Hello cloud, meet cookies. Goodbye privacy
Organisations have been gathering our personal information in remote datacentres for decades. But combine the social web, cloud storage and cheap computing power and it's a whole new ball game.
The Full Tilt
Stilgherrian delivers an undiluted dose of criticism and analysis of the ways digital technology is changing our world and the spin that goes with it. Mostly in words -- sometimes in audio or video formats -- always cynical. Incorporating the Patch Monday podcast.
Stilgherrian
Stilgherrian is a freelance journalist, commentator and podcaster interested in big-picture internet issues, especially security, cybercrime and hoovering up bulldust. He studied computing science and linguistics before a wide-ranging media career and a stint at running an IT business. He can write iptables firewall rules, set a rabbit trap, clear a jam in an IBM model 026 card punch and mix a mean whiskey sour.
Latest Posts
The info commissioner's fight: Govt 2.0
Australia's new information commissioner, Professor John McMillan, faces a massive challenge: persuading traditionally secretive government departments that the new age of Government 2.0 means openness and citizen engagement. How will he go about it?
The govt's data retention dreams revealed
The Attorney-General's Department is looking into a data retention regime that would require internet service providers (ISPs) to log all of your communications, including the internet protocol (IP) address at each end, the date, time, duration and location. What, exactly, is on their mind? And how did this come about?
Why can't Labor sell the NBN's benefits?
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is Australia's biggest-ever infrastructure project, we're told. So you'd think the government could do a better job of selling its benefits than TV advertising containing little more than vague generalities and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's magic smart dishwasher.
Microsoft exposes the botnet threat
What happens when you monitor the hostile traffic hitting 600 million computers globally, and then get a team of information security analysts to trawl through it? You get a detailed analysis of the world of the botnet, that's what.
Credit cards risked by standards failure
If you're giving someone your credit card details, you'd like to think they were being handled securely. But a recent report from Verizon Business has revealed that a mere 22 per cent of organisations surveyed were fully compliant with the relevant security standard, the PCI DSS.
Opening up the cloud
The cloud isn't just about commercial software and enterprise systems. The open-source world has its services too. Linode has been offering virtual Linux servers for years. Now the OpenStack project provides open source, open standards software for building reliable cloud infrastructure.
For efficiency, send your workers home!
Two companies have found that when staff work from home they are not only happier, but they're more productive as well. So how can you send your workers home?
CCTV surveillance: reality versus myth
The Queensland city of Ipswich has claimed that its CCTV surveillance systems have reduced crime in monitored areas by 75 per cent. But how does the Ipswich case compare to the costly and arguably less effective public safety cameras in the UK?
Parliament's poor porn probe exposed
Accusations of NSW government resources being used to watch porn abounded last week, even ending in one minister's resignation. However, parliament's audit process was deeply flawed.