My week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 December 2016 was one of my more unusual weeks in 2016, and that’s saying something.
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Talking civil use of metadata on ABC 105.7 Darwin
When mandatory telecommunications data retention legislation was first introduced — the so-called “metadata” retention laws — Australia’s favourite Attorney-General Senator George Brandis QC stressed that it wouldn’t be used for civil proceedings. Guess what just happened?
On Tuesday, Brandis’ office announced a review of the laws to see whether retained metadata could be used — wait for it — in civil proceedings.
On Wednesday I wrote about this in a ZDNet column titled Brandis rushes to release telco metadata for civil proceedings.
And on Wednesday afternoon I spoke about it with Kate O’Toole on ABC 105.7 Darwin. Here’s that conversation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.2MB)
This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Weekly Wrap 294: Unlocking a great many compartments
You may have noticed that I wrote nothing about my week of Monday 11 to Sunday 17 January 2016. That shall continue to be the case for some time. That was a terrible week. But this week, Monday 18 to Sunday 24 January 2016, has been much better. So far. And about that…
The key word, ladies and gentlemen, is “compartmentalisation”. And you’re in the wrong compartment. Move on. There’s nothing to see here.
Some of you will be wondering why I haven’t been paying attention to Twitter for a couple of weeks. Well, I’m busy dealing with a great many things, and it’s a lot to process. I don’t need the additional cognitive load of Twitter just now — neither the processing of a fast-moving information stream, nor the performance aspects.
Twitter will probably be added back into the mix a few days from now, once certain things have been dealt with.
Articles
- AGD stops Australia Post going cyber-Clouseau, ZDNet, 19 January 2016. The Attorney-General’s Department has made some surprisingly sensible decisions relating to the mandatory retention of your telecommunications data.
- Australia’s cyberwar defences ‘badly lagging’: ADFA, ZDNet, 20 January 2016. This is the first of three columns based on a new report by Prof Greg Austin of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) Australian Centre for Cyber Security (ACCS), Australia Rearmed: Future Capabilities for Cyber-enabled Warfare.
- Australia seems ill-equipped for cyberwar ‘rapid catch-up’, ZDNet, 20 January 2016. This is the second of those articles. The third has already been written, and it’ll be published on
MondayWednesdayThursday or Friday.
Podcasts
None, but see below.
Media Appearances
None.
5at5
None. But should 5at5 ever reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.
Corporate Largesse
None.
The Week Ahead
On Monday morning, I’ll spend a couple of hours on my tax accounting, the first of many such sessions in the coming weeks I’ve got a production meeting at 1000, and then I’ll be writing for ZDNet. In the afternoon, I’ll make the long commute down to Sydney and back, because errands. En route, I’ll update various client projects.
Tuesday is Australia Day. But despite the public holiday, I plan to spend the afternoon on pre-production for the next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.
On Wednesday, I’ll spend a couple of hours on my tax accounting, the first of many such sessions in the coming weeks, and then write for ZDNet.
The 9pm Edict will be recorded on Thursday night 28 January, streamed live through Spreaker from 2100 AEDT.
On Thursday, I’ll finally finish a column for ZDNet, and then spend a couple of hours on my tax accounting, the first of many such sessions in the coming weeks. After that, I’ll sort out some loose ends on my geek-for-hire projects. Well, it might not be in precisely that order.
On Friday, I’ll head down to Sydney again, for a meeting with my accountant, and to record a Corrupted Nerds podcast with Leslie Nassar, and perhaps some social activities.
The weekend is as yet unplanned.
On Saturday, I’ll be dealing with whatever critical loose ends remain from the working week.
The 9pm Edict will be recorded on Sunday night 31 January, streamed live through Spreaker from 2100 AEDT.
Further Ahead
On 10 to 12 February, I’ll be in Melbourne for the Pause Fest. I’m on a panel on Thursday 11 titled “The security paradox: individual privacy vs digital driftnets”. I’ll be staying in Melbourne until Saturday afternoon. If you’d like to catch up, let me know.
Update 25 January 2016: Edited to reflect schedule changes. Update 27 January 2016: Edited to reflect further schedule changes. Update 28 January 2016: Edited yet again to reflect even more schedule changes.
[Photo: The controls which operate the external torpedo tube hatches in the forward torpedo room of USS Pampanito, San Francisco, photographed on 10 December 2010.]
Weekly Wrap 280: Hacking, Melbourne, productivity returns
My week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 October 2015 was a marked return to productivity — despite a severe lack of sleep along the way.
Apart from generating three quite adequate articles, and recording plenty of audio for future projects, I also made some excellent contacts at the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference and elsewhere, and certain geekery went pretty much to plan.
I was especially pleased that the Pozible campaign Send Stilgherrian To Ruxcon 2015 was fully funded. I’ll have more to say about that on Monday.
Articles
- Wyatt Roy’s Policy Hack is already becoming a joke, ZDNet Australia, 12 October 2015.
- Australia’s Children’s eSafety Commissioner wants a great human firewall, ZDNet Australia, 14 October 2015.
- Welcome to Brandistan, home of wobbly data retention, ZDNet Australia, 16 October 2015. This contains more than a bit of sarcasm, and was a lot of fun to write.
I also recorded an interview with Joe Franzi, Assistant Secretary Cyber Security with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), Australia’s equivalent to the US National Security Agency (NSA). It’s the first recorded interview he’s ever done in that role, and it’ll turn into an article for ZDNet on Monday. The full audio will appear in due course. Stand by.
Podcasts
None, but a new episode of The 9pm Edict will appear on Tuesday.
I’ve also been commissioned to produce an episode of ABC Radio National’s Future Tense, which will appear in late November.
Media Appearances
- On Friday, I was interviewed for a story looking at the future of technology for ABC Online, which will appear some time in the coming week.
5at5
There’s still nothing from 5at5, and that continues to be terrible. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones when they eventually appear?
Corporate Largesse
- The AISA conference obviously included plenty of free food and drink.
- My travel and accommodation for that Melbourne trip was covered by Tanium.
- Michael McKinnon, social media and security awareness director with AVG Technologies AU Pty Ltd, was generous with the hospitality too.
The Week Ahead
It’s another busy week ahead. On Monday, I’m dealing with administrative loose ends, and at 1600 AEDT being a guest for the recording of Mark Pesce’s podcast TWISTA – This Week in Startups Australia, before finally returning to the Blue Mountains some time on Tuesday.
On Tuesday Wednesday, I’m doing the shopping in Katoomba, and wrapping up starting on another episode of The 9pm Edict. But mostly, it’ll be spent writing for ZDNet.
Wednesday is a day off.
On Thursday, I’m writing for ZDNet, before heading into Sydney for the evening. Once there, I’ll complete the podcast, I’ll waste much of the day tying up idioti lcoose ends.
Friday starts extremely early, waking at 0230 to pack and catch the 0358 train to Sydney in time for my 0715 AEDT flight to Melbourne. The rest of the day will be spent catching up with various people, and doing some location scouting in a stupor of tiredness, before some sort of drinks and dinner thing with a few people.
Saturday and Sunday will be spent covering Ruxcon, another of Australia’s key information security conferences. This will include recording material for Corrupted Nerds as well as Future Tense.
Further Ahead
On Monday and Tuesday 26-27 October, I’ll still be in Melbourne doing various things. That includes a Monday night radio spot on ABC 774 Melbourne at 1930 AEDT.
Update 19 October 2015: Edited to reflect a change of plans. Update 20 October 2015: Edited to reflect further change to the plan. Update 25 October 2015: Edited once more to reflect continuing change.
[Photo: Lumpy Weather, photographed from seat 29A of VA830 on 13 October 2015.]
Talking metadata on ABC 105.7 Darwin
Australia’s mandatory data retention legislation is back in the news again, in part because ABC journalist Will Ockenden put a year’s worth of his so-called “metadata” online and invited people to trawl through it.
This morning I spoke a little about the concept on ABC 105.7 Darwin with breakfast presenter Alan Steer.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.6MB)
The audio is of course ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Given that there’s bound to be quite a bit about data surveillance in the news again soon, here’s three of my articles on the topic that’ll set the mood.
- It’s time that ‘metadata’ met an end, ZDNet Australia, 20 March 2014.
- Will metadata musings ever mature beyond paranoid fears?, ZDNet Australia, 20 October 2014.
- Australia’s data-retention debate hits Derpcon Zero, ZDNet Australia, 18 March 2015.
Weekly Wrap 250: Melbourne abbreviated, and derp
My week of Monday 16 to Sunday 22 March 2015 didn’t quite go to plan, but the changes were mostly just irritations.
As mentioned last week, I had planned to stay on in Melbourne for a few days, but a closer look at the budget made it clear that wasn’t possible. And then my return flight on Thursday was delayed, for two reasons. One, Melbourne Airport’s air traffic control tower was evacuated for some reason, putting a spanner in the works. Two, just as my plane was finally about to leave, a passenger fell ill, and we had to wait until an ambulance arrived.
Still, I gathered plenty of information in Melbourne, and bits and pieces of it will turn up in various writings on the coming weeks.
Articles
- Australia’s data-retention debate hits Derpcon Zero, ZDNet Australia, 18 March 2015.
Podcasts
None. The next episode of The 9pm Edict will be on Tuesday 24 March.
5at5
There were only two editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday and Wednesday. The gap in the early part of the week was because I was busy, and in the latter part of the week because I had trouble getting a clean data link to TinyLetter for some reason. You should subscribe, you know.
Media Appearances
None.
Corporate Largesse
- From Tuesday through Thursday, I was at the Cisco Live event in Melbourne, as Cisco’s guest. They covered my flights from Sydney, airport transfers, two nights accommodation at the Crown Metropol, food and drink during the conference, and dinner at Bistro Guillaume. Regarding the last, the food and wine was excellent. I had the charcuterie plate, Berkshire pork belly served with picked cabbage and apple salad, and the cheese platter. Etihad Stadium also provided food and drinks for the attending journalists and analysts after we toured their new technical facilities.
The Week Ahead
It’s going to be another busy one, at least in the first half of the week.
On Monday, I’ll be doing most of the production for an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, as well as the laundry, as well as administrivia.
On Tuesday, I’ll be taking the train to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing by Oracle on the cloud and big data. I’m wondering if anything has actually changed with them things. I’ll also be preparing my entries for the IT Journalism Awards, also known as The Lizzies, and dealing with a few errands.
On Wednesday, I’m heading in to Sydney again for the Rewind/Fast Forward conference. The program seems interesting, and I think I’ll ge getting plenty of usable material there too.
On Thursday and Friday, I’ll be writing a column for ZDNet Australia, writing something else, and working on the much-delayed ebook — though I haven’t locked those activities into specific timeslots yet.
The weekend is unplanned, but Saturday will of course include the NSW state election.
[Photo: VH-VUE touches down in Melbourne. VH-VUE is a Boeing 737 Next Gen, and on 17 March 2015 it was flying Virgin Australia flight VA834 SYD-MEL. While it was a rainy day, most of the vertical streaks in this image are from the crinkled window treatment.]