February 2012 – Stilgherrian

26 February 2012

Weekly Wrap 90: Propaganda, technology and bird life

My usual weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 February 2012. Busy busy busy.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 126, “Mobile broadband: the next 5 years”. Marc Einstein, who leads Frost & Sullivan’s mobile and wireless analyst team for Asia Pacific, foretells the future.

Articles

CrypTweet encrypts Twitter direct messages, CSO Online, 21 February 2012.
You are what you surf, buy or tweet, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 February 2012. When I first pitched this story to the SMH, I was wondering whether it was only covering old ground. The feedback I got was most positive, so it seems it was a good idea after all. I’ve posted links to my source material.
Google search bias: the eternal PR battle , ZDNet Australia, 24 February 2012.

Media Appearances

None. That’s odd.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday I attended NICTA’s Techfest technology showcase, and they served food and drink.
On Friday I had an Important Television Production Meeting at which food and drink were to be had. But I’m not sure that counts because that’s how they always go.
This morning (Sunday) I’m heading off to Kickstart Forum on the Gold Coast, the annual link-up of IT journalists with vendors who pay money. My flights, accommodation, food and drink are covered by the organisers, Media Connect, but really if you trace it back it’s a whole bunch of technology vendors. I’ll post a list of all the freebies we’re given next week.

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 (or they used to before my phone camera got a bit too scratched up). The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: Rosella Blur. A rosella is caught in a moment of impressionistic action. Yes, this was taken at the Bunjaree Cottages.]

26 February 2012

Separated at birth: Bob Katter and Ben Grubb?

So this image was sent to me in a very roundabout way, and I seem to have drawn the virtual short straw and ended up publishing it.

Could it be that Ben Grubb, deputy technology editor at Fairfax news sites smh.com.au, theage.com.au, brisbanetimes.com.au etc, is the secret love child of independent Member for Kennedy, Cloncurry’s own Bob Katter?

If you have a theory about what the connection might be, do tell me in the comments. People do need to know.

And no, I am not going to reveal who sent me the image.

If you find it to be particularly disturbing, do let me know and I’ll suggest some remedies.

22 February 2012

SMH: You are what you surf, buy or tweet

I have an op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald today about the surveillance society, something that’s already with us.

Computers can tell when your daughter is pregnant. Sometimes they know even before you do. In a recent feature for The New York Times, Charles Duhigg describes how Target in the US analyses everything it knows about its customers. A young woman buying unscented lotion, a large handbag, zinc and magnesium supplements and a brightly coloured rug is likely to be pregnant. So Target dispatches coupons for baby clothes.

When a father stormed into a store complaining that his teenage daughter had received the coupons, Target was forced to apologise. But days later, he realised the store was right…

You can click through to read the whole thing. But since it was written for the dead-tree paper and not the website there are no links.

Here’s the links to my sources:

The New York Times feature by Charles Duhigg, How companies learn your secrets.
A Forbes summary of that piece, How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did. It’s a good summary, but I do recommend reading the full NYT version.
An article explaining how Forbes capitalised on the NYT article in web traffic terms.
A 2006 piece from The Guardian explaining how much could be gleaned from the AOL web search logs, even though they were supposedly anonymous.
An article in Wired explaining similar things.
The 2010 academic paper Myths and fallacies of ‘personally identifiable information’ [PDF] by computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Vitaly Shmatikov. I reckon if you look for more papers from these guys you’ll discover a lot more of interest.

You might also enjoy some of my more recent articles on related topics:

Hacked or not, Ludlam’s a target of spies, ZDNet Australia, 25 January 2012.
Aus becoming surveillance state: Ludlam, ZDNet Australia, 20 January 2012.
Hey Facebook, we want to share, but this is ridiculous, Crikey, 23 September 2011.
Yet another free pass for Aussie spooks, CSO, 16 September 2011.
Has Facebook killed the undercover cop?, CSO, 25 August 2011.

19 February 201226 February 2012

Weekly Wrap 89: Storms and too many podcasts

My usual weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 13 to Sunday 19 February 2012.

I never did get around to writing that more reflective blog post, but you’ll cope. There’s enough here for you to be reading and listening to.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 125, “Blackhole: cybercrime toolkit of choice”. Jason Pearse, M86 Security Labs’ sales engineering director for the Asia-Pacific region, explains why Blackhole is so “good” and debunks some information security myths.
The 9pm Edict episode 18, which covers the NSW police lecturing parents and things.
The 9pm Edict episode 19, which covers idiot reportage of the Kevin Rudd swearing video and proposes a fix for the Canberra press gallery.

Articles

Blocking all .info domains is “censorship”: The Greens, CSO Online, 14 February 2012.
Mobile security a “game-changer” for Aussie telcos: Analyst, CSO Online, 17 February 2012.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday I was quoted in Harrison Polites’ Technology Spectator piece Five critical hacking myths.
On Wednesday night I spoke about copyright vs the internet on ABC Local Radio nationally.
On Saturday afternoon I spoke about Apple’s iMessage and Path’s privacy outrage on Sydney radio 2UE.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday I attended analyst firm Frost & Sullivan’s “ICT Outlook Press Lunch” at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney. Sandwiches and salads and cheese and cake were served. However the waiter never did bring the proffered coffee and had to get my own at the end of the event.

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: Fleeting mists. I know I linked to the picture last week, but I do love it. Such magnificent sights make up for the hassle of the storms.]

[Update 26 February 2012: Added an entry for the Harrison Polites story to Media Appearances section.]

19 February 2012

The 9pm Edict #19

Years ago, a bloke got frustrated at the end of a long day, and swore a bit. And suddenly the entire fucking media in this country is buzzing around this one pissy little story like blowflies to the corpse of a dead horse.

Yes, less than two days since I posted episode 18, today’s bullshit reportage on a video in which former prime minister Kevin Rudd swears a few times — shock horror! — and a bunch of unsubstantiated rumours from Canberra have triggered this episode.

Just look at this crap, from ninemsn. Even the ABC, which is supposed to be a credible, non-sensationalist news outlet, covers the swearing but then has two “related stories” about the speculation about a leadership challenge, that the cabinet is supposed repeatedly testing support for Julia Gillard and that attorney-general Nicola Roxon had declared her support for her.

The Australian has at least six stories linked from its home page, including some irrelevant commentary from opposition leader Tony Abbott and even Rudd saying he’d do it differently now.

Seven is reporting that independent MP Andrew Wilkie reckons Rudd will launch a challenge, describing the video as “explosive”.

This entire episode is an embarrassment. It’s this sort of Canberra pseudo-insider bullshit that’s precisely the reason I don’t read newspapers or their websites and don’t watch TV news. It’s all a sideshow, the so-called journalists who perpetuate this bullshit know it, and yet they continue to do it.

Why?

Well I think I know why this fucktardery happens, and I have a modest proposal for fixing it.

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:10 — 10.9MB)

Um, except… no… oh fuck no, not this!

News has just come through — well, Dennis Shanahan says — that Rudd’s leadership challenge is on. Really. May God have mercy upon our souls.

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 ABC News24 and, of course, the video in question. 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.]

18 February 2012

Talking iMessage and Path privacy fail on radio 2UE

So I ended up going quick chat just now on Radio 2UE just now about Apple’s newly-announced iMessage plans and Path’s privacy outrage.

While Apple’s iMessage isn’t new, extending the application to the Mac’s OS X desktop is, as are some of the iCloud-linked services. In part that’s shoring up Apple’s cloud services. And it’s certainly part of the threat to mobile telcos’ revenue that I wrote about for CSO Online yesterday.

The Path thing is just arsehattery of the first water.

Anyway, here’s the audio. The presenter is Tim Webster and you’ll also hear his regular guest Trevor Long.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.6MB)