Conversations – Page 26

08 May 201408 May 2014

Talking digital metadata on 3RRR’s Spoke

I always enjoy the opportunity to explain some of the subtleties of the politics behind the digital surveillance debate, so I was glad to get the chance to discuss the concept of “metadata” on Melbourne’s 3RRR this week.

This interview with Michelle Bennett on Spoke is from Tuesday 6 May, and we cover much the same ground as in two of my recent pieces for ZDNet Australia, It’s time that ‘metadata’ met an end and Plibersek loses our privacy in a haystack of envelopes, both first published in March.

I was very pleased that the 18-minute conversation wandered through some of the grey areas. It was neither tinfoil-hat “surveillance is bad” nor simplistic “we must fight the terrorists”. Thanks, Michelle.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:24 — 12.9MB)

08 May 201408 May 2014

Talking digital privacy on ABC 891 Adelaide

ABC logo This is Privacy Awareness Week in Australia, so most of the media I’ve been involved in making is focused on privacy — although of course that’s a common topic for me in any event.

First cab off the rank — or do these days we day “first Uber off the app”? — was ABC 891 Adelaide, a radio station I worked at 1985-91, and which I still have links to.

This quick interview with drive presenter Michael Smyth took place on Monday 5 May 2014.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:26 — 2.3MB)

21 April 201419 January 2024

Talking Heartbleed and the hacker on SBS2’s The Feed

Screenshot of Stilgherrian on SBS The Feed

The Heartbleed saga continued throughout last week. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested a 19-year-old who’d allegedly used the vulnerability to exfiltrate date from the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) — and that prompted my first appearance on SBS2’s The Feed.

21 April 2014

Talking password protection on ABC Download This Show

Stilgherrian in bunny hat from Download This Show

ABC logo Careful and sighted readers will have noticed that in the photo accompanying the audio for this week’s Download This Show I was wearing a bunny hat for Easter. That’s because this radio program now appears on video as well as part of the new RN TV.

Not all of it, but one segment at least, and you’ll see that video over the fold.

In light of the software bug Heartbleed, we examine password managers and ask are they the safest way to manage your security online?

Continue reading “Talking password protection on ABC Download This Show”

21 April 201429 May 2014

Talking lots of things on ABC Download This Show

ABC logo This week saw my first appearance on ABC Radio National’s Download This Show for 2014. Presenter Marc Fennell made the grave mistake of putting me and Claire Porter, editor-a-large of Techly, in the same place at the same time. Chaos ensued.

“Killing Comic Sans, SELFIE Mirror, Password Managers” is the headline for this episode.

Comic Sans comeback: Created for Microsoft in the mid-90s, Comic Sans might just be the internet’s most-hated font. But this week we meet the guy who’s trying to save its reputation and reintroduce Comic Sans to a new generation, by making it look cool. In light of the software bug Heartbleed, we examine password managers and ask are they the safest way to manage your security online? And it’s a contender for the weirdest high-tech gadget yet: the mirror that automatically takes a selfie.

Here’s the full program.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:30 — 12.7MB)

[Photo: Stilgherrian, Marc Fennell and Claire Porter in the ABC studios, 17 April 2014.]

15 April 201415 April 2014

Talking smartphone privacy on ABC Radio’s “Life Matters”

A few weeks back, I had a conversation on Twitter with Natasha Mitchell, presenter of ABC Radio National’s Life Matters, about smartphones and just how much data they’re handing on to, well, all manner of organisations. This morning we came back to that conversation live on national radio.

Do you know what data you’re really sharing, and with whom, when you download and use smart phone apps? Companies are collecting as much as they can get away with, says Stilgherrian.

We spoke for 20 minutes and covered a lot of territory.

If you want to know more, then you can listen to my guest lecture at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and then follow the links to more than 30 references.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:32 — 9.5MB)