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Actually you're fairly unlikely to get sick from your own feces, that doesn't make it less gross though.

Try putting your contact lens in your mouth then...

This explains why I always did my best thinking on the toilet at the Field Museum's award-winning bathrooms. http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/americas-best-toilet-named-20111110-1n8za.html

They've been getting low on coal every now and then - as in burning coal faster than they can get it (from their own mines and other places). They're using so much energy that they even run out of dirty energy, so they need to reduce consumption and also add clean energy.

http://news.theage.com.au/business/china-coal-shortage-to-continue-20080116-1m7u.html
http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/coal-shortage-causes-power-cuts-in-china-20101221-193d5.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/18/china-power-shortage-idUSL3E7FI1ED20110418
Consuming less energy = consuming less coal = fewer power cuts = fewer pissed off people = easier and more peaceful reign for those at the top.

IIRC Japan is many times more efficient in terms of productivity (goods, GDP etc) vs energy used. So there's actually quite a lot of room for improvement in terms of energy efficiency.

They've also been working on building lots of nuclear reactors. Hope they get those right though, or there'll be major disasters (China does get big quakes).

This article just appeared in my news feed:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/google-and-ilk-cant-shirk-responsibility-for-ranters-20111229-1pe93.html

Excerpt: "....Google, which replied that it is not responsible for any allegedly defamatory content and it does not remove defamatory, insulting, negative or distasteful material from US domains. It claims that under US law internet services, such as the blogger site, are republishers and not the publisher."

and

"Last year, a judge in Ireland gave permission to the Irish Red Cross to start proceedings against Google in California in order to obtain the identity of an anonymous blogger who had posted what the charity claimed was ''distorted confidential'' material. Italian and French courts have held Google liable for defamations that arose from ''autocomplete'' search requests.
In England, the Demon internet service provider was found to be liable for defamation after a judge held that the ''innocent disseminator'' defence didn't wash once an ISP had notice of the offensive content."

So it appears that being a provider (3rd party) may include liability. Looks like freedom of speech and being responsible for the content is being taken seriously by some courts. I can see that could be a problem for re-posters.

Why would you expect a political party (not the government, a party) to have your socio-economic details?

As the article says, they also capture health information and, as shown in this article from July they also record:

profiles of constituents and their stands on issues such as gay rights, the environment and abortion

In just this post I've detailed that they're collecting information on people's: - health - finances - stance on gay rights - stance on the environment - stance on abortion

Most likely this is information that the subjects have GIVEN to the party, either by answering door-to-door or telephone surveys, or from submissions to their local politician. For example, "I support gay rights; please vote for that."

They will then add the voter's name to their data base. All the political parties do this.

It's the usual story, if you don't want the information to be out there, don't tell anyone.

Why would you expect a political party (not the government, a party) to have your socio-economic details?

As the article says, they also capture health information and, as shown in this article from July they also record:

profiles of constituents and their stands on issues such as gay rights, the environment and abortion

In just this post I've detailed that they're collecting information on people's:
- health
- finances
- stance on gay rights
- stance on the environment
- stance on abortion

I repeat, this is information collected by political parties to help them campaign; to help them win the next election.
It is not the government carefully collecting this information to provide a better public service.

This doesn't feel right. I can't quite put my finger on *why* but it just does. Perhaps someone else more eloquent can verbalise the reason.

Even if the phone imei gets blocked before the thief manages to sell it off on eBay or gumtree (kind of like craigslist), he can still sell it off as a phone to use overseas - ebay Australia is full of those listings of phones that are basically stolen since the imei is blocked in Australia. And the larger issue is that petty theft is such a low priority for Australian police that there is virtually zero risk of getting caught.
This is a classic example that is entirely consistent with my experiences: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/ipad/thief-gets-away-with-stolen-ipad-because-police-wont-act-20110524-1f1zi.html
Even when you have video footage of theft, police pay little attention to the matter, which means even repeat offenders are unlikely to get caught.
I got robbed in a real estate rental property scam. While I was stupid to fall for it, I had felt safe because I made a deposit into an Australian bank account, and there are very stringent ID checks before they let you open a bank account here. I later found that the scam had been running for years. The scammer had withdrawn the money from an ATM in Australia and would have been on video, it wasn't someone overseas. The same people had scammed or tried to scam many people but had been getting away with it for years, despite video footage of different incidents, a local bank account and despite them stupidly using several stolen credit cards and ID documents in brick and mortar retailers instead of buying online.

Stealing a laptop or smartphone or iPad in Australia carries little risk unless you're caught in the process. You can even leave a nice trail because the police will never follow up. I hardly think this is much of a deterrent for thieves. Also with the massive immigrant population in major Australian cities, any self respecting thief will find it easy to simply send stolen goods overseas to be sold.

...on condition that it's only ever done after careful thought, planning and testing. (Oh, I guess it won't work then. :/ )

But seriously... in Australia we could do with GM solutions like that to fight back against cane toads, imported bees, fire ants, etc., etc., etc.

The Rabbit Calicivirus has already had a massive impact on rabbits in the wild, though being a virus it's a bit more of a loose cannon than hereditary impotence, and the bunnies are now developing resistance.
Personally, I like the idea of hereditary impotence as it can't spread to other spieces, and the only way that it can fail (as far as I can see) is if populations die off before spreading the mutation to other populations.

Of course, these options should only be considered in bounded areas, such continents bounded by water. Thinking that these options will limit themselves is folly. What I mean is... if you have an ant that is native to South America that has invaded North America, and the population seems to span across central America, then this kind of GM option is a bad idea, as the disease/mutation may spread from North America through to South America where it's a natural and important part of the ecology. But applying it to Australia should be fine.

The EU finally admitted that nobody reads ToS and it's going to curb such practices.

Did you read the follow up to that article? http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/a-climate-change-wave-of-hate-20110609-1ftix.html- One notes that it was the sceptics who made ALL the threats against the author. Kind shoots the shit out of any point you were trying to make.

What part of my post, when I said "I could point out to you that ugly hate inciting rhetoric flows both ways...but what would that achieve[?]"

If you insist, on playing this game, here is my one and only contribution. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-dangers-of-boneheaded-beliefs-20110602-1fijg.html Choice quote: "...forcibly tattooed on their bodies.".

Was trying to find a piece on SMH suggests that we should be gassed with Co2. Nice.

That's all I could be bothered with at this time. But I've made my point which I made before - the ugly invective flows both ways and I condemn it from all; polite society indeed. Many people acting like feral children in the school yard. I condemn all this behaviour. I condemn the noose stunt you included above (first time I have seen it). All sceptics I know feel the same way.

If you wish to continue to maintain the conceit that sceptics are evil, immoral non-people. Go ahead; I suspect I could not convince you otherwise. I am sure it is convenient for you to view sceptics this way, because it makes it easier for you to nurture your contempt and prejudices towards people you disagree with

You got modded troll, but you made me curious, because I seemed to remember hearing these before, too. Doing a google search of "global warming irreversible YYYY" I came up with these:

From 2009, Obama has 4 years to save the world

From 2009, global warming is now irreversible, study says(also discussed on slashdot)

From 2006, The End of the World As We Know It; THE world has already passed the point of no return on global warming.

From 2005, past the point of no return.

Also from 2005, Global warming irreversible.

From 2004, Damage from warming becoming irreversible.

From 1989, We have a 10 year window to fix the problem.

What do you think of that?

odd I hear crickets.......

You got modded troll, but you made me curious, because I seemed to remember hearing these before, too. Doing a google search of "global warming irreversible YYYY" I came up with these:

From 2009, Obama has 4 years to save the world
From 2009, global warming is now irreversible, study says(also discussed on slashdot)
From 2006, The End of the World As We Know It; THE world has already passed the point of no return on global warming.
From 2005, past the point of no return.
Also from 2005, Global warming irreversible.
From 2004, Damage from warming becoming irreversible.
From 1989, We have a 10 year window to fix the problem.

What do you think of that?

Oh yeah?

The CEOs of Singapore and Cathay, better airlines, earn much less than Joyce. Joyce and his executive mates just awarded themselves big fat payrises, but are crying poor to the employees. QANTAS is much owned my institutional investors. It is the executives that have all the power and the big fat paychecks. You might want to check this out: http://www.smh.com.au/business/tough-times-in-the-executive-suites-20110907-1jxpo.html 'The former chief executive of Singapore Airlines, C S Chew, for example, managed to get only between $S1.25 million ($982,000) and $S1.5 million ($1.18 million) in his last nine months at the airline. Cathay Pacific's former chief executive (now International Air Transport Association director general) Tony Tyler was paid $HK11.48 ($1.4 million) in his final full year at the airline. Joyce's $5 million pay packet dwarfed that of the head of Asia's largest airline in terms of fleet size and passenger movements, China Southern. The president of the Guangzhou-based airline, Tan Wangeng , was paid a relatively paltry 1.03 million yuan ($153,000) last year. The entire board of China Southern's supervisors, executive directors and non-executive directors (including Tan) was paid about $855,000 during the same period.'

See the following books:

• Vatican II, Homosexuality and Pedophilia
• The Rite of Sodomy Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church
• The Devil's Final Battle

Although there hasn't been a serious suggestion that I am aware of that Benedict XVI is a freemason, objectively speaking, he is too close to the situation, having participated in Vatican II and having been the sexual misconduct watchdog under JPII, and continuing to this day to participate in coverup and permissiveness. There is no need for me to report him to the authorities because he has already been served with a lawsuit.

And as for Freemasons in the United States at least, as a group they have zero interest in supporting child pornography or bringing down the Roman Catholic church.

From Albert Pike's book Morals and Dogma:

Thus the Order of Knights of the Temple was at its very origin devoted to the cause of opposition to the tiara of Rome and the crowns of Kings

No, Steve Jobs didn't. He defended the indefensible and did his best to minimize & brush-off the problem. Instead, Apple and Foxconn just blamed the workers for the problems and made them sign anti-suicide pacts.

You may be mixing up the suicide of the worker blamed for the missing iPhone prototype and other suicides at Foxconn; as far as I know, the anti-suicide pledges and suicide nets weren't specifically related to the suicide of that particular worker.

11.09am: Steve Jobs's family has released a statement:

Mr Jobs "died peacefully today surrounded by his family ... We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/4800-aussie-sites-evaporate-after-hack-20110621-1gd1h.html

"In assessing the situation, our greatest fears have been confirmed that not only was the production data erased during the attack, but also key backups, snapshots and other information that would allow us to reconstruct these servers from the remaining data."

slashdot = stagnated

Here

The whole thing was pretty embarassing - the ACCC wanted to demonstrate the colour differentiated search results clearly marked Google ads, were anti-competitive. Sensis (search and ad company) is a branch of Telstra (major telecommunications carrier) who have previously been up before the ACCC - I'm sure this is just a good use of our taxdollars, not some globally orchestrated campaign against Google. Just as Microsoft really had a legitimate gripe against Google in the US (goddammit - ad prices should be set by government - unless they're Bing ads).

The ACCC does some good - but mostly it is kicked around by scumbags looking to further their own business agenda *cough* Harvey Norman *cough*.

Looks like some people are jumping the gun a bit...

Typical, like when the Aussie's volunteered to host the World Cup Soccer because they 'knew' that South Africa was not up to it.

I'm from the same country as Hans Blix.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/hans-blix-slams-bush-blair-over-iraq-war-20100728-10uo8.html

He was right you know, and what was it Bush said about him and his work again?

#37: "When he [Saddam Hussein] chose to deny inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him" - http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3907

My guess is that you're so deep into partisan US politics to ever be able to understand how the rest of the world looks at your actions.

I thought this was old news, and that the millions she made were revealed to mostly be through "virtual prostitution" of sorts?
And that when some folks found out about her having an interview within Second Life, they hilariously griefed her.

Apparantly they are keen to talk now.

You said one problem. Yet I had linked to an article which described multiple problems on that day, and linked back to the stabbing of two weeks before. That isn't "one".

Nine people... in one location... in Hyde Park... and you're getting your information from The Sun 'newspaper'.

There were hundreds of these across the country every year! You've picked one place that had trouble THREE YEARS AGO, in arguably the second worst newspaper in the country?

I'm sure you're right. The police just overstepped the mark, and decided to hack an innocent man's messages JUST IN CASE he decides to murder under the guise of being in a water pistol fight.

I think you need to calm down. There's no evidence of "hacking"

TLDR; keep yourself up to date: MI5 joins social messaging trawl for riot organisers, Riot inquiry to go ahead as MI5 helps investigations and Prime Minister David Cameron said last week that the government would investigate shutting down social networking platforms like BlackBerry Messenger and Twitter if they were helping to "plot" crime. The police recently called on MI5 to crack encrypted messages sent through BBM..

No evidence of hacking, eh? Why are MI5 involved?

This is a annual water fight, it's meant to be a bit of fun, ffs!!

You've obviously not paying attention for the past few years... This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last.

It sound like the Turkish government is beginning to emulate the repressive and regressive moral "leadership" established by the totalitarian Internet regimes in Australia, the US and the UK.

Hey! You get all the free speech you can pay for!

An yet several companies have the word apple in them...

You don't need to even have the word "apple" in your business name to have Apple come after you. Woolworths in Australia changed their logo to one that resembles apple peel, and Apple went after them.

Pics of the cute little sucker - both in the dark and in daylight:

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/south-korean-scientists-create-glowing-dog-report-20110728-1i0wi.html

Not the first time such things have happened:

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/zumba-class-has-office-all-shook-up-20110224-1b73p.html

A Zumba class in a building only a block away from where I work caused noticeable movement in that building, so much so that some people were afraid for their safety. Of course, the building was up to code and engineers reported that nothing was wrong, but still, interesting...

I know a lot of people on Slashdot might think that this is the thin of the wedge and the first step on the slippery slope towards a more comprehensive censhorship scheme the likes of what labour tried to bring in recently but to be honest I think that as long as this filter remains voluntary and restricted to hardcore CP then it wont get any airplay in the wider media at all because the average member of the public will be pretty much fine with it. The real question is a) will its current authority be expanded to material beyond hardcore CP and b) if its current authority expanded would the average joe have issues with it?

a) is up for debate however I would expect that joe public will be much more concerned if there was evidence of scope creep on the filter and therefore it would get more airplay in the wider media and be shot down as it was last time http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/conroy-backs-down-on-net-filters-20100709-10381.html?autostart=1.

The wider public has shown that they are fine with filters as long as it stays restricted to Child Porn only - anything further and governments can expect serious opposition from large sections of the community which can have repercussions for them at the ballot box which is exactly why the last aussie filter was shot down - it started to look like it was going to cost the labour party votes so they ditched it

Three networks are planned, with the Britain to China route to be extended to Singapore, and built within a decade.

Passengers on a second route would travel to the north of China and through Russia and on to Germany, where the network would join the European railway system.

A third network would extend south through Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia

You can read about it http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/china-to-build-highspeed-rail-link-to-europe-20100309-pvuf.html there, among any other place that has a financial interest in keeping a close eye on these things

Watch the videos others are posting about the ghost cities.

Slashdot is not usually the place I gather my financial information from, especially when 90% of them are links to the same series of videos from one source, who just happens to be selling its own financial advice.

Frankly, if your only evidence is youtube links from other people whos only exposure to this economy is from stories they have read fed out through 'other' investment houses with their own book to sell, your opinion is less than worthless. I never said there weren't ghost cities, I never said they were only on the interior of the country, and I never said they had sane lending policies. I said they have RELATIVELY saner lending practices. There is a reason I use the words I do, and it is because I am trying to point out the difference between the two economies. To give you a car analogy, it is the difference between someone saying that "cars are relatively the same when comparing a Ferrarri to a Kia, and you returning with the counter that it is stupid to claim that a ferrarri is the same as a Kia, when that was explicitly not what was said.

To be blunt, I don't think you have the background to understand what the differences are between China and the US, mainly because your sourcing things like youtube videos and not an analysis of your spreadsheets comparing negative interest rates, and internal lending requirements. If you are seriously interested, you need to understand why the western media has been running stories about 'the bubble' in China for the better part of this century. The point is to try to influence decision makers by introducing a sense of uncertainty and risk, by trying to compare apples to oranges, to influence the decision making process of those who make the important decisions within companies.

Here's a link from 2006 saying the same thing;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2943687/China-grows-by-11pc-as-fears-of-bubble-deepen.html

The previous year, 2005;
http://www.globegazette.com/news/opinion/article_1e59656c-273e-5889-abf9-62e64c19b88b.html

How about 2003;
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LXc0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=rI4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6557,627471&dq=china+bubble&hl=en

I have been involved with some financial entities, and this was part of my research for many years, going back further than a decade. It is quite clear to me that there is a bias, and honestly this is to be understood easily when you understand the way that money flows. Money doesn't give a shit what youtube videos you post, all it cares about is where it is easiest to move to, and more importantly to move OUT. Like I said, I have been hearing this story for a decade, and when you can pull your nationalistic ego out of the equation, you will find it easy to understand

Ahh, I see you're not good at reading, let me help you out.

You mean Conroy, not the Labor party.

Completely wrong. The beginnings of these policies started with Kim Beazley. Additionally, if it's not a Labor party policy, then you need to tell the Prime Minister that, and you might ask them to update their pages. While you can say the most recent ones are crafted and pushed by Conroy, it does have the support of "the party", where its leader and strategists speak for what the party supports.

Deputy comms minister Kate Lundy has been an outspoken critic of filtering

Partially wrong. She's been an outspoken critic of... THIS type of filter. She wants it to be an opt-out filter. She was however an outspoken critic of ISP level filtering... when LIBERAL was in power.

The contract was to buy that.

This is where the reading comprehension comes in. Even with the single line you quoted, in no way, can it be taken to mean 'they were paid to censor the internet'. Please re-read it. What it says is 'They censored the internet, at the same time as they were awarded a contract', not a contract for censoring the internet, but a contract for buying the infrastructure.

Please, keep up.

This is because they own 0% of the pits and ducts (or copper) that make up the last mile which is where the NBN is operating.

Now this is reasonably true, except that Agile (Internodes infrastructure company) does supply last mile connections for many rural communities. On top of this, they own a significant amount of interstate fiber, which is something the NBN also had in its deal, though to a lesser extent at this stage.

You dont actually understand what's going on here and should never have been modded up.

The thing I like about your post, is the arrogance it has, while being exceptionally wrong. It's almost like you're trolling me. Not sure if you're retarded, or trolling. I'm erring on the former.

they are going to start Filtering Our Internet AFTER the plan to start Filtering Our Internet was Scapped

So what you're saying is that you're a pedophile. Because the sites that are being censored are primarily child abuse sites.

[Citation direly needed] I don't trust an opaque system. Even more as you took the reserve of slipping in the primarily word in you phrase.

You see, I'm not suffering from ADHD or Alzheimer's, so I still remember that a bunch of legal location were filtered out only some 2 years ago.

Look. This was the state-of-the-art of smartphones in 2007. This was the state-of-the-art in 2008. They're not even in the same state, much less the same ballpark.

Yes. Everyone. Except the the intelligence agencies that didn't. Like the CIA and UNSCOM. So really if you discount those two primary sources then he didn't lie. And if you discount the fact that Bush himself doubted he would find any WMDs when talking to Blair before the war. So if you discount those three things... Ah fuck it. Obama's bad; maybe even as bad as Bush, but Bush was bad.

Why is this tired and meaningless argument that " a pirate has a boat and a wooden leg" trotted out again and again?

Um, possibly because the original usage of "pirate" is still valid and in everyday use? You see, that's the problem with hijacking existing language for emotional manipulation - it prevents clear communication because people have to derive from context whether you mean nasty-copying-without-permission-pirate, or shoot-up-boats-and-kidnap-people-pirate. When the context is as short as a headline, sometimes there is not enough of it to correctly gauge the meaning.

Why is this tired and meaningless argument that " a pirate has a boat and a wooden leg" trotted out again and again?

Um, possibly because the original usage of "pirate" is still valid and in everyday use? You see, that's the problem with hijacking existing language for emotional manipulation - it prevents clear communication because people have to derive from context whether you mean nasty-copying-without-permission-pirate, or shoot-up-boats-and-kidnap-people-pirate. When the context is as short as a headline, sometimes there is not enough of it to correctly gauge the meaning.

Why is this tired and meaningless argument that " a pirate has a boat and a wooden leg" trotted out again and again?

Um, possibly because the original usage of "pirate" is still valid and in everyday use? You see, that's the problem with hijacking existing language for emotional manipulation - it prevents clear communication because people have to derive from context whether you mean nasty-copying-without-permission-pirate, or shoot-up-boats-and-kidnap-people-pirate. When the context is as short as a headline, sometimes there is not enough of it to correctly gauge the meaning.

Why is this tired and meaningless argument that " a pirate has a boat and a wooden leg" trotted out again and again?

Um, possibly because the original usage of "pirate" is still valid and in everyday use? You see, that's the problem with hijacking existing language for emotional manipulation - it prevents clear communication because people have to derive from context whether you mean nasty-copying-without-permission-pirate, or shoot-up-boats-and-kidnap-people-pirate. When the context is as short as a headline, sometimes there is not enough of it to correctly gauge the meaning.

Once upon a time, ...

"Once upon a time"? What a splendidly evasive way to say, under the Obama Administration.

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

A Wikileaks post published on The Nation shows that the Obama Administration fought to keep Haitian wages at 31 cents an hour

Once again we see Wikileaks essentially in the role of, "If you don't know it, it's news to you". Geeks that wouldn't give a damn about anything in Haiti are finally reading about it in Wikileaks, take whatever information is there with no context, and assume the worst.

Haiti minimum wage protests escalate

The debate has fuelled unrest across the impoverished Caribbean nation. Some critics argue that an increase would hurt plans to fight widespread unemployment by creating jobs in factories that produce clothing for export to the United States. . . .

Many in the international community who view garment factories as the way to boost Haiti's economic development oppose the wage increase.

With new trade advantages that allow for duty-free exports of clothing to the US, such factories could provide "several hundred thousand jobs to Haitians ... over a period of just a few years," according to a report submitted to the UN in January.

But it said that plan requires that costs be kept down.

The report had been requested by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and prepared by Oxford University professor Paul Collier. It is now being promoted by former US President Bill Clinton, the new UN envoy for Haiti.

I am in Melbourne and my wife refuses to fly Qantas. Last time going to Malaysia she flew Emirates. I really should point her to this page about this incident. The north south runway at Tullamarine is slightly higher than the terrain past both ends of the runway and I heard from a traffic controller that the tower controllers almost lost sight of the aircraft as it traded altitude for speed immediately after takeoff. They hit the crash button and expected to see a fireball.

They used the wrong weight of the aircraft, bad form by the pilots.

I must admit to being a bit of a plane spotter, I've found VASO (Russian airline) like to use the entire runway when flying out of HKT (3000 M) when flying the IL86's out. Fortunately the western end of the runway goes over the ocean.

I am in Melbourne and my wife refuses to fly Qantas. Last time going to Malaysia she flew Emirates. I really should point her to this page about this incident. The north south runway at Tullamarine is slightly higher than the terrain past both ends of the runway and I heard from a traffic controller that the tower controllers almost lost sight of the aircraft as it traded altitude for speed immediately after takeoff. They hit the crash button and expected to see a fireball.

And when you lose one of your toys that has embarrasing data on it that gets uploaded to wikileaks? Or it has malware on it that spreads from your device to our servers resulting in data loss or downtime? Or you leave the company in six months and I am facing tough questions on how you managed to take your client list, all of the data associated with them and half the company's trade secrets with you when you left?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503983_162-20026946-503983.html
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/google-android-malware-surges-400-per-cent-20110513-1el5p.html

We in IT Infrastructure are in a hard position - on the one hand we are told that we have to protect the company networks and data at all costs (including from employees) and have responded by encrypting laptop hard drives and implementing DRM/DMS systems on key documents to restrict access to them and enable auditing of them. On the other hand we hear comments like these where people expect to bring their personal laptop/tablet/phone in and/or install whatever software they want on thier work computer, send key pieces of their work information downloaded to it or to their 'free' cloud service, then go off and do whatever they please with it. They act offended and annoyed when we have to tell them no - staring at me like I killed their puppy. Sorry but it isn't your job to find new and innovative ways to do your work - it is ours. Let us find you a workable and secure way to do something if it will really add value. Because it also isn't your job on the line when it all hits the fan either in the end.

The closest that we have gotten to a solution is to let people get to Citrix hosted desktops/apps from whatever/wherever they want. Then they whinge they can't copy files off or print properly from it to their $30 home printer. We just can't win...

And looking at The Sydney Morning Herald (warning site loves advertisements with sound) I'm not seeing any reports of massive scores of people disappearing in the rapture. The news seems to continue on there just like any other Saturday.

On a side note, it appears that the "10 things you need to know list" is primarily telling me there will be advertising after the rapture, since I saw more ads than content on that site.

Meanwhile, you have the CEO of the company dismissing this whole thing as a "hiccup," which pretty aptly demonstrates just how seriously Sony apparently takes its security. No way I want my CC number or private info involved in their next "hiccup."

And also saying he can't promise you security after this attack. "It's the beginning, unfortunately, or the shape of things to come. It's not a brave new world — it's a bad new world" is what he said exactly. So is he preparing us for an endless number of "hiccups"?

EC: Ok. We're governed by the police powers and responsibilities act. And we have a power to seize property that we believe may contain evidence of a commission of an offence. Ok?
BG: OK. Now I work and my iPad is my working device. I'm a journalist. I have rights to keep my sources close. What legislative, what legislation are you prepared to take my iPad away from me under and do I have to give you the password?
EC: OK. The legislation is the police powers and responsibilities act. And if you wish we can tell you the exact section or sub-section but we have a power generally under the police powers and responsibilities act to seize evidence that we believe, we reasonably believe contains evidence of a commission of an offence. And we reasonably believe that on your iPad is recorded evidence of a commission of an offence and therefore we are going to seize your iPad to examine forensically.

According to Grubb he only has notes on his iPad and a copy of the picture, frankly I don't see how they need to seize his entire device just to obtain his notes, the device may have been used to collect evidence of the offence but seizing the entire device is overkill.

EC: I haven't had a chance to tell you this [to JS] but his law firm which is Johnson Winter and Slattery has asked that we don't conduct an examination until 24 hours at a minimum because they want to fully consider the matter before...
...
EC: I understand we don't have to wait for their permission or anything like that but I thought given the consideration and how helpful everyone had been in relation to this matter that we can wait at least 24 hours before... as per their request

Hopefully someone will see that the seizure of the whole device is overkill within the 24 hours given before the forensic analysis has occurred, that's probably why the law firm asked for a delay in order to demonstrate this.

There is a rather interesting transcript of the interview here.

Sure, they didn't arrest him, but that was some pretty serious questioning.

EC: Are you in possession of that iPad?
BG: Yep.
EC: You are? All right, is there anything else you wish to say?

Well, that seals it for me. TheRegister conjectured they arrested him to get his iPad. Looks like they were right. If something isn't on your person they need a warrant, or your permission. If it is on your person they can seize it if they arrest you.

It's a direct attack on the free press.

Well yeah, but I hope you aren't too concerned for the journalists here. This isn't going to be anything like a fair fight. The police arrested an assistant editor from one of the biggest newspapers in the country, and confiscated his equipment. They did this when he was doing his job, reporting on a mildly controversial topic. Journo's here are like journo's everywhere - they consider themselves a protected species when reporting the news. They're outraged, and are striking back in force. First they set up a web cam, capturing the department chief claiming "copying a picture is just like stealing a TV". Now stories appearing in every major Australian news outlet using that quote to the Queensland Police look like a mob of country bumpkins. Sadly that ain't hard. They are dredging up past mistakes like the Queensland Police trying to prosecute a man for paedophilia because he posted "child abuse" movie of a fully clothed man playfully swinging his fully clothed son through the air. Give them 24 hours and they will have column feet of this stuff over the country.

There ain't no question our police here can be as dumb as some of the dumbest on the planet, and this is yet more proof of that - if we needed any. Hell - it's entirely possible the guy who had his photo's shown to a crowd of 12 or so of his mates won't give a shit. But you know, in this case the police were just implementing the law without fear or favour. Hacking into a computer system to steal data is a crime in their jurisdiction. This guy they were collecting evidence about was undeniably doing that. Yes, they should have realised they were looking at the equivalent of a lock smith talking shop to other lock smiths and cut everybody a bit a slack. But were apparently didn't have a clue and so just followed the rule book. Normally this would be fixed as it moved though the system - just as the child swinging case was. Instead they going to be mauled in public for doing what I think is roughly the right thing - when you don't know what's going on just enforce the law as you understand it.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/journalists-facebook-arrest-transcript-of-police-interview-20110518-1esrr.html

It is abundantly clear that, while everything was going ok for a while, Ben's fatal flaw was being "helpful" to the police and offering information to them. The interview was voluntary, and they even told him he could walk out at any time. The minute he mentioned that he had taken notes of the converstaion with the security researcher on his iPad though, the police then had the information they needed to seize it. When he refused citing his sources and private information contained on it, they arrested him (later releasing him without charge). Once again, as has been linked to so many times here on Slashdot, the following should be REQUIRED viewing by everyone!

Don't talk to the Cops