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The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, has released a discussion paper on reform options for Australia ‘s media industry.
The paper deals with digital broadcasting and new services by broadcasters, foreign ownership of media and cross-media transactions.
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In a wide-ranging lecture to the UK Society for Computer and Law (audio here) , Professor Richard Susskind has laid out a compelling possible future for the way professional services (including legal services) will be provided.(via Human Law)
I was particularly interested in his comments on the application of new technologies to companies managing regulations and risk management. (about the 44 min mark, click on quotes, "worries about compliance regulation can’t be solved by conventional legal services").
He argues that a real-time contract management system could be developed by building flags for "conditions" into the documents when created and then monitoring these in a database which also contained related legal information about issues which could be accessed as they arise during the contract lifecycle: a "just in time" compliance and legal knowledge system as opposed to a "just in case" system containing information that may never be used and which is catalogued using legal terms.
In other words, legal knowledge is embedded into the business process.
He also argues that legal risk management is non-competitive between businesses and that it should be collaborative, and even "open source".
Susskind articulately brings together many themes to portray his vision of a near future.
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Australian web entrepreneurs Nik Cubrilovic and Ben Barren have been interviewed on The Podcast Network’s Gday World: download the podcast.
They discuss how they came to start their online services businesses, the importance of revenue (as opposed to traffic), innovation risk , their view of Australian start ups and their new venture 2web.com.au.
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In my post on social lenders I discuss Zopa and Prosper who seem to have taken the online auction idea popularised by eBay and applied it to matching people who have funds to invest (lenders) with people who need money (borrowers), the auction part relating to interest rate and other terms.
This development prompts the thought: what other applications are possible? I know of sites where potential clients make offers for legal services but these do not use the auction method.
Trade Me New Zealand has just been purchased by Fairfax Australia. It lists motor vehicles, property and rentals as well as the usual consumer goods.
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Not everyone can afford in-house software programmers. Frequently leading industry programs are only available from specialist software providers. But if that piece of software is critical you need to think about the consequences if that provider disappears or is wound up.
Business2.0 this week carries a story about such an event.
Normally you only need the source code for software if you need to modify it and software licensors are reluctant to part with it if they provide a maintenance and upgrade service.
But they might agree to provide the source code to an independent escrow agent who agrees to keep it secure and only release it to you under certain agreed circumstances, such as the company deciding not to support the software any more or going broke. The agreement needs to be clear: who pays for it, what is actually deposited and when can it be released?
Before you actually use and maintain the source code you need to decide whether it might be cheaper to buy another product but in the meantime an escrow arrangement can give you peace of mind.
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What RIM says about a workaround
What Alex says: cartoon
UPDATE 6 March: Settled
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Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) has urged consumers not to use a new feature of Google Desktop because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who’ve obtained a user’s Google password.
The new “Search Across Computers” feature will store copies of the user’s Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google’s own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user’s computers.
EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston said “If you use the Search Across Computers feature and don’t configure Google Desktop very carefully—and most people won’t—Google will have copies of your tax returns, love letters, business records, financial and medical files, and whatever other text-based documents the Desktop software can index. The government could then demand these personal files with only a subpoena rather than the search warrant it would need to seize the same things from your home or business, and in many cases you wouldn’t even be notified in time to challenge it. Other litigants—your spouse, your business partners or rivals, whoever—could also try to cut out the middleman (you) and subpoena Google for your files.”
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According to CNN Money,Western Union has sent its final telegram message after 145
years of transcontinental — and international — communication.
Western Union now specializes in electronic money transfers.
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Omnidrive is an Australian product which has attracted a lot of attention even though it is still in beta.
Its founder Nik Cubrilovic says it gives every person the ability to have all your files online and available from anywhere.
But at the same time he says "perhaps only companies that intend on remaining local or in the region … will seek local (ie Australian) investment."
He has announced that he intends to get his VC funding in USA.
I can understand the buzz from being in Silicon Valley and Las Vegas but I would be interested to know what attempts he has made to get VC funding in Australia or whether he has had previous bad experiences or received warnings from friends. Are Australian VC’s too conservative? Don’t they "get" Web 2.0?
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Google has refused to provide the US Department of Justice with extensive search data. (see my previous note).
It prompted Canadian lawyer Michael Geist to write an article about the risks and rewards of data retention.
He points to the paradox that companies which retain data for lengthy periods to assist in analysing customer usage also expose themselves to legal requests for the data as well as the risk of becoming hacker or thief targets.(see my note on notification of security breaches).
A key quote:
The value of information extends beyond personal data. Once
aggregated, retailers can spot trends among demographic groups, ISPs
can gauge usage patterns, and search engines can identify what is on
the minds of the world’ s Internet users.
Given its value, it
comes as little surprise to find that companies retain such data for
lengthy periods, using sophisticated data mining technologies to
analyze the information. While these previous examples illustrate the
rewards of data retention (which benefit both companies and their
customers), significant risks also exist.
The same data can be
mined for purposes that extend far beyond the reasons for which it was
initially provided. The Google case provides a classic illustration in
this regard as mere search terms take on a new significance in the
hands of Department of Justice lawyers.
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