Talking Google and forgetting on ABC 666 Canberra

ABC logoFollowing a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Google has instituted a system to enable “the right to be forgotten” — and they’ve been flooded with requests.

More than 12,000 requests for certain pages to be removed from Google’s search results were received in the first 24 hours — that’s an average of seven per second — and it’s still unclear how they’ll all be dealt with.

In any event, it won’t work.

I discussed some of the issues with Genevieve Jacobs on ABC 666 Canberra this morning, including the case of Michael Trkulja, the Melbourne man who successfully sued both Google and Yahoo! for a total of around $500,000 — but who has yet to pay his lawyer — and the wonders of the Streisand Effect.

The audio is of course ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

A loving profile of Tony Abbott [blogjune03]

Following my comments about Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday, this video profile of Abbott by American TV host John Oliver on Last Week Tonight seems a suitable counterpoint.


Tony Abbott – Last Week Tonight by Syd07

Besides, I’ve written enough today, namely two pieces related to Apple’s announcements, one for Crikey and one for ZDNet Australia.

[This is one of 30 daily posts I’m writing during Blogjune. See them all under the tag blogjune, or subscribe to the RSS feed.]

Tone-Deaf Abbott no statesman, never will be [blogjune02]

Screenshot from Tony Abbott D-Day video 600px: click to embiggen“At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we are open for business,” tweeted @bernieb last night, adding, “As I stand here on Anzac Cove, I’m reminded of just how terrible a place Australia was before I became Prime Minister.” An utterly crass scenario, no?

@bernieb’s scenario is fictional, but it precisely mirrors the tone-deaf pollution of a D-Day Commemoration message with grubby day-to-day politics committed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday.

My reaction was to groan rather than laugh. but there was plenty of laughter to be had watching the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) go into damage control.

Continue reading “Tone-Deaf Abbott no statesman, never will be [blogjune02]”

Weekly Wrap 208: Mysterious productivity as winter arrives

Departing Sydney Central on the 1621 to Lithgow: click to embiggenI don’t want to jinx this, but my week of Monday 26 May to Sunday 1 June 2014 was yet another productive one. That makes it seven or eight solid weeks in a row. This pleases me. I jut wish I knew why it was happening, so I can make sure it keeps on happening.

That said, I haven’t had much of a social life in there. Maybe that needs to change. But for the time being, well, as the proverb says, “Make hay while this sun shines.”

Podcasts

Articles

Media Appearances

5at5

Another full week this week. But why don’t you subscribe to 5at5, and then I don’t need to keep telling you about it.

Geekery

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday I went to the launch of Kaspersky Lab’s new product, Kaspersky Security for Virtualization Light Agent, namely a dinner at the ECQ Bar at the Pullman Quay Grand Hotel, Circular Quay. There was food and drink, of course, and we were all given a Kaspersky-branded coffee mug, pen and hard-backed notebook, plus the mandatory USB memory stick containing the media assets. I got back to my hotel through the magic of Kapersky’s Cabcharge account.

The Week Ahead

On Monday I’ll be working on an ebook project, and on Tuesday I’ll be writing about whatever Apple announces and then planning out the rest of June.

The exact order of play for the rest of the week will depend on cashflows, but it’ll include writing something for ZDNet Australia, finishing off the ebook, sorting out online sales for same, and finding some more revenue for my podcasts for June.

The weekend is a long one, for the Queen’s Birthday, so I will probably be in Sydney, though I’m open to suggestions.

[Photo: Departing Sydney Central on the 1621 to Lithgow , photographed on 30 May 2014 through the train window.]

Blogjune, yes, but why? [blogjune01]

Buddha Brian on a log: click to embiggenI’ve never been much of a joiner. I don’t play nice with other children. Well, more them with me, the vicious little bastards. But I’ve joined Constance Wiebrands’s Blogjune project this year anyway. I suspect it was a stupid decision.

“What the fuck did you sign up to that for,” screams my alleged professional side.

“You’ve got leads for paying work you could follow up. But no, you’re pissing away time on things like 5at5. You did an episode of Corrupted Nerds this week, which doesn’t have any income yet, when you’d already been paid to do another episode of The 9pm Edict in May and you only just managed to sneak that in before midnight last night. What’s wrong with you?”

Continue reading “Blogjune, yes, but why? [blogjune01]”