Group items tagged

"Cyberattacks aren't confined to governmental/national boundaries and neither should cybersecurity programs." Finally a forward-thinking idea about what needs to happen in order to make an effective cybersecurity plan. This is a statement by Sen. Jay Rockefeller in which he also discussed the need to eliminate the government vs. market solutions. Neither can create a solution independent of the other..."we will only succeed if we do work together." He recognizes the importance of creating an environment in which the private sector can have the resources it needs to work within itself and with the government.

Scroll down and read the discussion forum paper, "Child Protection and Freedom of Expression Online". The report aims to open discussion and reframe the debate surrounding child protection by bringing together, rather than isolating, advocates of online child protection and those of freedom of expression. It rejects the current moral panics that dominate the debate, particularly in the media, which over-represents the likelihood of harm to children online. It highlights the unproductive nature of framing online protection as a moral panic because it obscures and undermines the work of both freedom of expression and child protection advocates. Rather than keeping these two parties as diametrically opposed the discussion laid the first steps in finding common ground between the two. From here they can work together to advance both of their agendas and therefore achieving a more desirable balance between defending the rights of children and maintaining freedom of expression.

From the spreadsheet and timesheet at work to the tyranny of the scales... to the constant tracking of your iphone and social media apps. Foucault's biopower.

"I used to track my work hours, and it was a miserable process. With my spreadsheet, I inadvertently transformed myself into the mean-spirited, small-minded boss I imagined I was escaping through self-employment. " This NY Times article (recapped poorly in today's SMH) epitomises Foucault's concept of biopower. It's a great run down of multitude of ways constant self tracking is already part of our lives and the psychological pros and cons. Unfortunately it doesn't give a sociopolitical analysis. This is Weber's iron cage of rationalisation in the age of the self. Self employed, self actualised, self interested man. And typically, the irrationality of rationalism means we spend much of our life recording and measuring ourselves rather than living.

SeeClickFix is a free mobile phone and web app that enables citizens to take care of their neighborhoods by seeing non-emergency issues in their neighborhoods, clicking to create 'tickets' describing the issue and how to resolve it, and fixing the issue or reporting it to whoever can. This article discusses the technology and tools working to help citizens get involved in their communities and their governments. It also discusses the Gov 2.0 Expo held recently in the US. I found the discussion of mobile citizen governance apps particularly interesting, as it would be something that could be rolled out fairly easily.

Interview with Jason Lanierm, an apparent "digital guru" who has changed his view of open culture to that which promotes a "digital maoism". He proposes that we need to pay people for the brain work that they do instead of encouraging them to be labourers of sorts. 

OIX is a new organization that will try to provide identity credentials that can be accepted by both the private and public sectors. But, like some of this initiatives, government-wise it will only work, initially, in the U.S. Questions on privacy can also be raised? Wouldn't OIX allow for easier access to the whereabouts of an individual's online persona? 

"A national review of computer game classification laws is currently in progress and work is also under way to develop proposals to improve compliance by retailers."" The article also leads with the factlet that Aust is one of only Western nations WITHOUT an R18+. On this front, the current internet governance proposals looks like a lay down misere.

The Internet Industry Association is working with Police and Government to try and control safety concerns on social media sites. Currently, they are powerless to step in when sites are hosted overseas.

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) scheme has been adopted in Uruguay and Panama, in a move that has received support from US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The article also refers to the need for more laptops in disaster-affected Haiti, as well as Clinton's opinion on the Google China controversy.

A useful guide on the different types of licenses to share work as open source

Some great analysis and summary from Fast Company on Google pulling the plug on their Chinese search engine, and how this relates to their submission to the Australian Government regarding their proposed ISP filtering. If you're not familiar with Fast Company, this is how they modestly describe themselves: "Fast Company sets the agenda, charting the evolution of business through a unique focus on the most creative individuals sparking change in the marketplace. By uncovering best and "next" practices, the magazine and website help a new breed of leader work smarter and more effectively. Fast Company empowers innovators to challenge convention and create the future of business."

If you missed Abbott on Q&A last night the full transcript is here (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2859473.htm?show=transcript) or I've extracted the main bit about ISP filtering on my blog (http://logocopblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/facebook-v-isp-filtering-via-abbott.html). This article from the Oz also provides a good recap of Abbott's comments and some analysis...

Linda Hugues examines how different digital natives and digital immigrants are. She puts forward how digital natives can be impaired in the way they focus on issues and how these differences can induce a bit of a culture clash at work. All in all, both "immigrants" and "natives" have assets but how stressfull it can be for people not used to these new technologies.

Developers are not thrilled with Apple's new rules. The restrictions imposed affect the work of developers like Jack Freeman, who here declares himself as a "former loyal developer"

Worth checking out - Villeneuve works for the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab (http://citizenlab.org/) as a 'white hat' hacker who focuses on government censorship and espionage. Thanks to Elizabeth Gan for posting the Toronto Star article (http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/791274--hackers-not-just-geeks-but-activists) where I found reference to this guy.

This is about how the work pattern changed in terms of the use of cloud computing and convience of the internet.

Wow. Read it and weep. Tim O'Reilly is promoting this article. I haven't read anything quite so scarily propagandist since Caberet. What do I mean? (and who is this 'state'?) Courtesy of One Economy Corporation "If e-mail lives in the cloud, who owns that information?" says State Department's Alec Ross. Cloud computing is a double-edged sword in the fight for Internet freedom, a top State Department official said on Wednesday." "During a major policy speech in January, Clinton announced that Internet freedom would become a strategic priority for the United States in 2010. In March, State revived the Global Internet Freedom Task Force, a Bush administration initiative that worked to harmonize policies departmentwide on protecting free speech. The renamed NetFreedom Task Force met on March 4, when 19 telecommunications and information technology companies discussed the corporate sector's role in facilitating Internet freedom."

The Federal Government introduces anti-harassment laws for online harrasment. It points out, interestingly, that whilst a 16 year old has protection under current laws 15 year olds don't. It will be interesting to see how this works in practice.

My Pb Works Post For Week 8 - Borders - Deleuzian Body-Without-Organs