a brief introduction to Project Horus, which has used balloons to send Linux computers to the edge of space.
TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 2, “FreedomBox’s privacy”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia. FreedomBox Foundation board member and developer Bdale Garbee provides a progress report on their privacy-enhancing personal servers, Red Hat’s experimental platform as a service (PaaS) product OpenShift is explained by its evangelist and open-source advocate Mark Atwood, and we report exactly what happened to that Linux-equipped balloon launched by Project Horus that we mentioned in episode 1.
TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 3, “Cyborg lawyer demands source”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia as Cyborg lawyer demands software source. Lawyer Karen Sandler explains the links between her potentially fatal heart condition and software freedom, there’s part two of our look at FreedomBox, and a conversation with Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora about the Ada Initiative, a project to increase the participation of women in open technology and culture.
TechRepublic at Linux.conf.au, episode 4, “Planes, sounds and freedom”. Also posted at ZDNet Australia as Linux.conf.au 2012: planes and freedom. Security researcher, software hacker and activist Jacob Appelbaum explains the problem with the surveillance state and what individuals can do about it, David Rowe explains the Codec 2 audio compression software that can transmit intelligible speech in as little as 1400 bits per second, and Andrew Tridgell, best-known for his role in developing the Samba networking technology, introduces us to his recent work with semi-autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Articles

Open source needed to save democracy, ZDNet Australia, 18 January 2012. Also published at TechRepublic.
Aus becoming surveillance state: Ludlam, ZDNet Australia, 20 January 2012.
No SOPA for Australia: AG (contributor only), ZDNet Australia, 20 January 2012.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday morning I spoke about the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the internet blackout protest with Adelaide radio 1395 FIVEaa.
On Wednesday evening I spoke about the same thing on ABC Local Radio with Dom Knight, but I screwed up the recording.

Corporate Largesse

None. Again. All the Linux.conf.au social events were part of a conference I covered so that’s work, dammit. And the stingy bastards at The Greens and Electronic Frontiers Australia didn’t provide any refreshments at Saturday’s War on the Internet forum. No wonder I drink.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Trackside Australia, Victorian division. ~~This snapshot was taken from the train somewhere between Melbourne and Ballarat. Can anyone identify the precise location?~~ The location has been identified as the spot where the Bacchus Marsh – Balliang Road crosses the railway.]

Weeky Wrap 84: Rosellas, cyberwar and lots of radio

Stilgherrian — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:21:05 +0000

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 9 to Sunday 15 January 2012, posted way late because I’ve been incredibly busy.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 120, “Anonymous vs. Stratfor: the real issues”, being a nice long interview with Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst with IT-Harvest, a privately-held IT security research firm based in Detroit, Michigan. He also edits and publishes the newsletter Cyber Defence Weekly, and is author of the book Surviving Cyberwar.

Articles

The snake oil that is domain registries’ big fat new revenue stream, Crikey, 11 January 2012.

Media Appearances

On Monday I was on ABC NewsRadio talking about generic cyberthreats as sold by the Australian Federal Police, or something.
On Thursday morning ABC Radio National Breakfast had an expert panel on cybersecurity, and I was one of the experts. I suggest you read the daft troll’s comment on this post. It’s a hoot.
On Saturday afternoon I was talking about various online scams on Sydney radio 2UE. They were so happy with this week’s post that I’m now booked in for this Saturday 28 January at 1530 AEDT to talk about trolling.

Corporate Largesse

None. I thought things might start picking up this week, but apparently not.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Rosellas neat Wentworth Falls, photographed near Railway Parade on 17 January 2012.]

Talking SOPA on Adelaide radio 1395 FIVEaa

Stilgherrian — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:27:54 +0000

This is being posted a bit late. It’s a conversation about the US Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Wikipedia blackout originally broadcast on 18 January. So it’s been overtaken by more recent events.
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The presenters, as usual, are Keith Conlon and John Kenneally at 1395 FIVEaa, two chaps I used to work with back at ABC 891 Adelaide some… um, some years ago.

Linux.conf.au delays everything else in my life

Stilgherrian — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:00:28 +0000

The lack of posts since 15 January — including still not posting last week’s Weekly Wrap — is the direct result of me spending the entire week covering the Linux.conf.au 2012 conference in Ballarat. I’m exhausted. And today there’s still the War on the Internet forum to cover in Melbourne.

I’m exhausted. So it might be another day or two before I catch up with everything here. As usual, the best way to stay in touch with what I’m doing is my high-volume Twitter stream.

Talking internet scams on Sydney radio 2UE

Stilgherrian — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:10:42 +0000

Well, this is a roundabout thing. On Saturday afternoons Trevor Long does a regular radio spot on 2UE 954 with presenter Tim Webster. This week Paul Wallbank was going to fill in but then it turned out that he couldn’t. So I ended up doing it.

The topics we discussed included the online extortion attempt against Sydney businessmen Sulieman Ravell and his firm Funds Focus; scams relating to London 2012 Olympics tickets, and other scams that Paul Wallbank had identified, as well as his tips for avoiding scams.

We also mentioned the new top-level internet domains.

Trevor Long, meanwhile, talked about the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and what caught his eye there.

Here’s the audio, including the far-too-many mobile phone dropouts — which Tim Webster handled with aplomb — and a little bleep every time I skip over other segments like the sport and traffic reports. In fact I’ve left in Mr Webster’s handling of these glitches precisely because it shows his professionalism.

The audio is ©2012 Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd, of course, but as usual I’m posting it here in case they don’t post it at their own website. The little beep sound is by junggle via Freesound.org, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.