A Networked World

Sitting Ducks

There's a Dilbert book called, Its obvious you wont survive by your wits alone and I increasingly despair that, at a time when our wits are going to be fully engaged figuring out how to live on this planet from here on, this is the best we can do. Controversy has viewers tuning in for Mau

The controversy around Alison Mau's sexuality in recent weeks has been good news for TVNZ where it counts - the ratings.

Mau is standing in for Paul Henry on Breakfast and, just like Henry, has wooed viewers with a combination of personal controversy and provocative comments.

She faces a formal complaint after a tirade attacking Woman's Day for photos of her that she wrongly claimed were not taken that week.

Earlier this month, the Herald on Sunday revealed that Mau was in a relationship with dance teacher Karleen Edmonds, and ran a personal statement from Mau.

Before that, in a week when Pippa Wetzell had been fronting Breakfast with fresh-faced reporter Jack Tame, the show was watched by 113,290 people, according to TVNZ figures.

The following Monday - Mau's first morning on the couch with Pippa and the day after this newspaper reported her new relationship - that figure had increased to 135,700, a jump of more than 22,000.

Is it any wonder we are prey to every scammer and con artist from financial finaglers to carpet bagging politicians? PT Barnum was not exaggerating, in fact he may have been optimistic.

And then I turn the page and find proof that anyone who buys shares in compoanies and doesn't think the market is rigged needs to wake up. That applies to all markets everywhere; by the time you get the information, its too late, the profiteers are already in there.

Market stunned by NZX flip-flop - Business - NZ Herald News

Sharemarket operator NZX has been caught out operating a two-speed information regime that favours institutional investors over mums and dads as it botched a decision over whether Allied Farmers should be promoted to the NZX-50.

Network this chair - or maybe not

Miraz produced this interview for The NZ Herald this morning. Cheap as chips - your networked chair

What would you say if I told you the chair you're sitting on is reporting back to the network? It might not be happening right now, but the way Adam Greenfield sees it that scenario might not be far away.

He points out that computer devices are becoming ever cheaper and easier to use and connect. If the pattern of history holds true we'll soon be connecting all sorts of objects around us into a network.

That could easily include the chair you're sitting on, the water cooler nearby, streetlights, the bridge across the river or harbour.

Computer chips are cheap, and getting cheaper. Connecting to a network is cheap. Soon, instead of saying "Why would I connect this chair?" we'll say "Why not? Let's do it. We'll figure out later how that could be useful."

Well, actually Adam, you might want to think a bit more about that before doing it. Especially since we already have more than enough intrusion into our privtae lives. Like, oh, I don't know, schools setting up their laptops so they can spy on what kids get up to, in their own bedrooms. School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don't know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I'm getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its students' clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying.

Schools are in an absolute panic about kids divulging too much online, worried about pedos and marketers and embarrassing photos that will haunt you when you run for office or apply for a job in 10 years. They tell kids to treat their personal details as though they were precious.

But when schools take that personal information, indiscriminately invading privacy (and, of course, punishing students who use proxies and other privacy tools to avoid official surveillance), they send a much more powerful message: your privacy is worthless and you shouldn't try to protect it.

So Adam. Still think that networked chair is a good idea? Go on. Defend it please.

Oh, and while we are at it, all that shemozzle last year about Section 22a of the copyright act being the thin end of the wedge, and the notion that letting the DIA filter internet traffic "to block child porn and of course it wont be used for anything else but we wont release the list of blocked sites because, you know, that would only encourage people to try and find them" etc etc.

Try this. Move over, Australia: France taking 'Net censorship lead

Critics of government-mandated filtering schemes contend that such programs first focus on "child pornography" because it's such an unobjectionable target for censorship—but once the program is in place, it's much easier to extend it to more controversial areas, such as copyright protection. At least the French have the decency to admit that this is what's happening.

The French lower house, the National Assembly, has just passed a security bill known as LOPPSI2, and it's expected that the Senate will follow suit in the next few weeks. As we've previously reported, LOPPSI2 is a grab bag of security items that includes state-sanctioned computer Trojans, a massive new database of citizen data (dubbed "Pericles"), and a requirement that ISPs start censoring sites on a government blacklist.

At our 2020 trust meeting last night we hosted Vikram Kumar who is the new CEO of Internet NZ, one of the points I made to him was that we are in danger of losing the freedom of the network and that INZ needs to lead the way in making it clear to all of us why that matters.

I'm prepared to bet that we are already too late.

More catching up to do

Apparently our political masters have a bee in their bonnet about "catching up" to Australia. Apart from being prima facie evidence of m,agical thinking and general cognitive debility, we might also be a bit acreful of what kind of catching up we do.  Australia Has Highest Household Debt to Disposable Income Ratio in World

It's even higher than America's. Bigger homes. Bigger waistlines. Bigger debts. Australia is in the middle of its own credit boom, complete with all the social consequences. And the financial consequences.

[...] It's around 156% today, largely thanks to the mini-boom in mortgage lending spawned by the diabolical first home owner's grants.

Australia has a serious water and food security problem that has helped to create an economy that looks financially healthy, but underneath there are wormholes the size of sewer pipes. In a consumer economy, debt/disposable income ratios are critical.

In Australia they are outliers. They WILL come into line.

Chasing THAT rabbit down its hole is not sane.

Typical

Key booted for Brooke by TVNZ

Television NZ bumped Prime Minister John Key from its prime-time current affairs show so it could feature former All Black Robin Brooke saying sorry for groping a teenage girl.

• Typically, the media is interested in prurient trivia above substance
• Typically, the politicians don't offer anything more compelling or interesting that a groping footballer
• Typically, the audience doesn't notice or care.

Ptooey

A large dose of common sense

This is SO satisfying. Aussie ISP strikes landmark blow in copyright war

Aussie ISP iiNet has won a landmark case over service providers' responsibilities when it comes to handling copyright-protected material.

The case kicked off in the Australian Federal Court in October, between internet service provider iiNet, and AFACT (the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft).

AFACT accused iiNet of authorising 'torrent' downloads by not acting on known copyright infringements by its subscribers.

In what is likely to represent a blow to attempts to crack down on copyright infringing downloads, Judge Cowdroy has ruled that iiNet are not guilty.

In 2008 AFACT, the Australian cousins of NZFACT, accused iiNet of condoning copyright infringement, accusing them of ignoring requests to discipline subscribers for breaking copyright laws.

iiNet in turn replied, saying that said that they couldn't disconnect a customer based on mere allegation, and that any alleged offences would need to be proven in court.

Bringing a large dose of common sense into the equation, Judge Cowdroy stated that iiNet has no control over BitTorrent and cannot be held responsible for the actions of its subscribers.

My god, how dare a judge demand that allegations be proved in court before actions are taken against the alleged miscreant? What IS the world coming to when the rule of law trumps the profit demands of entertainment companies?

A gong for Judge Cowdroy.

And next time they come with the "free downloads are damaging the creative people" shtick, show them this.


Brilliant.

Data point close to home

Had a call from my duaghter to say that her job as graphics designer/ publications for a major architectural business is finished. Last year they were applying for contracts to build mobility ramps for homes, a far cry from the major private sector and government contracts they had been used to for a couple of decades so its no big surprise.

But its pretty close to home. If you're in Wellington and you need a smart, bright, hard-working person with a degree in design and an aptitude for damned near anything legal, give me a yell and I'll put you in touch.

In the meantime you can do something practical by buying some of her designer gear.

Green shoots my bum.

More data points

If we are on the cusp of recovery from the recession, why is it that i keep getting new data that says BS?

• My neighbour works for a major oil company as a customer support/sales person. Well, she did till just before christmas, she's now getting seriously into the job hunting.
• Another mate was the Corporate affairs Manager for another major international corporation, he dealt with CSR and community support, he's looking for a job.
• Ther fays of first class travel appear to be over Qantas to dump most first-class seats
  

Under the scheme that could be announced within weeks, Qantas would retain first-class seats only on its London and Los Angeles flights, slashing the number of its first-class planes to 12 from 30, The Australian Financial Review said.

The paper, quoting a leaked reconfiguration plan, said the changes would mean that sumptuous first-class bed-seats would be stripped out of all the airline's Boeing 747-400s, leaving 14 first-class seats in just 12 Airbus A380 super jumbos.

That would leave exactly 168 first class seats on the entire QANTAS fleet, a little more than one 737-full. These seats are filled by people who take their own privileges seriously, whose backsides, apparently, are too delicate to endure the rigours of the lower classes. But they are either no longer traveling or their extra special comforts are no longer affordable or worth the money.

If this was a short recession, why is QANTAS making long term decisions about its seating configuration, why aren't they preparing for a return to the good old days when companies paid for their special people to travel in special comfort?

Because QANTAS isn't stupid; it knows those days are not coming back any time soon and it is making adjustments. Apparently it is easier to change the seating comnfiguration on a string on multimillion dolalr machines than it is to get the rosy specs off the ears of the econimic nattering class.

Joining the race to the bottom

Seth is one of my favourite thinkers, although I don't read him often enough and I'm catching up today. This one rang a bell.
Seth's Blog: It's no wonder they don't trust us

The digital world, even the high end brands, has become a sleazy carnival, complete with hawkers, barkers and a bearded lady.

Its more than that, much more. I knew the economy was in the can nearly a decade ago when I walked into my local Coles supermarket in Sydney and say adverts for a TV magazine on the little plastic bar that you use to separate the orders on the checkout conveyor.

I knew, for absolute certain, at that moment, that business was in trouble. I'm sure some bright spark was rewarded for "capturing the checkout bar marketing space" but the fact that they had to do that meant to me that there were no places left for companies to try and squeeze out a profit and that they were scraping the barrel.

That was the day, pretty much, that I started planning my urban homestead because when a big supermarket chains needs the few cents they would get for each checkout bar advert, and the TV mags need to spend it to prop up their sales, we had reached the end of the growth phase of business development and the thing that was about to change was the whole system.