It’s another short week, but we’ve seen news about robodebt, sovereign citizens, AI faking tax returns, enrolment for voting, digital rights, and more. And an influencer has been banned from giving financial advice.
Continue reading “Digital developments from Canberra 32”Digital developments from Canberra 29
While nuclear submarines and the Indigenous Voice dominated the news, there’s also news of cybersecurity, Nazis, hypersonics, and more.
Continue reading “Digital developments from Canberra 29”The 9pm Assassination Coordinates

Once again there‘s so many things happening, but in this episode of The 9pm Edict podcast we simply must talk about Space Karen and his bizarre management style at his new $44 billion plaything, Twitter.
Continue reading “The 9pm Assassination Coordinates”Weekly Wrap 505: Finally, productivity begins for 2020
This week of Monday 27 January to Sunday 2 February 2020 seems to have been my actual start of the year. I got some writing done. I got a three-hour podcast done. And I didn’t die in the heat when I went for a quiet drink.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 505: Finally, productivity begins for 2020”Weekly Wrap 489: A week in Melbourne with cybers
The week of Monday 7 to Sunday 13 October was spent in Melbourne, primarily covering the Australian Cyber Conference. Despite a lingering sore throat, I managed to squeeze out four stories for ZDNet and have a pleasant weekend. Excellent!
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 489: A week in Melbourne with cybers”Weekly Wrap 443: A cat, a podcast, and words on healthcare
My week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 November 2018 was dominated by a grumpy cat, but I won’t go into that.
Podcasts
- “The 9pm Arch Window of the Baked Goods”, being The 9pm Edict episode 81. It’s also on Spreaker and SoundCloud. My guest co-host was Nicholas Fryer. Please let me know if you like this format. We’ll be doing a second one before Christmas, and I may do another episode or two in different formats before the end of the year.
Articles
- The real future of healthcare is cultural change, not just AI and other technology, ZDNet Australia, 23 November 2018.
I also wrote a piece about the Assistance and Access Bill, which will appear on Monday.
Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None.
The Week Ahead
The week will be dominated by action in the Australian Parliament, namely debate over the controversial anti-encryption legislation, the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018.
The powerful Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) is still conducting hearings as part of its inquiry, but home affair minister Peter Dutton is pressuring the committee to hurry up, and prime minister Scott Morrison has said he wants the legislation passed in the next two weeks.
Hearings are now scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Friday this week. I’m writing some analysis for ZDNet for Monday, and we’ll see what happens after that.
Meanwhile, I’ll be in Sydney on Tuesday for a lunchtime briefing on “Countering Advanced Threats” by Cybereason, and on Friday for a media lunch with executives from Symantec.
Further Ahead
There don’t seem to be any major commitments between now and Christmas, just some single-day or overnight trips to Sydney for media briefings, end-of-year events, and social activities.
There will be at least one episode of The 9pm Edict wth Nicholas Fryer, however, and perhaps one that’s more of a long-form interview.
[Photo: Freelancer Life. Watching the Australian Senate live while grabbing a late breakfast of noodle soup at the Sussex Centre food court in Sydney’s Chinatown, photographed on 14 November 2018. So not this week.]