tag:theconversation.com,2011:/columns/david-glance-148Technophrenia – The Conversation2017-10-30T14:12:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/865612017-10-30T14:12:13Z2017-10-30T14:12:13ZWhat should governments be doing about the rise of Artificial Intelligence?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192452/original/file-20171030-18725-m4jpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Government strategies</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/symbol-geopolitics-chess-board-out-world-377901628?src=m3acfYDqDWR63Gy1XCLCnA-1-0">posteriori/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is little doubt that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming almost every facet of human life. How far this transformation will go and what the full ramifications for society will be are still unknown but this hasn’t prevented people from making both <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-artificial-intelligence-will-change-everything-1488856320?mg=prod/accounts-wsj">optimistic</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_on_Artificial_Intelligence">dire</a> predictions. </p>
<p>Elon Musk’s call for AI <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/17/elon-musk-regulation-ai-combat-existential-threat-tesla-spacex-ceo">regulation</a> has been matched by equal calls for governments <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609132/dont-let-regulators-ruin-ai/">not to</a>. </p>
<h2>AI’s problem with definition</h2>
<p>One of the principle problems with AI has been the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/29/11133682/deep-learning-ai-explained-machine-learning">confusion</a> that surrounds what it is exactly, and what it can and can’t actually do. The single biggest problem in understanding AI however has been making it clear how current AI techniques (like deep learning) differ from human intelligence. </p>
<h2>Getting to the facts</h2>
<p>In order to answer some of these questions, the OECD held a <a href="http://www.oecd.org/going-digital/ai-intelligent-machines-smart-policies/">conference</a> last week on AI. Government and industry representatives, AI academics and others met to review the state of AI and pose the question of what governments could, and should do, in creating policy to take advantage of the benefits of AI whilst minimising the risks.</p>
<p>The first thing that became clear is that the focus of discussion was mainly on machine learning and in particular, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/29/11133682/deep-learning-ai-explained-machine-learning">deep learning</a>. Deep learning software learns to be able to recognise patterns from data. Google, for example, is using it to recognise <a href="http://www.businessinsider.fr/uk/google-photos-facial-recognition-cats-dogs-2017-10/">pets</a> by their faces. Another company, <a href="https://www.deepl.com">DeepL</a>, uses deep learning to do high quality language translation.</p>
<p>Speakers emphasised that deep learning works only because it uses a large amount of data that is processed on powerful computers. It has become successful as a technique because companies have access to large amounts of data and at the same time, to large amounts of cheap processing power. </p>
<h2>The concerns about data used for AI applications</h2>
<p>With the use of large amounts of data, questions immediately arise as to from where the data is collected, and what exactly it is being used for. </p>
<p>The use of large amounts of potentially personal data raises privacy concerns, and also concerns about how exactly this data is used in determining outcomes with real world consequences. </p>
<p>In the US for example, deep learning is already being used to calculate the terms of <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/04/courts-using-ai-sentence-criminals-must-stop-now/">sentencing</a> in court cases. There is no way for anyone to know how the software arrived at a particular decision, especially what factors in the data were the most important in making that determination. In one particular case in the US, machine learning assisted sentencing was subsequently <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/04/courts-using-ai-sentence-criminals-must-stop-now/">challenged</a>. The challenge failed however because the courts felt that the outputs of the machine learning sentencing system were sufficiently transparent, and further details of how the system worked shouldn’t be revealed.</p>
<h2>The dangers of biased data</h2>
<p>AI researcher Joanna Bryson has <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6334/183">previously</a> shown that data used to train machine learning contains a range of biases including those around race and gender. This has serious consequences with the decisions that are made when AI systems are trained with this type of data. Biased data will reinforce bias in the decisions of these systems.</p>
<p>Other researchers have shown that it is possible to <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/28/boffins_bust_ai_with_corrupted_training_data/">corrupt</a> data used to train machine learning making it possible to for example, fool cars by adding silver tape to a road sign, possibly triggering the car to act inappropriately. </p>
<p>Whilst the benefits of machine learning may not be fully realised without access to a great deal of data, there has to be a balance of the risks of concentrating the collection of ever more personal data that is held in the hands of a few companies or governments. </p>
<p>Many participants of the conference viewed data as being the central driver of AI and the area most in most need of government regulation. </p>
<h2>Responsibility and liability in AI applications</h2>
<p>Another important set of questions arise out of the question of product liability and corporate responsibility. If a self-driving car causes an accident, who should be held to blame? The manufacturer of the car, the software developer of the component AI that failed, or the owner of the vehicle? Again, there has been much discussion on the subject but no real conclusions, although there is an expectation that the liability will fall on the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/when-driverless-cars-crash-who-gets-the-blame-and-pays-the-damages/2017/02/25/3909d946-f97a-11e6-9845-576c69081518_story.html">car makers</a>. </p>
<h2>It isn’t just hype</h2>
<p>One concern that has been expressed in the discussion on AI is the possibility that its impact is being <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-hype-and-hope-of-artificial-intelligence">over-hyped</a>. The applications that are making the most impact today are examples of pattern recognition and not general intelligence. This ability is still very useful in a range of areas like science, medicine, cybersecurity as well as a wide range of other areas. </p>
<h2>So, what should government being doing about AI?</h2>
<p>When it comes to what governments should be doing, there was an implied agreement at the conference that they should be enabling AI to be used for their obvious benefits to society. This has to be balanced by minimising the risks of the increased collection of personal data and also the risks of how the AI is actually using that data. </p>
<p>There are many more areas of discussion that become important for governments and the public in considering the role of AI in their societies. What makes this a challenge is that AI touches every aspect of life to a greater or lesser extent. What we still don’t know yet is how far the development of AI will go, and ultimately how successful it will be in becoming a generalised, human-like intelligence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86561/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance consults for the OECD</span></em></p>There is little doubt that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming almost every facet of human life. How far this transformation will go and what the full ramifications for society will be are still…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/853732017-10-08T14:21:16Z2017-10-08T14:21:16ZWhy is the US trying to shut down Russian security company Kaspersky Lab?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189294/original/file-20171008-3228-cywtne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eugene Kaspersky</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eugene_Kaspersky.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Wall Street Journal has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-hackers-stole-nsa-data-on-u-s-cyber-defense-1507222108">published</a> allegations that the Russian government stole highly sensitive information from a contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA). All with the aid of antivirus software from the Russian company Kaspersky Lab. </p>
<p>The sources of this allegation were “people familiar with the matter”. The same, or other, “individuals familiar with the matter”, talked to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-government-hackers-exploited-antivirus-software-to-steal-us-cyber-capabilities/2017/10/05/a01bf546-a9fc-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html?utm_term=.5c4900e812f8">Washington Post</a> and further elaborated the story. </p>
<p>The NSA employee (not contractor as reported by the WSJ) was a US citizen working with the Tailored Access Operations, the group developing hacking tools for the NSA. He had taken code and other classified material home on a laptop in 2015. </p>
<p>Allegedly, the Kaspersky antivirus software that was running on the employee’s laptop identified the software as malware and sent it back to Kaspersky for analysis – something that is not unreasonable for the antivirus software to do. </p>
<p>The reports claimed that it was the Kaspersky software’s actions in quarantining the malware for analysis that alerted Russian secret services of the presence of secret NSA material on this employee’s laptop. Armed with this information, the Russians hacked the laptop and stole all of the other information on it.</p>
<p>Both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post ignored the more obvious question: why the employee had taken classified information home on his laptop. They state that he did this for an unspecified reason, but that he wasn’t intending to share this information with foreign governments. </p>
<p>The reports provide no information about how an NSA employee’s laptop could be hacked so easily, nor why it took a year for the hack to be disclosed. </p>
<p>There is equally no evidence given of Kaspersky Lab working directly for the Russian secret service. The only evidence of Eugene Kaspersky’s ties with the Russian secret service are that he was a member of the Communist Party and that he <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Kaspersky">attended</a> a technical university run by the KGB and worked for military intelligence for four years after that, leaving in 1991 to form what would become Kaspersky Lab. </p>
<p>The news reports come after a recent vote by the US Senate to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-kasperskylab/u-s-senate-votes-to-ban-kaspersky-lab-software-from-government-networks-idUSKCN1BT2PW">ban</a> Kaspersky software from use by the US government and its agencies. This move has been led by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen who has made the blacklisting of Kaspersky Lap her cause célèbre. Shaheen wants classified information about Kaspersky Lab to be released to the public.</p>
<p>Needless to say, Eugene Kaspersky has <a href="https://eugene.kaspersky.com/2017/10/05/we-aggressively-protect-our-users-and-were-proud-of-it/">denied</a> all collusion with the Russian government and has reiterated that they have been open about how their software works.</p>
<p>Other countries have not followed suit with a ban of Kaspersky Lab software, even though allies would have had access to some, or all, of the information known to the NSA. The French army is <a href="http://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/high-tech/l-armee-francaise-veut-bannir-les-antivirus-de-la-societe-russe-kaspersky-lab_1946069.html">considering</a> reducing its reliance on Kaspersky, but this was happening before the US ban.</p>
<p>Making claims of links between Russian companies and the Russian government is nothing new. Another Russian company in the spotlight of US media is one referred to by the media as the “Internet Research Agency”. It was allegedly behind the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-tried-to-give-zuckerberg-a-wake-up-call-over-fake-news-on-facebook/2017/09/24/15d19b12-ddac-4ad5-ac6e-ef909e1c1284_story.html?utm_term=.96b3be80777f">purchase</a> of US$100,000 worth of political ads on Facebook. </p>
<p>Facebook <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/report-facebook-cut-russia-references-from-report-on-disinformation/">removed</a> references to Russia when it published a report on the use of its platform to disseminate fake news and ads during the US Presidential election. This was because it felt it did not have sufficient evidence to make the link.</p>
<p>The Internet Research Agency first came to the media’s attention during the military dispute between Russian and Ukraine. In 2014, media site Buzzfeed received <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-america?utm_term=.srZ4WZVk3#.ksVxZe3YB">documents and emails</a> from an anonymous source detailing how the agency was going to mount a campaign of bloggers and commenters to post pro-Russian comments on western media sites and socialise them through Facebook and Twitter. </p>
<p>Much of the subsequent media coverage on the Internet Research Agency however has come through interviews with disgruntled ex-employees, especially <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-notorious-kremlin-linked-troll-farm-and-the-russians-trying-to-take-it-down/2017/10/06/c8c4b160-a919-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop_test&utm_term=.8fdcc5c9d513">Lyudmila Savchuk</a>, who has waged a campaign against the company for the past two years. </p>
<p>In the case of Facebook’s report of the ads purchased from an entity in Russia, again, there is no evidence linking it back to anyone in particular. The motives for the fake posts, other than as an effort to sow social division, are not clear. The amount of money spent is relatively small and so the effectiveness of the ads has to be questioned. The amount pales in insignificance <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-notorious-kremlin-linked-troll-farm-and-the-russians-trying-to-take-it-down/2017/10/06/c8c4b160-a919-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop_test&utm_term=.8fdcc5c9d513">compared to</a> the US$11 million spent on Facebook ads by all US campaigns during the election, for example. </p>
<p>It is not possible to dismiss the possibility that Kaspersky Lab is somehow aiding Russian secret services through the use of its software. Making these claims on the basis of anonymous sources and the fact that the software is from a Russian company seems to be stretching credulity. </p>
<p>The absence of facts may not help Kaspersky Lab however, and it is increasingly likely that it will become a casualty of the US media’s ongoing search for the smoking gun that proves Russia meddled with the US Presidential election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85373/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Wall Street Journal has published allegations that the Russian government stole highly sensitive information from a contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA). All with the aid of antivirus software…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/848572017-09-28T13:03:18Z2017-09-28T13:03:18ZInitial Coin Offerings are disrupting how startups are funded – but what are they?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187984/original/file-20170928-1466-1505j5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">ICOs: a new way of funding innovation</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/concept-startup-trading-ipo-initial-public-714975799?src=oM3zx9T6pKcJFzuq1xiO4A-1-14">nomading/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A rapidly growing number of companies are taking advantage of cryptocurrencies to raise massive amounts of funding through what are called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_coin_offering">Initial Coin Offerings</a> or ICOs. </p>
<p>It is not just technology companies that are taking advantage of this new form of money raising. Companies that have gone through ICOs, or are planning to, include those involved with real estate, finance and even the <a href="https://www.coinschedule.com/icos/e781/dentacoin-ico.html">dental industry</a>. </p>
<p>Interest in ICOs has accelerated this year with 148 ICOs so far, <a href="https://www.coinschedule.com/stats.php">raising</a> more than USD$2.2 billion. </p>
<h2>So how does an ICO work?</h2>
<p>At the heart of an ICO is the creation of a new “coin” or cryptocurrency that is similar to the most famous of cryptocurrencies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-bitcoin-it-is-not-that-complicated-if-you-ignore-the-geek-speak-46512">Bitcoin</a>. </p>
<p>Investors that buy into the ICO buy the new coins at a particular starting price. The company keeps all of the money that is initially raised through this sale. And unlike shares, investors do not get any control or say in the running of the company. </p>
<p>They simply hope that the price of the new cryptocurrency will increase and if successful, allow them to sell their investment at a later date.</p>
<p>Many of the ICOs are based on the technology of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum">Ethereum</a>, using a standard called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERC20">ERC20</a>. Ethereum has the ability to encode <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_contract">smart contracts</a>, which are essentially the ability to execute one or more actions automatically through software code when certain conditions are met. A simple example of this is releasing money only after a certain date.</p>
<h2>Why would the new coin increase in value?</h2>
<p>For the ICO cryptocurrency to be worth anything and also increase in value, the currency needs to be part of the company’s business model. </p>
<p>If the company’s business succeeds, it follows that the value of the currency will increase because there will be more demand. If demand for the currency increases, the value also increases because the supply of the currency is controlled.</p>
<p><a href="https://filecoin.io">Filecoin</a> is a company that is creating a secure, peer-to-peer file storage service. The storage for this service is provided by anyone who has unused space in return for payments in the Filecoin currency. </p>
<p>The underlying technology that supports this service, the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/04/why-the-internet-needs-ipfs-before-its-too-late/">Inter Planetary File System</a> (IPFS) may be able to provide a solution to the increasing problem of delivering content online, especially streamed content, cheaply and efficiently. </p>
<p>Filecoin <a href="https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/filecoin-ico-raises-record-250-million-from-accredited-investors/">raised</a> USD$250 million through its ICO in August this year. </p>
<p>Filecoin hasn’t started trading on any exchanges yet and the company hasn’t launched its operations. Another storage company, <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/storj-token-sale-reaches-goal-of-30-million-in-seven-days-300464074.html">Storj</a>, raised USD$30 million in May. Its coin is trading <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/storj/">above</a> the price at its ICO.</p>
<p>Another interesting model for the use of an ICO is that of <a href="https://www.coinschedule.com/icos/e781/dentacoin-ico.html">Dentacoin</a>, where the coin is used as a form of dental insurance that allows for preventative dental treatment among a network of participating dentists. Dental records can also be shared in this network using blockchain-based electronic health record system.</p>
<h2>What are the risks?</h2>
<p>Regulators from a range of countries have made <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/12/uk-regulator-warns-ico/">statements</a> about their view of ICOs, warning that they are highly speculative and in the US may run foul of securities laws. </p>
<p>China recently <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/09/06/chinas-ico-ban-doesnt-mean-its-giving-up-on-crypto-currencies/#1e083b867aeb">banned</a> them saying that they were illegal fundraising. </p>
<p>With the heated interest in ICOs, scams and cybercrime associated with ICOs have grown at an equal pace. The <a href="https://blog.chainalysis.com/the-rise-of-cybercrime-on-ethereum/">scams range</a> from the possibility of an entire ICO being a fraud to cybercriminals simply taking <a href="https://etherscamdb.info/scams/">advantage</a> of the excitement generated by ICOs to make targeted phishing attacks.</p>
<p>There is also a more basic risk: ICOs are highly speculative and may never result in a viable business, rendering the associated coins valueless. Traditional crowdfunding also carries this risk and so this should be well understood by people buying into both categories of schemes. </p>
<p>It is also the case that buying shares in publicly listed companies also comes with risks, as anyone who <a href="https://theconversation.com/snapchats-share-price-already-fading-as-fast-as-one-of-its-users-photos-74208">invested</a> in Snap after its launch on the stock exchange knows.</p>
<h2>The future for ICOs</h2>
<p>For companies that have incorporated a cryptocurrency into their business model, ICOs represent a novel way of crowdfunding that rewards investors if they succeed.</p>
<p>This sets them apart from simply crowdfunding, where the rewards are mostly limited to a product or service in exchange for the money invested, but is not tied to the success of the venture. It also means that the companies can stay private without the external pressures of the market or shareholders. </p>
<p>Given that companies are increasingly trying to use shares with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-voting_stock">non-voting rights</a>, the benefits of shares over self-issued cryptocurrencies may become less apparent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A rapidly growing number of companies are taking advantage of cryptocurrencies to raise massive amounts of funding through what are called Initial Coin Offerings or ICOs. It is not just technology companies…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/843132017-09-19T12:20:02Z2017-09-19T12:20:02ZA pirate site explores a new way of paying for the Internet that doesn’t involve ads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186594/original/file-20170919-22701-3fqs0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What if ads disappeared? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/advertisement-sign-no-blue-cloudy-skies-252226768?src=LyT8-UfAY1FRKbh04wfBTg-1-24">Eddie J Rodriquez/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It would be an understatement to say that advertising as the main business model of the internet is in a crisis. </p>
<p>For a start, there is the fact that Google and Facebook between them suck up most of the revenue from digital advertising. They <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/facebook-and-google-dominate-ad-industry-with-a-combined-99-of-growth-2017-4?r=US&IR=T">accounted for</a> 99% of revenue growth in digital advertising in the US in 2016 and took 77% of all advertising spending in that same year. </p>
<p>Then there is the growth of ad blockers, whose <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/pagefair-2017-ad-blocking-report-2017-1?r=US&IR=T">use grew</a> 30% also in 2016. Worse still, attempts to simply deny access to users with ad blockers (until they whitelisted the site) resulted in 74% of users simply leaving and not visiting that site. </p>
<p>If that wasn’t bad enough, Google is joining the ad blocking fight by <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/1/16074742/google-chrome-ad-blocker-canary-build-test">building ad blocking</a> directly into its Chrome browser. To cap it all, Apple has introduced intelligent <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/15/apple-defends-new-ad-tracking-prevention-measures-in-safari/">ad-tracking prevention</a> into Safari that has resulted in the American Association of Advertising Agencies to <a href="http://www.adweek.com/digital/every-major-advertising-group-is-blasting-apple-for-blocking-cookies-in-the-safari-browser/">publicly</a> oppose the move. </p>
<p>Like it or not, advertising, and the battle for the public’s attention, is one of the principal means of supporting everything on the web that is free. Charging for services has been a long and hard battle that has only worked for some companies in some areas of the web. </p>
<p>This is what makes a recent move to generate revenue using a relatively untapped user resource an intriguing possibility. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay website is infamous for providing access to pirated copies of movies, music and other digital media. It <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-website-runs-a-cryptocurrency-miner-170916/">recently</a> ran an experiment where certain visitors to the site had a program run on their computers that “mined” the cryptocurrency <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monero_(cryptocurrency)">Monero</a> for as long as the visitors stayed on that page. Users noted the spike in the utilisation of their computer processor and discovered that the site was secretly running a program without their knowledge. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay <a href="https://thepiratebay.org/blog/242">later</a> released a statement saying that they had been testing the code as a possible way of replacing advertising as a means of creating revenue. Initially, there had been a bug which allowed the program to claim all of the processing power of the computer when only a smaller amount was intended to be used. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, comments on this statement were supportive of the move. As far as users were concerned, the use of their computer processing power for the brief time they were on the site was seen as being less obtrusive than the usual pornographic ads that Pirate Bay normally showed. Their only complaint was that the Pirate Bay should inform them that this was happening rather than doing it covertly. </p>
<p>The statement from Pirate Bay made it clear that the code could still be blocked by users not wanting to participate in this type or revenue generation scheme.</p>
<p>What is ingenious about this approach however is that it has long been assumed that the only thing that the public could offer sites on the Internet was their attention. This has even lead to the idea of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy">attention economy</a> being the only economic model for the Internet. </p>
<p>However, Amazon, and other companies involved in cloud computing have shown that access to computing resources is also a scarce resource and is worth a huge amount of money. Amazon’s Web Services business <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazons-cloud-business-hits-over-12-billion-in-revenue-2017-2?r=US&IR=T">is worth</a> US$12 billion a year. </p>
<p>Whilst the Pirate Bay is using consumer’s processing power for the production of cryptocurrency, this type of distributed processing on home computers has been used to search radio astronomy data for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI@home">extra-terrestrial life</a> and <a href="http://folding.stanford.edu">explore</a> protein folding to advance research into various diseases. These particular projects are voluntary at the moment, but this approach could be used by commercial companies who are willing to pay for user’s time. </p>
<p>Better still, users could even share in the revenues generated by a site using their computer or mobile phone for this type of processing work. This was the motivation for the <a href="https://blog.golemproject.net/what-can-golem-do-for-you-503b2449767a">Golem</a> project which described itself as the “AirBnB for computers”, where users would explicitly turn over their computer for commercial companies to use. </p>
<p>Somewhat more ironically, sites like Pirate Bay could even use some of the revenue raised to donate back to the movie and music companies whose content it is helping to “share”.</p>
<p>The meteoric rise of ad blockers has highlighted how much consumers despise ads on sites. It has resulted in a pitch battle between content providers desperate to find a business model to support what they do, and customers who are unwilling to pay and hate the ad-driven alternative. </p>
<p>Using a different resource that is not attention seems to actually represent a “win-win” for both the site and consumer, although it would probably not come as a welcome development to Google and Facebook.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84313/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
It would be an understatement to say that advertising as the main business model of the internet is in a crisis. For a start, there is the fact that Google and Facebook between them suck up most of the…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839342017-09-12T18:55:41Z2017-09-12T18:55:41ZDespite the leaks, Apple’s new products will still excite its fans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185735/original/file-20170912-3748-lrx3mt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">iPhone X </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author/Apple</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even though it’s always a highly anticipated event, the lead up to this year’s unveiling of Apple’s new phones and gadgets was even more hyped thanks to <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/article/iphone-x-8-leak-specs">leaks</a> that revealed much of what was announced in advance.</p>
<p>As with all things Apple, this didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for hearing the real thing. It’s almost like children still believing in Santa Claus, even after seeing their parents putting the presents under the tree. </p>
<p>It’s also a special year – the 10th anniversary of when the iPhone was first introduced. Each year, people wait to see something different enough to distinguish the newest model from the last. </p>
<p>In this regard, Apple did not disappoint. </p>
<p>The event was held at the Steve Jobs Theatre in Apple’s new futuristic campus, Apple Park. It opened with CEO Tim Cook paying tribute to the memory of Steve Jobs. Cook also made mention of the victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, possibly highlighting, in that one act, how far Apple has come since the time of Steve Jobs.</p>
<h2>Apple Retail</h2>
<p>Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail, Angela Ahrendts, talked about new programmes being introduced into Apple’s retail stores. They include “Today at Apple”, which will feature a Creative Pro staff member working with the public to create music, photography and other things using Apple’s products. Massive stores in Milan, Paris and NY City will also be opened.</p>
<p>So, what products were actually announced?</p>
<h2>Apple Watch</h2>
<p>The Apple Watch is now the biggest selling watch in the world with a 97% customer satisfaction rating. The focus of the device on activity and fitness was highlighted by new features in Watch OS 4 that show more statistics about heart rate. The watch will now warn the wearer when their heart rate is elevated, even when not exercising or moving. </p>
<p>Apple are also starting to use heart rate data to alert wearers when they are experiencing arrhythmia, especially atrial arrhythmia that often goes un-diagnosed. </p>
<p>The new watch, Apple Watch Series 3, has LTE cellular built-in, giving it independence from the phone. The watch will have the same number as the phone, allowing independent calls and the ability to stream music directly. The watch has a new processor that allows Siri on the watch to talk. There is a new altimeter sensor and bluetooth and wireless chip called W2. The watch has an electronic SIM card. </p>
<p>The watch size amazingly is unchanged from the Series 2. The Series 3 will replace the Series 2 and the Series 1 watch will still be available. </p>
<p>The watch will launch with cellular in 11 countries, including the US, UK and Australia, with a variety of operators. The watch will also be available without cellular. </p>
<h2>Apple TV 4K</h2>
<p>The Apple TV is now capable of handling 4K and HDR video, and uses the A10X chip that features in the iPad Pro. Interestingly, the Apple TV 4K will feature Netflix 4K if that is switched on, and there is an internet connection that supports it. </p>
<p>Apple’s TV app showing live TV will come to Australia and Canada.</p>
<h2>iPhone 8 and 8 Plus</h2>
<p>The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are upgrades of the current iPhone 7 models. The back of the phone is now made of glass. The phones get screen upgrades, better speakers and a brand new chip, the A11 Bionic. It has six cores with two high performance cores and four high efficiency cores. </p>
<p>It has also has a new graphics processing unit (GPU) that speeds up graphics, handles machine learning tasks. It also has an image signal processing chip that will allow image manipulation. </p>
<p>The camera sensors have also been upgraded, with new features that allow different lighting effects when taking portraits, including removing the background. Video has also been enhanced, with real time processing to optimise compression and reduce artifacts. </p>
<p>The biggest feature is that the hardware has been optimised to handle the new augmented reality (AR) features in iOS 11. This is going to be a big shift in what applications are able to do, far beyond the capabilities hinted at in games like PokémonGo. New AR games are visually stunning.</p>
<p>The iPhone 8s will also allow wireless charging using the Qi standards, which is already widely supported in existing products.</p>
<p>iPhone 8 will come as 64GB and 256GB models available on September 22nd.</p>
<h2>iPhone X (Ten not X)</h2>
<p>So finally, the iPhone X has a vertical camera arrangement and edge-to-edge front screen that features an OLED Super Retina Display. </p>
<p>The home button has gone, using an upwards swipe from the bottom to get to the home screen. This is actually quite an intuitive way to replace the button. </p>
<p>Unlocking the phone is now done using Face ID, Apple’s new facial recognition technology. At the top of the screen there is a new strip called the TrueDepth Camera. This is a collection of different sensors, including an infrared camera (IR) that does the facial recognition. The A11 Bionic chip has specific machine learning hardware called a neural engine that performs the recognition. </p>
<p>The facial recognition will still work if the face changes, including wearing glasses, growing hair or not shaving. It is also very fast.</p>
<p>From a security perspective, the facial recognition will give a false positive result – confuse another person’s face for the owner’s — in only one in a million cases. </p>
<p>Apple has introduced Animoji, the ability to animate emoji characters using movement of your own face. Recorded Animoji can then be sent via the Apple Messaging app.</p>
<p>The dual camera is similar to the iPhone 8 Plus, but features dual optical image stabilisation and a better OLED flash.</p>
<p>The iPhone X also features wireless charging. Apple is building a new wireless charging platform called Air Power that will allow wireless charging of the iPhone, Watch and Air Pods through a new case.</p>
<p>The iPhone X will cost USD$999, will ship on November 3rd and come in 64GB and 128GB formats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance owns shares in Apple</span></em></p>Even though it’s always a highly anticipated event, the lead up to this year’s unveiling of Apple’s new phones and gadgets was even more hyped thanks to leaks that revealed much of what was announced in…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/837802017-09-10T14:02:31Z2017-09-10T14:02:31ZAs your car becomes more like an iPhone, get ready to update its software regularly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185368/original/file-20170910-32284-hgwirz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Updating a car as easy as updating an iPhone?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bosch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In response to millions of people <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20170909-56-mn-floridians-ordered-evacuate-irma-closes-emergency-officials">fleeing</a> Florida in the face of Hurricane Irma, Tesla has “<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/09/tesla-flips-a-switch-to-increase-the-range-of-some-cars-in-florida-to-help-people-evacuate/">flipped a switch</a>” in some of its cars to temporarily extend their range.</p>
<p>Tesla cars receive software updates much like an iPhone does – via the internet in an update process called “over-the-air” or OTA updates. It’s one of the only car companies that can do this with their cars, regularly sending updates to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/06/researchers-hack-a-model-s-tesla-sends-out-over-the-air-fix/">fix security flaws</a> or update <a href="https://electrek.co/2017/08/17/tesla-autopilot-2-0-update-automatic-high-beam/">autonomous driving</a> capabilities. </p>
<p>Contrast this with the approach taken by <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/24/screw-your-usb-im-taking-caltrain/">Chrysler</a>, which sent out USB sticks with a safety update to 1.4 million vehicles after hackers showed they could remotely take control of a Jeep. With such USB updates, there was really no way of knowing whether the updates had been applied properly or even got to the right person.</p>
<h2>Your car is a collection of computers on wheels</h2>
<p>Most people don’t realise just how much of a car’s function is controlled by computer processors. The average car has between 25 and 50 different processors, with cars from BMW and Mercedes <a href="http://www.embedded.com/electronics-blogs/significant-bits/4024611/Motoring-with-microprocessors">having around</a> 100 processors each. </p>
<p>These processors control everything from advanced engine features to braking, automatic parking, collision detection, entertainment, navigation and security. As cars become more intelligent, they are coming to rely on increasingly sophisticated software.</p>
<p>Most of these processors have software that, at the moment, can only be updated by taking the car into to an authorised dealer. Car recalls have become a <a href="https://www.abiresearch.com/press/abi-research-anticipates-accelerated-adoption-auto/">multi-billion dollar</a> expense for the car industry and a major inconvenience for owners.</p>
<p>For this reason, over-the-air updates will be coming to most cars in the near future. General Motors <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/gm-new-tech-framework-for-over-the-air-updates-challenge-tesla-2017-7?r=US&IR=T">recently</a> announced that it would start to deliver updates to its cars using GM’s OnStar network. <a href="https://www.bosch.com/products-and-services/">Bosch</a>, one of the leading companies delivering electronics and processing to car manufacturers, is gearing up to deliver secure over-the-air capabilities to cars through a subsidiary, <a href="https://www.escrypt.com/en/solutions/secure-firmware-updates">Escrypt</a>. </p>
<p>It is estimated that <a href="https://www.abiresearch.com/press/abi-research-anticipates-accelerated-adoption-auto/">180 million</a> cars will be built with this capability in the next five years.</p>
<p>Despite the recent interest, car manufacturers have been wary of updating vehicles in this way. There was concern that too many things could go wrong during the update, leaving the car un-drivable. </p>
<p>Security has also been a concern. Hackers could potentially intervene and substitute malware during the update, for example, with potentially lethal consequences. </p>
<h2>How do over-the-air updates work?</h2>
<p>The process of updating a car turns out to be not that dissimilar from updating an iPhone. </p>
<p>In fact, the acceptance of over-the-air updates for a car starts with the fact that people are more familiar and comfortable with updating a smartphone. They understand that the process can’t be interrupted and the phone must have enough power, for example. </p>
<p>From the technological perspective, the update is encrypted and is accompanied with appropriate signatures that get checked and accepted by special security hardware on the car, called a <a href="https://www.escrypt.com/en/solutions/secure-firmware-updates">hardware security module</a>. </p>
<p>The updates are transmitted over secure connections and special software on the car is able to receive the update and apply it. If something goes wrong, the system needs to be able to roll the update back and leave the original version of the software intact and operating. </p>
<p>The arrival of more autonomous driving capabilities in cars will make updates essential, as with the case of Tesla. While these updates could be done at an annual service, the demands of autonomous driving will require more frequent updates of software. </p>
<p>At the same time, consumers are becoming sophisticated enough to be able to manage these updates themselves. </p>
<h2>There will still be some turbulence to overcome</h2>
<p>The challenge for companies wanting to move to over-the-air updates may not just be a case of car manufacturers moving too slowly. Traditional car dealers may see this as a way of cutting them out of the loop, and may resist any regulations allowing these types of updates outside of a normal service. </p>
<p>Other potential barriers may come from regulators. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has a <a href="https://wiki.unece.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=40829521">task force</a> looking at cybersecurity and over-the-air updating in motor vehicles. </p>
<p>One area of concern for this group is that if a vehicle has been certified by a country’s motor vehicle safety standards, what happens if it receives an over-the-air update that changes how it performs? Does this render its certification invalid? This might be the case especially if the vehicle’s emissions change as a result of the software update. </p>
<p>Another challenge that may give car manufacturers pause is that if a car can be updated with new features using a simple software update, will customers hang onto the cars for longer and not upgrade their cars quite so often?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The article was prompted by a press release from Bosch Australia. David Glance has no interests in Bosch Australia.</span></em></p>In response to millions of people fleeing Florida in the face of Hurricane Irma, Tesla has “flipped a switch” in some of its cars to temporarily extend their range. Tesla cars receive software updates…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/834902017-09-05T02:16:31Z2017-09-05T02:16:31ZWestern Australian researchers get cut off from nationally funded research cloud<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184618/original/file-20170905-9760-10o2jhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Access to Nectar is looking worrying for WA researchers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/67339063?size=medium_jpg">kaspri/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers based in Western Australia can <a href="https://nectar.org.au/changes-access-nectar-research-cloud-western-australian-researchers">no longer directly access</a> nationally funded resources on the Nectar Research Cloud. In an email sent to researchers in WA, Nectar announced that this decision was taken because the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, originally providing support to Nectar in WA, had “decided to discontinue providing resources to the Nectar Federation”. </p>
<p>Although the Nectar Research Cloud is nationally funded as part of the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/national-collaborative-research-infrastructure-strategy-ncris">National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy</a> (NCRIS), Nectar has decided to close the door to WA researchers because of “the implications of the absence of a WA-based resource provider and co-investment from WA research institutions”.</p>
<p>This move has come as a surprise to institutions in WA, who as far as I have been able to tell, did not know that they were about to be cut off.</p>
<p>The decision raises critical questions about how an entire state of Australia can be cut off from nationally funded research infrastructure?</p>
<h2>What is the Nectar Research Cloud?</h2>
<p>Nectar (National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources) was established in 2009 with funding from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), which has <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/national-collaborative-research-infrastructure-strategy-ncris">invested</a> A$2.8 billion since 2004 in research infrastructure. The original <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/national_eresearch_collaboration_tools_and_resources.pdf">funding</a> for Nectar was A$47 million from the Super Science Initiative and A$9.4 million under the NCRIS strategy 2013 program. </p>
<p>In total, Nectar <a href="https://nectar.org.au/history/">has received</a> A$61 million in government funding matched by co-investment of A$54 million from Australian universities and research organisations.</p>
<p>The remit of the organisation was to create eResearch tools, virtual laboratories, a research cloud and a secure and robust hosting service. The research cloud part is essentially a service similar to the basic functionality of cloud providers like <a href="https://aws.amazon.com">Amazon Web Services</a>, <a href="https://cloud.google.com">Google Cloud</a>, <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au/">Microsoft Azure</a> and others. </p>
<p>Researchers could apply for access to computing resources in the cloud at no direct cost to them on a merit basis. </p>
<p>Some uses of Nectar resources have resulted in what are called “<a href="https://nectar.org.au/labs-and-tools/">Virtual Laboratories</a>”. These virtual laboratories host data and tools from disciplines such as genomics, astronomy, marine science and climate research.</p>
<h2>Why not use commercial resources?</h2>
<p>The big question regarding governments funding these types of infrastructure projects is why they would spend so much money when a range of commercial companies do the job already and one could argue, do the job better?</p>
<p>One immediate issue with funding computer infrastructure is that it only has a limited lifetime of 3 to 4 years before it needs completely replacing. Whilst this may be acceptable for extremely specialised super computers that are essential to certain types of research, the advantages for regular server computing resources is not so clear. </p>
<p>The field of cloud computing is evolving at an extremely rapid pace. Amazon is adding services to its cloud offerings on a monthly basis. It provides around 120 different cloud services that can be paid for on an hourly, monthly or yearly basis.</p>
<p>In contrast, the Nectar equivalent functionality as part of its computer cloud operation only offers the basic services of a virtual machine and storage.</p>
<p>Whereas commercial cloud providers are investing billions of dollars into new services, especially in the machine learning area, government funded infrastructure of this sort is simply not able to compete. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>It is not clear how an organisation that has been funded to provide a national service can subsequently alter the conditions of service and resource provision to Western Australia. Nectar is in the portfolio of the Federal Government’s Department of Education and Training and so ultimately, it would be their responsibility to ensure that resources funded nationally are available to all researchers in Australia.</p>
<p>The suggestion by Nectar for researchers in WA was to ask another researcher in another state to apply for resources, negotiate or pay for access to a facility in another state, or “consider using a commercial cloud provider” and again pay for that service. </p>
<p>If that is indeed the case, it would be good if WA could get back its share of the A$61 million to spend on these options. </p>
<p>In preparing this post, I reached out to both the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre and Nectar for comment but had not received a reply by the time of posting. I will update if and when I receive a reply.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Update: 7th September 2017 12:20 AWST</h2>
<p><em>In response to the article, the statement below was provided from Associate Professor Glenn Moloney Director, Nectar.</em> </p>
<p>Nectar is providing a response to a number of points made in the article published in The Conversation on 5 September: Western Australian researchers get cut off from nationally funded research cloud; published in response to a communication from Nectar on 4 September 2017. A number of claims in the article are not supportable on the basis of that communication.</p>
<p>The communication from Nectar to Research Cloud users is available at: <a href="https://nectar.org.au/changes-access-nectar-research-cloud-western-australian-researchers">https://nectar.org.au/changes-access-nectar-research-cloud-western-australian-researchers</a></p>
<p>Nectar has also posted an additional statement clarifying the arrangements for support of the Research Cloud and the recent changes to arrangements in Western Australia: <a href="https://nectar.org.au/nectar-support-arrangements">https://nectar.org.au/nectar-support-arrangements</a></p>
<p>Nectar continues to support access to the Research Cloud for Western Australian researchers</p>
<p>The author claims that “Nectar has decided to close the door to WA researchers” and that “It is not clear how an organisation that has been funded to provide a national service can unilaterally decide not to provide Western Australia with those resources.” <em>[Note from editor: this sentence has now been revised by the author to the following: “It is not clear how an organisation that has been funded to provide a national service can subsequently alter the conditions of service and resource provision to Western Australia.”]</em></p>
<p>It is clear from the communication to Research Cloud users that Nectar has made no such unilateral determination. Rather, Nectar and our operating partners are considering the implications of the withdrawal by Pawsey of the Research Cloud capital infrastructure and associated operating co-investment from Western Australian universities. The remaining resources in the Nectar Research Cloud are located in other states and supported by co-investment from universities in those states. Arrangements for access by WA researchers to those resources will clearly require further discussion with all stakeholders of the Nectar research cloud.</p>
<p>It remains the objective of Nectar to provide infrastructure to support the national collaboration needs of Australian researchers and we continue to work with the Pawsey Centre to manage the transition to these new arrangements in Western Australia. Delivering on this collaboration mission continues to rely on the support of our operating partners across Australia and co-investment from Australian research institutions.</p>
<p>The Nectar communication to Research Cloud users provided advice on options for Western Australian researchers to pursue access to cloud resources, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Access to the new Nimbus cloud at the Pawsey Centre; </li>
<li>Western Australian researchers will continue to access resource allocations granted to collaborating partners in other states.</li>
<li>Engagement with other node operators to agree access (possibly on a fee-for-services basis)</li>
<li>Some Research Cloud nodes have offered support for Western Australian participants in research collaborations of interest.</li>
<li>Western Australian universities may also explore opportunities to continue to invest in access through other Research Cloud node operators.</li>
</ul>
<p>Nectar continues to provide access to resources for pre-existing allocations by Western Australian researchers at other nodes of the Research Cloud (over 600 virtual CPU cores). Western Australian researchers also continue to have access to the “Project Trial” allocations on the Research Cloud.</p>
<p>The author also notes that: “it would be good if WA could get back its share of the A$61 million to spend on these options”.</p>
<p>Nectar has not withdrawn any of our investment in supporting the needs of Western Australian researchers. Instead, Nectar has invested in cloud computing resources at the Pawsey Centre in Western Australia. Those resources have now been withdrawn from the Nectar Research Cloud and have been redeployed to support the new Nimbus Cloud at the Pawsey Centre. Nectar will continue to work with Western Australian stakeholders to explore the best options for continuing to support Western Australian researcher’s access to the Nectar Research Cloud.
Communication with Western Australian research cloud users</p>
<p>The article asserts that “This move has come as a surprise to institutions in WA, who as far as I have been able to tell, did not know that they were about to be cut off” and “The decision raises critical questions about how an entire state of Australia can be cut off from nationally funded research infrastructure?”</p>
<p>No decision has been taken by Nectar to “cutoff an entire state of Australia”. The decision by the Pawsey Centre to withdraw from the Nectar Research Cloud was communicated to Nectar and the users of the Western Australian Nectar node on 2 June 2017. Nectar has continued to work with the Pawsey Centre to manage the transition to the new arrangements in Western Australia; resulting in the communication to Research Cloud users on 4 September. </p>
<p>Commercial Cloud providers and the Nectar Research Cloud: Nectar agrees with the author that commercial cloud providers can and should be leveraged as efficient providers of services to support the needs of Australian researchers. Nectar has engaged with many commercial cloud providers in exploring support for Australian research needs.</p>
<p>We also recognise the value of in-sector cloud resource providers, like the Nectar Research Cloud and the new Nimbus cloud at the Pawsey Centre. In-sector clouds can leverage co-location with other research infrastructure and institutionally held research data. Nectar Research Cloud nodes benefit from co-location with national research networks, national and institutional high performance computing systems and research data repositories.</p>
<p>The value and cost-effectiveness of an in-sector cloud infrastructure has been demonstrated by tens of millions of dollars in additional investment from Australian universities and the emergence of similar science cloud infrastructures around the world.</p>
<h3>Arrangements to support the Nectar Research Cloud and recent changes to those arrangements in Western Australia</h3>
<p>Since 2012, Nectar has established a national Research Cloud infrastructure to support the collaboration needs of Australian researchers. The Research Cloud has been supported through deployments of Nectar funded computing equipment at eight operating partners across the states of Australia; supported by co-investment from research universities in all the states of Australia.</p>
<p>The objectives of the Research Cloud have been to provide a national interoperable and accessible computational platform on which Australian researchers may collaborate on shared problems across institutional and national boundaries; attracting over 11,000 registered users (over 200 new registered users per month), with thousands of other researchers using services, tools and data deployed on the Research Cloud.</p>
<p>Researchers at all Australian universities have benefited from access to the Nectar Research Cloud since January 2012. The deployment of the Research Cloud infrastructure was completed with the deployment of the Western Australian and New South Wales nodes in December 2014.</p>
<p>In June 2017 the Pawsey Centre advised Nectar of their intention to withdraw the Western Australian node from the Research Cloud. This would include re-purposing of the Nectar funded equipment to support a new national cloud infrastructure service called Nimbus that is integrated with the Pawsey HPC and storage infrastructure. The new cloud component of the national Pawsey service will be independent of the Nectar Research Cloud, but will use the same underlying cloud software (OpenStack), and will align with the recommendations of the infrastructure roadmap for an integrated data-intensive infrastructure system. Nimbus will be available to all Australian researchers using standard merit schemes.</p>
<p>On Monday 4 September Nectar sent a communication (<a href="https://nectar.org.au/changes-access-nectar-research-cloud-western-australian-researchers">https://nectar.org.au/changes-access-nectar-research-cloud-western-australian-researchers</a>) to all Research Cloud users notifying them of the withdrawal of the Pawsey node of the Research Cloud. The message noted that Nectar is considering the impact on continued access by Western Australian researchers to the cloud resources deployed in other Australian states, given the withdrawal of the capital infrastructure and operating co-investment at the Western Australian node. </p>
<p>The communication includes specific advice on options for Western Australian researchers to continue to receive support, including: the new Nimbus cloud service at the Pawsey Centre and options for access to resources at Nectar Research Cloud nodes in other states. Western Australian research institutions may also explore opportunities to continue to invest in access through other Research Cloud node operators.</p>
<p>It remains the objective of Nectar to provide infrastructure to support the national collaboration needs of Australian researchers and we continue to work with the Pawsey Centre to manage the transition to these new arrangements in Western Australia. Delivering on this collaboration mission continues to rely on the support of our operating partners across Australia and co-investment from Australian research institutions. The Research Cloud has continued to attract additional investment through the node operators and through direct investment in additional capacity by Australian research institutions.</p>
<p>More information about the Nectar Research Cloud is available at <a href="https://cloud.nectar.org.au">https://cloud.nectar.org.au</a>.</p>
<p>For more information more about Nectar see <a href="https://nectar.org.au">https://nectar.org.au</a>.</p>
<p><em>The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre declined to provide a statement at this time.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance works for a Western Australian university. He has used resources on the Nectar research cloud and uses resources on Amazon Web Services.</span></em></p>Researchers based in Western Australia can no longer directly access nationally funded resources on the Nectar Research Cloud. In an email sent to researchers in WA, Nectar announced that this decision…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/831622017-08-29T08:22:22Z2017-08-29T08:22:22ZThings to consider when making the switch to the NBN and what to expect<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183722/original/file-20170829-10414-1wdwxxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">NBN HFC setup</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With all of the <a href="https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/nbn-fail-a-threat-to-lives-economy-ng-b88538329z">negative</a> press about Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), consumers who have the option to switch to the NBN from a working broadband connection might be forgiven for being cautious. After the NBN is made available in an area, residents have up to <a href="https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/12/nbn-cut-off-date-what-you-need-to-know/">18 months</a> to switch from their current plans to one provided on the NBN. Once it is available in an area however, residents are usually deluged with offers from various internet service providers (ISPs) about switching, making it hard to ignore. </p>
<h2>Moving to NBN on HFC</h2>
<p>In my area in Western Australia, I have had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_fibre-coaxial">HFC</a> from Telstra for many years and so changing to the NBN does not involve a change in the underlying technology. Although some <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-the-nbn-and-australias-digital-divide-78911">researchers</a> have classified HFC as being an inferior technology to <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-the-nbn-and-australias-digital-divide-78911">Fibre to the Node</a>, it is actually capable of delivering speeds of 100 Mbps down and 40 Mbps up. Within the next one to two years HFC will be capable of 1 Gbps speeds with the roll out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS">DOCSIS 3.1</a>. </p>
<p>HFC connections may still suffer if ISPs do not adequately provision adequate CVC capacity on the NBN but HFC does not have the same limitations as Fibre to the Node with regard to the distance from the node. There is also a possibility that the NBN will see more homes connected to a node than was the case when Telstra ran the network. This may also impact performance.</p>
<p>In my case, I was consistently getting speeds of 100 Mbps for downloads but only 2 Mbps for uploads. Prior to the NBN, these speeds have been a luxury for those Australian’s who lived in areas that were services by Telstra and Optus with HFC.</p>
<p>Making the switch to the NBN was relatively simple but uncovered some decisions that it is worth spending time considering. If doing a conversion, some of the options aren’t made obvious by the sales team and so need to be explicitly requested.</p>
<h2>The question of speed</h2>
<p>Once you have decided on an ISP, there is the question of what speed of connection is available at any given residence. HFC doesn’t suffer from a slowdown based on the distance from the “node” and so speeds up to 100 Mbps are available. ISPs like Telstra however, sell <a href="https://www.telstra.com.au/broadband/nbn/nbn-plans">plans</a> based on download limits and at the default of 25 Mpbs. Choosing up to 100 Mbps costs another AUD 30 a month. </p>
<p>It seems that for most Australians who have connected to the NBN, the default of 25 Mbps has been the most <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Broadband_Network">popular choice</a>, with 53% of fixed connections being at 25 Mbps and a further 29% at the lowest tier of 12 Mbps. For the average family just watching streaming video and using social media and browsing, this is likely to be fine. It has resulted however in the overall average speed of internet connections in Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-australias-growing-appetite-for-fast-broadband-75780">remaining low</a> at 10.1 Mbps.</p>
<h2>Choice of wireless router</h2>
<p>Another choice that doesn’t seem important at the time is the choice of wireless router that ISPs offer. Here again, the default for Telstra is a basic Sagemcom F@ST 5535. And it is basic. It doesn’t support the fastest wireless protocols used by recent smartphones and laptops, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac">802.11ac</a>. The fixed cable connections from the router are also not the fastest kind. Not having the fastest wireless can make a significant difference to the overall speed of the internet connection of devices and so it is always worth upgrading. </p>
<p>Some of the routers also have the ability to fail over to using 4G if the NBN connection is not available for any reason. This may be important because on the NBN, the landline phone is switched over to using the main internet connection using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP">Voice over IP</a> (VoIP) and not the physical connection over the old copper network. However, if the power goes out, the phone will also be unavailable even by this route.</p>
<p>Other than for the phone connection, any wireless router can be connected to the NBN modem. The Telstra router can then be simply used for the phone connection and its WiFi switched off. </p>
<h2>Making the switch</h2>
<p>For me, and I stress the personal nature of this, the switch was fast, efficient and painless. From contacting Telstra, the wireless router was shipped within 4 days and the appointment with the NBN technician booked for a week after the order was placed. Any interaction with the Telstra NBN connection staff involved little wait times and the only negatives were some confusing emails and an order status that said the order was delayed when it wasn’t.</p>
<p>The NBN technician arrived and didn’t need to switch the physical box attached to the wall outside the house. It was just a question of plugging in the modem, making sure it worked, and telling NBN and Telstra to switch it all on. The technician gave me advice of avoiding being disconnected when making the switch over from the old system to the new and then left, although I had been barraging him with questions about how the rollout was going. </p>
<p>Getting connected was just a question of connecting the wireless router to the NBN modem, switching it on and connecting to the wireless network. As I mentioned above, I use Apple wireless routers and so altered the configuration after things were connected.</p>
<h2>And the results?</h2>
<p>The download speed dropped from the Telstra non-NBN connection. During the morning, I got about 94 Mbps download. The massive difference was in the upload speed which is now about 38 Mbps. This is a huge bonus over the existing connection which gave 2 Mbps. Upload speeds are never really thought about as a problem until you realise that synchronising with services like iCloud, Google Drive and DropBox all become significantly faster with the NBN connection. </p>
<p>However, in the evening, the speed dropped to between 50 - 70 Mbps download and 23 - 35 Mbps upload. This was something that didn’t happen on the Telstra non-NBN connection which was consistent even in the evenings. </p>
<p>It is still early days and as more people connect in my immediate area, bandwidth may be further affected. Telstra may also ramp up the capacity so that there are not these changes in speed based on the time of day. </p>
<h2>Update from NBN Co</h2>
<p>In response to the article, a spokesperson from NBN Co clarified the following points:</p>
<p>[1] With regard to the number of HFC connections per node:</p>
<p>“At present Telstra runs around 1000 premises on an HFC node sharing 1Gbps of capacity. On the nbn we will have only 650 premises per Node and once we reach full DOCSIS 3.1 we will have 10Gbps of capacity available”</p>
<p>[2] Regarding the speed drop I had experienced in the evenings:</p>
<p>“Your speed drop in the evening is almost certainly CVC related”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83162/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
With all of the negative press about Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), consumers who have the option to switch to the NBN from a working broadband connection might be forgiven for being cautious…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/826952017-08-18T07:52:59Z2017-08-18T07:52:59ZTech companies can distinguish between free speech and hate speech if they want to<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182555/original/file-20170818-30746-1so7kiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Freedom or Hate Speech?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/423746353?src=usi4UCtWP1jr7sXHTKGerA-1-50&size=medium_jpg">wk1003mike/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/14/543462419/charlottesville-violence-highlights-cities-struggle-to-balance-rights-and-safety">violence</a> in the US town of Charlottesville, the tech industry has started <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/how-the-tech-sector-can-legally-justify-breaking-ties-to-extremists/">removing access</a> to some of their services from groups associated with the far-right and those espousing racial intolerance.</p>
<p>Apple has <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanmac/apple-removes-payments-support-from-white-nationalist?utm_term=.jpAqP8e9y#.ojzGj3E50">disabled</a> Apple Pay from sites selling clothing, stickers and other merchandise with Nazi logos and other white supremacist slogans. GoDaddy and Google removed <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/pranavdixit/godaddy-has-kicked-white-supremacist-website-the-daily?utm_term=.tcbq6EM4d#.pmzQdn8k1">support</a> for the “Daily Stormer”, a far-right website. Other companies like Uber, Facebook, Twitter, MailChimp and Wordpress have all taken varying degrees of action </p>
<h2>The battle between protection and censorship</h2>
<p>The moves by the tech companies, whilst generally welcomed given the events of Charlottesville including the tragic death of Heather Heyer, are still provoking the ongoing debate of the tension between regulating hate speech and preserving, for American’s at least, the sanctity of freedom of speech. </p>
<p>Groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), who <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/08/fighting-neo-nazis-future-free-expression">support</a> the actions against neo-Nazi groups, at the same time express concern for free speech and upholding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution">First Amendment</a> of the US Constitution that enshrines that right. The EFF is concerned that these platforms will not exercise these rights properly and other groups and voices will be silenced, wrongly, in the same way. </p>
<p>Facebook has come under <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/facebooks-hate-speech-policies-censor-marginalized-users/">recent</a> criticism for censoring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT">LGBTQ</a> people’s posts because they contained words that Facebook deem offensive. At the same time, the LGBTQ community are one of the groups frequently targetted with hate speech on the platform.</p>
<p>If users seem to “want their cake and eat it too”, the tech companies are similarly conflicted. </p>
<p>In Facebook’s community standards, it says it will remove posts it deems to be <a href="https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards">hate speech</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time however, Facebook has <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-slams-proposed-german-anti-hate-speech-social-media-law/a-39021094">fought strongly</a> against a German <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jun/30/germany-approves-plans-to-fine-social-media-firms-up-to-50m">law</a> that will see it, and other social media platforms, fined up to Euro 50 million if they fail to remove hate speech and other illegal content from their site within days of being notified.</p>
<p>In its fight against the law, Facebook claimed it could not technologically filter and deal with the sheer volume of images and content posted on its platform. It further claimed that dealing with hate speech on its platform was not its responsibility but that of the “public and state”. </p>
<p>It would be easy to think that the tech companies simply wanted to be seen to be doing something about hate speech whilst at the same time, limiting their responsibility to deal with the problem systematically. </p>
<h2>A difficult problem</h2>
<p>On the surface, it may seem to be a significant challenge to allow free speech whilst stopping hate speech that targets people based on their race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, gender, or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases. </p>
<p>In Germany, Facebook argued that it would need to hire thousands of lawyers to review posts that were brought to its attention. At the same time however, Facebook markets its platform to advertisers exlicitly on the basis that it is able to provide detailed personal information based on what its <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/27/facebook-2-billion-users/">2 billion monthly users</a> post and read. Facebook often talks about its advances in machine learning and text and image recognition that are certainly <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/charlottesville-social-media-hate-speech-online/">capable</a> of at least highlighting problematic posts for human review or identifying copies of images that it has already deemed problematic.</p>
<h2>Distinguishing freedom of speech from hate speech</h2>
<p>The right of freedom of speech is not unique to the United States. This right is also enshrined in Article 19 of <a href="http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">The Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>. At the same time, the laws of many countries like Germany, and other international conventions, explicitly limit these freedoms when it comes to hate speech. The illegality of hate speech is made explicit in Article 13(5) of <a href="http://www.law-democracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/10.02.hate-speech.Macedonia-book.pdf">American Convention of Human Rights</a> and the UN’s International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.</p>
<p>National and international courts have already dealt with numerous cases that have led to determinations of the differences between freedom of speech and hate speech. </p>
<p>It would not be impossible for tech companies to form clear guidelines within their own platforms about what was and wasn’t permissable. For the mainly US companies, this would mean that they would have to be increasingly aware of the differences between US law and culture and those of other countries.</p>
<h2>Will their actions continue?</h2>
<p>It is always unfortunate that it takes the loss of human life to spur the tech companies into behaviour that should have been their default. It remains to be seen how long this activity will persist before they revert back to claiming that ultimately it is not their problem.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance owns shares in Apple</span></em></p>In the wake of violence in the US town of Charlottesville, the tech industry has started removing access to some of their services from groups associated with the far-right and those espousing racial intolerance…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/820842017-08-04T06:58:23Z2017-08-04T06:58:23ZThe dangers of leaving home: UK WannaCry ransomware hero arrested in the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180999/original/file-20170804-27452-1nblopa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">US Department of Justice</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Seal_of_the_United_States_Department_of_Justice.png">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 23 year old UK cybersecurity expert Marcus Hutchins who was involved in stopping the spread of the WannaCry ransomware attack has <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher-who-stopped-wannacry-ransomware-detained-in-us-after-def-con">been arrested</a> by the FBI in the US. Hutchins – also know as “MalwareTech” – had been attending the <a href="https://www.defcon.org/">Defcon</a> hacking conference in Las Vegas, and was about to board a plane back to the UK when he was taken away by law enforcement officials. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pagn7v/malwaretech-wannacry-indictment-kronos-malware">indictment</a> filed against Hutchins and another accomplice claims that he had been involved with the creation of a banking trojan malware called “<a href="https://securityintelligence.com/the-father-of-zeus-kronos-malware-discovered/#.U8UX5fn-OSo">Kronos</a>”, and that both he and the other defendant were involved in the promotion and selling of the trojan through darknet markets and Russian hacking forums. </p>
<p>A friend of Hutchins, <a href="https://twitter.com/MabbsSec?lang=en">Andrew Mabbit</a> who had travelled to Defcon with him, has been trying to coordinate legal aid and find out more details of where Hutchins is being held. </p>
<p>One of the claims of the indictment is that Hutchins’ co-defendant had created a YouTube video demonstrating how Kronos works. A video posted on the same date as that claimed in the indictment is <a href="https://threatpost.com/wannacry-hero-arrested-one-of-two-charged-with-distribution-of-kronos-malware/127186/">still available</a> on YouTube, as are other videos showing how to setup Kronos.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the darknet market that was allegedly used to sell Kronos was AlphaBay which was <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/alphabay-hansa-takedown-dark-web-trap/">taken down</a> recently through a global law enforcement operation. Methods of payments for the Kronos malware also included payments through the BTC-e.com cryptocurrency exchange that has also been <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/26/russian-held-in-greece-in-bitcoin-laundering-linked-to-btc-e-exchange.html">shut down</a> after being implicated in money laundering.</p>
<h2>What is Kronos?</h2>
<p><a href="https://securityintelligence.com/the-father-of-zeus-kronos-malware-discovered/#.U8UX5fn-OSo">Kronos</a> is a type of malware that, once installed on a victim’s computer, is able to alter forms from financial institutions and online sites to capture a user’s credit card or bank login details. </p>
<p>The malware came to researchers’ attention because of the relatively <a href="https://securityintelligence.com/the-father-of-zeus-kronos-malware-discovered/#.U8UX5fn-OSo">high price</a> being asked for it: US$7,000. </p>
<p>In addition to being able to capture user details, Kronos comes with user interfaces and administration capabilities to manage the infected machines through its “command and control centre” software. </p>
<p>On an infected machine, Kronos tries to disable other malware that may be present, and hides itself from antivirus software and examination by cybersecurity investigators. </p>
<h2>What will happen to Hutchins now?</h2>
<p>Hutchins <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-arrest-idUSKBN1AJ2IC">appeared</a> before a US Judge in Las Vegas on Thursday, with the trial set to continue on Friday. Although the lawyer defending Hutchins claimed that he “had cooperated with the government prior to being charged”, it is unclear whether his other work helping the FBI and other countries to deal with WannaCry will be taken into consideration in sentencing him.</p>
<h2>The dangers of travelling to the US</h2>
<p>Arresting people when they are travelling outside of the protection of their home country is a popular tactic of the US authorities. So much so, that Russia <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/09/dont-leave-home/">issued a warning</a> in 2013 that anyone who risked the attentions of the US authorities should not leave Russia. This followed the arrest in 2013 of Russian hacker Aleksander Panin, wanted for an online banking theft, when he was in the Dominican Republic. More recently, Russian Alexander Vinnik was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/27/russian-criminal-mastermind-4bn-bitcoin-laundering-scheme-arrested-mt-gox-exchange-alexander-vinnik">arrested</a> in Athens on behalf of US authorities for his part in laundering money through the BTC-e.com exchange. </p>
<p>Companies have even tried to lure hackers to the US with offers of an <a href="https://www.wired.com/2008/11/valve-tricked-h/">interview</a> for a fake job. Games company Valve worked with the FBI in 2003 to lure Axel “Ago” Gembe from Germany to the US for his involvement in stealing and releasing the source code for the game Half Life 2. </p>
<p>It may have been simply serendipity that Hutchins was coming to the US a month after the indictment for his arrest had been filed and he would have faced arrest in the UK and then extradition. The FBI would certainly have wanted to avoid the complications of extradition, but it’s unclear whether there was cooperation with the UK’s<a href="http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/about-us/what-we-do/national-cyber-crime-unit">National Crime Agency</a> in this arrest. </p>
<h2>The distinction between White and Black Hat Hackers is often Grey</h2>
<p>Many cybersecurity researchers and investigators often find themselves in a difficult position when it comes to dealing with cybersecurity. Pointing out vulnerabilities in a system can result in the person doing the reporting being charged themselves. </p>
<p>In 2011, an Australian pensions company, First State Superannuation <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111015/20563516374/company-thanks-guy-who-alerted-them-to-big-security-flaw-sending-cops-bill.shtml">reported</a> security investigator Patrick Webster to police, and threatened to levy charges on him when he reported that he was able to access the accounts of other customers by modifying the web address details. </p>
<p>Investigating cybercriminals can sometimes require gaining their confidence by pretending to be a criminal. Whether something like this motivated Hutchins’ involvement in Kronos, or indeed whether the allegations are actually true, is yet to be determined. </p>
<p>Update 5th August 2017: Hutchins will be <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-hacker-malware-marcus-hutchins-20170804-story.html">released</a> from custody on a US $30,000 bond to face court in Wisconsin next Tuesday 8th August where the original indictment was filed. He has pleaded not guilty and plans to fight the charges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The 23 year old UK cybersecurity expert Marcus Hutchins who was involved in stopping the spread of the WannaCry ransomware attack has been arrested by the FBI in the US. Hutchins – also know as “MalwareTech…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.