Category: Conversations

Conversations is an umbrella category of posts containing the full versions of the interviews and other guest spots I do for other people’s media products, including radio, podcasts and television. RSS Feed

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Talking the Yahoo data breach on ABC Radio National Drive

ABC Sydney TARDIS 1ABC logoYahoo was the victim of the biggest data breach in history, at least so far, so it was inevitable that I ended up talking about it in the media.

This is my conversation with Jonathan Green on ABC Radio National Drive on Friday night.

Yahoo has confirmed the theft of user data including e mail addresses, birth dates, encrypted passwords and security questions. It took the internet giant two years to find out about the massive data breach. Stilgherrian is a Yahoo user and avid writer and commentator on the topic of cyber security and privacy. He talks to RN Drive about the incident.

And here’s what it sounded like.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:13 — 4.8MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s served directly from the ABC website.

[Photo: The view in ABC Sydney TARDIS 1, photographed in April 2016.]

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Talking The Code and smart cars on ABC 774 Melbourne

Screenshot from The Code series 2ABC logoI haven’t made a big deal of being technology consultant for the new series of the ABC TV drama The Code — at least not here — but we decided to talk about that on ABC 774 Melbourne on Thursday night.

The conversation with Casey Bennetto also included some of the recent news about self-driving and smart cars — and, for some reason, the Twitter account Florida Man. Amongst other things.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.1MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[Photo: Jan Roth (Anthony LaPaglia) and Jesse Banks (Ashley Zukerman) in The Code series 2. Photo courtesy ABC TV.]

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Talking Facebook’s Project Aquila on ABC Radio National

Facebook's Project Aquila

ABC logoOn Wednesday I spoke with ABC Radio National about Facebook’s Project Aquila. I’ll let their introduction explain it.

Facebook’s ‘Aquila’ drone has the wingspan of a 737 airliner. But it’s powered by the equivalent of three blow-dryers, and it will stay aloft for months at a time.

It’s a technological feat, built with the idea of extending internet connectivity to more of the developing world.

But the net commentator Stilgherrian explains that Facebook’s offering comes with certain limits.

Here’s the full conversation with presenter Michael Mackenzie, which also included a few words about Google’s Project Loon and net neutrality.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.5MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is being served directly from the ABC website.

[Photo: Facebook’s ‘Aquila’ aerial internet platform has the same wingspan as a Boeing 737 airliner. (supplied)]

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Talking the 2016 Census and privacy on ABC 666 Canberra

ABC logoThe second of my two radio spots about the 2016 Census was with Adam Shirley on ABC 666 Canberra. I think it’s the better of the two, probably because it was my second go at some intelligent-sounding sound bites.

For the background on this Census issue, see the previous post.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.5MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Talking the 2016 Census and privacy on ABC Gold Coast

ABC logoAustralia’s 2016 Census is turning out to be the most controversial in history, mostly because the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has decided to keep people’s names and addresses associated with their raw Census data for four years, and perhaps longer.

This has of course triggered privacy concerns.

Personally, I think the ABS has only itself to blame, because they didn’t include us citizens in the journey this decision, and they’ve been hopeless at explaining themselves.

I wrote about this for ZDNet on Monday, Census privacy risks are not what they seem, and that triggered a couple of radio spots.

This conversation with Nicole Dyer on ABC Gold Coast was the first. It begins with some comments from the ABS Census Director, Caroline Deans.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.3MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Talking Pokémon Go and e-voting on ABC 774 Melbourne

ABC Sydney TARDIS 1ABC logoThe massive global phenomenon that is the Pokémon Go augmented reality game naturally caught the interest of media producers all over — including at ABC 774 Melbourne.

Here’s my chat with Wendy Touhy from the evening of 20 July. I’m hoping I didn’t screw up some detail of the game, although I’m pretty sure I did.

We also spoke about one of my pet topics, the risks of electronic voting.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (9.5MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[Photo: Ready to go live on ABC 774 Melbourne from ABC Sydney TARDIS 1, 20 July 2016.]