Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
It’s the final episode of the spring series, finally. And with all the weird digital policy action in Australia in recent weeks, I figured we’d better chat once more with Justin Warren, “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme“.
As with last week, I won’t say much about the week of Monday 20 to Sunday 26 November 2017 either, except to say that things are, more or less, wonderful. At least by comparison, etc.
In The 9pm Edict Summer Series we reached Target One. Thank you everyone. So now there’ll be two extra episodes of The 9pm Edict podcast over summer:
But, to what happened this week…
None.
Monday through Wednesday I’m concentrating on DirectorTech. Also on Wednesday I’m heading down to Sydney for medical appointments, the ones I’d originally planned to do last Friday, as well as recording a spot for ABC Melbourne. I’ll be answering the question “What is the cloud?” some time after 1900 AEDT.
The rest of the week is unplanned, but I’m sure it’ll include some writing for ZDNet.
[Photo: Dried figs with blue cheese, part of the lovely cheese platter at the West Ryde Hotel. Photographed on 25 November 2017.]
As in previous years, the list of most popular posts for 2012 was rather disappointing, so I’ve hand-curated this list of eight stories for you to consider.
As usual, this does not include the material I wrote elsewhere, for ZDNet Australia, Technology Spectator, CSO Online, Crikey, ABC The Drum and the rest. That’s all listed on my Media Output page.
If you’d like to compare this with previous years, try these:
[Photo: Screenshot of AWStats from this website. It’d make more sense for this image to be on the most-popular story list, but I have my reasons.]
[Update 2.25pm: Comments on Twitter have persuaded me to emphasise that the question here is specifically about “personal safety” only, not lame and replaceable possessions, and my personal safety at that. As the second-last paragraph says, the risk profile might not be the same for everyone. These are the choices I’ve made with open eyes.]
“How do you think that tweeting your day plans affects your personal safety?” asked Ravneel Chand a short time ago. Overall, I reckon it actually increases my safety. Here’s why.
Background first. Here’s today’s “daily plan” tweet which, like those on pretty much every other day, is tweeted shortly before I settle down to work.
Thu plan: Bump out Waratah Cottage; 1032 train to Sydney; lunch (where?); errand Newtown/Enmore; write something; evening TBA.
Later in the morning I mentioned that I’d be catching a later train. And then, just as I left the house:
Mobile: Cab, shortly, to Wentworth Falls; 1132 train to Sydney Central; train to Town Hall station; 1335 walk to SEKRIT hotel and check in.
Clearly the fear being expressed is that by knowing my movements some bad person could more easily do me harm. But let’s do a proper risk assessment. You start one of those by enumerating the risks, and then you look at how this additional information might change those risks.
Continue reading “Why tweeting my movements isn’t a safety risk”
Some Australian airlines announced record-low $3 airfares this month. But do you really want to travel on an airline where you contribute so little money to pre-flight checks and other maintenance tasks…?