Category: Politics

Posted on

Talking Facebook and more on ABC Download This Show

ABC logoI made another appearance on ABC Radio National’s Download This Show this week, with CNet Australia news editor Claire Reilly joining presenter Marc Fennell.

“What should Apple and Android steal? Hao Li and more” is the headline for this episode.

Why just watch movies… when you can be the star? This week on Download This Show meet Hao Li. He’s a man who believes the future of 3D animation and character building is you. Also: are Facebook about to start listening in on your phone conversations?

And in the great battle between Apple & Android phones — what if they stopped making war and started reproducing? We’re asking what iPhone features would you like in an Android, and what Android features would you like in an iPhone.

Here’s the full program.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.6MB)

The audio is ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s served here directly from the ABC website.

Posted on

Prime Minister Edna, while it lasted

Screenshot of Google Search resultsIf you’d done a Google Search for “abbott government” last night Australian time, or any time up until lunchtime today, this is what you’d have seen. Dame Edna Everage as prime minister.

According to Crikey [paywall. free trial]:

It’s likely that a News.com.au article titled “Seven ways the Abbott Government may change your life” is responsible — the Google search algorithm has “crawled” all pages with the words “Abbott government” and chosen the best “hero image” to appear in the search summary box in the top right-hand corner. The PM does love a good Dame, though — perhaps Dame Edna should run for a seat in 2016?

A shame it didn’t last, in my opinion.

Posted on

“Corrupted Nerds” on privacy engineering

Cover image for Corrupted Nerds: Conversations episode 10: click for podcast pageAfter a gap of some six months, I’ve finally produced another episode of the Corrupted Nerds podcast.

Earlier this month, during Australia’s Privacy Awareness Week, I had the very great pleasure of meeting McAfee’s chief privacy officer, Michelle Dennedy.

Not only did I end up writing a ZDNet Australia column a few days ago, Developers, ask your users about data privacy, I so thoroughly enjoyed the conversation that it inspired me to bring Corrupted Nerds back from recess.

In brief, privacy engineering is the process of turning various policies, from privacy laws to the needs of the business’ plan for data, into something that programmers can work with — indeed, something they’ll want to work with because it’s now an engineering problem.

I think you’ll agree that this conversation with Michelle Dennedy is rather fun.

Corrupted Nerds is available via iTunes and SoundCloud.

Posted on

Talking the eBay data breach on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide

FIVEaa logoI’m pleased that the eBay data breach has been getting widespread media coverage. I certainly don’t mind doing a third radio spot today.

As has become a semi-regular thing, I spoke with afternoon presenter Will Goodings on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide. Just a quick five minutes between a fascinating talkback in which people expressed strong feelings about not being able to smoke at al fresco eateries and the news.

I think we covered the essentials, no?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.2MB)

eBay users should change their passwords immediately, and if they use the same password anywhere else, they should change the password there too — and invest in password management software so they can start using different random, complex passwords for every online service.

The audio is ©2014 dmgRadio Australia.

Posted on

Talking the eBay data breach on ABC The World Today

ABC logoFollowing the earlier report on AM, ABC Radio’s The World Today explored the eBay data breach story further, looking at the potential for identity theft.

The reporter was Will Ockenden, and here’s how presenter Eleanor Hall introduced the item:

Internet retailing giant eBay is admitting today that the hacking of its computer systems three months ago could affect all 145 million users of the auction website.

The company has defended the time it has taken to discover the unauthorized access to its network, and the two week delay in letting its users know that their private information was stolen.

Internet security analysts say they now expect a rise in the number of secondary attacks, as hackers attempt to exploit other sites.

eBay users should change their passwords immediately, and if they use the same password anywhere else, they should change the password there too — and invest in password management software so they can start using different random, complex passwords for every online service.

Here’s the full story, served directly from the ABC website, where you can also read the transcript.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.9MB)

The audio is of course ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Posted on

Talking the eBay data breach on ABC Gold Coast

ABC logoOnline marketplace eBay has suffered a massive data breach. Their official statement outlines what we know so far. This conversation on ABC Gold Coast from earlier this morning was the first of several media spots I’m doing today.

As I explained to presenter Nicole Dyer, if all 150 million or so user records were stolen, this makes it one of the Top 5 biggest data breaches by volume of all time.

eBay users should change their passwords immediately, and if they use the same password anywhere else, they should change the password there too — and invest in password management software so they can start using different random, complex passwords for every online service.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.9MB)

Also worth listening to is Will Ockenden’s report on ABC Radio’s AM this morning. It features security researcher Graham Cluley.

The audio here is of course ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.