Author: Stilgherrian

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Talking hacking and irrational actors in Redfern

The Recordkeeping Roundtable panel “Freedom of Information?” held on 29 February was recorded, and here’s the audio.

The promo, as I told you earlier said:

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 was the first speaker, talking about the new, disorderly ways of liberating information, using the Anonymous crack of Stratfor as an example. Since then, though, we’ve discovered that the whole thing might have been an FBI sting operation against WikiLeaks!

Recordkeeping Roundtable has posted the audio of the entire event: opening remarks by moderator Cassie Findlay; me; the speech by former diplomat Dr Philip Dorling, who now leads the journalistic pack in FOI stuff; the speech by Tim Robinson, Manager, Archives and Records Management Services at the University of Sydney; and the question and answer session.

Here, though, is a tweaked and slightly less bandwidth-hungry version of my speech.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:38 — 7.5MB)

[The original audio recording by Cassie Findlay was sampled at 44.1kHz. This version has the audio levels compressed and normalised, and re-sampled to 22.050kHz. It’s posted here under a Creative Commons BY-SA license.]

[Update 26 May 2012: A transcript of what I said is now available.]

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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

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.]

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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.

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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:

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

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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

Media Appearances

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.]

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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.]