climate and comms

In many countries around the World, access to the Internet is seen as a basic right, and so it should be.    Those countries which have done so to date include :  Estonia, France,  Spain,  Greece  and Finland,  which was actually the first to do so in June 2010.  ( http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/642/internet-access-should-be-a-human-right)  I In fact the United Nations recently declared Internet access as a human right. ( http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/04/un-declares-internet-access-as-a-human-right/ ) Obviously the next challenge is to build the infrastructure and provide the means of access.    But that is the subject of a separate discussion. So the “World”  has woken up to the importance of closing the digital divide and has also realized the importance of the Internet, and access to it,  to the functioning of society.   Amongst the many momentous events of the last twelve months ...

I know,   I know – I hear the howls of protest even before finishing this first sentence.   “What about all the innocent lives exposed by the irresponsible publication of peoples names in positions of authority or in sensitive roles. ?”    But where does the fault lie ?  With those doing the breaking and entering?   Or those not providing adequate protection??  It is liked leaving your house locked without an alarm system, going on holiday, and coming back and finding it broken into.   Don’t be surprised.  You have no one to blame but yourself.  “ But these are criminals ! “  – I hear the sounds of self righteous chest thumping.    Maybe, but what they have done – I hope – is scare the s**t out of anyone who has anything (data) that is accessible via the Web  - and into ensuring that their ‘security’ ( if any ) - is rapidly upgraded.    This ranges from personal users who ...

Well - you’re probably thinking - this is going to make a fun read !!   Does my website have a log in ??  Well damn right it does ( you’re saying to yourself) – we can’t just let any old passer by onto our site!! I mean look at all these big cheeses being hacked like RSA , SONY and even the CIA !! But if users have to log in - that means they need to register and they need to remember yet another user name and possibly -  but not necessarily - another password.    Well - that means that customers desert in droves !  Or does it? Are customers put off when they have to log in ?  Well I guess a lot has to do with whether the service you offer is valuable enough.   Lets see – Twitter, Facebook and Gmail just to name a few at random – you would expect to see some kind of ‘identification ‘ process going on.  And indeed you do.  And now to make it all that much easier – SSO (Single Sign On) ,  OpenID and now BrowserID co...

So Lulz have ( supposedly ) fallen out of love with us after only 50 days !!   WOW -  that was a short and sharp,  whirlwind romance.    One hell'uve steamy affair.    One day SONY,  the next day the IMF,  the next CIA – no one - was safe from her charms. This little slut(z) came into our lives for a bit of fun and has left us breathless and embarrassed with no-where to hide .  Why ?  Because she wanted to show that with a little bit of seduction –by showing a little cleavage /  a bit of leg – she was able to conquer all before her.   Like Helen of Troy – no one could resist her charms. She made us realize that we don’t actually know what protection is all about.   The protection we are  supposed to use  – was either damaged / wrongly spec’d or else we just could not get it 'on' quick enough.   Sure -  she may have laid some of our secrets bare – and many were left red-faced with no-where to...

Google have just announced with some fanfare that they have created a mobile money eco-system.   Android users can now use their devices fitted with NFC chips to make payments at selected Points of Sale in the US.   This will only be launched on a limited scale some time in the Summer.  It is not actually ready yet. ( http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/coming-soon-make-your-phone-your-wallet.html ) There is no doubt that those of us in the ‘advanced’ West will value the utility of being able to swipe our phones (which have become extensions of our very beings) when we buy coffee  - the Starbucks app has been out for a while – ( http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps ) or when we make our day to day purchases.   It will be  ‘cool’ just as it is cool today to flash an NFC enabled credit card at an NFC enabled POS when making small value purchases. However I would argue that the utility,  of the full functionality of mobile money transa...

The recent attack (it seems by Anonymous) on SONY which compromised the personal details of almost 100m of their gaming customers has caused massive damage to the SONY brand.   According to Interbrand in 2009 SONY’s brand value was $12bn.   You can safely assume that it will have taken a hit in the order of billions of dollars.  ( This excludes any legal action and the resultant loss.)  The same could be said of Epsilon and RSA who like SONY did not have a major financial breach but their good names have been severely compromised.   The loss to brand value as well as enterprise value could be massive due to the loss of future business.    (There is a report circulating citing research done on RSA’s customers of whom more than half stated that they would not be renewing their contracts. )    If not obvious before,  then now,  executives charged with the stewardship of large valuable corporations must r...

I am increasingly struck by the broad range  of reactions to the  continuous flow of technology that never seems to stop bombarding us from all sides - sometimes seeming to overwhelm.    There are those who embrace it as though it is a new source of strength echoing Kevin Kellys view that we “evolve’ with technology and that it is a source of good. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/what_technology_wants_kevin_kelly_theory_of_evolution.php There are others who believe that it is an insidious negative fog that is slowly strangling the creativity out of our youth as they while away their lives in front of TV’s ,  online playing interactive games or Tweeting and ‘connecting’ via social networks.    Jaron Lanier says that ‘ technology reduces our humanity’  - promoting the hive mentality over individual expression. ( http://www.jaronlanier.com/ )  I have to say that, whenever I find my daughter watching a mindless sitcom (aim...