The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy announced yesterday the introduction of the Get Ready for Digital TV awareness campaign.
Starting Sunday April 5th the government will begin airing television and radio advertisements as well as distributing point of sale brochures and hardware labels in preparing people to ‘get ready’ for the switchover to digital television.
The Senator stated that this was a milestone event in Australia’s transition to digital television, saying that:
“Digital television switchover is our biggest national format change since the swap to decimal currency, and it’s important that Australia get ready,”
The Minister stated that the switchover would mean new content, better sound and vision as well as the ability for broadcasters to use additional features.
When asked whether the government would consider subsidising set-top boxes the Minister stated that there was a pilot underway in Mildura, the first place to undergo the switchover treatment, to evaluate whether funding would be required.
“We’re going to see whether it works,” He said
Some community broadcasters are worried they’ll be left behind when it comes to the switchover. The Minister said that they wont, assuring:
“There are a whole range of technical issues, it’s not just money, it’s technical issues, and we’ve been working for a while trying to resolve those,”
“I can’t speculate what’s in the budget, but we are not forgetting community TV,”
The switchover is expected to be complete by the end of 2013.
Senator Stephen Conroy from Ben Grubb on Vimeo.
Tech Wired attended the Get Ready for Digital TV Conference
Adelaide-based Internet Service Provider (ISP) Internode continues to deliver good news, announcing this weekend Free WiFi access to anyone in the vicinity of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The ISP officially launched the service on Saturday, but said it was available ahead of schedule to ensure coverage was available for people attending the Sound Relief bushfire fundraising concert a couple of weeks earlier.
The MCG has signed a three-year contract with the ISP as it’s preferred supplier, allowing Internode to enter a a co-branding initiative of displaying their logo alongside the MCG’s on the landing page users will see upon use of the service.
Lisa Trainor, General Manager of Commercial Operations at the MCG said:
“This partnership with Internode has helped us to improve the services we offer and enhance the experience for visitors to the MCG,”
The service will be available for all events including AFL games as well as functions, conferences and receptions.
Internode is now managing the 26 wireless access points spread throughout the MCG of which are connected to Internode’s national network backbone.
Daryl Knight, Internode National Sales Manager said:
“By introducing Internode into the world’s greatest sporting arena, we expect to raise the profile of Internode and the services we offer to Home, Business and Corporate users,“
With over three million people visiting the MCG each year it’s a win win for all.
Internode seems to enjoy endeavoring on new innovative ventures, announcing just weeks ago a joint venture with TiVo.
Vodafone Australia have just announced the final stages of its much anticipated $500 million high speed 3G network upgrade for major regional centres.
The upgrade expands 3G services to Vodafone customers in areas including Albury-Wodonga, Ballarat, Ballina, Bunbury, Byron Bay, Cairns, Darwin, Hobart, Kiama, Lismore, Mackay, Newcastle, Toowoomba, Townsville, Wollongong, Bowral, Nowra and Wagga Wagga.
This is great news for those living in the city of Hobart who have previously been without any 3G service on Vodafone.
The upgrade comes 1 year late after Vodafone chief executive Russell Hewitt said the project was its “number one priority for 2008″ in late December of 2007.
Customers in all other existing Vodafone 2G coverage areas throughout Australia are planned to experience Vodafone 3G services by the 31st of August.
Once the upgrade is complete 3G coverage is expected to reach 94 per cent of the Australian population.
Andy Reeves, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone Australia said:
“Vodafone’s national network upgrade will generate greater competition in the telecommunication market and provide greater choice for more Australian customers.
“It’s great news for Vodafone customers, and we will continue to invest in the network to provide high quality service when and where it’s needed most.
As pointed out by The Age, the Department for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) will soon begin scouring the web for mentions of their department.
A tender for what they are seeking can be found on Aus Tender, a website used by the Australian Government for available business opportunities.
The tender put forward by the DBCDE states that they are:
“…seeking to obtain a comprehensive digital monitoring service for print and electronic media across all of the Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy portfolio.”
In clarifying what ‘electronic media’ was, the DBCDE outlined in an addendum:
“The term electronic media refers to online media. Key websites include (but are not limited to): all Australian newspaper sites, ABC Asia Pacific News, ABC News Online, ARNet, ITnews Australia, news.com.au, ninemsn news, ZDNet Australia, Nine MSN, ABC Online and blogs such as whirlpool etc.”
It’s seen as an interesting move by the department, and as pointed out by The Age, somewhat contradictory. Contradictory because the Senator for the department, Stephen Conroy, voiced his views in Germany not that long ago that it was a “really positive sign” that the Singaporean Government had given up on monitoring Blogs.
The whole tender idea reminded me of the ABC Hollowmen program.
Here’s an extract from the Hollowmen site:
The Hollowmen is a comedy-drama set in the offices of the Central Policy Unit, a special think tank personally set up by the Prime Minister to help him in the most important job of all – getting re-elected.
Their brief is “long term vision”; to stop worrying about tomorrow’s headlines, and focus on next week’s.
The tender process closes on the 30th of March, just before the Australian Government budget is due.
In just over a weeks time Tech Wired will be attending Australia’s largest telecommunications conference, CommsDay.
The conference is held once every year as a gathering for the major players involved in Australia’s telecommunications industry. From Senator Stephen Conroy representing the Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy, to various Internet Service Provider representatives; the conference will discuss topics such as the National Broadband Network and emerging wireless technologies.
Optus, Internode, Pipe, Vocus, Australia Japan Cable, Basslink, Telarus, BigAir, Kordia, Unwired and others will be among those presenting.
We’re seeking you to leave a comment below as to what questions you would like answered by the big players.
Live coverage of CommsDay 2009 will be provided by Tech Wired throughout the day, so stay tuned.
Over the years we’ve seen the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) instigate various legal action against Australia’s largest telecommunications provider, Telstra. This Wednesday saw the ACCC announce further legal action.
From what is known it seems that the ACCC are investigating Telstra for giving wholesalers information that they believe is untrue.
Initial investigations by the ACCC found that Telstra denied wholesalers access to several metropolitan telephone exchanges claiming that they were “capped”.
The ACCC specifically alleges that:
“…there was capacity available, or that could have been made available, on Telstra’s main distribution frames.”
Telstra said in a statement:
“The ACCC is suing us for something we proactively and voluntarily reviewed and fixed a year ago. This case relates to a small number of inadvertent process issues. There was an issue and we fixed it – without the involvement of the ACCC. Since we fixed the problem a year ago, the ACCC has not once suggested it had problems with our new processes.”
David Quilty, Telstra’s Group Managing Director of Public Policy and Communications said that the court action was a complete waste of court time and taxpayer money.
The ACCC announcement came to the table on the same day as rumours started to appear claiming the National Broadband Network (NBN) winner.
The rumour suggested that Acacia have won the NBN, and if so they’ll be hoping for legislative change to allow it access to Telstra’s network.
Once a Federal Court directions hearing is held on April 17th we’ll know more.
Today saw news that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had its blacklist URLs leaked on Wikileaks, a website often known for leaking secret documents.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported it exclusively at 11:44am this morning, stating that:
“The Australian communications regulator’s top-secret blacklist of banned websites has been leaked on to the web and paints a harrowing picture of Australia’s forthcoming internet censorship regime.”
In less than an hour after publication, Wikileaks published some 2,000+ URLs to its website stating they were blacklisted URLs in Australia for the month of August 2008. Wikileaks is currently offline, suggesting it fell on its back after being linked to from various sources.
Late this afternoon Senator Stephen Conroy and the ACMA issued 2 separate statements regarding the matter.
Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy condemned the reported leak and publication of the list, stating:
“The leak and publication of prohibited URLs is grossly irresponsible. It undermines efforts to improve cyber–safety and create a safe online environment for children,”
He denied that the list of leaked URLs was that of the ACMA Blacklist, stating:
“I am aware of reports that a list of URLs has been placed on a web site. This is not the ACMA blacklist.”
ACMA said in a statement:
“ACMA has previously investigated and taken action on material—including child pornography and child sexual abuse images—at some of the sites on this list of 2300 URLs. However, the list provided to ACMA differs markedly in length and format to the ACMA blacklist. The ACMA blacklist has at no stage been 2300 URLs in length and at August 2008 consisted of 1061 URLs. It is therefore completely inaccurate to say that the list of 2300 URLs constitutes an ACMA blacklist”
What remains to be seen is if the regulator’s official blacklist was in fact leaked. What is known though is that a blacklist of some sort relating to URLs that do exist on the ACMA blacklist list was leaked. One has to ask how such a leak occurred.
Mark Newton, a Network Engineer for Adelaide based ISP Internode told Tech Wired:
“It’s interesting that I’ve been warning about security of the blacklist for close to a year, and it’s only today that the Minister has shown the slightest bit of interest in it. The fact that the blacklist appears to have come from an ACMA-approved filtering software package comes as no great shock, and I guess that means the Internet Industry Association can expect an apology for Minister Conroy’s slur this afternoon suggesting that the list could be made more secure by beefing up the IIA Family Friendly ISP scheme”
A user on Australian Broadband forum Whirlpool did an analysis on one of the governments defunct Net Alert funded filtering products, Integard. The user found a file using reverse engineering techniques to obtain a file named “Websites_ACMA.txt” within the programs architecture.
He found that there were similar URLs on the blacklist when comparing it to the Wikileaks list:
“It’s not the wikileaks list (it’s a month earlier I think) but it sure is similar…and that’s as far as I’m willing to look.”
The user’s post has since been deleted by moderators of Whirlpool as being inappropriate.
ABC did a story on Lateline about the leak, you can watch below:
Senator Stephen Conroy Media Release
The Australian Government has today announced an $83 million extension to its Innovation Investment Follow-on Fund (IIFF).
The Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research will manage to finance the fund by reinvesting money it received when firms it supported were floated or sold.
When asked if the funding would be available for new start-ups, spokesperson for Mr Carr told Tech Wired:
“The funding will be available to existing start-ups, not new ones”
As to when it will become available we were told:
“We’re working on getting it out as quickly as we can, mid year at the latest”
After liaising with a member of the department, the spokesperson confirmed that in order to receive funding a company would need to submit an application form detailing the amount they needed:
“There isn’t a set amount of money as such, you apply for how much you need”
So why this is being done? The department is concerned that private funding had ‘dried up’ and therefore will be stimulating the industry with funding of its own.
“The industry is in serious trouble with private funding, and with such terrific Australian ideas out there, we need to support them”
Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research said in a media release today:
“The Innovation Investment Follow-on Fund (IIFF) is about ensuring a future beyond the financial crisis for our best and brightest start-up companies.”
An online survey of 9,000 Internet users from around the globe has revealed that the top three things Australians can’t live without include their Car(50%), Internet(46%) and Television(45%).
The report of which has been commissioned by Symantec (the company that brought us Norton Antivirus) has also revealed that 42% of Australian adults believe that the Internet has improved the relationship of their family.
When it comes to Aussie kids friending their parents online though, only 23% are doing it whilst the other 77% I assume are feeling awkward when their parents try to add them online.
Amongst all the countries surveyed Australian parents reported knowing what their children were looking for online the most often (86%); However Australian youths reported that their parents only knew what they were looking at 65% of the time.
David Freer, Symantec’s VP for Consumer Business told Tech Wired:
“There are kids that are actually spending on average close to 50 hours a week [online] whereas parents think they’re only spending 25 hours a week [online]. There is a big disconnect, and Australia is probably one of the largest variances of all the countries that were surveyed.”
With only 75% of youths having set rules for using the Internet, you’d agree with why this might be the case.
When it came to going to trusted websites online, David told Tech Wired:
“When we started asking them [those surveyed] the sorts of websites they go to, nearly 50% go to un-trusted websites.”
When asked how Australia ranked amongst the other 12 Countries David told Tech Wired:
“We’re taking up technology at a good pace, and this is utilising whether it’s netbooks, smartphones or whatever,”
“I think we’re a little slower than a few of the leading Countries such as the US and some of the European Countries on some of the applications that we can run and I think it’s partly due to, believe it or not, our geographical closeness. People tend to prefer face to face relationships here in Australia as compared to their online relationships, though online relationships are growing quite quickly of which is being driven by a number of age groups.”
You can check the full report out @ http://nortononlineliving.com/
Tech Wired conducted an interview with David Freer, Vice President of Consumer Business for Symantec – Listen below
The Department for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has refused Tech Wired access to documents containing information regarding the National Broadband Network.
Received just yesterday was a 17-page document containing several reasons as to why the Government will not release The Panel of Experts’ Report detailing suggestions for a winning NBN tender.
You can download the 17-page report here.
Nikki Vajrabukka, Acting Assistant Secretary told Tech Wired:
“I decide that the Report is wholly exempt under section 34 and section 36 of the FOI Act and therefore it is not to be released”.
Section 34 details the release of Cabinet documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The images below shows why a Cabinet document can not be released:
Since when did the Experts’ Panel Report become a cabinet document? According to the 17-page report, it refers to letters sent out to the panel members which suggest they:
“…provide its recommendations to the Government”
The report also states a press release from Senator Conroy saying:
“…the Government is now considering the Panel of Experts’ Report”
Nikki Vajrabukka decided that “the Government” should be taken to mean “the Cabinet” and therefore a refusal to the report.
As to section 36? As the report is an internal working document described below in the image, it is also refused release.
You may note that release is granted if the document is in the public’s interest, but of course the Department denied that on the grounds that:
“…the factors against disclosure of the Report outweigh the factors in favour of disclosure of the Report. That is, disclosure would in my view be contrary to the public interest. Having regard to the contents of the Report, I have decided the Report is wholly exempt under subsection 36(1).”
It’s clear as to why the government don’t want anyone knowing what’s in the report. With journalists speculating left, right and centre, why not take an evidence based approach I thought? Though, it seems I was left with a dead parrot.
So what did we learn?
Tech Wired learned that:
“The Minister [Senator Conroy] will make the final decision on the outcomes of the RFP process following consultation with Cabinet and Cabinet agreement to any proposed legislative changes”
We also learned that the ACCC’s separate advice will be attached to the Panel of Experts’ Report as part of the NBN process and consultation with Cabinet.
As to what remains unknown is the day Senator Conroy will announce the winning tenderer, will it be CommsDay? With Kevin Rudd out of town, many say not, but if that’s the case it’ll be past Conroy’s time (stated in Hansard) of:
“By March”.
