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Technology Things I Amplify from the web

About this Amplog

I am an ICT strategist who scans hundreds of articles from web sources around the world each week. If you’re not so keen on all that reading, but you do want to be informed about ICT trends and issues that might affect your future, then use my free service.

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Contributors to this Amplog

Aussie Internet censorship

Amplifyd from www.stuff.co.nz

Aussie web censorship ‘a smokescreen’

One of Australia’s top communications experts says the Australian government’s internet censorship trials were designed to succeed from the outset, presented no new information and are now being used by the government to further its political agenda.

Separately, a report into the scope of content that will be caught up in the net filters concluded that the government’s policy might lead to a wide range of innocuous material disappearing from Australians’ computer screens.

Commentators in Australia and overseas have interpreted Senator Conroy’s policy as pushing the country towards being like repressive regimes such as China and Iran.

Read more at www.stuff.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  1 month ago

US Open Government Directive puts new onus on agencies

Amplifyd from fcw.com

Game changer: Open Government Directive puts new onus on agencies

White House lays out new data transparancy mandates—with deadlines

The Open Government Directive that the Obama administration released today lays out several deadlines for agencies, all centered on making government data easy to access and use.

Within 45 days, agencies must make a minimum of three high-value data sets available to the public, federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra said today during a Web chat announcing the new directive.

Read the plan here.

Read more at fcw.com
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  2 months ago

Understanding Apple’s view of the world

Amplifyd from www.computerworld.com

Apple actions seem inexplicable — unless you understand how the company views the world

All big companies have their critics. But what’s interesting about Apple’s detractors is universal surprise. Their disappointment often stems from finding out that Apple isn’t the company they thought it was. So I’m going to do all you would-be critics a favor, and explain some fundamental aspects of Apple’s culture. Next time, you won’t be blindsided and confused.

Here are four things that Apple believes that explain the unexplainable:

Read more at www.computerworld.com
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  2 months ago

Does NZ need Network Neutrality?

Mike Pearson says:

Will NZ ISPs have to filter all Internet traffic to comply with court suppression orders?

Amplifyd from www.stuff.co.nz

ISPs may have to remove suppression order data

InternetNZ has questioned a recommendation by the Law Commission that internet providers should stop customers accessing information that breaches court suppression orders.

InternetNZ deputy executive director Jordan Carter says it would be less of a concern if the commission was proposing that website-hosting companies should remove illegal information from customer sites, but quite a different thing if ISPs were asked to censor content on the internet wherever it might be. “That is not something we would ever support.”

Read more at www.stuff.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  2 months ago

Increase in fraud by NZ senior managers?

Mike Pearson says:

A recent PWC survey suggests increasing fraud by managers. This shift is a cause for concern, as senior staff have the ability to override internal controls and can potentially cause greater financial loss to organisations.

Note: There were only 85 respondents in NZ to the survey.

Read the complete report at http://www.pwc.com/nz/en/economic-crime-survey/s... read more

Amplifyd from tvnz.co.nz

Increase in fraud by senior managers 

New Zealand was ranked eighth highest for rate of fraud out of the 54 countries surveyed in the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Economic Crime Survey.

In 2007, 75% of fraud was carried out by junior staff. In 2009, that figure had dropped by almost 20%.

Business fraud committed by middle and senior management increased by almost 20% over the past year.   

“This shift is a cause for concern, as senior staff have the ability to override internal controls and can potentially cause greater financial loss to organisations,” Eric Lucas, a forensic services partner, said.     

Read more at tvnz.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  2 months ago

US government establishes centralised database for contractors

Mike Pearson says:

This brings new meaning to “you’ll never work in this town again”. It would not seem part of natural justice to only make it available to public servants.

Amplifyd from fcw.com

Contractor database hit from both sides

Did the federal acquisition councils go too far or not far enough in designing a new database for contractors’ past performance and legal compliance? That depends on whom you ask.

The acquisition councils recently outlined a plan for the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System.

The database will contain data on past performance and contractors’ involvement in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings with alleged violations of federal, state and local laws or contracts. It will be viewed only by federal officials.

“The public has a right to know,” said Neil Gordon, an investigator at the Project on Government Oversight, urging that the database be accessible to the public.

Read more at fcw.com
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  2 months ago

Telstra’s Twitter account hijacked

Mike Pearson says:

Has your security policy been updated to cover minimum security requirements for use of third-party services such as Twitter?

Amplifyd from www.stuff.co.nz

Telstra’s Twitter account hijacked

Australian telco Telstra’s ambitious foray into social media has backfired after its Twitter account was hacked and used to spread malicious links.

The messages said “hey, look at this” and included a link to a page that appeared to be an official “videos.twitter.com” link, but was actually a link to a phishing site designed to steal people’s Twitter user names and passwords.

Each account that is compromised provides the hackers with a new set of followers to infect.

Read more at www.stuff.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

Report: Faster broadband does not equate to greater productivity

Mike Pearson says:

This report suggests to me that it is a tactical decision to get businesses onto broadband, either copper or fiber - (moving faster) but it is still a strategic decision to invest in fiber infrastructure (what method has greatest future potential).

Amplifyd from computerworld.co.nz
The report, The Need for Speed: Impacts of Internet Connectivity on Firm Productivity which studied 6,000 New Zealand businesses, found while broadband adoption did boost productivity, no productivity differences where found across different types of broadband.
The implication — that high speed broadband delivered by the NBN may not result in greater productivity than that which is facilitated by current broadband speeds
“Our estimates show that all these productivity gains can be attributed to adoption of slow relative to no broadband, with no discernible additional effect arising from a shift from slow to fast broadband.”
The report’s authors, which include NZ Reserve Bank chair Dr Arthur Grimes, wrote that despite well-articulated pleas for upgraded internet access, reference to rigorous research that quantifies benefits actually accruing from network upgrades is generally absent in supporting materials. Read more at computerworld.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

Secrecy surrounding ACTA raises Internet concerns

Mike Pearson says:

Digital rights groups are becoming increasingly concerned about the ACTA treaty negotiations because of the lack of detail being provided. Potentially it could change the legal status quo of ISPs/subscribers.

Amplifyd from computerworld.co.nz

ACTA talks hone in on ISP liability and downloads

ISPs around the world may be forced to snoop on their subscribers and cut them off if they are found to have shared copyright-protected music on the internet, under the ACTA international agreement being promoted by the US.
Under existing laws in the US, the EU and elsewhere, ISPs are granted immunity from prosecution for illegal activities carried out by subscribers across their networks. This new global trade agreement appears to contradict the legal status quo, said Michael Geist, a law professor at Ottawa University, Canada.
“It is unprecedented for an IP treaty that impacts literally millions of people to be negotiated in such secrecy,” he said, adding that the US negotiating stance “runs counter to the Obama Administration’s commitment to transparency.”
Read more at computerworld.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

The growing risk of the lifestyle hacker

Mike Pearson says:

More and more employees are circumventing corporate controls to be more productive.

Tammy Erickson of nGenera says “The organizations of today are perfectly designed to meet the challenge of the 20th century. They’re not right for what we’re doing today.”

Amplifyd from cio.co.nz

The lifestyle hackers

There’s a growing risk within most organisations today that is clearly an insider threat but is also clearly not caused by a disgruntled or disillusioned employee. In fact, the new insider threat is more likely to manifest itself as a gung-ho new employee or contractor.
The lifestyle hacker does not have malicious intent. Nevertheless, the lifestyle hacker is highly successful at skirting various corporate controls put in place to protect security-related websites and critical endpoints
This conundrum exists as the inherent conflict between those who make the rules and those who break the rules, both of whom are driven by the exact same motivation–being more productive in the work environment.
One Wall Street firm we’re both very familiar with estimated that 45 percent of all security incidents in the past two years were lifestyle hacks.Read more at cio.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago