Pirate Bay may host servers on flying drones

6
In recent months The Pirate Bay has drastically changed its site to make it less vulnerable to ever increasing censorship attempts across the globe. But that was just the start, as the torrent site now says it’s getting ready to put some of its hardware in GPS controlled drones.

Mass BitTorrent lawsuits return to the UK

4
Speculative invoicing might be returning to the UK, thanks to a High Court judgment Monday. The practice, all but abandoned in the UK in the wake of the ACS:Law fiasco, has restarted but with conditions. Meanwhile, over 9,000 people could get letters from the plaintiff, Ben Dover.

Is the CSIRO a patent troll? US debate turns feral

58
An extremely harsh war of words between Australian and international technologists has erupted over a controversial new article published in the United States documenting evidence that Australia's peak research body's $430 million patent claim over 802.11 Wi-Fi technology might have been constructed on shaky ground.

Google boss: let Internet flourish to boost productivity

0
The annual $27-billion boost to Australia’s productivity from internet innovation is at threat from policymakers who would rather restrict online access than embrace it, Google’s Australia boss has warned.

Amazon mulls Aussie distribution centre

14
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, giant international Internet retailer and cloud computing giant Amazon is considering deploying a distribution centre -- Amazon-speak for giant warehouse filled with goods to ship to customers -- in Australia.

iiNet’s Hollywood ending: what does its court victory mean for copyright law?

8
In what is being billed as iiNet versus Hollywood, the Australian internet service provider has come out an apparent winner after the High Court dismissed a copyright infringement case brought by industry movie studios. Nicolas Suzor, lecturer, Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, explains the decision and what it means.

Piracy meetings still censored: “No public interest”

25
An internal Government review has backed a decision by the Federal Attorney-General's Department to censor almost all information about the secret Internet piracy meetings the department has held with the content and ISP industries over the past six months.

Turnbull on iiTrial: We need ‘global copyright’

56
In the wake of iiNet's victory in its Internet piracy High Court case, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for the content industry to start releasing all of its content globally through on- and offline platforms simultaneously upon launch, in an effort to meet the demands of consumers and make piracy irrelevant.

The marvellously destructive power of the Internet:A rant by Mark Newton

7
You might have noticed that at Delimiter we love an epic rant, and as we've previously written, former Internode network engineer Mark Newton has form in this area. Whether it be on the issue of the Internet filter, the National Broadband Network or other topics, Newton is wonderfully unafraid to tell it like it is, and that's one reason we love him (in a platonic sense, of course).

Turnbull concerned by Google, Amazon tax offshoring

19
International technology companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon may not be paying their fair share of Australian tax, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said this week, with local tax laws not having caught up yet with the challenges of the digital environment.

Australia top Game of Thrones pirating nation

35
Australia is the nation which most pirates the popular HBO television series Game of Thrones, new analysis released this week has shown, with time delays and cable TV lock-in being the primary culprits believed to be behind the nation's copyright infringing habits.

Would FYX’s global mode have breached copyright?

7
We should think carefully about the inevitable alarmist claims regarding FYX and be wary about movie industry calls for new laws that protect their interests at the expense of Australian consumers.

Australian protests erupt over Wikileaks’ Assange

16
A series of protests will be held around the nation this afternoon to demand the Federal Government protect Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from potential extradition to the United States, despite statements by Foreign Minister Bob Carr to the effect that the Australian Government has done his utmost for the Australian citizen.

Secret anti-piracy talks pointless, says iiNet

120
National broadband provider iiNet has fired a full barrage of vitriol at the content industry on the morning on which closed door talks held by the Government on the issue are due to re-commence, arguing in a highly public blog post that discussing a path forward with content industry groups was like "talking to a brick wall".

Australia’s Internet freedom being eroded, Greens warn

33
The Australian Greens have issued a broad statement warning Australians that their Internet freedom is being steadily 'eroded', with a wide swathe of government initiatives in areas ranging from surveillance to data retention, to the freedom of expression and privacy set to affect the nation over the coming years.

Transfer pricing rules won’t affect Google tax

7
New legislation introduced by the Federal Government to stop multinationals such as Google from transferring profits out of Australia and evading local taxation won't have much effect on the search giant and similar Internet firms, it appears, despite statements by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy that they would.

Piracy: iiNet refutes content industry “doom and gloom”

115
National broadband provider iiNet has renewed its public attack on the content industry, using a high-profile report published in February to push the argument that the overall global content ecosystem is booming and that content providers should stop trying to stop Internet piracy and instead focus on new business models.

ABC unlocks 3G iview iPhone app, Android coming

5
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has modified its highly popular iview streaming video iPad app so that it will function on Apple iPhones, as well as unlocking the streaming ability for the app on 3G networks and revealing that it also has a separate version in the works for Google's rival Android platform.

“Systematic erosion of privacy”: Parliament launches surveillance review

54
The Federal Parliament has kicked off a review of and is seeking public submissions into a wide-reaching package of legislative reforms proposed by the Federal Government which the Greens have slammed as constituting a "systematic erosion of privacy" in Australia.

Watching the detectives: the case for restricting access to your social media data

0
Let’s hasten slowly in considering calls to free the state from administrative inconveniences such as warrants and rules of evidence.

“Failure and incompetence”: Mark Newton on surveillance reforms

3
At Delimiter we love a good rant, especially if it’s about the tragically flawed understanding which our Federal Government and attendant politicans appear to have about technology. And this one, by network engineer Mark Newton (he’s got form in this area) is a cracker.

Pirate Party Australia fails election rego again

60
For the second time in two years, Australia's division of the Pirate Party has failed key registration requirements determining its elegibility to contest major elections, with the group noting this week that it had fallen short of required numbers for the Australian Capital Territory's upcoming poll.

Australians unsure on Assange Govt support

14
Most Australians are unsure whether the Federal Government has provided enough support to Australian citizen and Internet activist Julian Assange during his ongoing legal battles in Europe, a new poll has shown, as the Greens continue to call for further assistance for the Wikileaks founder.

Choice wants geo-IP blocking abolished

75
One of Australia's peak consumer groups has recommended the Federal Government investigate whether region-coding and charging Australians higher prices for products based on Internet IP address should be banned, in the context of an investigation which has found little justification for average Australian price hikes of 50 percent on technology goods.

Pirate Party ACT registration not a failure

16
Pirate Party Australia failed a recent attempt to register their Australian Capital Territory branch. But media reports about the issue don't tell the whole story.

Has Anonymous hacked an Aussie ISP?

24
A number of technology media outlets yesterday reported they had spoken to a member of the Anonymous collective of Internet activists, who stated that they had broken into a major Australian ISP and were preparing to release a vast package of internal data to prove that the Federal Government's surveillance and data retention plans weren't secure.

Anonymous posts hacked AAPT data

10
The loose knit group of Internet activists known as 'Anonymous' over the weekend published some 3.5 gigabytes of data sourced from Australian telco AAPT, in protest against a wide-ranging package of surveillance and data retention reforms currently proposed by the Federal Government.

Why Pirate Party members are not ‘whiny brats’

17
There appears to be an assumption within the broader intellectual property industries that members of Pirate Parties are just whiny brats who “want everything for free.” They consider us uneducated idiots who have not really given any thought into what we advocate. I find this odd.

Pirate Party launches anti-surveillance petition

15
The Australian division of digital rights movement the Pirate Party has launched an online petition through which it is collecting support from Australians who object to the wide-ranging new tranche of surveillance and data retention powers currently being proposed by the Labor Federal Government.

Roxon has paused data retention plans, says SMH

13
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the current AG Nicola Roxon may have come to see the light on the unpopularity of her department's current wide-reaching surveillance package currently before the Federal Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

For whom the Whirlpool trolls? Stephen Conroy and the NBN

16
Is Whirlpool or the Financial Review more accurate when it comes to reporting on the National Broadband Network? Two Canberra journalism professors analyse the situation.

News Ltd chief slams “scumbag” Internet pirates

116
The chief executive of the Australian division of publisher News Limited has given a major speech slamming what he described as "copyright kleptomaniacs" supporting "scumbag theft", arguing that Internet piracy was undermining the business case for the creation of great cultural works like never before.

‘Balance’, ‘open’: Roxon defends data retention plans

52
Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has strongly defended the need for the Federal Government to enact controversial data retention laws making it mandatory for telcos to retain data on the Internet and telephone activities of all Australians for two years, despite the proposal having been described by privacy authorities as being akin to "a police state".

Liberal backbencher slams “Gestapo” data retention

28
The first sign of tension has emerged within the Opposition over the Federal Government's proposed new surveillance and data retention powers, with a prominent Liberal backbencher describing the proposal as being akin to tactics used by the Third Reich's notorious Secret Police.

Data retention “hysteria” needs “cold shower”: Roxon

34
Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has called for critics of the Federal Government's proposed new data retention and surveillance package to take a "cold shower" and stop insulting in "hysteria" over the proposal.

History repeating: Five ways data retention is like Conroy’s filter

15
Like history repeating, the Australian Government just keeps on coming up with disturbing new ways it wants to control and censor the Internet. Here's five ways the current controversial data retention proposal is similar to its predecessor in infamy: Senator Conroy's mandatory ISP-based Internet filter, which was shot down in flames in 2010.

Coalition party room erupts with data retention dissent

17
Well, well. Looks like Coalition MPs in general are not as disinterested in the Federal Government's controversial data retention and surveillance proposal as has been previously believed.

Trolling our way to national security

25
Yesterday's Daily Telegraph features a call to action – an Internet petition to stop trolling (the media definition of any offensive or deliberately hurtful behaviour online, not the traditional definition). This is both terrible journalism and falling for a trap.

You talkin’ to me? Gerry Harvey’s one-man, online retail debate

9
Online retail promises or threatens to greatly change how Australians buy and sell over the next few years. However it works out, I hope that Gerry Harvey is around a fair bit longer, saying things to provoke and amuse us.

Police want “indefinite” data retention

12
According to the ABC and a plethora of other media outlets reporting from parliamentary hearings yesterday Australia's friendly police want data retention laws extended to cover a period lasting ... forever.

Wikileaks’ Assange may sue PM for defamation

9
video Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is threatening to sue Julia Gillard for defamation, following the Prime Minister's comments in late 2010 that Wikileaks' publication of US diplomatic cables was "illegal" (the Australian Federal Police subsequently found nothing to charge him with under Australian law).

IT more valuable than mining, says Gillard

22
news: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has hailed knowledge and the technologies used to create and share it as being the key factor determining Australia's future economic success -- even beyond the resources sector -- as she met with key figures from Australia's technology sector and set in place key 'Digital Economy' strategies for the nation's future.

Govt censors pre-prepared data retention bills

15
The Federal Attorney-General’s Department has rejected a request by the Pirate Party of Australia to release draft legislation associated with the Government’s controversial data retention and surveillance proposal, with the department stating that public interest factors did not outweigh the need to keep the material private as it was still being deliberated on.

Australia Post digital delivery may yield few returns to spender

10
The big question is whether digital mail is a solution looking for a problem that hasn’t already been solved. Here, I am not convinced. The technology to achieve a digital mailbox using ordinary email with digital signatures and encryption has been around for a very long time.

More Internet regulation unnecessary: Turnbull

66
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a major speech arguing that government regulation is not the solution to societal challenges posed by the onset of new technology such as the Internet, in contrast to what he said was the Federal Government’s “command and control” approach to the medium.

Govt may force data breach disclosure

15
In a move which has been debated and rumoured within the IT security industry for years, the Federal Government this week confirmed it would seek public opinion on whether it should force organisations to disclose when their databases containing personal information had been broken into by hackers – or even inadvertently.

Why data breach reporting should be mandatory

5
As we move forward in this era of online transactions and social media, there’s a need for security and privacy legislation to keep pace. Most importantly, there’s a need for Australians to feel confident that their personal information is being kept safe by those we entrust it to.

#NatSecInquiry: Tracking Australians in real time

7
The ongoing National Security Inquiry has dislodged quite a few stones from the bottom of the paranoia well. One aspect that took my interest in particular is the relationship between data retention and mobile or cellular telephone data.

Tiger Airways joins growing list of spamming corporations

0
Tiger Airways is likely to face further damage to its reputation, after joining a growing list of big corporations being fined for breaching the Spam Act.

Paul Budde dumps Foxtel

18
Welcome to the IPTV club, Paul Budde. The well-known Australian telecommunications analyst revealed on his blog this morning that his household recently terminated its Foxtel service.

Happy nine month birthday, Classification Review. Time for Conroy’s filter to finally die?

10
Today is the nine month anniversary of the publication of the Classification Review, which readers may remembers as the key document which would guide the development of Labor's infamous mandatory Internet filter policy.

The iPhone 15 is (almost) unimaginable

11
With half the worlds population now connected by mobile phone and even short periods of time disconnected from the global network leaving many with withdrawal symptoms, the next stage of human evolution is approaching fast and if you're having trouble keeping up, look to nature.

Airbnb officially launches in Australia

0
A quick search of accommodation crowdsourcing website Airbnb reveals that it’s been operating in Australia for a while (or at least taking bookings and accommodation advertisements from Australians), but the US-based startup hasn’t previously had an official presence Down Under. Until now.

Legal basis shaky for Interpol filter, says IPA

13
Australian free market thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs has accused the Federal Government of relying on an “obscure” section of telecommunications law in a way that was never intended to implement its new limited Internet filtering scheme, and warned of the potential for scope creep under the scheme.

iiNet, Internode implement Conroy’s new filter

17
National broadband provider iiNet and its subsidiary Internode have pledged to implement the limited child abuse Internet filtering scheme adopted as policy last week by the Federal Government, noting they had received independent legal advice advising them to comply with a new "compulsory" request by police to do so.

Coalition calls for kids’ e-safety commissioner

16
In the wake of the death of Labor’s controversial Internet filtering policy, the Opposition has proposed creating a new Federal commissioner to coordinate a national approach to protecting Australian childrens’ safety online, with powers that would include forcing social media providers such as Facebook and Twitter to take down objectionable content.

Pirate Party appeals data retention censorship

13
The Pirate Party of Australia today confirmed it would continue fighting to have key documents associated with the Government’s controversial data retention and surveillance package released to the public, flagging plans to appeal a decision by the Federal Attorney-General’s Department to block the release of the documents under Freedom of Information laws.

Quickflix leadership decimated as losses mount

22
Online DVD rental and Internet media company Quickflix this week revealed a series of senior leadership losses including the representative of investor HBO, as the company continues to burn through cash and seek further funding to continue its operations.

“Click Frenzy” was a marketing/PR hypno-orgy right from the start

20
Confused about what the hell this whole "Click Frenzy" online retail phenomenon thing that we've all been reading about over the past several weeks was all about? Join the club: I'm a paid-up member. Maybe I didn't get the original press release. Thankfully, local IT geek and Delimiter reader Dawnstar (not his real name) has posted several epic rants and deconstructions of legendary proportions on his blog to explain it to y'all, complete with SPAM Act illegality, journalist/public relations/marketing love-ins and a health dose of sarcasm.

Australian Govt pledges action on Google tax avoidance

54
The Australian Government has outlined a series of new legislative initiatives with which it will attempt to protect its corporate tax base and rein in the tax minimisation strategies of corporations such as search giant Google, which expects to pay just $74,000 in corporate income tax for the 2011 calendar year in Australia, despite making an estimated $1 billion in local revenue.

Leave Google’s tax alone, Victoria tells Federal Govt

15
Today Victoria's’s Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips has gone into bat for technology giants such as Google, defending the search giant against the Federal Government’s attempts to make it pay a fair level of tax in Australia.

WikiLeaks blockade based on Australia’s misinfo

11
VISA and Mastercard appear to still be relying on outdated comments by Australia's Federal Government to block the ability of Wikileaks to take donations.

Google’s Ingress creates Aussie online turf war

24
Don’t read technology blogs? Then a new innovation in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMPORGs) may be passing you by. Perhaps, like me, such games have never been of much interest to you. Or perhaps they haven’t been able to hold your sustained attention. So why should you care now?

CSIRO cuts jobs in rich Wi-Fi division

5
In what we'd have to say was one of the more curious funding decisions of the year, it appears as though Australia's peak research agency the CSIRO has decided that the division which made it the most money over the past few years -- the one which sued many major global technology vendors over its patented wireless innovations -- has too much fat and should be trimmed down to keep costs low.

Digital disruption is eroding Australia’s tax base

3
Estimates are that Google last year received about $1 billion in advertising revenue from Australia. Despite that, it paid little Australian income tax. John Passant looks at what could be done to rectify this situation.

Quickflix sacks one third of workforce

38
Ailing IPTV and online DVD rental business Quickflix has revealed plans to sack one third of its workforce and initiate a plethora of other restructuring moves as it struggles to keep its trouble-plagued business afloat.

No demand: Qantas dumps in-flight Internet

12
It's hard to be surprised by this move, given Qantas' on-again, off-again relationship with in-flight Internet access, but one can't help but be disappointed. Australian Business Traveller reports this morning that Australia's premiere airline has exited a trial of in-flight Internet running since March this year.

iiNet pulls out of anti-piracy scheme

58
Remember how a coalition of most of Australia’s major ISPs proposed a scheme about a year ago which would see Australians issued with warning and educational notices if they were caught pirating content online? The one which could have seen users’ details handed over to the copyright lobby with a subpoena? Well, it’s looking increasingly like the scheme is dead in the water.

ADFA hack a national security failure: expert

13
According to media reports, a single hacker from the Anonymous group, calling himself Darwinare, released online the names, birthdays and passwords of 20,000 staff and students from a university database at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Assange forms Wikileaks party for Senate bid

16
It's been in the works for a while, but Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has finally come right out and confirmed that he's definitely forming an Australian Wikileaks political party with the intention of backing his bid to run for the Senate in 2013.

FoI breach? Govt withholds #natsecinquiry docs

43
Evidence has emerged that the Federal Attorney-General’s Department may have breached Freedom of Information regulations in delaying the release of documents which will enhance the transparency of its discussions with the telecommunications industry over the controversial National Security Inquiry proposal.

#NatSecInquiry may not land before election

1
The Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security's report on the package of National Security Inquiry reforms has already been delayed to the extent that it is unlikely that any associated legislation will reach Parliament before the next Federal Election.

Bishop visits Twitter HQ as Aussie office planned

4
Late last week Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop tweeted that she was visiting Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, and confirmed that the company was planning to open an Australian office.

NSW wants to ban smartphone, tablets, from courts

9
The New South Wales State Government has flagged plans to amend court security legislation to ban the use of devices such as smartphones and tablets to communicate events inside courtrooms to those outside, in a move that could squash see a trend towards using Twitter to report court events live.

Sexism and douche-baggery in the hackersphere

28
Australian online technology activist Asher Wolf slams elements of the hackersphere which she says have been demonstrating sexism.

Pirate Party Australia feuds with parent

12
Thought it was only Australia’s major political parties which had ferocious internal political struggles? Think again. According to a lengthy blog post by Pirate Party Australia press officer Mozart Palmer, the local division of the Pirate Party is having branglings so bad with its European parent that some think it should secede altogether.

Twitter must toe the troll line, says Gillard

55
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has singled out social network Twitter for not yet signing up to the Federal Government's new complaints handling process for major social networking sites, in a speech this morning pointing out that rival companies such as Facebook and Google had already done so.

FoI activists mock Conroy’s big red button

15
Some of the more high-profile members of Australia’s Internet community are currently waging something of a war against Stephen Conroy's big red cybersafety button through filing Freedom of Information requests about it, presumably to demonstrate the Government’s ineptitude in implementing the project.

News Ltd sells TrueLocal to Sensis

3
Publishing giant News Ltd has revealed plans to sell its online search and directories business TrueLocal to Telstra’s Sensis division, subject to approval from the competition regulator.

Kim Dotcom wants Mega servers in Australia

18
Kim Dotcom flags plans to host some servers for his new Mega venture in Australia.

Pirate Party registered for 2013 election

16
The Australian branch of digital freedom political group the Pirate Party today confirmed it had successfully registered as a political party to contest the upcoming 2013 Federal Election, overcoming registration issues which had prevented it from contesting the 2010 election as a party.

Australian commentary on Aaron Swartz

5
Many of you will be aware that earlier this month one of the Internet's brightest young stars, Aaron Swartz, was tragically lost. And due to his global influence, a number of Australian writers have penned pieces discussing the themes of his life.

Gillard spends big on cyber-security; including new centre

27
Prime Minister Julia Gillard this morning announced that the Federal Government would spend $1.46 billion through to 2020 on strengthening what she described as its “cyber security” capabilities, including establishing a dedicated Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Debunking the “cyber-security” hype

27
Crikey correspondent Bernard Keane has published an extensive, highly referenced article debunking eleven recent “cyber” attacks, in response to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's spate of announcements in the area yesterday and today.

Thank you for the platitudes, Sir Berners-Lee

29
Why doesn't Australia have enough confidence in ourselves without these father figures looking on? I just don't know.

Assange’s mum confirms he will run for Senate

16
Julian Assange's mum has confirmed he will run for the Australian Senate in this year's Federal Election, claiming that he will be "awesome".

Monitor, Police, Control: Australian Attorney-Generals’ war on the Internet

18
Australia's two most recent Attorneys-General distinguished themselves during their tenure by demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the dynamics of the modern Internet; seeking to monitor, control and contain it at all costs. Now they've both announced plans to quit politics. Will our next chief lawmaker do any better?

Ads not misleading: Google wins High Court case

7
Search giant Google has won a High Court case against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in which the regulator had alleged that Google breached the law by displaying misleading or deceptive advertisements on its search results pages.

Telstra customers threaten desertion over P2P trial

69
Telstra's plans to kick off a trial that will see it throttle some peer to peer services on its ADSL broadband network have been met with an outraged reaction from its customers, with many instantly threatening to cancel their services and take their business elsewhere if the trial goes ahead.

Google – and everyone else – wins by High Court decision

13
The High Court has ruled that Google did not engage in misleading and deceptive conduct when it published a number of advertisements created by its AdWords program. Does this mean that the advertisements themselves were not misleading and deceptive? No! Everyone agrees that they were. Rather, the decision clarifies the law for publishers, including those using the internet.

Assange registers Wikileaks party; targets Victorian Senate seat

13
Crusading Internet activist Julian Assange has delivered on his promises to run for Australian political office in the upcoming Federal Election in September, reportedly registering the WikiLeaks Party in Australia yesterday and flagging his intention to become a Senator representing Victoria.

Secret data retention docs display gross technical ineptitude

35
A treasure trove of previously confidential documents pertaining to the Government's data retention policy and released this week under Freedom of Information laws display an astonishing technical ineptitude on the part of the Attorney-General's Department with respect to the controversial project.

Lunch and dinner with Julian Assange, in prison

14
The fact is that electoral victory for Julian Assange later this year would be one of those rare political miracles that make life as a citizen worth living. In a country weighed down by sub-standard politicians, sub-standard journalists and sub-standard freedom of information laws, the political triumph would be great. It would breathe badly-needed life into Australian democracy.

Google CFO woos Gillard with Glasses

9
What would you do if you were a multinational technology vendor who the Federal Government was currently chasing over “double Dutch sandwich” tax avoidance techniques which could have cost Australia hundreds of millions of dollars? You’d probably dispatch your global chief financial officer with some hot new technology to hold private briefings with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Redacted: AFP cuts ISP details from filter docs

17
The Australian Federal Police has sought to prevent the public from ascertaining the identities of ISPs participating in the Federal Government's voluntary filter scheme for child abuse materials, through redacting the ISPs' details from relevant documents released under Freedom of Information laws.

Kim Dotcom may list Mega on ASX

0
Kim Dotcom expresses an interest in listing his new Mega business on the Australian Stock Exchange.

A thoughtful digital economy speech from Australia Post

4
Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour gives a great speech about the Digital Economy and how it's impacting Australia Post.

Aaron’s Army fights the Trans-Pacific Partnership

5
The case of Aaron Swartz highlights the need for a reconsideration of punitive and excessive intellectual property enforcement provisions in trade agreements.

“Burning ambition”: Brisbane launches digital economy strategy

15
It seems virtually everyone's getting on the whole "digital economy" bandwagon these days. The latest cab off the rank is Brisbane, which has appointed a chief digital officer and this week launched its new 'digita strategy'. Nice.

NBN: Disastrous for the music industry … really?

24
The time has come for the music industry to find common ground with consumers, not do business in spite of them.

ACMA blasts Groupon for spamming

1
It was only a matter of time. The Australian Communications and Media Authority has cottoned on the fact that online deals retailer Groupon hasn't been as ... honest and diligent about its email newsletter habits as it could have been. Last week the regulator issued a statement strongly cautioning Groupon about its behaviour.

It’s on: Foxtel to meet IPTV challenge head-on

41
Most of Australia's younger generation of Internet-focused media consumers probably think Pay TV giant Foxtel is merely a blast from the past; a mouldering old dinosaur with no tricks left up its sleeve. But if revelations by the company last week are any indication, Foxtel 'gets' the Internet and has exactly the right moves planned to tackle it.

Smacking down online piracy; does New Zealand know best?

29
We know online piracy exists; we know governments want to stop it – but what are the options?

“An absolute national imperative”: Matt Barrie’s epic rant on Australia’s IT investment

16
Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie has published an impassioned article on his LinkedIn profile strongly heavily criticising the Government for its underinvestment in the technology sector, which he said had led to a situation where Australia is devoid of good IT talent and "missing out" on the ongoing industry revolution.

“Large ISP” (TPG?) refuses to deploy Interpol filter

48
The Australian Federal Police has revealed that its limited mandatory ISP filtering scheme based on a list of offensive sites supplied by Interpol has not yet been taken up by most of Australia's ISPs, with only Telstra and Optus having implemented the filter so far and a further "large ISP" having flat out refused to comply with the project.

Apple blames rights holders for Aussie price hikes

4
Technology giant Apple has blamed copyright owners such as film and music studios for Australian price hikes on content sold through its iTunes digital store, despite politicians at the Parliament's IT price hike inquiry pointing out to the company that its size as the world's largest company by capitalisation gave it substantial market power.

IT price hike inquiry will approach record labels

11
How seriously can we take Apple Australia managing director Anthony King's claim that Apple doesn't have anything to do with setting digital content prices in Australia through the company's iTunes store? I guess we're about to find out.

Senate run must be more than a get-out-of-jail card for Assange

8
What could a man like Julian Assange achieve within the orthodox structures of parliament?

Despite quick, cheap, legal option, Australia still top Games of Thrones pirating nation

275
Analysis by file-sharing news site TorrentFreak has shown that Australia continues to be the world's most enthusiastic nation globally in terms of illegally downloading HBO's hit TV series Game of Thrones, despite the fact that the series was made available legally, cheaply and in high quality in Australia shortly after it was broadcast in the US.

Netflix’s House of Cards hits Foxtel; and Foxtel only

12
Netflix's remake of the popular British TV series House of Cards is set to debut in Australia on the on-demand platforms of local pay TV giant Foxtel, the company revealed this morning, as debate continues to swirl about the timeliness of US content releases in Australia.

John Birmingham skewers Game of Thrones pirates

142
Personally, I have been somewhat stunned about the incredibly vitriolic reaction which so many readers have responded with, after our article yesterday reporting that Australia, on a per-capita basis, pirates Game of Thrones more than any country in the world.

Sydney youth charged with ‘Anonymous’ hacking

15
The Australian Federal Police said on Friday afternoon that a 17-year-old youth suspected of being a member of the rogue Internet activist collective 'Anonymous' had appeared in Parramatta Children's Court on charges related to "unauthorised access to computer data".

WikiLeaks to run in Vic, NSW and WA

15
Thought you wouldn't be able to vote for Julian Assange's WikiLeaks political party because you don't live in Victoria? Worry not. Come the September Federal Election, voters in NSW and Western Australia will also be able to back the transparency horse, according to an extensive press conference the party's Victorian headquarters held over the weekend.

Google Play Music finally hits Australia

12
Were you there when Apple’s iTunes Music Store first launched in Australia? I was. It was back in October 2005 and I was a journalist at technology news site ZDNet Australia. At the time it was a huge deal for Australian music fans, who had previously been resorting to naughty platforms such as Napster to get their digital music fix on. Well, things have changed a lot in the IT industry, but the iTunes Music Store is still around and kicking. Now it’s got a new competitor: Google.

Australian Bitcoin mining probably not worth it

6
You may recall that MacTalk founder and all-round geek Anthony Agius has been conducting something of an experiment to determine whether an Australian Bitcoin miner could make enough money to justify the practice. Well, the results are in: And the answer is: “Most likely not”.

Can Game of Thrones help save Quickflix?

24
Struggling Australian streaming-media provider Quickflix has taken a punt on the hugely popular HBO series Game of Thrones, securing an electronic distribution deal that will allow online users to watch the series even if they aren’t Quickflix customers.

Profiteers snap up Boston Marathon, Waco domain names

3
Australia’s tight domain name policies may have prevented opportunistic cybersquatters from cashing in on local disasters, but this week’s Boston Marathon bombing and Waco fertiliser explosion have had less luck avoiding cybesquatters, analysis by a local domain-name specialist has revealed.

AFP arrests alleged LulzSec hacker

6
A high-profile takedown is sure to send shockwaves through the hacker community after the Australian Federal Police arrested a 24-year-old IT worker on a variety of charges that could land him up to 12 years in jail.

Australia’s Internet services slower in 2012 than 2011: Akamai

14
Australia’s average Internet speeds have decreased by 23% compared with a year ago, according to the latest quarterly figures from global content distribution network (CDN) giant Akamai.

The Foxtel-BBC deal: Implications for Australian television and content

14
The ABC’s 50-year TV partnership with the BBC is at breaking point after a landmark deal between the British broadcaster and pay TV provider Foxtel was announced last week.

US ambassador begs Australians: Stop pirating Game of Thrones

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US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich has published an impassioned statement appealing to Australians to stop breaching the copyright of US cable giant HBO by illegally downloading its popular Game of Thrones television show in record numbers.

AFP questions Attorney-General for not switching off phone on plane

37
Oh, dear. It appears as though Australia's new Federal Attorney-General is at least as arrogant as the previous two. An article in the Daily Telegraph published late last week tells us that Mark Dreyfus, who replaced Nicola Roxon in the portfolio in February, refused to turn off his mobile phone in a recent flight and was subsequently met by the AFP when the plane landed.

AFP FOI review keeps filter info secret

24
An internal review has backed a decision by the Australian Federal Police to prevent the public from ascertaining the identities of ISPs participating in the Federal Government’s voluntary filter scheme for child abuse materials, through supporting the redaction of the ISPs’ details from relevant documents released under Freedom of Information laws.

Did Conroy’s AFP filter wrongly block 1,200 sites?

18
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it appears that the limited ISP-based filter which several of Australia’s major ISPs (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone so far) have implemented with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police may have suffered a massive false positive event in early April and wrongly blocked some 1,200 websites, including community group the Melbourne Free University.

Foxtel locks up Game of Thrones: No more fast-tracked iTunes downloads

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Pay TV giant Foxtel has confirmed reports that it will block the remaining seasons of HBO's popular Game of Thrones series from being offered in Australia hours after the show is released in the US, due to an exclusive deal with the show's producer HBO signed in October last year.

Ludlam to do Reddit AMA this Wednesday night

11
Just a very brief message to let y'all know that Greens Senator, Communications Spokesperson and William Gibson fan Scott Ludlam is planning to open up his world to all and sundry this Wednesday night -- 15 May, from 7:30 to 9PM, for a Reddit AMA ('Ask Me Anything') session.

Alleged LulzSec hacker charged with trivial offence

5
Remember how the Australian Federal Police’s high-tech crime unit held a high-profile national press conference in late April to announce that they had charged a 24-year-old Australian man with hacking offences? Well, it was revealed today that the AFP has basically charged the man with … almost nothing.

Interpol filter scope creep: ASIC ordering unilateral website blocks

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The Federal Government has confirmed its financial regulator has started requiring Australian Internet service providers to block websites suspected of providing fraudulent financial opportunities, in a move which appears to also open the door for other government agencies to unilaterally block sites they deem questionable in their own portfolios.

Global eyes are watching: EFF condemns Australia’s new Internet filter

1
The global Electronic Frontiers Foundation has harshly criticised the Federal Government for allowing departments and agencies to unilaterally block websites suspected of containing illegal content, saying that it "beggars belief" that such a system could be in place after the previous mandatory filter policy was defeated.

FOI requests target Section 313 notices

9
News that Federal Government agencies such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have quietly started unilaterally forcing Australian ISPs to block websites suspected of containing illegal material has spurred an extensive round of Freedom of Information requests, as journalists and activists seek to ascertain how widespread the practice is.

‘The filter is back’: Blocked site tells its story

4
In a lengthy piece on the ABC’s The Drum website this afternoon, the convenors of the Melbourne Free University site tell their story and argue that the situation with Australian Government website blocking is just not good enough.

ASIC blocked “numerous” sites over 9 months

18
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed tonight that it had in fact blocked "numerous" websites over the past nine months which it suspected contained illegal material, as fears about the extent of the agency's covert Internet filtering scheme continue to grow.

‘Gross abuse of power’: IPA columnist condemns ASIC filtering

25
It seems that the move by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to unilaterally decide to start blocking websites it deems to have illegal material has outraged basically everyone with any interest in the Internet in Australia. Perhaps one of the most outraged is Chris Berg, a research fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs, a long-time advocate for free speech, and, dare we say it, a thorn in the side of powerful government authorities exceeding their mandate.

Ministerial request: Conroy wants Section 313 transparency options

11
According to Computerworld, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has asked his department what can be done to provide more transparency around the government use of Section 313 notices under the Telecommunications Act (you know, the ones which financial regulator ASIC recently used to unilaterally block a cluster of websites).

Irony: Anti-piracy law firm previously argued against targeting users

25
The Sydney-based law firm which has issued a series of letters to major Australian ISPs seeking details of alleged Internet pirates has previously publicly argued that such a practice was not legally justifiable, and also that content owners such as movie studios should do more to make their content available online legally.

“Extortion”: Pirate Party slams piracy letters

15
The Pirate Party of Australia has described as "extortion as a business model" action by a Sydney-based law firm which has seen Australian ISPs issued with a series of letters requesting they hand over the details of users who have allegedly used peer to peer file sharing platforms to pirate content owned by the firm's clients.

Gillard watches Game of Thrones legally

54
This day had to come. Ladies and gentlemen, the science fiction and fantasy worlds so beloved by IT geeks the world around have now gone mainstream. The Guardian's Australian edition reports this morning that Prime Minister Julia Gillard is a huge fan of Game of Thrones, the popular TV adaptation of George R. R. Martin's excellent A Song of Ice and Fire epic series. And what's even more interesting is that the Prime Minister is watching Game of Thrones completely legally.

Top Gillard IT security czar has never heard of Tor

23
One of the top public servants involved in advising on national Australian cyber-security policy has admitted the division she helps lead was "not familiar" with the decade-old Tor software frequently used by activists and those seeking secure communications to protect their anonymity when using the Internet.

“National security matter”: Third agency caught unilaterally blocking web sites

51
The Federal Government has acknowledged that a third agency, beyond ASIC and the Australian Federal Police, has been using the Telecommunications Act to unilaterally block certain websites, with bureaucrats refusing to disclose which agency was involved, apart from stating that the issue was "a national security matter".

The company you keep: Section 313 notices and IPv4 collateral damage

6
Internet Protocol researcher Geoff Huston analyses the Federal Government's usage of Section 313 notices to block certain websites, with reference to the ongoing issue of how IPv4 addresses are being used on the Internet.

‘No apologies’: ASIC pledges to block more sites

20
The chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last week said the regulator would not "apologise" for using an obscure section of the Telecommunications Act to block websites suspected of fraud, and stated that the organisation would continue to use the controversial power to block more sites.

Quickflix lets users buy TV shows, including Game of Thrones

19
One of the disadvantages of an online IPTV service such as Quickflix is that up until now, you haven't been able to buy distinct television shows through the service to own permanently; users have only been able to get access to the shows they want if they're paying a monthly subscription. However, all this is set to change, according to a media release issued by Quickflix today.

ASIC repeatedly delays S.313 FoI responses

8
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has on multiple occasions over the past month, involving multiple parties, delayed responding to Freedom of Information requests seeking documents relating to its controversial decision to start unilaterally blocking websites it suspects of fraudulent activity.

Ludlam reveals catch-all “fair use” copyright bill

12
Greens Senator and Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam has introduced a wide-ranging amendment bill to Australia's copyright legislation which would see a range of "fair use" and "fair go" stipulations introduced, with the intention of delivering Australian consumers a fairer copyright situation than they currently enjoy.

Revealed: ASIC’s secret website block notices

39
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has published the full text of its official notices to telcos requesting they block websites suspected of providing fraudulent financial information, with the documents revealing that both the frequency and breadth of the agency's blocking activities has increased since they began 12 months ago.

“Aussies treated like second-class citizens”: Choice blasts US TV giants

21
Consumer watchdog Choice has issued a fiery statement accusing US content giants of giving Australians "a raw deal" when it comes to making television shows and films available in Australia, pointing out that Australians pay substantially more to access the same content and encouraging locals to use technical mechanisms to get around so-called "geo-blocking".

Locked down: Foxtel blocks non-Samsung Android, jailbroken Apple devices

39
Pay TV giant Foxtel this week blocked those Australians using non-Samsung Android and jailbroken Apple iOS devices from accessing its flagship mobile IPTV streaming app Go, in moves that seem destined to reinforce the company's reputation for setting strong restrictions on how customers can access its content.

WikiLeaks Party demands investigation into Telstra’s secret FBI deal

7
The WikiLeaks Party has written to Australia’s Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim formally complaining about the recently revealed news that the telco signed a secret agreement a decade ago with US Government agencies such as the FBI and the Department of Justice that provided American law enforcement with access to all of the telco’s traffic passing in and out of the US.

China’s Aussie ambassador denies Huawei spying

23
If someone has some direct evidence that Huawei has been spying for the Chinese Government, then let them come forward with that evidence. So far all we have is hearsay and innuendo. And that is not enough, as Huawei and China’s Ambassador to Australia have clearly stated, when we’re talking about billion dollar contracts and the reputation of one of the world’s largest technology vendors. As Huawei has said, on this issue, “put up, or shut up”.

Drastic govt measures needed: IT price hike report pulls no punches

22
The Federal Parliament committee examining IT price hikes in Australia has published an extensive report recommending a raft of drastic measures to deal with current practices in the area, which, the report says, are seeing Australians unfairly slugged with price increases of up to 50 percent on key technology goods and services.

Finally, Foxtel launches full IPTV service

43
Pay TV giant Foxtel has launched an Internet streaming version of its service that will allow those with certain smart TVs, gaming consoles or generic personal computers connected to their TVs to access a large chunk of the company's content through the public Internet, without the normal requirement to have a Foxtel cable or satellite connection.

With Bradley Manning convicted, what now for Julian Assange?

15
Bradley Manning’s conviction for espionage marks the closing stages in the US Army private’s personal battle. Yet for Julian Assange, founder of whistleblower website WikiLeaks and Australian Senate candidate, Manning is but a casualty in a much grander mission.

Govt takes no action on website blocking

2
The Federal Government has admitted it has as of yet taken no action to improve the transparency and accountability of the unilateral use by individual departments and agencies of an obscure section of the Telecommunications Act to force telcos and ISPs to block websites suspected of conducting illegal activities.

XKeyscore + NSA surveillance leaks: Australian expert reaction

2
XKeyscore is an online surveillance tool run by America’s National Security Agency (NSA) that allows analysts to search contents of chats, emails and browsing histories without warrants. Australian experts respond in this article to the issue.

News Corp Australia vs the NBN: Is it really all about Foxtel?

31
In its arguments against the NBN, it would seem News Corp Australia’s campaign is less than wholly transparent in representing its own interests.

Electoral silence on digital rights from both politicians and journalists

1
We’ve had #stopthenotes, #suppositories, and #sexappeal to keep us amused, but since the election campaign period began there has been very limited reporting in the mainstream media (MSM) of the electoral relevance of the digital rights issues faced by Australian citizens.

‘Too busy’: Attorney-General refuses election interview on online rights issues

33
Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has flatly refused to take part in a live election interview on key technology issues in his portfolio, such as copyright reform, data retention, telecommunications surveillance and Internet piracy, stipulating instead that all questions on the issues must be submitted in writing.

Defying the Federal Police: iiNet refuses to implement Interpol filter

22
National broadband player iiNet today revealed it had not implemented the Federal Government’s limited mandatory ISP filtering scheme based on a list of offensive sites supplied by Interpol and had no immediate plans to do so, in a move which appears to represent a total reversal of the ISP's position on the matter and defiance of the Australian Federal Police's wishes.

WikiLeaks Party implodes, candidates quit

18
WikiLeaks Senate candidate Leslie Cannold quits the party, alleging impropriety in its internal processes.

Is the party over for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks?

4
With just over two weeks to go in the campaign, Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks Party has experienced some unsettling events that suggest it may be unravelling.

Better public Wi-Fi in Australia? Let’s send a signal

8
If you can’t get a satisfactory mobile signal in Martin Place or Collins Street during peak hour, perhaps you should lobby the Sydney or Melbourne city councils, as well as your mobile phone provider.

Will the green shoots of Australian innovation policy be cut off prematurely?

2
Understandably, new governments have an interest in putting their own stamp on policy, particularly in areas as critical to our future as research and innovation, but sometimes continuity and re-badging is preferable to scorched earth.

Australia extends global Internet piracy lead

29
Australia has dramatically extended its lead over other countries when it comes to the levels of Australians pirating popular US television shows, according to new statistics released overnight by TorrentFreak, with the limited availability of such content in Australia believed to be driving the trend.

Attorney-General briefed on PRISM months before Snowden leaks

3
Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws have shown that then-Labor Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus received a secret briefing on the US National Security Agency's controversial PRISM surveillance program several months before the program was outed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Hope for Ludlam as WA recount confirmed

1
The electoral fate of Greens Senator and Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam is likely to hang in the balance for some time yet, following confirmation yesterday by the Australian Electoral Commission that it would conduct a partial recount of the Western Australian Senate vote in the Federal Election.

Exposing whistleblowers: AFP logs phone calls of MPs + journos

8
Are you a journalist or a politician? Do you use your telephone to have private conversations about sensitive information? You do? That seems logical, given the position that you're in. Well, you may want to have a re-think about just how private that avenue of communication is, given that the Australian Federal Police recently revealed it occasionally examines the call logs of MPs and journalists (without their knowledge) in an attempt to track down whistleblowers or leakers within the Government.

Surprise! Coalition re-kindles anti-piracy talks

28
The new Coalition Federal Government has reportedly signalled plans to restart long-running talks between the telecommunications and content industries to deal with the issue of Internet piracy, despite the fact that a previous round of talks between the two sides under the previous Labor administration proved pointless.

Ludlam recount finds “hundreds” of misplaced votes

13
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has revealed the ongoing recount of the Senate vote for the Federal Election in Western Australia has found “hundreds” of misplaced votes, in a move which the tech-savvy Senator said validated his request for a recount that could see him hold onto his seat in the state.

FTTP NBN “wacko”, claims Mad Monk PM

183
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described the previous Labor Federal Government’s attempt to extend fibre broadband to most Australian homes and businesses as “wacko”, despite the fact that Labor’s Fibre to the Premises model is seen as the long-term future of most fixed telecommunications networks globally.

Govt maintains Huawei ban for now

11
Attorney-General George Brandis and Huawei have issued statements stating that no decision has been made by the new Coalition Government with relation to the Chinese vendor’s ability to tender for National Broadband Network contracts, contradicting a report by the Financial Review newspaper on the issue.

DFAT blocks media from public TPP briefing

16
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has taken the extraordinary step of rescinding confirmations of attendance for journalists who had registered to attend a public briefing on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement in Sydney today, stating that the meeting is “off-the-record”, and that journalists are not welcome.”

It’s time for transparency: Show us the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

4
Only in Australia could the phrase “public briefing” mean that the meeting will be held behind closed doors, where journalists are not welcome.

Brandis refuses to answer piracy questions

15
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has flatly refused to comment on a report that the new Coalition Government has signalled plans to restart long-running talks between the telecommunications and content industries to deal with the issue of Internet piracy, with the Liberal Senator declining to answer any question on the issue.

Time to kill paper ballots? First, let’s look at the alternatives

21
The loss of the West Australian ballots is a serious breach of electoral integrity, and one that must be thoroughly investigated to identify what went wrong. But amidst all the party-driven hysteria, it’s important to remember that no system is entirely fail-safe, and the risks posed by electronic or internet voting are potentially far more serious than this isolated incident.

Cheap, legal options wouldn’t stop Australians pirating

76
An extensive survey conducted by respected analysis house Essential Research has found that a huge proportion of Australians would continue to pirate content such as TV shows and movies online, even if such content was made available everywhere globally at the same time for a low price.

Beattie “ashamed” of Australia’s Internet piracy

25
Former Queensland Labor Premier Peter Beattie has published a strongly worded article stating that he is "ashamed" of Australia's record on Internet piracy, in the latest sign that the two major sides of politics may be in agreement about the need to tackle the issue through new legislation.

Amazon puts Aussie face on global Kindle store

19
Online retailer Amazon this morning revealed it had formally launched an Australian version of its popular online bookstore, putting a formal face on a service which millions of Australians have already been accessing for years and further supporting Australian authors to sell their books online locally.

Outrage after TPP leak reveals piracy criminalisation

34
Australian political parties and digital rights lobby groups today erupted in outrage after a Wikileaks leak of the intellectual property rights chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement revealed Australians could be slugged with new draconian measures if caught infringing copyright online.

Australian retailers online: Late to the party and much to do

6
Australian consumers are embracing digital commerce, but Australian retailers are failing to build long-term relationships with their customers online, according to new research.

Farce: AG’s Dept deletes FoI PDFs to improve “accessibility”

12
Representatives of the Federal Attorney-General's Department yesterday claimed the department had removed PDFs previously published on its website as part of its Freedom of Information disclosure log because they did not meet web "accessibility" guidelines and were hurting the website's overall accessibility rating.

Trade pact would make internet services more expensive

4
If the foreign music and movie industries are worried about piracy, they can decide to invest in improving their product’s security – like any other business does. It is neither fair nor right they should ask any other industry to pay what should rightly be their own expense.

“Maddening, dispiriting, radically unbalanced”: A full legal analysis of the TPP leaks

4
In Australian intellectual property circles, there are few names which are more respected than that of Kimberlee Weatherall. That’s why we were personally thrilled to learn that Weatherall has recently published a mammoth blow by blow analysis of the enforcement provisions contained in the recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership IP chapter.

ASD goes rogue with Aussie metadata

9
Australia's peak electronic intelligence agency offered to share detailed information collected about ordinary Australian citizens with its major intelligence partners, the Guardian reported this morning, in moves that at least one high-profile lawyer says may have breached Australian law.

Snowden an “American traitor”, says Australia’s Attorney-General

8
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has reacted to the revelation of what a Queen's Counsel lawyer has stated are borderline illegal surveillance tactics by the Australian Signals Directorate by supporting the agency and accusing NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden of being an "American traitor".

Global privacy group files formal ASD complaint

1
Global privacy organisation Privacy International has filed a formal complaint with Australia's Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security over a report that the Australian Signals Directorate had offered to hand over data on Australian citizens to foreign intelligence agencies.

Senate to force TPP publication

27
The Greens and Labor teamed up in the Senate yesterday to successfully move a motion which would force the Coalition Government to table the text of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement before Australia signs the treaty.

Screwed: Australian PS4, Xbox One lack basic functionality

27
Are you one of those Australians who lined up at midnight to buy some of the first next-generation video game consoles to go on sale? Have you spent some time exploring your new PlayStation 4 or Xbox One? Then you would be aware that when it comes to Australian support for their new consoles, both Sony and Microsoft appear to have screwed Australians pretty badly.

Labor, Coalition reject Intelligence committee reformation

6
Both Labor and the Coalition have voted down a motion put by the Greens in the Senate which would have called on the Parliament to re-establish the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security, a key oversight mechanism of Australia's intelligence agencies which has lain dormant since the election.

Telstra ‘not logging’ customers’ web, email history

9
The nation's largest telco Telstra has flatly rejected allegations that it is routinely logging all of its customers' web browsing data and email history on behalf of national security and intelligence agencies, stating that it does not "routinely" collect or store its customers' telecommunications data unless required to do so.

No plans for specific ASD intelligence inquiry, says Inspector-General

0
Australia's Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has stated they have no plans to initiate a specific inquiry to examine allegations the Australian Signals Directorate had offered to share data about Australian citizens with foreign intelligence agencies, stating they believe current oversight of the ASD to be "sufficient".

Pirate Party to contest Rudd’s seat

1
The Pirate Party Australia has signalled it will contest the Griffith by-election for the seat of formr Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in another sign that the party which has achieved electoral success in Europe on digital rights and civil liberties issues is increasingly serious about gaining a higher slice of the popular vote in Australia.

Foxtel’s IPTV launch delayed already

16
In late September last year, national pay TV giant Foxtel announced a new online service dubbed ‘Presto’, which was to see consumers charged $24.99 per month to access “a regularly updating collection of great films”, all streamed through the Internet, as opposed to its existing pay TV platform. However, according to the Financial Review, the launch of the service has already been delayed.

Govt social media policy “counterproductive”, say Web 2.0 giants

1
The Australian divisions of the world's largest social networking companies have criticised the new Coalition administration's approach to dealing with the issue of children's safety on the Internet as "counterproductive", in a move which signals the start of opposition to ongoing attempts by successive Australian Governments to regulate the Internet.

Snowden ‘shamefully betrayed’ USA: Bishop

28
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has heavily criticised NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden during a visit to the United States.

“Enormous damage”: Turnbull changes tune on Snowden

15
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull appears to have completely changed his view on the revelations by Edward Snowden about US spying activities, telling the ABC yesterday that the NSA whistleblower had caused "enormous damage", despite having only six months ago described some of Snowden's revelations as having "very significant" implications.

Screw you, Australia: Game of Thrones goes Foxtel-only

75
Want to watch HBO's Game of Thrones show in Australia without signing up to a pricey Foxtel subscription? Bad luck: As of this week you're out of legal options. Foxtel has reportedly signed a deal with HBO which will block the show from airing through any other medium -- at all -- apart from DVD release, in a move which appears set to drive more Australians to downloading the show via file-sharing protocols such as BitTorrent.

EZTV stands “ready” to help Australians with Game of Thrones torrents

14
BitTorrent-based TV content distribution group EZTV stated overnight that it stood "ready" to help out cash-strapped Australians with unauthorised downloading of episodes of the popular TV series Game of Thrones, in the wake of the news that the next season of the show will be available in Australia only through subscriptions to pay TV provider Foxtel.

Pirate Party comes fourth in Griffith

19
The Australian division of digital rights group the Pirate Party has taken fourth place in the Griffith by-election held in Brisbane over the weekend, in a result that placed the party ahead of other minor parties such as the Katter Australian Party and Family First.

“Infantile display”: Ludlam on Brandis’ surveillance arrogance

21
Greens Senator and Communications Spokesman Scott Ludlam has has accused Attorney-General George Brandis of delivering an "embarassing and borderline hysterical" and "infantile" display in Federal Parliament, due to the Liberal Senator's continued refusal to answer basic questions about the surveillance powers used by Australian intelligence agencies.

Digital rights bodies back ALRC’s Fair Use call

1
A cluster of Australia's most high-profile digital rights organisations, including Electronic Frontiers Australia, CHOICE and the Pirate Party have backed the Australian Law Reform Commission's strong call for so-called "Fair Use" provisions to be introduced into the Copyright Act.

Brandis cautiously backs ISPs’ piracy warning scheme

17
Attorney-General George Brandis today appeared to back a scheme proposed by a coalition of most of Australia's major ISPs which would see the issue of online copyright infringement handled through Australians being issued with warning notices after content holders provided evidence that they had breached their copyright online — and the door opened for ISPs to hand over user details to the content industry if the behaviour continued.

Ludlam’s future in doubt as WA Senate re-election likely

45
The parliamentary future of Greens Senator and Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam is once again in doubt, following a decision by the High Court today that will likely mean a fresh election should be held for the Western Australian Senate, following mistakes made during last year's Federal Election.

80 percent of Australians oppose warrantless e-surveillance

9
A new poll conducted by Essential Media has shown that 80 percent of Australians disapprove of the Government being able to access Australians' phone and Internet records without a warrant, in research which is already being hailed as "vindication" for campaigns against government intrusion into private residents' telecommunications.

The only way to fix copyright is to make it fair

36
Everyone knows there’s a problem with copyright. Artists get paid very little for their work, and legitimate consumers aren’t getting a very fair deal either. Unfortunately, nobody agrees about how we should fix it.

Brandis threatens ISPs with “mandatory” piracy scheme

94
Attorney-General George Brandis has threatened to introduce legislation to deal with the issue of Internet piracy in Australia unless the ISP and content industries can agree on a voluntary industry code to deal with the issue.

Foxtel launches movies on demand, cheaper Game of Thrones

37
National pay TV operator Foxtel has revealed it will launch its upcoming Presto movies on demand service on 13 March, as well as temporarily cutting prices on the fees which subscribers using its IPTV service Play will be able to watch the latest season of the popular HBO TV series Game of Thrones.

AUSTRAC tracks every AUD-Bitcoin conversion

5
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) admitted in a Senate Estimates session in Canberra this week that it is literally tracking every conversion between Bitcoins and Australian dollars. Wow. Talk about privacy-invasive.

Monopoly? Melbourne IT buys rival Netregistry

21
Hosting and domain name specialist Melbourne IT announced today that it had entered into an agreement to acquire its biggest rival, Netregistry for $50.4 million, in a move that will ensure the fortunes of the company's founder Larry Bloch but also potentially create a giant with close to monopoly powers over the Australian domain name space.

SA Police want face recognition CCTV everywhere

10
I'd just like to be able to pop down to the shops quickly now and then for a packet of chips without some police system automatically scanning my face for matches with some massive crime database. Is that too much to ask?

First-time Labor MP backs fair use copyright reform

6
The Australian Labor Party's silence on the Australian Law Reform Commission's propsed reforms to the Copyright Act has been broken by Tim Watts, a first-time MP who told Parliament late last month that he supported the US-style "fair use" doctrine supported by the commission, which the Coalition has not yet indicated it will support.

Telstra publishes four page “transparency” report

2
The nation's biggest telco Telstra has published an extremely brief four page "Transparency Report" detailing a small amount of information about its interactions with law enforcement agencies, including the fact that it responded to over 40,000 requests for information over the six months to the end of 2013 alone.

Coalition front bench “technically illiterate”, says Ludlam

19
Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam has described the Coalition's new front bench as "technically illiterate", in a wide-ranging speech in the Senate last week kicking off his campaign to be re-elected in the upcoming Senate by-election in Western Australia and attacking Prime Minister Tony Abbott over various tech-related issues, from Internet piracy to the National Broadband Network.

Virgin wants in on Australian IPTV scene

9
It seems that no matter where you look, someone is trying to fix the Australian Internet television market. Attorney-General George Brandis, as his Labor predecessor Mark Dreyfus did before him, is trying to block Internet piracy. Quickflix and FetchTV are still trying to create viable competitors to Foxtel's pay TV operation. And Foxtel itself is obviously trying to make as much hay as possible while its sun still shines. Into this fraught situation comes Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

Pirate Party crowdfunds $10k for WA Senate

2
Yesterday digital rights-focused political party the Pirate Party Australia met its campaign funding target of $10,000 entirely through crowdfunding on local platform Pozible, in preparation for the WA Senate election on 5 April.

Telstra pays tiddlywinks for huge privacy breach

6
We can't help but suspect that the telco considers itself to have gotten off relatively scot-free from the debacle, paying an infringement notice of only $10,200 in relation to its contravention of an earlier direction on the issue by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Devine accuses Ludlam of “viral hate speech”

36
Just when you think you've seen it all in Australia's mediasphere -- all the crazy and technically illiterate pronouncements from radio shock jocks, all the denouncements of Labor's NBN policy from right-wing bloggers and so on -- something new appears to prove that still more can be dredged from the depths.

Bitcoin miner lists on ASX

3
If you needed any further indication that we now live in the science fiction future long ago mapped out for us by visionary authors, then look no further. News arrived this week that an Australian digital currency company and Bitcoin mining concern, digitalBTC, has listed on the Australian Stock Exchange through a backdoor listing.

Qld Police get remote CCTV access on iPads

8
The Queensland Government has unveiled plans to deploy new technology that will allow Brisbane police officers to view live CCTV footage from cameras in public areas on their iPads or smartphones while working their beat, in a move being billed as helping to keep those of the city's residents 'who are doing the right thing' safe.

Pandora’s Box: Inquiry opens universal surveillance floodgates

15
A move by the Greens to set up a Senate inquiry into the potential reform of Australia's surveillance laws appears to have opened a giant Pandora's Box of debate about the issue, with Australian law enforcement agencies using the process to demand massively increased electronic surveillance rights, including data retention of users' communications.

Coalition faces internal e-safety dissent

3
Remember how the new Coalition Federal Government issued a detailed discussion paper in mid-January canvassing various options through which it can deal with the issue of children’s safety on the Internet, including the potential establishment of a children’s e-safety commissioner? Of course you do. Well, now Malcolm Turnbull’s Parliamentary Secretary Paul Fletcher, who is spearheading the policy, is facing opposition from a new front: Coalition MPs.

Don’t sue us for search: Google’s unnecessary safe harbour appeal

0
A brief review of the history of Australian safe harbour legislation and recent ISP-related case laws in the US shows the best way to provide legal certainty for online intermediaries would be to introduce “fair use” exceptions alone. More safe harbour rules aren’t needed at this stage.

AGD ASIO’s “puppet”, claims Pirate Party

4
Digital rights political party the Pirate Party Australia this week claimed that a parliamentary submission made by the Attorney-General's Department (AGD) arguing for substantially increased government electronic surveillance powers indicated that the Department was little more than a "puppet" and "lobbyist for law enforcement and intelligence agencies".

Ludlam wants Senate to question Assange, Snowden

6
Greens senator Scott Ludlam is reportedly trying to have Edward Snowden and Julian Assange called before a parliamentary committee to give evidence into what they might know about mass surveillance of Australian citizens.

Could Turnbull truly become the “Earl” of Wentworth?

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Seasoned Delimiter readers will know that your writer is fond of gently teasing Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull over his aristocratic bearing, by use of several honorifics. At times we have dubbed the Liberal MP 'the Duke of Double Bay', 'the Viscount of Vaucluse' and so on. But by far the most common title we have awarded to Turnbull has been one that made it onto the floors of Parliament this week.

The politics of unshackling the NBN from politics

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A long-term industry has been shackled to three-year political terms for far too long. The only way to unshackle NBN from politics is to get government out of the marketplace where it exists. Of course, the legacy of sunk costs will make this difficult. But by the time we stop bickering about the latest lot of reports, it will be time to deal with the next communications technology problem.

Introducing Australia’s (eventual) game classification system

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Those of you with a long memory will recall that Australia’s video game classification systems hasn’t precisely always been without controversy. Well, in what looks like a good move on the surface, Australia appears set to join a new international system for video game classification.

Plibersek data retention support “shameful”: Ludlam

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Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam has labelled the revelation this week of relatively unqualified support for data retention and mass surveillance by Tanya Plibersek as "shameful", accusing the Deputy Labor Leader of being naive or manipulative in public statements made on the issue.

iiNet opposes data retention, web blocking plans

8
One of Australia's largest telcos, iiNet, has sent the Australian Senate committee examining reform of national telecommunications interception legislation an extremely strongly worded statement warning of the dangers of extending or even maintaining current data retention and website blocking practices.

Six more years: Ludlam on track for Senate win

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Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam looks set to be re-elected to the Senate for another six years in Western Australia's Senate by-election, with projections late on Saturday night showing the technology-focused politician had easily won a full Senate quota.

Website blocks, court orders, three strikes: Rights holders want it all

20
So you've seen the reports about Federal Attorney-General George Brandis resuscitating the failed talks between ISPs and content owners about the pesky problem of Internet piracy? Have you ever wondered what measures the rights-holders feel should be taken to address such issues? Fear not, industry publication Mumbrella has published an extensive article detailing their demands. And it appears they want rather a lot.

Once again, Australia sets new Game of Thrones piracy record

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It probably won't come as a surprise to those who have followed Game of Thrones piracy news over the past several years (an important genre in technology journalism in its own right), but Australia appears to have set a new record in terms of copyright infringement of the flagship HBO series.

House Foxtel: Unbowed, Unbent and Unreasonable

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The argument by pay television giant Foxtel that the launch of its new Play IPTV streaming video service will cause Australians' objections about the lack of legitimate access to popular shows such as Game of Thrones to "vanish" is nothing short of ridiculous and strongly indicates that the company still has no idea why the nation is so frustrated with it.

Europe says no to data retention, so why is it an option in Australia?

1
Last week the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled that data retention regulations, as they currently stand, are not in accordance with EU law and the European Parliament voted in favour of introducing net neutrality into EU telecoms regulation the week before. As Australia is currently in the midst of a data retention inquiry – the second in three years – what effects will this ruling have on the debate?

NAB’s Bitcoin ban a symptom of the digital currency threat

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Virtual currency Bitcoin is not a subject that ever draws neutral reactions. Against those who see the radical possibilities of a frictionless payment system designed for the internet, there is a growing resistance to the currencies that threaten existing business models and the perceived traceability of our current currency systems.

Anti-piracy lobbyist enjoys cozy email chats with AGD Secretary

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A key lobbyist for the anti-piracy group originally known as the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft enjoys a congenial email relationship with the secretary of the Attorney-General's Department and other senior officials, a Freedom of Information request has revealed, with the lobbyist regularly using the channel to pass on anti-piracy propaganda.

Cinema execs blame piracy for $20 ticket prices

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If you've attended an Australian cinema recently, you'll be aware that $20 ticket prices are now a thing. If you just hit up a film every couple of weeks and avoid the cinema's high-priced junk food aisle (your writer habitually goes to Woolworths for some snacks beforehand), then this mark may not seem like such a huge deal. But if you throw a family into the mix, a night out at the movies can now seem a little too exorbitant for many. According to several cinema executives, one of the central reasons for the ongoing price increases is Internet piracy.

Scrimp now, pay later: CSIRO cuts could stifle long-term research

5
The moment we tie short-term political, economic or social goals to science is the moment we ensure we’ll slow down finding those momentous future breakthroughs that science has brought us. It is a paradox, but one that the government needs to understand before cutting big budgets out of long-term fundamental research programs at the CSIRO.

Google protecting pirates, says film giant

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Film and entertainment giant Village Roadshow is decidedly unhappy with Google Australia for taking what the search giant believes is a realistic approach to dealing with Internet piracy. Go figure.

Quickflix offers unlimited IPTV for $9.99 a month

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Australian movie and TV streaming company Quickflix yesterday announced the beginning of what it believes to be "a new-era in affordable home entertainment" with the launch of its new subscription options to its IPTV service, including streaming of TV shows and movies for only $9.99 per month.

Stop the pirates? Behind Brandis’ copyright crusade

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The lack of hard, unbiased research driving this debate on piracy, as well as the privileged access to the Attorney General that entertainment industry lobbyists seem to have, does not bode well for robust, evidence-based policy being adopted in the near future.

Only at the movies? Home truths about cinema ticket pricing

18
In the last fortnight, senior executives from cinema operators in Australia, including Village Roadshow and Palace Cinemas, have come out defending their decision to raise movie ticket prices. But do their arguments hold water?

ATO considers how to tax Bitcoin

0
Those who have been wondering when the Australian Taxation Office would follow the US Internal Revenue Service and make a formal ruling on how cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin should be taxed now have an answer. According to the Financial Review (we recommend you click here for the full article), the ATO has just opened a review into the issue.

Brandis’ anti-piracy proposals hit Cabinet already

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Remember how Federal Attorney-General George Brandis a while back publicly floated several ideas about how the Federal Government could tackle the thorny issue of Internet piracy? Remember how most people kind of assumed there would be some kind of consultation process where industry and hell, you know, ordinary Australians, could put forward views on the issue? Ah, those were the days. News arrived from the Sydney Morning Herald this morning that Brandis has already developed several proposals and is taking them to the Abbott Cabinet.

Pirate Party launches anti-Brandis piracy petition

6
The Pirate Party Australia has launched a high-profile online petition inviting Australians to protest against two proposals reportedly set to be introduced by Attorney-General George Brandis to Federal Cabinet which could see Australians who pirate content online receive warnings and Internet service providers forced to block file-sharing sites such as the Pirate Bay.

Anti-piracy lobby still suffering from self-delusion

20
Most Australians understand that the only solution to the nation's record Internet piracy rates is for the film and TV industry to follow the music, book and gaming sectors and make their content available online in a timely, affordable and convenient manner. But that's a truth rights holders and their lobbyists seem unwilling to accept.

A cashless society and the five forms of mobile payment that will get us...

5
Visions of a cashless society started being portrayed from the 1950’s along with other aspects of a future waiting to be transformed by technology. That future has not yet arrived but it is now possible to exist without using cash on a daily basis. In fact, in a survey released this week, 25% of Australians claim not to use cash in a given month. In the US, 50% of Americans carry less than $20 in cash at any time.

Global hacker crackdown hits Aussies

4
Picked up a copy of the 'Blackshades' remote administration tool recently? You may be on the FBI's target list. The Wall Street Journal reports in the US over the weekend that US authorities have worked with law enforcement authorities in a range of countries to raid the homes of those who have been using the software.

Liberal Democrats oppose data retention

1
Into the e-surveillance miasma comes David Leyonhjelm, the new Senator-Elect for the Liberal Democrats, who will take his chair in just six short weeks. In a piece for the Financial Review newspaper late last week, Leyonhjelm makes it very clear where his party will stand on this issue: In opposition to data retention and similar initiatives which erode Australians’ privacy.

US Chinese military charges a smokescreen for its own spying

3
In a surprising move, a US District Court has charged five members of the Chinese military with hacking six US companies to obtain commercial secrets over the last eight years. The move has been denounced by the Chinese government and the US Ambassador has been called to Beijing as a result.

AFP arrests two alleged ‘Anonymous’ members

7
The Australian Federal Police this morning revealed it had arrested two Australian men who it alleged were members of the loose-knit confederation of Internet activists who self-organise under the banner "Anonymous", claiming that the pair were involved in "a campaign targeting Australian and international websites".

RBA hasn’t been worried by “limited” Bitcoin risk

7
A research paper produced internally by the Reserve Bank of Australia 12 months ago has shown the nation's central bank was at that stage not concerned about the potential impact of the Bitcoin crypto-currency on Australia's financial system, due to what it saw as the "limited" impact of a "niche product".

Govt going down “wrong” piracy path, says iiNet

30
National broadband provider iiNet has published a sharp blog post accusing the Federal Government of going down the "wrong path" with respect to its efforts to tackle Internet piracy, with the ISP exhorting its customers to become politically active in speaking to politicians from all parties about the issue.

“Nightmare scenario”: Vodafone reveals extensive Govt wiretapping

3
If you thought you had a solid grip on just how extensive Government surveillance of our electronic communications systems was, think again. The revelations just keep coming. Late last week mobile telco Vodafone revealed an extensive bucket list of surveillance measures which are used by governments in dozens of countries it operates in — including Australia — to retrieve information about its customers.

Snowden report calls out Australia’s inadequate privacy law

1
The revelations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have altered the way we think about accountability, transparency and the rule of law with regard to both the activities of security agencies and the value of privacy, according to a detailed report released this week. But this change in thinking has not led to practical reform, according to the report.

Anti-piracy laws will increase piracy, says Budde

22
It's no secret that a large percentage of the technology sector thinks that the current proposal by Federal Attorney-General George Brandis (pictured) to crack down on Internet piracy will have little impact, given that most such attempts in the fast have broadly failed, and the commonly held belief that commercial avenues represent the best way to handle the situation. However, some commentators feel things will go still further. Veteran telecommunications analyst Paul Budde wrote this morning on his blog that he expects the anti-piracy measures to actually increase piracy.

Coalition, Labor support new surveillance laws

0
The Daily Telegraph reported this morning that the Coalition would shortly introduce a raft of new surveillance laws based on almost all of the recommendations handed down last year in a report by the the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security on potential reforms to Australia's National Security Legislation.

We like e-readers – but library users are still borrowing books

0
What place do e-readers – and in particular ebooks – hold in the reading behaviour of Australia’s 10 million public library borrowers? There are some 181 million items loaned every year by the nation’s 1,500 public libraries, branches, mobile libraries and other service points but, according to the latest survey-based report from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), for the majority of these libraries, ebook loans represent less than 1% of the total.

Web blocking technically impossible: iiNet reminds Govt of undisputed fact

0
National broadband provider iiNet has published a blog post reminding politicians of the fact undisputed by the global technology sector that the nature of the Internet makes it technically impossible to 'block' websites as currently being proposed by the Federal Government.

“Rational debate” needed around surveillance

0
In the wake of the news yesterday that the Coalition and Labor are supporting a raft of new electronic surveillance measures, the Pirate Party of Australia has called for a rational debate to be held over the issue, in the context of widespread opposition to increased surveillance by the Australian public.

I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore. Let’s fix...

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For far too long, Australia's political sector has gotten technology policy completely wrong. I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore. Let's take Delimiter into the Canberra Press Gallery and literally write the book on tech policy while we're there.

Holy cow: The Frustrated State was funded in only a week and I’m still...

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This book will be a major step taken by Australia's technology community as we reboot our politicians' understanding of technology policy. It will not be the only step, but it will be one of the first. I look forward to taking it together with all of you.

Revised Delimiter Statement of Principles

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Hi everyone, welcome back! Delimiter starts publishing again today, and from today I'm also commencing work on my technology policy book, The Frustrated State. It...

Cryptographers issue belated complaint about Defence Trade Controls fix

0
Australian and international cryptographers have published statements noting they remain “deeply concerned” about Australian legislation that places some controls on research involving sensitive technologies such as encryption, despite several years of consultation resulting in recent multi-partisan moves to rectify flawed legislation first introduced in 2012.

nbn meets Turnbull’s June 30 rollout targets

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Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull today confirmed nbn would meet its rollout targets for the start of the 2015/2016 financial year, although the success appeared to be based almost entirely upon the continual deployment of Labor’s previous Fibre to the Premises model, and not the Coalition’s technically inferior multi-technology alternative.

Tony Abbott still clinging onto the hallowed Blackberry

31
For many politicians, the Blackberry would have been their first real experience of a smartphone that did much more than telephone calls and SMS. Times have changed, but some offices in Parliament House change slower than others.

Labor will abandon its FTTP NBN policy

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There is absolutely no doubt that the Australian Labor Party will abandon its Fibre to the Premises National Broadband Network plan and adopt the Coalition’s alternative Multi-Technology Model as official policy before the next Federal Election.

Qld ploughs $24m into startups, teaches coding

0
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Labor Government in Queensland yesterday revealed plans to throw $24 million at the state’s rapidly expanding startup sector, as part of a much wider $180 million package of reforms aimed at creating “jobs of the future”.

Abbott thinks coding is a waste of time but Wyatt Roy still dragged him...

6
In which Tony Abbott attends Startup Weekend Brisbane, flanked by LNP MPs Wyatt Roy and Teresa Gambaro.

UK court strikes down data retention bill

2
The English High Court appears to have struck down the United Kingdom’s hastily enacted data retention bill due to its lack of compliance with European laws, in a move that may force the UK Government to add extra safeguards into its approach to the retention of telecommunications data.

Hockey says Govt spending $70bn on NBN

24
Treasurer Joe Hockey has stated that the Government is spending about $70 billion building its version of the National Broadband Network, in comments which appear to run contrary to existing estimates about the Government’s investment in the project.

Internet Piracy rules won’t work, says Husic

6
Labor MP Ed Husic has published a lengthy article arguing new legislation and industry self-regulatory measures pushed by the Government will “do little” to resolve the issue of Internet piracy, arguing the issue is a market problem and needs to be addressed by focusing on bad corporate behaviour instead.

VCs want Govt help getting super funds into the water

0
Should the Federal Government consider underwriting the management fees of venture capital firms to attract large-scale institutional investors like the superannuation funds?

Australians massive Internet pirates, says Turnbull research

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Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning released research which shows that about a quarter of Australian Internet users pirated Internet content, in a joint effort with the UK Government aimed at displaying the need for international and industry cooperation to tackle the issue.

Telcos go on warpath over national security laws

3
The telecommunications industry is up in arms over proposed new legislation which could give the Government unprecedented access to and control over their networks in the name of national security, with both Telstra and the Communications Alliance publicly expressing their strong concern on the issue this morning.

Internet piracy code stalls on costs

4
Three months after the deadline set by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the telecommunications and content industries are still deadlocked on who will pay for the cost of administering their co-developed industry code to deal with Internet piracy.

Labor dances around telco national security support

6
Labor’s Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland has made a series of nebulous statements expressing vague concern about the Government’s latest package of telco-related national security reform, but without actually taking a position on the controversial legislation.

Turnbull’s Dept says ACCC could delay NBN migrations

18
A war of words has erupted between the ACCC and Malcolm Turnbull’s Department of Communications, with the department claiming a pricing decision by the regulator has the potential to delay Australians migrating to next-generational National Broadband Network infrastructure.

Australia woefully unprepared for “digital revolution”, says Westpac CIO

6
Westpac’s top technologist has issued a sharp warning to the nation’s corporate, educational and political sectors, placing them on notice that Australia is not prepared for the ongoing digital revolution that will see many workplaces completely shaken up and jobs taken by computers.

Huawei thaws Coalition’s Chinese freeze

3
Huawei appears to have become increasingly successful at collaborating with senior figures in the Coalition, as the party gradually warms up to the Chinese manufacturer’s advances.

“Extraordinary”: Telcos slam Turnbull’s Dept for backing Telstra over consumers

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A group of major Australian telcos have issued a fiery statement damning Malcolm Turnbull’s Department of Communications for its “extraordinary” attempt to support Telstra’s profitability and keep telecommunications prices from dropping.

Telcos and Govt in TSSR “unity ticket”, claims Turnbull

0
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has claimed that the telecommunications industry and the Government are on a “unity ticket” with respect to the new tranche of national security-related telco reforms, despite sharp disagreement from the industry and a recent history of the Government ignoring industry concern on such issues.

Wikileaks Party deregistered due to lack of members

5
The short-lived political party formed around Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission after it fell short of the requirement to have 500 registered members.

Labor pledges Data Retention policy review

5
The Australian Labor Party passed a motion at its National Conference on Friday that will see it formally review the Data Retention legislation passed earlier this year — despite the fact that such a review is already enshrined in the legislation itself.

Brandis “alarmed” over Labor’s data retention review

14
Attorney-General, Senator George Brandis has raised the “alarm” over the Opposition’s decision to undertake a review of its support for the Government’s controversial Data Retention legislation, saying Labor must ‘stick to its word’ and continue to show support for the policy.

Unprecedented: Whole ICT sector combines to blockade TSSR bill

17
Four of Australia’s most important industry groups have joined forces to deliver an unprecedented and comprehensive rejection of the Government’s planned national security telco legislation, labelling the bill ineffective and adding burdensome regulation and costs on the private sector.

Back off: Optus, TPG tell Govt on Telstra pricing

4
Major telcos Optus and TPG have joined the rest of Australia’s broadband sector and sharply warned Malcolm Turnbull’s Department to stop interfering in the competition regulator’s decision to cut Telstra’s wholesale pricing by 9.6 percent.

Labor unveils strong Digital Economy push with top political support

2
The Australian Labor Party has created a new internal policy group focused on building a “new economy” through fostering innovation, startups and entrepreneurs, in a move that appears to have support from the highest political levels within the party.

Turnbull defends Geelong MP from FTTN critics

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Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning travelled to Geelong to spruik the benefits of its looming Fibre to the Node deployment, braving the ire of local residents and Labor politicians, who are increasingly demanding local Liberal MP Sarah Henderson support the technically superior Fibre to the Premises version of the NBN instead.

Telcos seek data retention extension to avoid legal action

11
Australia’s telco industry will formally write to the Government to request a formal delay in enforcing the controversial new data retention legislation, while Internet service providers around Australia struggle to meet the October 13 deadline for enacting its requirements within their operations.

Hypocrisy? Fletcher pushs tech exports to China while TSSR bill looms

3
Parliamentary Secretary Paul Fletcher has taken the extraordinary step of publicly advocating for Australian technology firms to sell products and services into the booming Chinese market, while the Federal Government that he is part of is seeking to pass legislation which may block Chinese companies from selling to Australia’s public sector.

7:30 exposes Aussie Hacking Team industry

0
It's not often we get a deep window into the inner workings of Australia's electronic spying operation, but this week the ABC's 7:30 program delivered just that in an expose on how the local industry is pitching solutions from the Hacking Team firm to Australian Government agencies.

Bronny Copter is here to save us from Bishop’s Choppergate

0
Tired of reading article after article about how Speaker of the House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop should resign? Bored at work on a Thursday afternoon and need some diversion while the boss isn’t looking at your screen? Bronny Copter — an online game in the style of Flappy Bird from Melbourne developer Ricky Sullivan — is here to save you.

Less talk, more action: Entrepreneur tells ‘Labor for Innovation’

2
Not everyone in Australia's startup sector believes Labor has yet demonstrated it can walk the talk when it comes to the digital economy: Can these feel-good events actually translate into solid policy?

Four months later, data retention funding model still incomplete

1
It turns out that four months after the legislation passed, the Government still hasn't quite worked out the funding model for its data retention package.

Google ploughs $1m into Australian tech education

0
Good news from the Googleplex this morning. Google Australia has decided to take some of the hard-earned money that it's been piping through Singapore to avoid paying tax in Australia and decided to plough it back into directly funding the development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) skills in Australia.

nbn project to hire 4,500 more staff

13
nbn this morning unveiled plans to train a further 4,500 workers to join the ranks of its construction partners and the company itself, in a move which Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has hailed as a victory for a project he dubbed “The Coalition’s NBN”.

Foxtel is about to go after The Pirate Bay

17
Foxtel has indicated it will shortly take to the courts to use brand new legislation to have websites allegedly infringing copyright blocked, with analysis of the company’s public statements on the issue indicating that popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay is likely to be one of the pay television giant’s first targets.

Sorry, ATO: The Senate hearts Bitcoin as a currency

1
Those of you who follow the crypto-currency scene in Australia may remember that the Australian Taxation Office hasn't always treated the most popular type of crypto-currency, Bitcoin, the way that those involved in its trade would prefer. However, the long-running crypto-currency inquiry by the Senate Standing Committee on Economics may be about to disagree with the ATO.

Turnbull revises history on NBN satellite demand

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Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Australian Labor Party of underestimating how much demand the National Broadband Network would see for its satellite service, without mentioning that he personally had stated in Opposition that sufficient capacity already existed, alleging there was no need to build more.

Doubts remain about NBN Gigabit HFC upgrade

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Questions have continued to arise about whether nbn’s planned Gigabit upgrade of the HFC cable networks it is acquiring from Telstra and Optus will be able to deliver on its speed promises, with a number of telecommunications industry sources pouring cold water on the long-term capacity of the ageing networks.