Month: December 2009

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Patch Monday: Holiday IT to-do lists

ZDNet Australia logo: click for Patch Monday episode 21In episode 21 of Patch Monday, a few suggestions for what your IT people can do while it’s quiet over the summer holidays.

I speak with Harold Melnick, who’s Microsoft’s senior product marketing manager for Unified Communications; Del from open source consultancy Babel Com Australia; and independent IT consultant Kate Carruthers

And there is, as usual, quick run-through of the week’s news headlines, should you have missed them.

You can listen below. But it’s even better for my stats if you listen at ZDNet Australia or subscribe to the RSS feed or subscribe in iTunes.

Please, let me know what you think. Feedback very, very welcome. And do let me know if there’s any topics I should cover, or guests we should interview.

Yes, I know it’s Tuesday. The podcast did go live yesterday afternoon. I just didn’t get around to blogging about it. Maybe I’ll automate that somehow. Any suggestions for the best way to do that in WordPress?

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ABC Radio Statewide NSW, third spot

ABC logoI joined presenter Paul Turton on ABC Radio’s Statewide for our third chat about things Internettish on Tuesday afternoon.

This week, we talked about privacy. What are the real risks online? How easy is it for people to find out about you? What should you tell your kids, and how safe are they?

The program isn’t streamed on the Internet, but I did another cheap-arsed recording using my MacBook Pro’s built-in microphone. The audio is below — and the shit quality is my fault, not the ABC’s.

Statewide is broadcast on ABC Local Radio throughout NSW from 1600 to 1800 weekdays, except in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and wherever else they have their own local drive-time program. I’m joining Paul every Tuesday afternoon at 1615 through until 15 December.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:01 — 11.5MB)

[The radio interview is probably Copyright © 2009 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, but since they don’t archive them I reckon it’s fair enough putting it here provided you just listen to it and I link back to Statewide and encourage you to listen.]

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Talking Internet censorship this Sunday

Breaking Down the Barriers logo: click for websiteOn Sunday, I’ll be at the Breaking Down the Barriers conference at the Sydney University law School, talking Internet content regulation — that is, censorship.

I’m on a forum panel (scroll down to “Forum 5”) with Geordie Guy from Electronic Frontiers Australia; James McDougall, Director, National Children’s and Youth Law Centre; network engineer Mark Newton; and moderator David Vaile, Executive Director of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre at UNSW.

I’ve been asked to talk about:

The debate surrounding the government’s filtering proposal, with an overview of how the issue is played out in the media; the different tactics used by proponents and opponents of the proposal; how the issue has been framed and how moral panic has been used in the debate; how evidence is used by proponents and opponents of the filtering proposal and in particular how the Government uses evidence to support its “evidence-based policy”; the potential impact of the proposal if any on free speech and different interpretations of actions that have been taken.

Whew!

I’ll record my presentation, perhaps with video if it can be organised, so stay tuned.

[Update 4.35pm: I suppose I should mention that the forum is scheduled for 2.15pm Sunday.]