After the wall
Is it time to rethink how East Germans felt about the fall of the Berlin Wall?
In Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall is like Kennedy's assassination, or 9/11 — everyone remembers exactly where they were when it happened.
For most citizens on both sides of the wall, its fall came suddenly and unexpectedly on November 9, 1989.
The traditional historical narrative is that the fall heralded a new, bright era for socialist and communist states desperate for a capitalist system.
It was hailed as a triumph of democracy over a regime that included the Stasi, the East German security police who spied on and persecuted citizens.
But this view is not entirely accurate for everyone.
RELATED STORY: The Berlin Wall has now been gone longer than it stood
Chinese spy chips would be a ‘god-mode’ hack, experts say The Verge. Another reminder why “The Cloud” is a bad idea.
The Big Hack: Statements From Amazon, Apple, Supermicro, and the Chinese Government Bloomberg. The lady doth protest too much.
Very informative tweetstorm, but Lambert has a caveat: “I’m not sure
he’s right that you’d target any one entity with a hardware implant.
Maybe they’re like sleeper cells or moles; assets deployed for some
future as-yet-unknown use.”
Should you call in the consultants?
VICTORIA DRAUDINS: Being clear on the particular value a consultant can bring and whether the project requires these skills is essential to preserving value in the public service. ◾ Don't get caught in these common pitfalls when hiring a consultant
◾ Firms should be transferring knowledge to Public Service
First
major party releases 2019 federal election mini-manifesto
POLICIES ONLY – NO POLITICS: The ALP releases the first campaign pledges of the 2019 federal election, with a mix of both specific and non-specific policy priorities across almost half of the Commonwealth's portfolio clusters.
POLICIES ONLY – NO POLITICS: The ALP releases the first campaign pledges of the 2019 federal election, with a mix of both specific and non-specific policy priorities across almost half of the Commonwealth's portfolio clusters.
The Biggest Threat to Our Democracy Isn’t Hackers or Fake News. It’s Apathy via Fortune: “The headlines today are filled with talk about outside forces imperiling our democracy. But, the truth is that the biggest threat we are facing is us. It’s the apathy that keeps voters home in droves on Election Day, giving the U.S. one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the developed world. We have been hearing a lot of voices warning about the dangers of indifference lately—and it’s time we started listening. Voting is a hard-won right, a weighty responsibility and an incredible privilege that we too often take for granted here in the U.S. In the 2016 presidential election, 40% of the people eligible to vote stayed home instead. That’s 102 million people who “voted” for apathy, more votes than any other candidate got. As a CEO, if there’s something I can do to ensure our employees get a chance to stand up and be counted, I’m not going to hesitate [the author of this article, Chip Bergh, is president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co. and serves on the company’s board of directors.] That’s why this week we’re joining Walmart, Patagonia, PayPal, and other leading companies in the “Time to Vote” campaign, pledging to give our employees paid time off to vote—and we urge others to join us.
The top three reasons that potential voters gave for staying home, according to the Pew Research Center, were that they didn’t like the candidates or issues (25%), they weren’t interested or felt their voice wouldn’t make a difference (15%), and that they were too busy or had a scheduling conflict (11%)…”
The New York Times – The Crisis of Election Security. As the midterms approach, America’s electronic voting systems are more vulnerable than ever. Why isn’t anyone trying to fix them?
“…as the 2018 elections approach, the American intelligence community is issuing increasingly dire warnings about potential interference from Russia and other countries, but the voting infrastructure remains largely unchanged. D.H.S. has now conducted remote-scanning and on-site assessments of state and county election systems, but these are still largely Band-Aid measures applied to internet-facing servers.
Big
Data, Surveillance, and the Digital Citizen
University of Cambridge This paper is an analysis of the impact of pervasive online surveillance on the relationship between the digital citizen and corporations, the state, and politics in order to argue that the modern liberal democratic state is emerging as a surveillance state in which the individual’s relationship with society is remade to their detriment.
University of Cambridge This paper is an analysis of the impact of pervasive online surveillance on the relationship between the digital citizen and corporations, the state, and politics in order to argue that the modern liberal democratic state is emerging as a surveillance state in which the individual’s relationship with society is remade to their detriment.
The
Gamification of Tyranny, The Surveillance State. America and China
In Orwell’s post-1984 brave new world all citizens are rated on their loyalty to the state and are punished for wandering from its narrative.
In Orwell’s post-1984 brave new world all citizens are rated on their loyalty to the state and are punished for wandering from its narrative.
Trust
in Institutions
Respondents had most trust in the Federal police (70%), State police (67%), the High Court (61%), the ABC (54%) and the Reserve Bank (50%). They had least trust in political parties (15%), trade unions (25%), religious organisations (28%), Federal Parliament (28%) and business groups (29%). The main change since the last poll were for local council (up 4%) and political parties (down 3%). The APS figure of 39% has been stable since October 2015.
Respondents had most trust in the Federal police (70%), State police (67%), the High Court (61%), the ABC (54%) and the Reserve Bank (50%). They had least trust in political parties (15%), trade unions (25%), religious organisations (28%), Federal Parliament (28%) and business groups (29%). The main change since the last poll were for local council (up 4%) and political parties (down 3%). The APS figure of 39% has been stable since October 2015.
Digital world's currency is trust - The Australian
The core challenge for Australian business
leaders is that consumer trust continues to decline across four key
institutions: media, business, government and NGOs. Consumer attitudes have
changed forever, with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, #MeToo, fake news and
data breaches transforming how trust among consumers is earned, maintained and
deepened.
The
influence game: How to access power in Australia
How do you get your foot in the door to see the people in power? Donations, freebies and jobs after politics seem to help.
How do you get your foot in the door to see the people in power? Donations, freebies and jobs after politics seem to help.
Trust
in the digital economy
The paradox is that as consumers allow organisations into their life more than ever in the digital economy, they have become less trusting of them. Community trust in institutions in Australia and worldwide is in decline, according to the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer.
It’s a lot of work to apply for full professor, in terms of compiling one’s dossier, writing a research and teaching statement, cultivating letter writers, and so on. At many schools you might get a raise of say $1500 for the promotion? Apply Canadian tax rates to that. That could be accompanied by more administrative responsibilities, such as pressure to become department chair at some point.
Hail Donna Strickland!
We all should be reading:
The paradox is that as consumers allow organisations into their life more than ever in the digital economy, they have become less trusting of them. Community trust in institutions in Australia and worldwide is in decline, according to the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer.
Donna Strickland (at right) was on Tuesday named one of the three winners of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. Many have noted that she is the first woman in 55 years to win the prize. The BBC noted in a radio interview that Strickland is an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and asked why she was not a full professor. She said she never applied. She laughed when asked if she would apply now.Link here.
It’s a lot of work to apply for full professor, in terms of compiling one’s dossier, writing a research and teaching statement, cultivating letter writers, and so on. At many schools you might get a raise of say $1500 for the promotion? Apply Canadian tax rates to that. That could be accompanied by more administrative responsibilities, such as pressure to become department chair at some point.
Hail Donna Strickland!
We all should be reading:
