Group items tagged

Victorian school charges levy for take-home computers; a charity steps in to pay when parents can't afford to. School possibly in breach of DER program.

This is my second blog entry on the topic of the 'digital divide'. I would have posted it earlier but I haven't been able to access wordpress.com from home. There is also an introductory post from a few weeks ago.

In the US a coalition consisting of Google, Microsoft, Ebay, AT&T, and Intel is fighting for a change of the Electronics Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) that was enacted in 1986. The coalition stresses the fact that the Internet has changed tremendously since then and the law therefore needs to be adapted. It protects files in the homes of people but law enforcement entities do not need judicial warrant to view files stored with ISPs, in the cloud or get GPS data from mobile phones.\nDefinitely a case worth fighting for - and an opportunity for Google & Co. to get good press. What about the law that allows checking and copying peoples' computer harddrives at airports though?

The mobile phone is a tool that can help bridge the digital divide permitting to US teenagers from low income households to access the Internet even if they don't have access to a home computer.

related to this, this article suggests that the humble mobile phone may be slowly eroding the digital divide in third world countries, India in this example. http://inside.org.au/india-mobile-revolution/

Very timely for our forthcoming privacy class. Google has been wardriving. Which makes perfect sense. Useful for business and so easy to do when they're driving by. Who owns info that we put out on the street?

Google Australia will today be sent a "please explain" letter from two local privacy organisations demanding to know why the company has been collecting personal Wi-Fi network data from Australian homes alongside the images it takes with its Street View cameras. Google has taken some heat lately about its commitment to privacy after officials from 10 governments - including New Zealand, Canada and France - wrote a letter to chief executive Eric Schmidt to express their concern over data collection for Street View and the implementation of its Buzz social networking tool.

"More than quarter of British kids say Facebook more important than family" this is actually really sad... some pretty alarming stats, particularly sad, "Kids living in single parent homes with just their mother found Facebook their most important influence, with 62 per cent ranking it their main influence" on the other side of the fence, survey shows "less than a quarter of parents thought technology impacted their children's lives". Maybe they should become their friend on FB...

The conversation first looked at internet censorship from an international perspective covering issues of internet governance from and internet freedom. Unfortunately one or two members of the panel were prone to regurgitating policy rather than engaging in an actual debate. Towards the end inevitably the discussion was drawn to the proposed filtering laws within Australia. The general consensus from the panel members was that education had to be an essential part of policy when addressing online safety. Interestingly the government representative, the Minister for Home Affairs, was a keen supporter of this policy stance.

The author puts forward that giving access to computer to children from developing countries is a remarkable opportunity for them but could alsobe a threat as they are not being familiarised with the dangers of the Internet.

Most hacking activities are not reported by the websites that are victim to it, most probably so as not to scare the public. In this article, filmmaker Phillip Mora looks at the activities of hackers and cyber terrorists, likening the potentialities to the Holocaust and 9/11.

-US to aim for internet speeds of 100Mbps -Same as the Rudd Government's network -Congress will be asked to provide billions THE US is set to follow Australia in a bid to introduce superfast broadband to millions of homes within the next ten years. A new internet policy to be unveiled this week includes the goal of boosting domestic broadband speeds to 100Mbps - more than 25 times the current average.

SEDO (Search Engine for Domain Offers) has partnered with VeriSign (the operator of the valuable .com and .net gTLDs, amongst other network inrastructure) to conduct a .TV auction between 1 April - 8 April 2010. Having a semiotic association with rich media content and a memorable quality, it seems likely the auction will attract bids from brand names already harnessing rich media content and looking to capitalise on new revenue streams that the expansion of gTLDs offers. Reserves will be around $5000 for each auctioned name ( a list of all names can be found at http://sedo.com/search/searchresult.php4?auctionevent=tvPremium&tracked=&partnerid=&language=us ) causing some annoyance amongst those who have already made costly .TV purchases in excess of the reserved price.

Well here's a good old fashioned police crackdown on online copyright infringement. The largest illegal download site in Greece had its alleged key players arrested in their homes after a complaint was made by a copyright protection agency.

We tend to think of the digital divide in geographical terms (developed vs developing nations). But what does it mean for citizens of developed nations to be on the wrong side of this divide? This article gives a brief insight into the subject in Britain.

The website was designed by a University of Technology Sydney student named Chris Webster, the website examines the effects and severity of cyberbullying, and offers a wide array of information (types of cyberbullying, Internet safety, mobile phone tips, examples of cyberbullying etc) and surveys on cyberbullying and Internet safety. Cyberbullying causes incredible distress to those who fall victim to it. Cyberbullying does not leave physical scars, however the cruelty of others becomes evident through web pages, social network sites that exist on the Internet, as taunting does not only persist during school hours; but extends to time at home where cruelty is displayed through online text messages, posts, and other outlets that leave an extensive amount of emotional damage.

FTTH is a technology that encounters success with more than 6 million new subscribers added just in the second half of 2009 in the world. One of the major highlights is that Japan, China, South Korea, USA and Taiwan represent more than 90% of all FTTH/B subscribers in the Global Ranking. Moreover, they also have in common that they are the only countries in the Global Ranking with more than one million households connected to FTTH/B. Australia has a long way to go.

This article discusses the different ways to access content that is blocked, down etc on the Internet. I'm not 100% sure if this would work around the Mandatory Internet filter in Australia though! But interesting read. 10. Skip Past Annoying User/Pass Requests 9. Read Articles That Rupert Murdoch Wants You Paying For 8. Change User Agents to Get Around Browser Blocks 7. Get to Gmail When It's Down 6. Get Actually Usable BitTorrent Speeds 5. Get To Sites Taken Down by Traffic 4. Control Computers At Home 3. Download YouTube and Other Flash Videos 2. Access Country-Blocked Streaming TV 1. Roll Your Own Proxy to Access Blocked Sites

For anyone interested.... Tues 11 May @ 6:45-8:30pm The City Recital Hall Angel Place (2 Angel Place, Sydney)