Category: Politics

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Byteside Tech: the Dark Side

Byteside logo

Tuesday night I was on the panel for Byteside Tech episode 4, this time discussing the dark side of the Internet where the hackers and criminals lurk.

The other panellists were David Peterson from Trend Micro; David Hollingworth, editor of Atomic; journalist Stephen Fenech from the Daily Telegraph; and host Seamus Byrne. And here’s the video.

Once more, we seem to be remarkably enthusiastic. What is it about this event?

If the embedded video doesn’t work for you, click through.

One thing I find interesting about this subject is that so much of it is brand new even for people with an in-depth knowledge of their own field of IT. Does this mean that security issues simply don’t get the coverage they deserve?

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Byteside Tech: Future Broadband

Byteside logo

Tuesday night I was on the panel for Byteside Tech episode 3, discussing the future of broadband for Australia with freelance journalist Alex Kidman; Simon Sharwood editor of Tech Target; Ben Grubb from iTnews; and host Seamus Byrne. And here’s the video.

We all seem to be very enthusiastic, especially as the beers were re-filled during the breaks. And I for one seem to have opinions about things. Who knew?

If the embedded video doesn’t work, click through.

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Internet pranks: a random collection

Fake McDonald's memo: click to embiggen

Following yesterday’s news that a memo claiming McDonald’s deliberately rips off customers was a fake (pictured), I spoke about Internet pranks on ABC Radio 891 Adelaide this morning. I figured you might as well see my notes.

Oh, and the audio is below.

The fake memo was the work of Adelaide-based satirist and prankster David Thorne who, amongst other things, runs the website 27bslash6 as troll-bait and is flogging t-shirts and a book of his pranks called The Internet is a Playground.

Personally, I reckon pranks that just waste people’s time or otherwise annoy them without making any more significant point about society are pretty cheap.

Thorne’s attempt to pay a bill with a drawing of a spider is perhaps amusing, and it’s good that the victim saw the joke. But I put it at the same level as The Chaser bringing a horse into shops. Whereas The Chaser‘s breach of security at APEC, which you can see on video, made an important point about security theatre and social engineering attacks.

Anyway, this is what I discovered while poking around…

Continue reading “Internet pranks: a random collection”

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Conroy’s political choices on Internet censorship

ZDNet Australia logo: click for story

A report from the Australian Computer Society’s Filtering and E-Security Task Force, the drab-named but quite readable Technical Observations on ISP Based Filtering of the Internet, is going to be a handy weapon in Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy’s battle over internet censorship.

Well, so I reckon.

In a backgrounder for ZDNet today, ACS filter report just what Conroy needs, I run through a quick history of Labor’s mandatory Internet filtering policy, and show how Conroy can use the report to kill the project or kill the criticism — depending on what he needs at the time politically.

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Why AFACT v iiNet is important

Crikey logo

Oh, in case you’re wondering, this legal case AFACT v iiNet is about online copyright infringement — that is, illegal file sharing — and whether ISPs do enough to stop it. Its result will set important precedents for the entire telecommunications industry, as well as your expectations of privacy online.

I wrote a backgrounder for Crikey last week, which is free to read.

If iiNet loses, all ISPs could be hit with similar claims worth millions of dollars. That cost, and the cost of additional monitoring, would be passed on to customers. The hearing is expected to last until mid-November. Judge’s rulings are expected early next year.