Tag: microsoft

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Microsoft Politics & Technology Forum 2011 videos

I should have posted this a few days back, but the videos from the Microsoft Politics and Technology Forum 2011 in Canberra have been posted at GovTech, the Microsoft Australia Government Affairs Blog.

For some reason the audio quality on these recordings is rubbish. I’ll let you know if better versions are ever posted.

The keynote was given by leading UK political blogger Iain Dale. The other panellists were Senator Kate Lundy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister; Joe Hockey MP, Shadow Treasurer; Dr Eric Clemons, Professor of Operations and Information Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Microsoft’s Gianpaolo Carraro; and yours truly. The moderator was Mark Pesce.

You can also listen to my interview with Iain Dale, should you be so inclined.

Continue reading “Microsoft Politics & Technology Forum 2011 videos”

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Early flight to Canberra

A brief reminder: I’m about to head to Canberra for a couple of days. This morning I’ll be at the University of Canberra for the seminar Privacy and security in a connected world: anonymity, data loss, tracking and the social web, being organised by their new Centre for Internet Safety. And then tomorrow morning I’ll be at Parliament House for the Microsoft Politics & Technology Forum. I do have some free time in the afternoons if you want to catch up.

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Weekly Wrap 47

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. Thanks to the collision of Easter and Anzac Day to create a very long weekend indeed, there were only three official workings days.

Podcasts

There was no Patch Monday podcast because Monday was a public holiday. However I did record the key interviews for the next two episodes. That’s the furthest ahead I’ve ever been.

Articles

  • Tired Microsoft delivers solid profits, for now, for Crikey, which as you might imagine is a commentary on the company’s quarterly results.
  • I also wrote a piece for ZDNet Australia that should be published tomorrow, and my first two opinion pieces for an outlet that… well… I’ll tell you about that next week.

Media Appearances

  • On Wednesday I was interviewed by Carol Duncan on ABC Radio 1233 Newcastle about the security breach of Sony’s PlayStation Network. The audio is available at the ABC website.
  • I was interviewed on the same subject by the OzSpot gaming podcast, a production of CBS Interactive’s GameSpot.

    • [Update 8 May 2011: The direct link to the podcast doesn’t work. You’ll have to scroll down the list of episodes in the “archive” section on the right to find the one for 26 April.]

  • On Thursday I was interviewed by John Kenneally and Jane Doyle on Adelaide radio FIVEaa about… the Sony PlayStation Network hack. There’s no audio published at their website. Should I post my copy, do you think?

Corporate Largesse

None.

Elsewhere

Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: Road to Bunjaree Cottages, taken earlier today. This is one of the dirt roads leading to Bunjaree Cottages, which is where I’ve been staying off and on for the last three months. This isn’t the official road to take, as for a short distance it crosses through private property, but it’s the way I usually take when walking into Wentworth Falls.]

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On stage for the Microsoft Politics & Technology Forum

I’ve attended the previous two Microsoft Politics & Technology Forums in Canberra as their guest, but this year there’s a difference. I’ll be on stage. The date is 1 June 2011. The venue is the Parliament House Theatrette. And it’s free.

The theme is Do we trust the internet? That’s all about openness and transparency in politics.

Technology and politics is more interwoven than ever before.

We’ve seen sensitive government information being revealed on Wikileaks, and mobilisation of communities across the Middle East using social media resulting in regime change in Tunisia, Egypt and unrest in Libya and Bahrain.

The first social media election in the UK saw an incoming Conservative Coalition government, overturning 13 years of Labor rule. David Cameron’s Conservative party trumped other parties in social media campaigning.

The Australian Government has its own Declaration of Open Government, a central recommendation of the Government 2.0 Taskforce. The declaration promotes “greater participation in Australia’s democracy, and is committed to open government based on a culture of engagement, built on better access to and use of government held information, and sustained by the innovative use of technology.”

This and much more will be discussed when UK’s leading political blogger Iain Dale (pictured) will be addressing Microsoft’s 3rd Politics and Technology Forum: Openness and Transparency in Politics. The Forum is supported by Open Forum.

Iain Dale will then participate in a panel discussion of distinguished speakers including Senator Kate Lundy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister; Joe Hockey MP, Shadow Treasurer; Stilgherrian; and Microsoft’s Gianpaolo Carraro. The event MC is Mark Pesce.

I’m particularly amused by the facts that I’m “distinguished” and that I’m not explained by any job title or description. I am self-explanatory. Or possibly indescribable.

It’ll cost you nothing to register for this free event, but you’ll need to use the SEKRIT ticket code. Which is “dale”.

Previous Microsoft Politics & Technology Forums

The first Forum was in 2008. Thanks to Microsoft’s Nick Hodge, you can view videos of Matt Bai’s keynote address, Panel 1 on Blogging, social networks, political movements and the media with Annabel Crabb, Peter Black and Mark Textor, and Panel 2 on Politics 2.0: information technology and the future of political campaigning with Joe Hockey, Senator Andrew Bartlett, Senator Kate Lundy and Antony Green.

During this first event, I provided commentary via Twitter and was, um, generally helpful to the discussion from the audience. My most important outburst is during the first panel discussion, though I can be heard but not seen. I have yet to dig the tweets out of Twitter’s archive.

The second Forum was in 2009, with the theme “Campaigning Online”. I did a live blog, and later turned my notes of Joe Trippi’s keynote address into the post Notes on Obama’s election campaign.

I daresay there are videos somewhere, but I couldn’t be arsed looking for them just now.

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RSA Conference keynotes: a personal viewing guide

All of the keynote sessions from the RSA Conference on information security are now online as video and audio. Here’s my personal suggestions for the ones to watch.

I didn’t see all of these keynotes. Sometimes there were 17 or 18 sessions running in parallel. I also skipped most of those that were obviously a vendor telling their story. Once I saw a couple of them, I was reminded that for so many IT folks the word “keynote” doesn’t mean something that provides insight any more, but is merely a synonym for “infomercial”.

It’s a shame that RSA hasn’t provided the media in an embeddable form. Or provided an obvious way to link to each keynote directly. Or given the keynote titles. Or told you which ones are panel discussions rather than single-person presentations.

But here’s what I reckon you should watch.

  • Wednesday’s panel led by James Lewis, “Cyberwar, Cybersecurity, and the Challenges Ahead”, with former NSA head Mike McConnell, former US Secretary of Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff and security guru Bruce Schneier.
  • The Cryptographers Panel with Dickie George, Whitfield Diffie, Adi Shamir, Martin Hellman and Ronald Rivest. I didn’t see this one myself, but from the comments on Twitter it was a must-see tour through the history of cryptography and an informed look into the future.
  • The presentations by US Deputy Secretary of Defence William Lynn and the head of US Cyber Command General Keith Alexander. Lynn’s presentation was a little dry but set out US political views. Alexander was witty and expanded on Lynn’s comments into the practical realm.
  • Microsoft’s Scott Charney’s presentation of their “Collaborative Defence” strategy, important because this is the worldview that Microsoft is encouraging us to adopt.
  • Michio Kaku, physicist and best-selling author, on “The Next 20 Years: Interacting with Computers, Telecommunication and AI in the Future”. I didn’t see this one, but I’ve seen Kaku on The Colbert Report and he’s a damn good presenter.
  • Michael Capuzzo, author of The Murder Room, on forensic pathology. Again, I didn’t catch this one, but was told it was fascinating.
  • Bill Clinton’s “Embracing our Common Humanity”. My understanding — although I haven’t checked yet — is that this is essentially the same speech that he gave at Dreamforce in December. That said, he’s a persuasive speaker and it’s worth a listen.

That’s my personal selection, based on what I saw or what I heard about? What are your selections?

[Photo: James Lewis’ keynote panel, “Cyberwar, Cybersecurity, and the Challenges Ahead”. From left to right: former NSA head Mike McConnell; former US Secretary of Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff; and security guru Bruce Schneier. Disclosure: I travelled to San Francisco to attend the RSA Conference as a guest of Microsoft.]