Fergus Cassidy

TUESDAY 26 APRIL 2004 02.15 (GMT+1)
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::: FREE AS IN...

Very useful set of suggested 'freedoms' for all communications using Internet Protocol.

Freedom to Access Content
Freedom to Use Applications
Freedom to Attach Personal Devices
Freedom to Obtain Service Plan Information
Protection of Consumer Privacy

SOURCE: Telepocalypse blog archive


MONDAY 19 APRIL 2004 02.15 GMT+1
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::: MEA CULPA..

I got my dates muxed ip and neglected to mention the upcoming IrishWAN national conference in yesterday's Sunday Tribune column :-(

It's on this Saturday 24 April in the Auditorium, Waterford Institute of Technology on the Cork Road from 11.30am to about 5.30pm.

IrishWAN aims to create community-run wireless networks all over the country. Already there are active networks in Antrim, Dublin, Limerick and Wexford.

I went to last year's conference and if you're in any way interested in wireless networks, I can't recommend this event highly enough.

More details, including schedule and how to get there, are available at IrishWAN.org.


TUESDAY 13 APRIL 2004 21.35 GMT+1
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::: AD NAUSEUM..

Bob Quinn, Irish film maker, writer and photographer, is the chairman of a newly-formed group which wants to protect children from television advertising.

The group, called Stop TV Advertising to Children (STAC), is "an alliance of adults, parents and children which is independently monitoring and encouraging the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland's attempts to regulate child-targeted television advertising".


SUNDAY 4 APRIL 2004 23.35 GMT+1
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::: ELECTRONIC VOTING...

The Commission on Electronic Voting has received 157 submissions on the secrecy, accuracy and testing of the Nedap/Powervote electronic voting system which the Irish government plans to use in local and European elections this June.

Colm MacCarthaigh of Irish Citizens for Trustworthy Evoting has examined the submissions, which are open to the public (but not online alas), and noted that:

"there are over 800 pages of submission, the vast majority of which is lucid, well-written and relevant.

"I could only find 7 submissions which I would regard as being broadly in agreement with the nationwide introduction.

"The need for a Voter Veriable Audit Trail is iterated by over half of all submissions".

MacCarthaigh's summary of all the submissions is here. The Commission site has a list of everyone who sent in a submission. Very surprisingly, there were no submissions from Fianna Fail or the Progressive Democrats.


SUNDAY 30 MAY 2004 23.55 (GMT+1)
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::: MANY ARE CALLED...

TODAY'S SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMN: Niklas Zennstrom's Kazaa software brought the wrath of the entertainment industry down on him. Are the telephone companies next in the queue?


WEDNESDAY 26 MAY 2004 23.55 (GMT+1)
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::: FOR LOCAL PEOPLE...

If you live in a rural area with no broadband, chances are candidates in the local elections are going to come a knockin'. This is a good opportunity to talk to them about the Group Broadband Schemes.

Very few of the candidates know about the scheme, so educate them.


SUNDAY 16 MAY 2004 00.55 (GMT+1)
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::: PATENT PUSH...

Richard Stallman will be giving a talk on 'The Dangers of Software Patents' in Dublin on 24 May. The talk is organised by the Irish Free Software Organisation in association with Netsoc (Dublin University Internet Society).

Stallman founded the Free Software movement in 1983 when he announced the GNU project before going on to set up the Free Software Foundation.

He's on a six week tour of EU countries opposing plans to make software innovations patentable in Europe.

Details: The MacNeill Theatre, Hamilton building, Trinity College Dublin at 7.30 (the Hamilton building is at the east end of TCD, near Pearse St. Dart station). There is a nominal charge of E3.


::: SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMN: Being informed is increasingly turning into a personal choice. Made by each of us and not on our behalf....


SUNDAY 10 MAY 2004 00.55 (GMT+1)
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::: POWER MAD...

SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMN: Abandoning electronic voting is not the first time an Irish government had to eat humble pie.


SUNDAY 2 MAY 2004 23.55 (GMT+1)
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::: EVOTE SPOILED...

Due to publication deadlines I wasn't able to write about the suspension of electronic voting on Friday in my Sunday Tribune column.

The decision not to proceed with voting using machines in the local and European elections in June is the right one. The opposition political parties may feel a swelling of their collective chests but the real credit is down to some diligent members of the technical community in Ireland.

Ireland owes a great debt of thanks to people like Joe McCarthy, system analyst and programmer, and Margaret McGaley, a PhD candidate in computer science at Maynooth university.

Margaret was the first person to study and report on the proposed e-voting system. Subsequently she founded the Irish Citizens for Trustworthy Evoting in May 2003. The group ran one of the most important online campaigns in Ireland to date. Buiochas.


::: CHALLENGE IN INDIA...

While electronic voting in India was mentioned by those urging the Irish version, The Economic Times of India reports that public interest litigation was filed in that country's Supreme Court recently.

Retired computer scientist, Satinath Choudhary, is looking for the court's intervention and direction to bar the Election Commission from using electronic voting machines. He is also seeking a direction to keep a paper trail or record of votes cast.

He told LinuxJournal.com he hoped the court would give "a direction to save democracy in India."


MONDAY 28 JUNE 2004 00.55 (GMT)
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::: YESTERDAY'S SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMN...

INFORM NATION: There can't be a 'knowledge economy' unless technological literacy becomes embedded in education.


MONDAY 21 JUNE 2004 01.35 (GMT)
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::: NUTS CASE...

I couldn't stop myself grinning when I saw this quote in Wired about compulsory registration of 3G phones in Ireland.

It's from Simon Davies, director of Privacy International: "If you want my forensic, clinical assessment of the situation, I would say the people behind this [3G registration] are obsessive nuts."

I wrote about the 3G register recently in the Sunday Tribune.


MONDAY 14 JUNE 2004 23.35 (GMT)
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::: OTHER NONSENSE...
It's bugging the hell out of me to see that we haven't moved on in how election results are presented and the continuing use of 'others'.

In my own county council elections, 'others' polled 15.9%. That was more than double the votes Sinn Fein got and treble of what the PDs and Green Party received. 15.9% is a significant vote but not important enough it seems.

There was no 'others' on the ballot papers.


YESTERDAY'S SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMN:The Big Brother television show is a window on a world before personal communications technology arrived.


MONDAY 6 JUNE 2004 23.35 (GMT)
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::: FLESH OPPORTUNITY...
YESTERDAY'S SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMN: A national register of 3G phones is playing into the hands of mobile operators and their 'adult services'.