Call us crazy, but here at Delimiter we’re not normally enamoured of the coverage that Australia’s TV networks give the technology sector. Frankly, they normally don’t understand what they’re talking about — and who can blame them? It’s not their area of expertise. That’s why we’ve come to love the appearances by Electronic Frontiers Australia chair Colin Jacobs on shows like the 7PM Project.
In short, Jacobs’ appearance on such shows normally goes like this:
- The show explains how some “technology issue” is affecting Australians in a drastic way. National Broadband Network, filter, #Vodafail, take your pick.
- The hosts look mystified for a while
- Jacobs shows up and explains the issue in sensible terms and the hosts look comforted by all the rationality
- Hughesy cracks a joke about Nigel Dews’ eyebrows
On the 7PM Project recently, on VHA’s Vodafone security woes, Jacobs says:
These companies have a legal obligation to protect our data. But that requires time, it requires money, and it requires expertise. And often they don’t quite get around to doing it until something like this happens, it all blows up, and they’ve got a horde of angry customers banging on their door demanding to know what happened to their data.
Good job, Col — we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. You’ve got Delimiter’s vote to be the next sensible technology-focused senator elected to an Australian parliament. Maybe NSW? No doubt they’ve got vacancies coming up.